were exceeding sinners to be his apostles, to show the greatness of his power and grace; and put the inestimable treasure of his Gospel into earthen vessels, that the praise might be to God, and not to men.'

The idea of the personal sanctity of the minister being necessary to the effectual administration of his office, constituted one of the earliest errors in the Christian Church, and has accompanied it through every stage of its progress. The effect of it, wherever it has prevailed, has been uniformly destructive of peace and unity, by fixing the eye of the Christian worshipper upon the man, rather than upon the office; by which means the persons of ministers being held in admiration, the commission by which they have been authorised to act in the ministry has become an object of inferior consideration.

But it should be remembered, that there is a holiness of office, independent of the holiness of the minister; the former, being essential to the validity of the ministerial act, is, on that account, not to be dispensed with, whilst the latter only recommends and adorns it.

That these two qualifications should always meet together, is doubtless a circumstance most devoutly to be wished; but as, through the infirmity of human nature, this will not always be the case it ought to become an object of primary concern with us in our judgment upon this point, that the greater consideration be at no time sacrificed to the lesser one.

• Such, we would remind the reader, is the principle laid down by our Church in her 26th Article.

Where the inward call of the Spirit is therefore pleaded as a warrant for undertaking the sacred office, we have a right to expect that it should be accompanied with the outward call, or a regular appointment to that office; because reason tells us, that the end for which the Church, as a society, was instituted, requires that thus it should be; because, moreover, where there could be no possibility of deception in the party, as in the case of our blessed Saviour, (a circumstance which challenges particular consideration) this conformity to order was judged necessary to be observed. And if our blessed Saviour condescended to regulate his public exercise of a sacred office by this rule of order, with the view, doubtless, that it should become obligatory upon every succeeding minister in his Church, we need not hesitate to call it something worse than presumption in man, upon the ground of any qualification whatever, to plead an exemption from it.

What zeal soever, therefore, a man may feel, and what qualification soever he may possess for the service of God; still God, to be served acceptably, must be served in his own way. Wellmeaning people (and I wish to speak of them with respect,' for we may honour their principle at the same time that we condemn their practice) should consider, that good intention and regular practice are two very different things; and that the former can never make amends for the disorder occasioned by the defect of the latter. On this account it is, that the intention of the agent is never admitted as a sanction for the irregularity of his act.

*

.

Uzzah, it is probable, meant well, when “ he put forth his hand to hold the ark." But Uzzah was struck dead on the spot, for invading the office of the priesthood. Saul, it is presumed, meant well, when, in the absence of Samuel, he offered the burnt-offering. But the sentence pronounced against him was, that in so doing he had done foolishly, that he had not kept the commandments of the Lord his God, and that therefore his kingdom should not continue. There is not a more common deception than that which arises from the persuasion that the act is justified by the sincerity of the agent. Sincerity, it is to be observed, generally speaking, signifies nothing more than that a person is earnest in the pursuit of his object; that he really believes as he professes, and acts as his best judgment directs. But this sincerity may consist with the most irregular practice, and the most unchristian disposition. A man, for instance, may believe his own lie, and act upon it with the same confidence that another acts upon the truth; he may have a zeal for God's service, but not according to knowledge; he may earnestly pursue a wrong object, or a right one, by irregular means. In all such cases the scripture has furnished us with a general rule of judgment, where it tells us, that "a man is not crowned, except he strive lawfully."+ And, that there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."|| "There are excellent works," says Bishop Reynolds, "which being done without * 1 Chron. xiii. 9, 10.

+1 Sam. xiii. 13, 14.

2 Tim. ii. 5.

Prov. xiv. 12.

The

way

the call of God, do not edify but disturb the body. for the Church to prosper and flourish is, for every member to keep in his own rank and order; to remember his own measure; to act in his own sphere; to manage his particular condition and relations with spiritual wisdom and humility; the eye to do the work of an eye, the hand of a hand."

In short, whatever ideas of serving God we may form to ourselves, God is not to be served by a breach of his commands. And this we may depend upon: that God will be best served, when the attention of every person in his own order, shall be confined to the discharge of the duties appropriate to his particular station.