raised up in all ages individuals gifted also with higher spiritual advantages than their fellow men; and we believe that he has done so in order that they may from their own stores enrich the great treasury of Christian Knowledge, and thus impart to others the blessing of that light, which they have themselves enjoyed. We look upon the writings of such men as embodying that portion of the Spirit, which has been vouchsafed to them, in the same manner as the Holy Scriptures embody the extraordinary inspiration of the Prophets and Apostles and therefore we regard those writings as appointed sources of spiritual improvement to ourselves, and approach them with the reverence and the gratitude which becomes those, who feel that they are receiving good gifts from Him, from whom alone good gifts can come.

In speaking then of human learning as a necessary aid to the study of Divine Revelation, we speak only of that, which we believe to have been designed by God himself for that especial end. But in so speaking do we in any sense deny the efficacy, the absolute necessity, of the Holy Spirit of God in guiding into all truth each individual believer, who humbly seeks its aid? God forbid! we believe that it is this, and this alone, which can make that personal application of the doctrines and the promises of the Gospel to the heart of each, without which the hearing and reading of the word must fail of all profitable effect. But the Bible to be applied must be rightly interpreted and understood, and he who argues that the power of so interpreting it is separately and completely bestowed

upon each individual, through the direct agency of the spirit, and without the instrumentality of human aid, argues in opposition to all the analogies of the Divine dispensations, in opposition to fact, in opposition to Scripture itself. We believe indeed that even the

simplest and the most unlearned in whose hands the Bible, even without note or comment, is placed, and who seeks therein for the truth with humble prayer for, and reliance on, the guidance of God, will find both instruction and comfort for his soul; just as we believe that one cast upon a desert would, under the care of a watchful Providence, be able to procure, by his own labour, food and clothing and shelter; but if each member of Christ's Church were thus to separate himself from the body, to which God has joined him, and to pursue the same solitary and independent course, the degree of Religious light, which would then shine upon the world, would bear the same proportion to that with which it is now blest, that the scanty subsistence of the savage does to the multiplied luxuries of civilized life.

On such grounds as these we may take our stand, in calling upon all those who would be fully instructed in the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and more especially those, whose office it is to minister instruction to others, not to throw away any of those aids, which God has placed within their reach; not to call that common which God hath cleansed; but to number among the appointed means of spiritual guidance the writings of those holy men, whom he hath from time to time. raised up to enlighten and adorn his Church; and above all those public records, those authorized Formu

laries of Faith and Doctrine, in which our own Reformers have left a venerable, we trust an imperishable monument of their piety and godly zeal. To those, who would taunt us in so doing with robbing God of his glory by a reliance on the authority of fallible man, we would only say,-Weigh well your judgment in this matter before you pronounce it; lest you fall yourselves into the very error which you would condemn ; lest, in your zeal to assert the fallibility of others, you be found forgetful of your own. You boast-for in fact it does amount to a boast,-of your own reliance on the sole guidance of the Word and the Spirit of God. Let us ask then on what guidance does the Church of England rely? can the deference which you pay to the authority of the Bible, be more entire than that which is expressed in those declarations of our Articles, and which in fact constitute the very essence and spirit of the Reformation, that "Holy Scripture containeth all "things necessary to salvation, so that whatsoever is "not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not "to be required of any man that it should be believed "as an article of faith:" and that "though the Church "be a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ, things "ordained by its councils, as necessary to salvation, "have neither strength nor authority, unless it may "be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scrip"ture?And as respects the guidance of the Spirit, we would say-Was the hand of God no where visible in the great work of our Church's Reformation? Look at the lives of the Reformers themselves: look at their deaths and say was there here no holy confidence in God? no self abasement? no earnest seeking for the

direction and support of the Spirit in watchfulness and in prayer? or say rather could any thing but this have achieved the great work committed to their hands, and sustained them amidst the dangers and conflicts which attended it'; enabling them, while they were kindling that light which they trusted should never be extinguished, to exhibit in their own characters that rare union of Christian qualities, the martyr's courage with. the saint's patience, the boldness of the soldier with the meekness of the servant of Christ? And why thenwe would sum up all by simply enquiring-why do you deny to others that which you do not hesitate to claim for yourselves? why do you rely upon your own views of the Truth, as founded upon God's Word and directed by God's Spirit, while you judge the views of those, who have trusted to the sole authority of the same Word, and have sought the direction of the same Spirit, as the mere dicta of fallible men, blind guides, whom it were vain to consult, and impious to trust?

But while we thus vindicate the practice of our Church in requiring a proof that those, whom she admits to the sacred orders of her ministry, " be apt and meet" not only "for their godly conversation,” but for "their learning" also, "to exercise that mi"nistry duly, to the honour of God and the edifying "of his Church," let us not forget that this is not all that she requires: let us not forget that she regards as the primary qualification for their sacred functions, those Christian dispositions of heart, those personal gifts of the spirit, without which the pursuit of Theological learning is degraded into a mere intellectual

amusement.

On this point she commits them not to the examination of others, but bids them examine and 66 prove their own selves." She carries her enquiries into the sanctuary of the conscience, and calls upon the still small voice within to respond to the awful question, "Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this office and "ministration to serve God for the promoting of his "glory and the edifying of his people?"

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May God grant that each of you, my brethren, may find an answer to this question, not in any fancied impulse of the feelings, not in any of those fitful flashes of enthusiasm, which are kindled in an instant, and die as soon as they are kindled: but in that singleness, that steadfastness of purpose, which "determines" you, in your holy vocation, "to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified; to seek nothing but the glory of God, and the salvation of the souls committed to your charge. May He, who has blest you with that spiritual gift,' continually confirm and encrease it! may he grant that, under its influence and direction, you may "go on your way rejoicing," and witness day by day the growing success of your Christian labours! But should this encouragement be denied, as it may be denied you; should the seed, which you sow and water, not seem to yield its increase; regard this only as a fresh test and trial of those spiritual dispositions, with which you now humbly trust that God has endowed you; of that self-denying patience, which your great Master required of all those, who "would come after him," and of which he himself