In subsequent times, what would naturally be the conduct of this rebellious and ungrateful people? Was it probable that their hard hearts would soon relent, and that they would view with a more friendly eye the progress of that religion, whose leader they had nailed to the cross? Was it likely that they would suddenly cease to persecute the disciples of the Christian faith, and treat the preachers and followers of the lowly Jesus with greater humanity and love? Their conduct was such as might naturally have been anticipated. They greedily seized every opportunity of opposing the introduction and propagation of the gospel, of vilifying and traducing the converts to Christianity, and of pursuing the more active ministers and disciples of the new faith to judgment and to death. In the forcible language of St. Stephen, whose cruel martyrdom we read of in the chapter preceding that from which the text is taken," They did always resist the Holy Ghost; as their fathers did so did they." And among many other striking proofs of their unrelenting malice, we find it recorded immediately after the history of St. Stephen's martyrdom, that there was at that time a great persecution against the Church, which was at Jerusalem; and that every house was entered into, and the unoffending inmates, both men and women, were dragged out and committed to prison on the mere charge of being disciples of Christ. So literally was fulfilled that prophetic declaration of the Saviour," Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword." But did the galling arm of persecution quench the zeal, or stay the exertions of these devoted servants of the cross? On the contrary, it served only to renew their efforts, and caused the light of the gospel to beam forth with a brighter and more extended lustre. For we read, that the malice of their persecutors was the means of scattering abroad the members of the Christian Church throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, and that they that were thus scattered abroad, "went every where preaching the word."

It is not my intention on the present occasion to pursue that portion of Scripture history to which the text refers. My design is to lead your consideration to the still more melancholy spectacle of Christians, persecuting Christians; to point out to you the sad scene of professing disciples of the Redeemer, some wearing the garb of greater purity in religious belief and practice, and a more ardent zeal in God's service, traducing with bitter hatred those who are actively and faithfully, though unostentatiously, engaged in their Master's cause, and straining every nerve to undermine the credit, and endanger the stability of that portion of Christ's Church, so long and so happily established in these realms.

That an assault of unwonted vigour is directed against the venerable and sacred walls of our Zion, we are no longer permitted to doubt. Our ears are daily assailed by the pelting of the merciless storm. The press teems with its unprovoked and unchristian attacks upon the Clergy, and the Establishment of which they are ministers; and we cannot fail to hear the cry of the more open and candid adversaries of the Church, Down with her, down with her even to the ground! In considering this subject, it may be useful to survey the ranks of those with whom we are called upon to contend, and calmly to inquire into the nature of that danger with which we are now surrounded. Our opponents, indeed,

present a singular, though an alarming aspect. We see the bigoted religionist, the wild fanatic, the cold and calculating rationalist, and the impious unbeliever, associated in their serried lines. We see these parties casting aside all difference of opinion, and rivalling each other only in the expression of their common hatred to the religious Establishment of their country. What then tending to good can be expected from the united hopes and efforts of this truly novel combination? What must be the nature of that cause, which calls forth the united energies of the professing man of God, and of the avowed infidel? How do we read the Scriptures? "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?—or, what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" Look we at the probable designs of our opponents? The contemplation affords little consolation to the faithful friends of our Zion.

They clamour, it may be for reform only. How far they are desirous to accomplish the destruction of the Establishment, a little consideration may afford us the means of determining. The cry of reform coming from avowed dissidents, either from the doctrines or discipline of the Church; their desire to remove the blemishes, which they say mar her beauty or impede her efficiency, seems to argue a perfection of Christian feeling, totally at variance with the general conduct, and altogether inconsistent with those uncharitable attacks upon the Clergy and the Establishment, which are daily emanating, either from the lips or the pen of our adversaries. Besides, it is absurd to imagine that those men can be desirous of promoting the efficiency, and, consequently, of enlarging the borders of our Zion, when that desirable end, if attained, must be the means of encroaching upon the number, the respectability, and the power of their own party. With regard to a very considerable portion of those who are leagued against us, it were in vain for them to disguise their impious intentions. They hate all religious Establishments, and all religion, and, consequently, the Church established in this country. They abhor that venerable depository of true faith, that consistent champion of Christian practice, because they know her to be the instrument of instilling into the minds of the people, far and wide, the blessed principles of the gospel. And those hallowed principles, so long as they are permitted to flourish, form, as they well know, an insuperable barrier to their long-cherished purpose of overturning all order and all regular government in the land, and of banishing the sacred truths of Christianity to make room for the dismal lessons of an infidel philosophy. And how do the vast majority of our opponents seek the attainment of their object? Every calumny that malice can invent is heaped with unrelenting perseverance upon the devoted heads of the Clergy. At one time they are abandoned profligates, then they are oppressors of the poor; at another time they preach not the gospel, and then they are the worshippers and seekers of Mammon, instead of employing their energies in the service of their divine Master. Whilst their self-denying spirit, their truly Christian demeanour, their lively zeal, and their unwearied efforts and contributions in the sacred cause of mercy and benevolence ;-I speak this without hesitation of the great

