and throwing all their energies into this noblest of works, may give to our metropolis an honour as great as any it possesses, and show to the whole civilized world that London contains within its churches a zeal which no distance can daunt, and which no labours can exhaust.

A LECTURE,

BY THE REV. THOMAS WARD.

THERE is no one among the subjects announced by this Society for its Lectures, that is better calculated to awaken enquiry in young men than that on which, at the desire of the Committee, I venture to address you. The subject involves so much research, and runs through so large a period of time, that nothing can be expected or attempted beyond an outline, the filling up of which must be left to thirsting and diligent minds; the fruits of which, under heaven's blessing, must be sentiments of unfeigned thankfulness for the age and nation in which our allotment is disposed. I will endeavour to bring this outline before you under the following form:

I. An Inquiry. What is Christianity, God's unspeakable gift to the sons of men?

II. The Question. How was it brought into Britain?

III. The state of our country which led to a revival, through the mission of Augustine and his Benedictine monks. And,

IV. The progress of heaven-born Religion in this country, from the days of Augustine to the present time. In carrying out this form, I heartily desire the furtherance of two objects; -the benefit of those from whom we hope for much in years to come; the heart-felt honour of Jesus, who trod this earth to teach us that he is ever near; who has gone into heaven to serve our dearest interests in the life that now is, and in that which is to come.

I. Christianity is not Heathenism, whose many forms bear each the stamp of earth :—it is not Islamism, whose system is thickly threaded with sensuality:-it is not Judaism; it is more, the substance of its shadows, the completion of its outline. Christianity, which bears within itself the impress of the skies; which shows without, the finger of the living God in signs and wonders and mighty works;-in prophecies, above all controul, fulfilled ;—in the overthrow of ancient systems, and the establishment of itself by apparently the feeblest means;→ in the faith, the graces, the courage, and undaunted constancy

of its subjects, consists of the doctrines, laws, and ordinances which were delivered and instituted by Jesus, the Christ, the only begotten of the Father, of whom Moses wrote, and to whom all the Prophets bare witness. In Christianity, one leading principle is laid down and often referred to, apart from which, we look in vain for the obedience of faith, the concurrent inclination, the yielding observance, the high and holy aim. That principle is given in John iii. 3, 5. A birth from above, a birth of water and of the Spirit, without which, with the attainments and celebrity of a Nicodemus, man must be in the flesh. You ask what is the essence of this spiritual birth; and from the consent of Scripture, I answer, LIFE; that Life which is in Jesus eternally, essentially, mediatorially; which he gives to the Christian by the Spirit, maintains in the world, and perfects in heaven. It is from Life that doctrine is clearly seen, heartily embraced, deeply and growingly experienced it is from Life that the child of humility becomes a visible law of Christ, showing forth his unfeigned dependance on the blood that speaketh peace, pardon, obedience, and the fulfilment of a cheering hope to which he is begotten by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is into this element that the Christian character must be resolved; in this, that Christianity is principled, Christianity which was never to be confined to time and place, which is to exist wherever a people is to be found, and to have a consummation in an approaching eternity. Bearing, however, in remembrance, that an outline only of a large subject can be given, I proceed to the question,

II. How came this gift of love and mercy to be brought into Britain, a small island of the sea, which, to an observer of the world, seems like an earthy fragment wrested by the hand of mighty violence from the main land and tossed into the rolling flood? We have a twofold answer to this question: one involving the favour which God has markedly borne to us; the other having respect to the causes immediately employed.

1. That the eye of God has beamed, from of old, propitiously towards Britain, will, I trust, be felt by every one who duly reflects upon the controul which he immediately exercised over apostolic inclinations as to the direction in which the blessings of Christianity should flow. I cannot view this controul without emotions which forced St. Paul to exclaim on

another occasion, "Oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God: how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" It is apparent from Acts xvi. that the heart of Paul yearned towards the miseries of the East, and there seems to have been no inclination towards the West; while the designs of our God were towards us, through whom, after the flow of ages into eternity, his mercy should be extended towards the East. Thus God's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor his ways our ways. I could best show this by the help of a good map, to which, as we have not one at hand, I would direct your notice at leisure. There, verse 6, we have Paul and Silas passing through Phrygia and Galatia, and inclined, perhaps purposing, to bend their benevolent steps towards Asia, before them on the East: and what was there to divert them from their christian purpose? GOD'S prohibition; not geographical or human hindrances. They were forbidden of the Holy Ghost. Next, we have them in Mysia, still hankering toward the East : they attempted to go into Bithynia; and why was their attempt fruitless? The Spirit suffered them not. Then what was their position? That of travellers perplexed as to the road they were to take, and anxiously awaiting competent direction. They came, God being doubtless their interior guide, to Troas, a town on the coast, where was nothing before their eyes but the wide sea and blue sky; and there, in the still night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, the favour of the Lord toward the West was made known to Paul: a Macedonian was distinctly seen entreating him to come over and help their wretchedness. This was the undoubted întimation of God's will. They were not disobedient to heaven's vision; they sailed for Macedonia, and there, after unwearied labour and patience, the word of the Lord mightily prevailed.

In Italy, still farther to the west but connected by the main land, the Gospel of Jesus flourished years before St. Paul was carried as a prisoner to Rome, as you may see by his epistle to that church; and the probability is, that it was conveyed thither by intercourse with Macedonians who had obtained mercy and desired that others should partake of their mercy. A powerful effect was, however, produced upon the establishment, enlargement, and communicative spirit of Christians at Rome, by the fact recorded in Acts xxviii. 30, 31, that the Apostle "dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and

received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things that concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him." From this fact we are led to see the marked favour which God has borne to this fragment of the earth, which he caused to receive Christianity from Rome, as Italy from Macedonia, Macedonia from Troas, and that under his immediate control.

2. The causes immediately employed in introducing the religion of Jesus into Britain were, in all likelihood, Roman colonists, Roman soldiery, Roman negotiators, public and private, who were constrained by the love of Christ to make known the savour of his name in every place; and so markedly was the hand of the Lord with them, that Roman idolatry sustained a fearful shock, and God, who is a spirit, received, extensively, worship in spirit and in truth. Britain was brought under subjection to the Romans by the invasion of Cæsar, about half a century before the coming into the world of Jesus, who received the worship of all the angels at his birth; and continued under that subjection till it was evacuated about 470 years after; during which time, as Camden says, how many colonies must have been transplanted, how many soldiers sent for garrisons, how many persons dispatched for negociations! "Wherever the Roman conquers, he inhabits," is the remark of Seneca. Thus it was here; and here they established their idolatry, of which traces come to light in several parts of the country. It was but in the autumn of last year that a vestige was disclosed in the heart of this city, an evidence of the time of man's ignorance and God's forbearance, in the remains of what is supposed to have been a temple of Jupiter. When I visited the spot, Raphael's expressive cartoon of bringing the oxen to sacrifice to the supposed Jupiter and Mercury, rose vividly before the mind. Here, I felt, was a temple to, and I suppose, an image of the same god Jupiter; here, priests of Jupiter found an occupation; here, worshippers of Jupiter congregated together, and sang, and sacrificed to one, who is no god. They all were men: they had the understanding of a man, but it was blinded; the conscience of a man, but it was deadened; the courage of a man, but it was misdirected. O God! builders, priests, people, sacrificers, infants, women have passed away where live they now, what their state? The glorious sun gives light to a better homage; Christianity has prevailed; yet, God be merciful to us. Clear it is, that when