Judge of doctrine, by whose decision all controversies are to be tried and determined. If it had been His design to establish any such authority, surely St. Paul, or St. Peter, or St. John, would have been the first persons to be invested with it; whereas these holy men uniformly condescend to prove their assertions by reference to the Old Testament, or by "commending themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God"—thus refusing to exempt their hearers from the grave responsibility of private judgment, which indeed is a part of the probation of the human soul. Do not, then, I beseech you, be led away by any of the plausible, but utterly unsound, pretensions of the Church of Rome. God offers

enough evidence of the true doctrine, to guide every humble and devout soul, and to secure it effectually against any mischievous or serious error. He gives you His own pure and perfect Word, animated by the breath of the Spirit, the only criterion of Truth, the only standard of appeal in controversies. He shows you in your Prayer Books the way in which that Word was understood and interpreted by believers, at an age when the air was still echoing with the voices of His

inspired Apostles. He shows you in the Creeds the grand fundamentals of Faith, on which all Christians are agreed, as distinct from those points on which the judgment of devout men may reasonably differ. Ask no more; and repress all morbid desire to ask for more. Quiet your mind with this amount of evidence. "The Lord is King, be the people never so impatient; He sitteth between the cherubims, be the earth never so unquiet." "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength."

SERMON VII.

The Stability of Personal Religion.

"And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.-EPH. iv. II—15.

OU will remember that I opened my last Sermon by referring to the general unsettlement of Religious

Opinion, characteristic of our times, and to

the anxiety which is felt by a Christian pastor, in parting from his flock, to give them such advice as may tend, under God's blessing, to their stability in the Faith. We spoke last Sunday of the stability of an orthodox belief. And I endeavoured to show that this would be secured by an adherence to the Book of Common Prayer, as conveying the sense put upon Scripture, in controverted points, by the Primitive Church. But alas! there may be orthodoxy without life,-a thorough assent to correct formularies of doctrine without any experiment whatsoever of the power of true religion over the heart. And, therefore, the subject of stability and settlement in the Faith would be most insufficiently treated, did I omit to speak to you of the stability of a gradually but surely developing Religious Life. I know no topic more suitable for a farewell warning, none which I would sooner leave upon your minds as a solemn piece of parting practical advice. God give you grace to receive it in your hearts, and retain it in your memories.

Our text speaks of change and unsettlement, deprecates it, and points to the means of its removal ;-"That we henceforth be no

more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things."

The first observation, which arises upon the passage, is this, that all real stability in the Faith is through growth. How are we to avoid the being "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine?" The 15th verse answers; "By growing up into Christ in all things, while we speak the truth" (it should be rather, hold or maintain the truth) "in love." This "holding the truth" we spoke of in our last Sermon,-it is the holding of the orthodox Faith, as drawn out of the Holy Scriptures by primitive Catholic tradition,-which tradition, as we saw, is embodied in our Prayer Book. But the qualifying words, "in love," are far too important to be passed over without some observation. There can be no growth, but rather a counteraction and stoppage of growth, a dwarfing and stunting of the spiritual life, in maintaining the Truth. in a spirit of controversial bitterness. Even if the Word of God did not say this, the spiritual mind would instinctively feel it to be true. Every one who has ever engaged in con