adds the Apostle, "is the Church of the

living God, the pillar and ground of the "Truth." His design is evidently to give additional weight to those preceding instructions, by suggesting the high and important purpose for which the Church was instituted; and thence to shew how necessary it was that they who were ordained to the Sacred Office of her ministers should "take heed unto themselves and unto "their doctrine." In no other way can the passage be so easily and consistently explained.

The Apostle, then, being understood to affirm of the Church Catholic, the Visible Church here on earth, that it was ordained by the Divine "Author and Finisher of

our Faith," to be the instrument of preserving that Faith in its genuine purity, and of upholding it for the general instruction of mankind; it becomes a matter of important inquiry, closely connected with those principles of Scripture-Interpretation which have formed the subject of

a 1 Tim. iv. 16.

the

the preceding Discourses, how far this great purpose appears to have been attained. And here these questions naturally occur:-First, What further insight do the Scriptures afford us into the Divine intentions in this respect? Secondly, What evidence have we, that the Church in general has been thus instrumental to the preservation of Truth, and to the prevention or removal of Error? Thirdly, What benefits of this kind are owing to our own Church in particular, that branch of the true Vine under the shelter of which the

good Providence of God hath placed us, and which we believe His own right hand to have planted? These inquiries may not unaptly conclude the design which has been taken in hand, and may furnish matter for grateful contemplation.

I. In the first place, what further insight do the Scriptures afford us into the Divine intentions in this respect?

In so stupendous a work as that of man's Salvation, designed for the universal good of mankind, and extending from age to age, it is not to be supposed that means would

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would be unprovided, ordinary or extraordinary, for carrying it on from its first commencement to its final close. The Church, indeed, in the largest and fullest acceptation of the term, did not originate with our blessed Saviour and his Apostles; but included all the faithful, under every dispensation of Revealed Religion, antecedent as well as subsequent to the coming of our Lord. But its formation and continuance under the Christian dispensation are the points with which we are more immediately concerned, and in which the providential care of the Almighty is most fully displayed.

The design of the Christian Church, both with respect to its first institution and the means ordained for its perpetuity, are thus stated by St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Ephesians. "He gave some Apostles; "and some, Prophets; and some, Evangelists; and some, Pastors and Teach66. ers; for the perfecting of the Saints, for "the work of the Ministry, for the edify

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ing of the body of Christ; till we all "come, in the unity of the Faith, and of "the

"the knowledge of the Son of God, unto

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❝ a perfect man, unto the measure of the "stature of the fulness of Christ: that we "henceforth be no more children, tossed "to and fro, and carried about with every "wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, "and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie "in wait to deceive; but, speaking the "truth in love, may grow up into Him, in "all things, which is the Head, even "Christ-from whom, the whole Body "fitly joined together, and compacted by "that which every joint supplieth, accord❝ing to the effectual working in the mea

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sure of every part, maketh increase of "the Body, unto the edifying of itself in "love"."

Here we have not only a statement of the general purpose for which the Church was constituted, but an enumeration of the several offices appointed for the fuller extension of its benefits. In the time of the Apostles, the difficulties being extraordinary, extraordinary powers were bestowed.

b

Ephes. iv. 11-16.

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A great

A great variety of preternatural gifts distinguished those who were first called of God to minister in sacred things, to enable them to spread the knowledge of the Gospel, and to interpret its heavenly truths. And thus the intended effect was rapidly produced, that of bringing persons of all nations, and kindreds, and tongues, to an acknowledgment of the truth, and to a participation in the proffered blessing...

After this, the system, of which the Apostles had laid the foundation, was to be carried on through succeeding generations; but with a gradual diminution of that extraordinary aid, which the circumstances of the case rendered no longer necessary. Truth, once revealed by competent authority, once proved by satisfactory evidence to have come from God, ceased to stand in need of those supernatural powers, which were at first requisite to verify its pretensions, and to command the attention of mankind. Human talents, learning, and authority, accompanied only with that ordinary assistance of Divine Grace which is requisite in every thing relating to man's

spiritual