model or not, is, that as the great scheme of Redemption is the sole effect of Divine grace, it necessarily must be embraced as it is proposed; on the acknowledged principle, that of him who is to receive a favour, it is to be expected that he should accede to the terms on which it is offered. Now we know from Scripture, that all the promises which relate peculiarly to the Gospel, are made to the Church of Christ; and we have no authority from Scripture to say, that any but those who are members of that Church, are interested in them. The "secret things belong to "the Lord our God;"* on them, consequently, we have no judgment to form. But with respect to those which have been revealed, we are to judge in conformity with the tenour of such revelation; from which revelation, it should seem, that the wilful desertion of that Church to which the promises have been made, must be considered as a virtual rejection of the terms on which the mercy of the Gospel has been proffered, and a formal renunciation of all covenanted claim to its benefits.

With this chain of reasoning in view, should my arguments fail to bring conviction to my reader's mind, relative to the constitution of the Christian Church and his own duties consequent thereupon; I leave him with my best wishes and prayers to his own judgment: but not without reminding him, that the subject here laid before him is the result of the fullest and most deliberate investigation, grounded on the conviction, that

* Deut. xxix. 29.

that cementing bond of the spirit, for which our Saviour so earnestly prayed; which unites Christians to their head, and to one another; making them regard themselves as members of the same body, the Church; as a fold of sheep, not as straggling individuals; is not a matter either of indifference or "doubtful opinion," but capable of the most demonstrative proof, and consequently of most essential importance.

One of the most learned and most spiritual bishops of which our Church can boast, in one of his sermons on the sending of the Holy Ghost, has placed this subject of Christian unity in that striking and beautiful light, so peculiar to himself, which cannot fail to leave an impression on the mind of every spiritual reader. Speaking of the Holy Ghost, he calls Him" the very essential unity, the love-knot of the two persons, the Father and the Son, even of God with God. And he is sent to be the union, the love-knot of the two natures united in Christ, even of God with man. And can we imagine that He, essential unity, will enter but where there is unity -the Spirit of Unity, but where there is unity of spirit? Verily there is not, there cannot possibly be, a more proper and peculiar, a more true and certain, disposition to make us meet for Him, than that quality in us that is most like his nature and essence; that is, Unanimity. Faith to the word, and love to the spirit, are the true preparations. And there is not a greater bar, a more fatal opposition, to his entry, than discord and disunited minds. They neither give

nor receive the Holy Ghost; their heart is divided, their accord is gone; the cord of love is untwisted; they cannot live; the spirit is gone too. And do we marvel that the spirit doth scarcely pant in us? that we sing and say, Come, Holy Ghost,' and yet he cometh no faster? Why, the day of Pentecost is come, and we are not all of one accord.—Accord is wanting: the very first point is wanting to make us meet for his coming. Sure his after-coming will be like to his first; to them that are, and not to any but to them that are, of one accord.

"And who shall make us of one accord? High shall be his reward in Heaven, and happy his remembrance on earth, that shall be the means to restore this accord to the Church; that once we might keep a true and perfect Pentecost; when the disciples of Christ were all with one accord in one place."

May the God of Peace grant that every member of the Church, more particularly every Minister of it, may feel the full force of the above spritual language of the excellent Bishop Andrews. In such case we might hope that the Dove,

the

spouse of Christ, as the Church is called, may still take her rest in this favoured land; and that the spirit of her beloved may dwell among us of a truth.-To this end, do Thou, O Holy and Eternal Spirit, who, in separating us

* Song of Solomon, c. ii. 14.

"Ergo hanc unam Columbam, et dilectam sponsam suam Christus appellat; hæc apud omnes hæreticos et schismaticos esse non potest."-Optat. Milevitan.

to the ministry, didst take us out of the world, cleanse our thoughts by thy holy inspiration, keeping them out of the corruptions, and above the policy or wisdom of the world, which is "foolishness with God." 99* And do Thou, O blessed Lord, who hast set superior watchmen upon the walls of thy Church, and inferior at her gates, cause them to watch over her by night and by day, that uniformity of doctrine, and wholesomeness of discipline, may so work together for the good and glory of thy Church, that she may not always labour under the distress and disorders of a siege, but may come forth in the face of her enemies, "terrible as an army with banners."+ Even so, Amen.

It remains only, from a respect usually paid to the candid reader, that I briefly inform him, that the present edition differs from the preceding one, chiefly in the adduction of those authorities, which were judged necessary to the more firm establishment of the ground undertaken to be maintained. And if, instead of taking up with the floating, unsettled, and for the most part erroneous, opinion of the day, on the subject of the Church, he will be at the trouble to visit the fountains from which I have drawn; he will know that no new things are brought to his ears, but that I have written as I have read. The advantage he will derive from this mode of proceeding will be two-fold. In the first place, as a balance against his not thinking with the crowd, (a mortifying circumstance, it must be allowed, to those

* 1 Cor. iii. 19. + Song of Solomon, vi. 4.

who take the world for their standard) he will have the satisfaction to think with those who most considered, and certainly best understood, this important subject. In the second place, should the argument, in his opinion, have suffered from my want of skill in conducting it, he will be qualified to improve it to his own mind; and having, as I have no doubt will be the case, thereby confirmed himself, his time cannot afterwards be better employed than in strengthening his brethren.