+

salem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam,

king of Judah, and they shall kill me and go "again to Rehoboam, king of Judah'." He therefore took counsel, and being the counsel of human wisdom, it is no wonder that it drew both him and his people farther into error. "He "took counsel," it is said, "and made two

calves, and said to his subjects, It is too "much for you to go up to Jerusalem, behold "thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up "out of the land of Egypt*." Here we see the natural progress of schism; how almost of course it leads to that which is false doctrine: in other words how readily it becomes heretical ; how in this particular case it degenerated into idolatry. And it is observable (an observation

5 1 Kings xii. 27. I shall, I hope, be allowed to observe without offence, that the first establishment of Presbyterianism, originated in motives not very dissimilar. Calvin found that episcopacy was unfavourable to republican forms of government. He devised therefore a system of greater parity to suit his political ideas. In the great rebellion it is evident that the adoption of a similar system was made instrumental to the overthrow of monarchy, and it is equally notorious that the preference which Cromwell afterwards gave to the Independents, had for its motive the strengthening of himself in his usurpation.

* 1 Kings xii. 28.

• Perhaps nothing can be imagined more gross than the adoption of this idolatrous mode of worshipping God; for it thus became in all its circumstances the very offence committed by the ancestors of these men before Mount Sinai, and for which they were so

which it may be proper to recollect hereafter) that in this case the offence was not against the first, but against the second commandment; for there is every reason to conclude that the meaning of Jeroboam was that they should worship Jehovah himself under the likeness of these calves. He knew his people, and that they must have something sensible to attract their notice; so that he only debased, by the symbols which he adopted, he did not take away, or at least did not mean to take away, the worship of the true God. This however did not the less become a sin, and a deep one; for "the people

went up to worship before the one, even unto "Dan*." And indeed the sin did not stop here, for we learn in the next verse, that, in that natural course by which men proceed in evil, "He "made an house of high placest," which was another and a distinct innovation upon the estabished worship. Lastly, follows another circumstance which seems to go along, and to have gone along with every schism from that time to this: "He made priests of the lowest of the "people, which were not of the sons of Levit."

The consequence of this was that God cursed this people with such a succession of wicked

severely reproved. Of these men at least we may say, without fear of being contradicted, that they knew that they were acting wrong that they wilfully erred in forsaking the established worship.

1 Kings xii. 30.

+ Ib. 31.

Ib.

kings, as I believe never has been seen in any other age or nation; that the people thus governed, went on deeper and deeper in wickedness; till, at last, the measure of their crimes being full, they were carried away into captivity, from whence they have never returned, nor is any trace or remembrance left of what became of them, or any certain knowledge whether they do or do not any where exist as a body. So signal and so severe was the vengeance which God took upon them for this their wilful and perverse separation from that religious communion which he had instituted for them; so signal, I say, was their punishment, that I know not if a parallel be to be found for it in all history".

True it is that even this state of corruption, and this establishment of idolatry, by authority of the sovereign, did not hinder, but that individuals, though few in number and hardly to be discerned should retain their allegiance to the true God, and serve him with sincerity and uprightness. Nay, he had among them prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, who were particularly distinguished by the wonders which they wrought, as well as the doctrine which they inculcated. It was to Elijah that the Almighty himself declared this: "Yet have I left me seven thousand in Israel all the "knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which "hath not kissed him," 1 Kings xix. 18. and see Rom. xi. 4. To such men undoubtedly it was not imputed as a crime that they did not go up at the stated times to Jerusalem, but this can only form a precedent for those who are under the same constraint, and who are hindered by an overbearing power, from joining in worship with that which is the true and proper church,

Upon this view of things, as far as it has gone, and as far as we trust to the scriptures of the Old Testament, I apprehend that sufficient ground has been laid for concluding, according to what I have said before, first, that a total freedom from church government and external ceremonies is not a state particularly favourable to the increase of religion, but rather the contrary secondly, that where such government, and such ordinances have been established, any attempt to shake them off, whether directed ́ against the persons of the individuals who were at the head of the establishment, or against the authority which they exercised, and the mode of worship itself, has not only not been approved of by God, but has drawn down upon those who presumed so to act, his heavy indignation. And not only this, but we have here an example where God actually himself instituted and established not only a very minute and extensive code of such rites and ordinances, but set apart a particular description of persons to minister in them before him. This too, among that favoured people whom he had chosen out of all the nations, as the people with whom he would dwell, and with whom only the knowledge of him should be preserved. It appears, I say, that from this people, among whom he raised up a succession of holy men and prophets, he required not merely the abstracted

worship of the spirit, but also a rigid adherence. to visible forms and ceremonies. He required it from the body at large; he required it also from every individual. This must, therefore, I conceive, form a strong presumption in favour of adopting a certain degree of ceremony in the institution of any religion. At least it should seem hardly excusable, certainly not justifiable, for any person to separate from the communion of his fellows, united in the same faith, merely because they use ceremonies; as long, at least, as those ceremonies continue to be such as cannot be shewn to be either unlawful in themselves, or leading directly to evil consequences. Yet, you well know, that this was the reason which in later times, was assigued by the great body of the dissenters in this country for their separation from our church. When pressed hard for the grounds of that separation, when it was urged that the use of the surplice, as well as the sign. of the cross in baptism, were adopted simply for the sake of decency and of edification, they persisted in objecting to them, even to the perpetuating of the schism, purely and nakedly upon the ground that there was no express warrant of Christ and his apostles for the use of those particular forms, that they were therefore impositions of men, and that to such impositions they would not submit.

Now, without recurring to that argument