present and times to which I would recall you, in speaking of a period 1500 years ago; but now they do not agree. Instead of one body of clergy, all teaching the same truths, and teaching by the same authority, they are split up into several. Every town, and almost every village, has two or more individuals professing to be ministers of God, and opposed to each other. And therefore, if you would think at all, and think you must, you will be compelled at one time or other to doubt, and ask which is the true minister of God-the one whom I have to follow-the one who witnesses most truly God's truths of Christian Morals, and will supply, what neither parents nor magistrates profess to give me, a certain, most important aid and instruction in the art of becoming wise, and good, and happy?

You must make your decision. And, in making this decision, let us consider calmly and quietly together what will be the safest course.

And first, then, is it a light question? Do your Parents, and does the State, tell you that it is a light thing, whether you add to their instruction the instruction of a minister of God? Or is it not the first lesson which they would teach you? Would they like you to read no religious books-to attend no religious worship-to make no prayers-to confine yourself to the lessons of your home, imperfect and often erroneous as they are, and to an abstinence from open crime, which is all the morality expressly contemplated by the statute-books of the land? Or, do they tell you, that without religion you cannot be either obedient to them, a good son, or a good citizen, or happy and good in yourself, or any thing but a curse to your fellow-creatures. They may, indeed, at times neglect to tell you this; or falter and hesitate in the selection of the religious teacher whom you are to follow; but put the ques

tion to them boldly, and they will answer at once, that religion you must have as a part of your ethics; and to have religion, you must have a religious teacher of some kind or another distinct from themselves. In neglecting, therefore, to make some choice, you are neglecting their testimony; and you must do it at the same peril as if you would put a light to gunpowder when they warned you against it, or persisted in refusing to consult a physician when they told you you must die unless you do. But consider another thing.

Suppose two or more men were some day to come before you, professing to bring each a message and communication from your sovereign; let the message contain information of the highest importance to your interest, pointing out to you a mode of securing his favour, and threatening the severest penalties on disobedience; or even without such conditions (for this is the better way to regard it), -let it be a simple message from your sovereign, suggesting a mere trifle. And when the messengers stand before you, let each charge the other with being an impostor-each declare his own message true, and the other false. Will it be a light thing to determine which should be recognised? Will not mere reverence for your sovereign require a careful examination into their respective pretensions? Will you not risk much by sending them both away in contempt, because it may be difficult to decide between them, and insult your sovereign by rejecting his true messenger and message, because some one had forged another?

Now, this is your position towards God in these unhappy days; and the very first lesson which you must be taught in Christian Ethics, is the solemn and awful responsibility laid upon your shoulders, as soon as you begin to think upon the subject, of

deciding which religious teacher you shall follow in learning the art of becoming good. You can have but one. Which shall it be?

Let us see if the following suggestions may not be useful in this choice.

First, then, does your Parent take you to the church? Does he tell you that the clergyman of the parish is to be your religious instructor? And if this is not the case, I have little intention of addressing myself to you. Here, then, you have your parent's voice to guide you first; and he has a claim from God on you to follow him. Secondly, what says your Sovereign and the laws of the land? I will not at present say what ought to be done, if the laws of the land spoke differently. And yet the government of the country, ordained as it is of God, ought to have great weight; and if your parent bade you commit an act which the laws forbade, you would be bound to disobey him, and obey the laws. And why? because of two powers both appointed by God, the Parent and the State, the State is the greater. But happily as yet you are not thus embarrassed; for the State agrees with your Parent, and recommends, and till lately it would even compel, you to take the Church for your instructor, and would prohibit others from drawing you away elsewhere, and would punish them for leading, and you for following. Even now the Church is "established;" that is, the government acknowledges it as the body whom it respects, and wishes to be respected and to be listened to by all its subjects. And so it has done for more than 1200 years.

Now with these two voices joining together, you must be running a great risk, setting at nought very grave testimony, if you adopt any other teacher than the clergyman of the parish.

Still it may be, that both these voices are wrong. There was a time when Parents were idolaters, and Kings idolaters; and Christianity came down upon earth with a message from God declaring against both; and yet men were bound to receive it. And so it may be, that among the many men professing to be Ministers from God, charged with a message to you from him on your duty and your goodness, the true one may not be the same as is selected by your Parent or your Sovereign. What are you to do? I answer, you must ask, not the clergyman, but all the others who come to you, to produce their credentials. I say, not the clergyman; for you have fully sufficient reason, in the witness of your Parent and of the State, to believe he is right until he is proved to be wrong. Men do not rake up the titledeeds of their estates,—do not come forth before a judge with a busy, bustling, meddling, officious offer to prove their right to a property, until that right is disputed; until it is disputed not merely generally, suspiciously, vaguely, but by a positive distinct charge of a flaw in some specified point, and that charge made by a party who, if you do not refute him, will turn you out and take possession. Until the charge wears this aspect, a judge would refuse to hear the cause, and a man in his senses will say nothing, do nothing, but remain firm and secure on the ground of prescription. And so with regard to knowledge; for knowledge is a possession; and belief is a great good; and freedom from doubt and uncertainty in following our teachers is a precious inheritance, not lightly to be parted with nor disturbed; recommended to us by God himself in his word, who bids us "walk in the old ways, and stand in the old paths;" who by his institutions in nature inclines us all to adhere to what we have received, and through this

instinct binds together into one, child with parent, man with man, generation with generation; keeping order in the movements of society; giving permanence to principles; bringing mind close to mind, that knowledge may be poured from one into the other; linking and holding all things in their place, as the creation itself is kept in place, by the same law which rolls the planets in their course-the law that all things should continue as they are, until something occurs to disturb them.

Brought up, therefore, to believe the Church, continue in it. Till a man impugns that belief, allow no doubt to intrude; and if doubt does intrude, reject it without seeking an answer-you do not need one. When a man is found to impugn it, ask him, first, if he proposes to give you any thing instead? Has he any better authority of his own? Does he offer any good, threaten any evil? Will any ulterior measures follow, if you do not listen to him? If none, turn away from him in contempt. He asks you to disallow the validity of your title to a possession wantonly, and for the sake of invalidating it, and for this only. Does he come threatening you with consequences? Bid him first produce his own title-deeds? Ask the dissenter, who claims to be a minister from God, with a right to assist you in your study and in your practice of Christian ethics, "Are you appointed? Have you been sent? Where is your commission? Where is the proof that I shall offend God by not listening to you? Where is the evidence that the message you would deliver really came from God?" Till they can shew you this, rest secure as you are. You are obeying God in obeying your Parent and your Governors. And till He sends another messenger revoking their commission, you cannot depart from