ture quotations, that they may not be thought enthusiastic or unsound. 9. Death, judgment, and eternity. Funeral sermons will often demand these.-Few things tend more to quicken men in the duties of life, and preparation for death.-Here consider heaven, and the positive nature of life hereafter, in a variety of views ;conformity to God and the Lamb;-the glory of his majesty ;association with saints and angels, and the church of the firstborn ;-the eternal consequences of a life well or ill spent ;-and the influence these prospects should have upon us while in a state of probation. 10. Examples of scripture characters, and pieces of sacred history. These are interesting and entertaining subjects, and will often afford you natural occasions of saying useful things in a very inoffensive way.-Sometimes a virtue is better represented by such an example, than by a set topical discourse; for example, submission to the will of God, in the instances of Aaron, Eli, Job, Samuel, and David; or Abraham's faithfulness; Moses' self denial; Joseph's chastity, and Daniel's piety, are better illustrated, than by general observations on the nature, advantages and reasonableness of such virtues.* But the examples of scripture history are the most highly important to the christian as it relates to their internal or spiritual signification.--This must never be lost sight of; nor can it be too intensely studied, according to the laws of definite analogy; nor too sedulously communicated to the church of the Lord.-It will be as the breaking open of an inexhaustible fountain, as the unlocking of an invaluable casket of pearls, as the issuing forth of the waters from under the threshold of the sanctuary. T. P. H. TO THE RT. REV. CHARLES LORD BISHOP OF LONDON. MY LORD, ALLOW me, with the most sincere respect for your character and office, to address a few observations to you, upon a resolution which I understand you have adopted; namely, that you will as far as possible discountenance every religious institution, over which dissenters possess any influence. As a chief pastor in the church of that Saviour, whose words and whose * In Doddridge's works there are two editions of the latter part of this lecture; I have selected from either or both, as seemed most expedicnt and useful. conduct were so opposite to this determination, well would it have been if you, my Lord, had never made it :—well, both for the character of the church whose creed you hold, and for the credit of public feeling in the nineteenth century of the Christian era. You cannot fail to be acquainted with the fact, that when the Apostles of our LORD. actuated by a similar spirit to that which you have manifested, took upon themselves to forbid some who cast out devils in the name of the Saviour, on the very ground that they were dissenters: their Master, so far from approving their conduct, most decidedly condemned it. "Forbid them not, (said He,) he that is not against us, is on our part.” And I leave it to yourself to determine, whether it becomes an under shepherd to do what the chief SHEPHERD Himself condemned and forbade. At the present period, my Lord, the aspect of the religious world, calls aloud, not for a division among Christian parties, but for a general co-operation of all. Why then, will you prevent this co-operation? It cannot be denied, that the united effort of Christians of every name, will be more forcible and more effective than the isolated exertion of a particular party: why then will you strive to paralyze such an effort? Surely a man does not lose his claim to the title of Christian, by dissenting from the doctrines of the church of England: you, my Lord, will not maintain this: and if a man may be a dissenter, and yet a sincere Christian, then he has a right—a divine right to unite himself with all who profess Christianity, in the prosecution of every good and proper purpose; nor has any one-not even the highest on earth, a right to prevent this union, or to hinder its effect. The basis of true Christianity is, Love uninfluenced by names, or sects, or parties: and this love wherever it exists, leads to an union-not outwardly in name, but inwardly of the heart. He who by possessing true religion, feels this love within himself, confines not his affections within the narrow limits of a particular sect, but with the Apostle prays for "grace to all (of whatever denomination) who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." Is this the truth, my Lord, or is it not? If it is not, then our religion is vain, for the Scriptures are untrue: but, if it is, then I ask, does not this love include within itself a desire to see all exerting themselves in the great cause of religion? And does not this desire suppose a corresponding wish to forward such exertion? But will such a general exertion of all true lovers of the Saviour be forwarded by the conduct you are now pursuing, by refusing to join with any, however pious or sincere, who do not sign the same confession of faith? Let truth-let reason decide. By your refusal to permit any exertion of your Clergy, in conjunction with Dissenters, one would be led to suppose that dissent necessarily implied some degradation-some impropriety of conduct-some inconsistency of character, or some deficiency of talent; for these only can justify the refusal of one Christian professor to join with another. But is this the case?. Are dissenters less moral than their episcopal brethren? Are the lives of their ministers less exemplary? Far from it. In the ranks of dissenters have been (and are) found thousands of whom it may be said, Would to God that all "bishops and curates" were even as they ;-whose lives have adorned their profession, and added lustre to the Christian name. Dissent therefore does not necessarily suppose impropriety of conduct any more than episcopacy necessarily implies regularity of life. Nor does any inconsistency of character attach to dissenting principles. The same reasons which justified the church of England in