: So is it with the sacred Volume itself. We have never been deprived of the opportunity of consulting it when we pleased, and therefore are perhaps scarcely sensible of the cruelty of that deprivation. Let us pause, nevertheless, my brethren, and ponder upon these things. Turn your eyes to the Bible in your hands. You who lean your whole hope upon its precious promises; who acknowledge the trancendent excellence of its precepts; who, encreasing in a lively and a stedfast faith shew forth the genuine fruits of that faith in the encreasing godliness of your lives you to whom the Sabbath is especially delightful, when, disburdened, for the while, of the cares and toils of worldly occupations, you can wait upon the Lord in the public worship of his holy Temple during the day, and at evening sit down by the hearth of your home, and hold uninterrupted converse with your Maker, through the medium of his revealed Word; wherein you find that "the law of the Lord is an undefiled law, converting the soul," that "the statutes of the Lord are right, ond rejoice the heart," that " the commandment of the Lord is pure, and giveth light to the eyes," and that " His judgments are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than fine gold, sweeter also thun honey and the honey-comb; [Psalm (19.) for the Day.] wherein, too, you can contemplate the noble works which the Lord did in the days of your Fathers of the early Christian Church, and what He did likewise toward your spiritual ancestors in Israel, in the old time before them; and wherein you can, moreover, by the lamp of inspired Prophecy look forward, and foresee,— с clearly enough, at least, to forewarn you-" what must be hereafter," reading "what the Spirit saith unto the Churches" in that sublime and mysterious Revelation with which the Scripture closes, and of which the Holy Spirit predicates: "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things that are written therein :" do you, I say, consider for a moment; how would you like that blessed Book to be snatched from your hands, to see it destroyed before your eyes, and to be subjected to a severe punishment for harbouring it in your dwelling? Yet, extravagant as may seem this question, this was the case once in England, this is the case still throughout a great portion of Europe, yea, this is the case now in unhappy Ireland; and this may be your own case again, if you do not, as I venture to exhort you, watch. Look, my brethren, across the narrow sea, and compare the miserable condition of Ireland, with the prosperity of Great Britain; and learn from the details of the comparison, that the contrast discernible between these sister islands, mainly arises from the prevalence there of a false, because an antiscriptural, and here of a true, because a scriptural, Religion. There, indeed, does the Church of Rome, of whom Scripture speaks in tones of thunder, 1evel in unrestrained licentiousness, trafficking in the "merchandize of the souls of men," and is literally drunken with the Blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus," the murdered ministers, and other faithful professors of his Gospel. Now if any one wonders at this, as St. John did when he saw the vision of it in his revelation, let him recollect the reproving rejoinder of the Angel who shewed it him: " Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the Woman." That by the Woman, is here meant the Church of Rome, has been the conviction of all the Protestant Reformers, and a perusal of the 17th and other chapters of St. John's Revelation, must satisfy every candid enquirer, upon that point: and therefore the flagitious appellations with which her forehead is branded, are printed in large letters in our Bibles, in order to attract the reader's attention to the heinousness of her crimes, and the danger of communion with her. Therein, moreover, are depicted the horrible calamities that shall at last overtake this "mystery of iniquity ;" and none we are told, shall wonder then but those "whose names were NOT written in the book of life from the foundation of the world." [Rev. 17.] "If any man have an ear, saith the Spirit, let him hear." [Rev. 13.] Such, my brethren, we believe to be the nature of the corrupt and apostate branch of Christ's Visible Church, from whose communion we separated ourselves at the time of the Reformation. We did, then, but obey that other voice from Heaven heard beforehand by St. John: "Come out of her, MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Nay the Divine Word goes even further and says: (in the spirit of prophecy, however, rather than of command,) "Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works." [Rev. 18.] But bear in mind, my brethren, that 66 the weapons of our warfare are not carnal" [2 Cor. 10.] but spiritual; and the defensive mail we are to put on is" the whole armour of God." Ought any of us then, now, through any false delicacy, or spurious liberality, to shrink from stating how we, under the promised teaching of the Holy Spirit, and availing ourselves of the concurrent interpretation of the learned and godly fathers of our Church, understand the Scripture in our hands, "all" of which is "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, in righteousness." [2. Tim. 3.] At any rate, we, the Pastors of the flock, must speak the words of Him whose ambassadors we are," whether you will hear or whether you will forbear," although the Roll of the book spread before us," at particular seabe" written within and without: lamentation, and mourning, and woe." [Ezek. 2. Lesson for the Day.] Yea, we are determined at this first though distant alarm, before the enemy's footsteps are heard at our doors, to mount the watch-towers, and "blow the trumpet, and WARN the people. [Ezek. 33.] sonis, 6. Finally; my brethren, while we rejoice in having purified our National Religion, and reformed our National Church, let us examine ourselves whether we have made a right use of " the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free." Let us individually prove our hearts, to discover whether any leaven of Pharisaic formality, or of Romish superstition, is yet lurking there whether we compromise any positive religious obligation upon the specious but futile plea of“ Corban ;" [Mark, 7. Lesson for the Day.] or whether we trust to the merit of our own works for acceptance with God. If we may take the Bible as "a lantern unto our feet, and a light unto our paths," do we avail ourselves of that privilege? Is there a house without a Bible any where in our quarters? Is there a Bible in any house unread ? If there be such instances, what have those godless inhabitants profited by the Reformation? and if they have not profited by this great national boon, much will they have to answer for hereafter; for, unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." "How shall they escape if they neglect so great Salvation ?" They will be totally without excuse, for it may truly be said of every one of us : "The Commandment of the Lord thy God is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off, but the Word is very nigh unto thee, most probably "in thy mouth," and it is to be hoped "in thy heart," also, that thou mayest do it." [Deut.30.] But you who possess and value the Word of God, are you sure that you add not any thing to it, nor take any thing away from it, by mental bias, or self-interested reservation? To either and both of these acts of presumption, is affixed the curse of the Almighty. add not other mediators to "the ONE Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus," take care that you do not, on the other hand, abstract from the Saviour the essential qualifications for that office, contained in his divinity conjoined with his humanity. He is the "Word of God," who “in the beginning was with God," and who"was God;" "the root and offspring of David, and the bright If you |