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majority of my clerical brethren ;-whilst these and all their virtues are purposely kept out of view, or the existence of those virtues, if asserted, is treated with marked incredulity, if not met with contemptuous denial. And then with regard to the Establishment, her alleged imperfections are exaggerated and held up to public derision. Our venerable Church, the time-hallowed bequest of confessors, saints, and martyrs, is now stigmatised as unworthy of respect; whilst evils of the gravest nature are unsparingly ascribed to her agency, from which, in the eye of common candour, she must for ever stand absolved. In short, she is designated as a great national evil;" (I use the words of one of her calumniators *) "because she is an obstacle to the progress of truth and godliness;" and then, (as if this sweeping accusation did not satisfy his spleen,) in the language of the same asperser of her sacred character, it is added, that "she is the means of destroying more souls than she saves." What part of her character, I would boldly ask, merits this base stigma? Does it deservedly attach to her apostolic origin, the purity of her ritual, the perfection of her religious services, or the Scriptural nature of her doctrines ? Can it be truly charged upon the apostolic succession of her priesthood, or upon her sacraments rightly and duly administered? Can it be justly grounded on the lives of her conscientious members, and the daily tenor of conduct in her ministers, or on their unwearied exertions in the cause of gospel truth? Can it be fairly due to her efforts in extending the blessings of Scripture education, which she is imparting to the children of the poor, to an extent unparalleled by any other Christian community? And if these her proud characteristics do not merit the foul reproach, whence can it emanate, save from the fertile invention of a crafty and persecuting hostility? And if this be the legitimate conclusion, then let me add, that our conduct towards our opponents justifies no such ebullitions of unchristian rancour. I am aware, indeed, that instances of better feeling are sometimes manifested among the multitudes of our opponents; I hail their candour, when they avow their belief in the doctrines, and their respect for the ministry, of the Church; but I cannot commend their consistency, nor their regard for the public welfare, when at the same time they seek to be exempted from contributing to her support; for they must know that she is the instrument of diffusing the doctrines of our common faith through every quarter of the land, and of gladdening many a barren district with the blessed tidings of the gospel, over which their voluntary system, with all the boasted zeal of its supporters, could never extend its influence. Such are the dangers which now beset our Sanctuary; and whatever may be the professed intention of those who are leagued against her, although some few of their numbers may not at first encourage the extreme proposals of their more violent associates, yet when the conflict rages, and it becomes necessary to take a decided part, it is to be feared that to the Church they will bring no aid, but range themselves, with little hesitation, on the side of the enemy. And there the cry resounds, not, let the Church be perpetual, but, let her and her glory perish!

* Mr. Binney's Address on laying the foundation-stone of a Dissenting chapel.

Let us now for a few moments consider the sad consequences to the country at large, which must result from the victory of our adversaries. Should the Almighty, in his inscrutable wisdom, as a punishment for the sins of this ungrateful nation, permit their designs to succeed; should he suffer them to accomplish the overthrow of our venerable Church, it is impossible to foresee the state of anarchy, infidelity, and irreligion, which must soon pervade this once happy and peaceful land. To use the language of an acute observer:-" The experiment was tried to the utmost in the days of our forefathers, when all the various contenders for it were left to their full swing; and what was the result? Such a scene of discord and confusion, atheism, hypocrisy, and religious distraction, as is not to be paralleled in any age or nation of the world; (for the God of peace was departed from them, and had sent evil angels among them,) till at length they, who had been the first authors of the mischief, grew sick and weary with being tossed to and fro in the storm which themselves had raised and were glad to return to those who had persevered in the true principles of Christian unity, and assist them in repairing what their own madness and folly had before pulled down."* Do we require further warning? We cannot surely forget the horrid scenes of wickedness and blood, which followed the destruction even of a corrupt Establishment in a neighbouring nation. "We have reason indeed to hope, that the doctrines of confusion cannot now so easily succeed in their effects, as they did in our own country in a preceding age, or more recently in France; but still they have the same tendency, and will ever require our utmost care and vigilance to guard against them."

