Still less is it my wish to say any thing which may bear upon that alliance between church and state, from whence is derived or rather by which is secured, that portion which the former inherits of wealth and of worldly honour; and which may be suspected to have caused much of the jealousy, to which she has been exposed. If it should be necessary to touch upon it, I shall not forbear, but it will be my wish to steer clear of any thing like formal discussion on that head. The appeal which I shall make, I would wish to be directed exclusively to your consciences, as followers of Christ and servants of God. I would have you consider the question not as it may affect any temporal interests of your own, or of the civil community to which you belong; but as it may concern your eternal, and spiritual welfare. I could wish this, not only because of the infinitely greater importance which belongs to heavenly things; not only because this is, and ought to be, the ultimate scope and end of all that we say in this place; but also because I am persuaded (and it is a persuasion in which I shall be joined by every considerate man, more especially at this time, if he will observe the striking characters, in which the judgments of God are displaying themselves throughout Europe) I am persuaded, I say,

that it is only by striving to conciliate the divine favour, by keeping the commandments. that we can hope to obtain any tolerable pros pect, of even worldly happiness and prosperity. In this, as in all other cases, that will be found to be true, which our blessed Lord has declared; "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his 'righteousness, and all these things shall be "added unto you*."

SERMON II.

GAL. V. 12.

I would they were even cut off that trouble you.

WHATEVER may be the precise and appropriate meaning of these words as used by St. Paul in this place, it will not be denied me, that, in` whatever way taken, they convey a most marked and severe censure upon the persons of whom they were spoken. Indeed if any doubt could remain upon the subject, it would be taken away by only referring to the paragraph almost immediately preceding. "He that troubleth "you," says the apostle, "shall bear his judg"ment, whosoever he be," which is a denunciation of the most severe nature, whether the word there employed be taken to relate to a condemnation, or punishment in this world,

or to the judgment of that which is to come. It cannot be disputed therefore that the apostle in this case reprobated and condemned, in almost as strong terms as can be devised, the persons whom he found occasioning and exciting divisions in the churches of Galatia, We have here then, upon the first view of the thing, the deliberate sentence of a teacher confessedly inspired by the Holy Ghost, declaring, in that particular instance at least, the guilt that attaches to schism, and that it is a sin of no common magnitude. If we find moreover, as we certainly shall upon due examination, that it is not only in this place, but also in the rest, I believe I may say in all, of his epistles that St. Paul holds the same language: if we find, further, that it is the language not of St. Paul only but of every other individual among the apostles, who has left us any memorial of his sentiments in writing: we shall be led to wonder where it is that men have discovered. the authority upon which they justify, or recommend the holding of a variety of opinions in the church; or from whence it is that they have. conceived that such a diversity, whether of discipline or of doctrine, was acceptable to God. To hear the arguments which are ad duced by some of the advocates of non-conformity, one might be led to suppose that, when our Lord spoke of his bringing division

upon the earth, he intended that it should be taken, not as an accidental circumstance arising out of the infirmity and wickedness of man, not as, what it is in reality, an obstacle, and a great one to the propagation of the gospel; but as if it had been a natural, and an approved consequence of his labours, one of the means originally devised by God for the furtherance and advancement of his glory. We have even been told to look at the infinite modifications of matter, and to observe how surprisingly they differ from each other; and we have been asked, whether God must not have intended that there should be the same variety in the moral as in the physical world. An argument this which, if pursued to the utmost, would prove that because the earth is subject to storms and to tempests, so the human mind ought to be the sport of passion; which would make a change of temper, as natural and as proper, as the change of seasons and which would undoubtedly require a heaven of a very different sort from that which is in reality set before us. These are among the fancies in which men choose to indulge rather than look into the source of all wisdom. If they would only consult the scriptures, what, I repeat it, would they see in them? What, but every word and every act directed to bring us to that