her ordinations, is compared to that luminary which is placed in the firmament to rule the night; daily diminishing and daily increasing; our brethren departing from us to the Church triumphant, and their vacant places filled; so that by a continual accession of children and of fathers, the visible Church is continued to the end of the world.

Of this Church we are members; some of us set apart for the ministry, but many more to be ministered unto; but whether ministers, or those that are to be ministered unto, all forming but one Church. We, my brethren, are ordained for you; for your regeneration, renovation, edification. It has been by means of one of our order that the infant you saw so lately at the font, has received spiritual regeneration; that infant was brought here a child of wrath, it has been taken hence a child of grace; it has been born again of water and the Holy Ghost; it is a new creature. It is now a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. And this marvellous change has been wrought through the ministry of one of our order. It was by means of one of Christ's ministers that you received the spirit of strength in your Confirmation. It is by means of us that, in the Holy Eucharist, your spiritual life is renewed, and nourished, and sustained; and you are built up in your holy faith. It is for you, my brethren, that we have been ordained; your duty is to receive, with all readiness of mind, our ministrations; our duty is to take heed to our ministry that we fulfil it. And to do our duty, both we and you need God's special grace, which must be sought by diligent prayer. Consider how much we need your prayers. Consider the heavy responsibility that is laid upon us. These are the words addressed by the Bishop to every candidate for the priesthood. "We exhort you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you have in remembrance, into how high a dignity, and to how weighty an office and charge ye are

called that is to say, to be messengers, watchmen, and stewards of the Lord; to teach and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord's family; to seek for Christ's sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for His children who are in the midst of this naughty world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever. Have always therefore printed on your remembrance, how great a treasure is committed to your charge. For they are the sheep of Christ, which He bought with His death, and for whom He shed His blood. The Church and congregation whom you must serve, is His spouse, and His body; and if it shall happen the same Church or any member thereof, to take any hurt or hindrance by reason of your negligence, ye know the greatness of the fault, and also the horrible punishment that will ensue. Wherefore consider with yourselves the end of your ministry towards the children of God, towards the spouse and body of Christ; and see that you never cease your labour, your care and diligence, until you have done all that lieth in you, according to your bounden duty, to bring all such as are or shall be committed to your charge, unto that agreement in the faith and knowledge of God, and to that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ, that there be no place left among you, either for error in religion, or for viciousness of life."

Brethren, is not our responsibility great, far greater than yours? And who is sufficient for these things? No one by himself. No, not a St. Paul nor a St. John by himself, without the grace of God. But blessed be God, His grace is sufficient for us; surely then, brethren, you will not refuse us your prayers; we need them. If St. Paul needed the prayers of the brethren, surely we need them more; and it is on this account that the Church, in her tender love for our souls, before the candidates for the priesthood receive the imposition of hands, requires the people to offer up

prayers in their behalf. If you look at your Prayer Books, you will see that after several questions have been put by the Bishop, and answered by the candidates, and after a short benedictory prayer by the Bishop, there follows this rubric, "After this the congregation shall be desired secretly in their prayers to make their humble supplications to God for all these things, for the which prayers there shall be silence kept for a space." These prayers should not only be offered up by the people at the time of Ordination, but they should never cease. Pray then, for us, my brethren, that we may not have entered into the ministry to our condemnation; and that you yourselves may not suffer loss by our unfaithfulness.

SERMON XII.

(Preached at St. James's, Morpeth, Oct. 23, 1846.)

DIVINE WORSHIP IN ITS CEREMONIES.

HEB. xiii. 15.

By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name.

THE text which I have laid before you, from St. Paul, is not far different from that which I lately took from St. Peter. Both speak of God's true worshippers as made priests, to offer to Him "spiritual sacrifices,"-not so much the fruit of our labour, or the increase of our worldly store, though these are due to God who gave them, as "the fruit of our lips," the continual offering of praise and thanksgiving, coming from a pure heart, and offered up with faith unfeigned. But, as the words of St. Peter, so these words of St. Paul most plainly point to the duty of public worship, and may well be considered in their bearing on the order of our religious assemblies.

By Him," says the Apostle, that is, by our blessed Lord, who died for us,-by His mediation, and by the help of His Holy Spirit, "let us offer sacrifice." But what sacrifice? His ancient people brought their cattle, the

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blood of goats and calves, and offered them to the priest. It was a part of their solemn service. But we have only to offer thanks and praise, in such ways as our Lord and His Apostles have commanded, in remembrance of that one perfect sacrifice, once offered for us all. "To do good, and to communicate" in holy prayers and sacraments,— these are our Christian sacrifices; and "with such sacrifices God is well pleased."

It was my humble endeavour, in my former discourse, to set forth the several things which our fathers in the faith, and we who follow the faith of our fathers, have ever accounted necessary to the very substance and being of public worship. We account them so, because right reason confesses them to be requisite, and the word of Scripture confirms it. There must be preaching to make known God's truth; there must be prayer and praise to express our need of His grace, and our thankfulness for His benefits. There must be sacraments, the signs of His covenant, and the pledges of His mercy. And there must be holy discipline, obedience in spiritual things to those that are over the flock of Christ in the Lord. There is a reverence due to their office, and a religious respect due to their divinely-appointed ministry in the house of prayer.

If this be true, and the rule and order of all Christian Churches is an acknowledgment of its truth, there is nothing more requisite to be added on these essential points; nor would we seek to add any thing that is not essential, or claim a divine sanction for any ordinance of men. Yet that there is something more to be done for the peace and regularity of public service in the Church, -that some order must be taken for the ceremonies of public worship, which order no son of peace will wish to neglect or disobey,-that to such ceremonies, though ordained of men, our obedience, as private Christians, may be by God's word required, these are things which, how