"

and some have not. This is that ark of Noah, in which were preserved beasts clean and unclean. This is that great house," in which "there "are not only vessels of gold and silver, but "also of wood and earth, and some to honour, "and some to dishonour." There are "many "called," of all which the church consisteth; but there are "few chosen" of those which are called and thereby within the church. 'I conclude, therefore, as the antient Catholics did against the Donatists, that within the church, in the public profession and external communion thereof, are contained persons truly good and sanctified and hereafter saved; and together with them, other persons void of all saving grace, and hereafter to be damned."

"Of these promiscuously contained in the church, such as are void of all saving grace while they live, and communicate with the rest of the church; and when they pass out of this life, die in their sins, and remain under the eternal wrath of God; as they were not in their persons holy while they lived, so are they no way of the church after their death, neither as members of it, nor as contained in it. Through their own demerit they fall short of the glory unto which they are called; and being by death separated from the external communion of the church, and having no true internal communion with the members and the head thereof, are totally and finally cut off from the church of Christ. On the contrary, such as are efficaciously called, justified, and sanctified, while they live are truly holy, and when they die are perfectly holy; nor are they by their death separated from the church, but remain united still by virtue of that internal union, by which they

were before conjoined both to the members and the head. As therefore the church is truly holy, not only by an holiness of institution, but also by a personal sanctity in reference to these saints while they live; so is it also perfectly holy, in relation to the same saints glorified in heaven. And at the end of the world, when all the wicked shall be turned into hell, and consequently all cut off from the communion of the church, when the members of the church remaining being perfectly sanctified shall be eternally glorified; then shall the whole church be truly and perfectly holy."

Let the reader consider seriously the awful distinction which this excellent Bishop has here presented to us in his definition of "the

holy catholic church." You are a member of the church, which is indeed universally holy by its "institutions and administrations of sanc"tity." But are you personally holy "by a "real infused sanctity?" Without this, your connection with "the holy catholic church" will only aggravate your condemnation in that day when the chaff shall be winnowed from the wheat, when the tares shall be bound in bundles to be burned, and the wheat gathered into the garner. O let us be concerned that, while we live in the great complex body of the uni"versal church," we partake of the blessing which is confined to those who, being "call"ed with a holy calling," have obeyed that call, and are “renewed in the spirit of their "minds." Then shall we be at length completely happy, when Christ shall "present us "unto Himself a glorious church, not having "spot or wrinkle or any such thing."

This "holy catholic church," embracing all in all nations" who call on the name of the "Lord Jesus," is very dear to God on account of those who therein "worship Him in the Spi"rit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no con"fidence in the flesh." Its interests are the object of His unceasing concern, and continually call forth the exertion of His wisdom and power. Dear however as the church is to God, He sees fit to leave it for a while in a sinful and disordered world. Here, like a helpless woman (Rev. xii. 6.) banished into a wilderness, the church is intirely dependent on God for her support and preservation. Hereby the glory of God and the final good of His church are promoted. Hereby an opportunity is afforded for a display of the Divine perfections, which are all daily magnified in the sight of men and angels by the conduct both of providence and grace towards the church which "God hath "purchased with His own blood." And hereby also immense advantage is derived to the genuine members of the invisible church, to all true believers, similar to that which the Israelites obtained from their long and difficult passage through the wilderness. When they are arrived at the "good land which floweth with" heavenly "milk and honey," they will gratefully remember all the way which the Lord "their God led them in the wilderness, to "humble them and to prove them, to know "what was in their heart whether they would "keep His commandments or no"-how "He "humbled them, and suffered them to hunger, "and fed them with manna which they knew "not"-how "their raiment waxed not old "upon them, neither did their foot swell."

They will consider in their hearts," (and the consideration will swell their songs of praise) "that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord "their God chastened them." They will remember with eternal gratitude how "the Lord "led them through the great and terrible wil"derness" of this world, "wherein were fiery "serpents, and scorpions, and drought; where "there was no water:" and how He "brought "them forth water out of the rock of flint"how "He fed them in the wilderness with "manna, that He might humble them and "prove them, to do them good at their latter "end." Thus will they be preserved for ever from saying, "My power and the might of my "hand hath gotten me this wealth," this "exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Thus they will have learned that "Salvation is of the "Lord," and will have been prepared to join eternally in singing "Salvation to God and the "Lamb."

..

The present state of the church may fitly be illustrated by that of the ship in which our Lord's disciples were embarked on the lake of Gennezareth; and the petition of our collect by the impassioned cry of the affrighted disciples on that occasion. (Mat. viii. 24.) The disciples of our Lord were in apparently great danger, and exercised with great conflicts. In their extremity they called on their Lord for help. But He, for a while, appeared to be unmindful of them. At length, roused by their importunity, He arose and interposed for their deliverance, and in due time brought them to "the haven where they would be.'

Let us now revert to our collect, and consider what we therein implore. We look up to God

as the Governor of the universe. We consider His church as the great object of His care, and we beseech Him to order all things in the course of His providence so as to promote its welfare. And forasmuch as it appears to us that a peaceable state of the world is best calculated to promote His glory and the advantage of His church, we pray, without pretending to prescribe to His wisdom or to direct His measures, that peace may universally prevail among men. We recollect that the time of our Lord's nativity was an æra of general tranquillity among the nations of the earth, and that "the churches through" out all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, hay

ing rest" from tumult and persecution, "were "edified, and, walking in the fear of the Lord "and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost, were "multiplied." (Acts ix. 31.) It is admitted that the members of the Christian church may, in the most perilous times, privately serve God, as Paul and Silas did in the prison of Philippi. It is also allowed that times of tumult and persecution have proved seed-times to the church, and that "the blood of the martyrs has been "the seed of the church." But though God, by the alembic of His power and wisdom, hath distilled good from evil, and hath made "the "wrath of man to praise Him," yet according to our short-sighted apprehension (and perhaps the apprehension is generally true) a peaceable state of the world is most favourable to the growth of the church in internal purity and excellence, and to the enlargement of her borders. These are the objects which she proposes in her present prayer; and they are objects, compared with which the rise and fall of empires are, in the scale of just estimation, lighter than the