her separation from the Roman See, justify dissenters in their separation from the church of England. If you condemn the latter for acting on conscientious scruples, you must equally condemn the former. Even if we admit that on every subject whereon dissenters differ from the episcopal church, this latter has the advantage; still they may be in error without any blame attaching itself to their conduct. This difference of opinion may arise from want of information, or from a defect in the ability to comprehend it. In the first case, instead of withdrawing yourself from them, would it not be better, my Lord, to cultivate their association ? that the means of information being thus afforded, they might be led in the light which you possess, to the profession of the truth. Or if their error arises from a defect in the mental sight, it is rather a disease than a vice-rather a misfortune than a crime: and though caution might prevent you from following their guidance, pity should lead you to join with them as far as possible, in order to save them (if practicable) from the effects of their own blindness. In either case, to separate from them-to evince an antipathy to them-to treat them not as Christians, but as heathen men and publicans, is, allow me to say, my Lord, the very opposite to the spirit and practice of Christianity. I argue thus on the supposition that the church of England is in truth, and the dissenters in error. But will even you affirm that this is the case? It is the fundamental principle of protestantism, that the Word of God alone is infallible; that churches and councils have erred, and may still err from the truth: and that the church of England herself, however pure, is but fallible, and is equally liable to err with the church of Rome, or the church of Constantinople. If this be so, who shall say that she has not already erred? or that amidst the numerous points of opinion whereon she differs from dissenters, there may not be some on which their sentiments (and not hers) are correct. You must surely admit that such a case is possible; nay, considering the fallible judgment of man, that it is probable also: and if so, by refusing to associate with dissenters, you may in many instances reject the association of Christians—as pious-as learned and possessed of a greater portion of truth than yourself. For, my Lord, you need not be told that in the ranks of dissenters have been found some of the greatest ornaments of religion and literature. Watts, Baxter, Henry, &c. are names too well known to need repeating; as are more of the present day, the names of Clarke, Drew, Collier, Morrison, and many others, will receive no additional lustre by being blazoned abroad; for their fame is conjoined, not with worldly honour, but with christianity itself. Would it reflect any discredit, my Lord, either on your piety as a man, or on your honour as a prelate, to associate with men like these? The times, my Lord, when difference in nonessential points of doctrine led to dissention-hatred-a prison, and a grave, are gone by! The spirit of man has received enough of the light of heaven to teach him, that love, wisdom, and charity, and that degree of truth which the mind is fitted to receive, constitute the essentials of religion; and will unite all (if properly followed) in the bond of Christian fellowship here, and in angelic union hereafter. While forms and ceremonies were considered the "all in all" of Christianity, a non-compliance with those ceremonies and forms was properly looked upon, as a want of religion, and naturally led to a separation : but it is not so now. A total change has taken place in the general feeling of the religious world; and it is for yourself, my Lord, to show whether or not that change has taken effect in your own bosom; whether you (with the spirit of the twelfth century) look upon forms, and mere opinions, as every thing; or with the Scriptures, consider love to God, and charity to man, (though perhaps connected with a few erroneous opinions,) as the great bond of Christian fellowship and exertion. I am, my Lord, Your Lordship's obedient Servant, 1. OUR Lord Jesus Christ as to the Divine Human which came down from heaven, was one with the Father before the world was; the assumed Human Essence was also glorified and made Divine whilst in the world, by acts of Divine Power, and thus glorified or Deified, He ascended into heaven. See Luke xxiv. 39, 51. A. C. 2083. 2. As the Godhead is eternal, so is His Order. It not only existed, as the Word, before all worlds, but is the same now. The Order of God is as unchangeable as Himself; and such as it was in the beginning, such it is now, and ever shall be.-It knoweth not the shadow of a turning from Itself. VIII. The Unity and Divinity of the Lord. 1. The Lord is to be considered as one Divine Man, in Whom all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily. Coloss. ii. 9. 2. He and the Father are ONE, united like soul and body in man. 3. The Father is still the unknowable Esse and Love; and the Son the Word,-the Divine Person, and manifested Form of the Father; or, the Image of the invisible God. Coloss. i. 15. 4. The Father and the Son are ONE, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh; but by the taking of the manhood into God. (Athanasian Creed.) 5. He is the Alpha of all life, the Beginning of all existence; and the First of all beings, forms, and powers. See Rev. i. 11. 6. He is our God, and we are His people. Rev. xxi. 7. 7. He is God over all, blessed for ever more. Rom. ix. 5. 8. In the Son of God that existed before all worlds, all perfection and orders of love and wisdom originally existed, because the Son, or first Birth and Manifestation of the Father. 9. The mind of man is the mirror of the incomprehensible Divinity. 10. There is but One Lord, Who is omnipresent in the souls of all; but as is the recipient, such is the reception of Him and His wisdom; and as is the reception, such only can be the manifestations or productions. |