With respect to what are called the temporalities of the Church, as far as their integrity affects the Clergy, I do not wish at this time to offer my opinion. To you it is unnecessary, and to the enemy it might afford new food for calumny. On this point I will merely adopt the language of Scripture: "Do ye not know, that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel." Thus much, however, I may safely add, that the revenues of the Church, both in the aggregate and in particular cases, are grossly and maliciously exaggerated. But this part of the subject connects itself with the interests of others, perhaps, more than ourselves, not only as they are concerned in maintaining the order and the welfare of society, but as they would shield their own property and rights from the daring hand of the invader. Be it well remembered, that any alienation of those funds, which the wisdom and piety of our ancestors have set apart for ecclesiastical purposes, will afford a certain prelude, first, to the insecurity, and next, to the violation of every other species of property,—a precedent which will be seized with a too fatal vigour. And even now, it is by no means difficult to perceive, through the clouds which threaten the Church, the forms of the enemy girding himself for further triumphs. But I will quit these disheartening reflections for brighter hopes and more cheering anticipation. Let us trust in

* Sermon on Unanimity in Faith and Worship, by Dr. Rogers.

VOL. XVI. NO. II.

God's mercy that the blow prepared for the Church may yet fall harmless at her side, and that her faithful sons may live to see her acquiring new strength from every trial, and emerging from the fire of persecution uninjured, nay, invigorated by the flame. God grant that she may continue to be the blessed instructress of far distant ages, the ever ready supporter of the weak, the comforter of the sick and the dying! God grant that she may long be permitted to disseminate the principles of the gospel in our own land, and to extend its vivifying sounds to the uttermost bounds of the earth! But her faithful sons must up and be doing. There is no time for delay. The din of preparation in the enemy's camp sounds on all sides. We are not the aggressors. We would only defend the citadel of our Zion from the merciless attacks of those who would fain see her and her venerable temples mouldering in ruin. We would adopt this course, because in so doing we believe that we are contending for the best interests of religion and order in our native land. We believe an Established Church to be necessary for the maintenance of religion in any country. And in this belief, whatever may be the assertions of our opponents, we maintain that we are supported by the concurrent testimony of experience. Destroy the Establishment in this country, and you take away the means of religious instruction from innumerable districts, which, in a moral point of view, would soon be converted into a wide field of desolation and barbarism. We have now, be it remembered, no miracles to enforce the doctrines of Christianity. Supernatural means of bringing conviction to men's minds have given way to the working of human ordinances; and we too well know the disinclination of man's heart to serious pursuits, and its natural proneness to evil, to confide in its voluntary effort to furnish, or even to call for, any wholesome and general provision for instructing mankind in the way which alone leadeth unto life. On this consideration, therefore, as men sincerely anxious to continue and to extend the inestimable blessings of the gospel among our countrymen, we feel ourselves called upon to defend and support that system of religious instruction, which acts, as far as possible, independently of human caprice and indifference, and forces religion upon the attention of mankind by bringing it to their very doors.

Finally, I would appeal to every friend of religion and order on behalf of our Established Church. To her sons I would say ;-on you devolves a momentous charge, an awful responsibility; you have received her as a sacred legacy from your fathers, yourselves have participated in her manifold blessings; your children have entered into covenant with God at her fonts-your wives have pledged themselves to you before her altars-your parents and your forefathers lie entombed around her venerable walls-yourselves receive instruction, consolation, and support in her services and ordinances; and when you lie on your bed of death, your sorrows will be alleviated, and your doubts resolved, by her holy teaching and by her pious prayers. I need not, therefore, I trust, encourage your efforts to hand her down unimpaired to your children's children. You will not betray the fortress which every tie of duty and affection binds you to defend. assuredly our hearts have reason to tremble for the safety of the ark of God. And yet, under his providence, it is for her sons to determine,

But