This is that ark of Noah, in which were preserved beasts clean and unclean; this is that great house, in which there are not only vessels of gold, and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honour, and some to dishonour. There are many called, of all which the Church consisteth; but there are few chosen of those which are called, and thereby within the Church. I conclude, therefore, as the ancient Catholics did against the Donatists, that within the Church, in the public profession and external communion thereof, are contained persons truly good and sanctified, and hereafter saved; and together with them other persons void of all saving grace, and hereafter to be damned; and that Church containing these of both kinds, may well be called holy, as St. Matthew called Jerusalem the holy city, even at that time when our Saviour did but begin to preach, when we know that there was in that city a general corruption in manners and worship.

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"Of those promiscuously contained in the Church, such as are void of all saving grace while they live, and communicate with the rest of the Church, and when they pass out of this life, die in their sins, and remain under the eternal wrath of God; as they were not in their persons holy while they lived, so are they no way of the Church after their death, neither as members of it, nor contained in it. Through their own demerit they fall short of the glory unto which they were called, and being by death separated from the external communion of the Church, and having no true internal communion with the members and the head thereof, are totally and finally cut off from the Church of Christ. On the contrary, such as are efficiently called, justified, and sanctified, while they live, are truly holy, and when they die, are perfectly holy; nor are they by their death separated from the Church, but remain united still by virtue of that internal union by which they were before conjoined both to the members and the head. As, therefore, the Church is truly holy, not only by an holiness of institution, but also by a personal sanctity in reference to these saints while they live, so is it also perfectly holy in relation to the same saints glorified in heaven. And at the end of the world, when all the wicked shall be turned into hell, and consequently all cut off from the communion of the Church, when the members of the Church remaining being perfectly sanctified,

shall be eternally glorified, then shall the whole Church be truly and perfectly holy.

"Then shall that be completely fulfilled, that Christ shall present unto himself a glorious Church, which shall be holy, and without blemish. Not that there are two Churches of Christ; one, in which good and bad are mingled together; another, in which there are good alone; one, in which the saints are imperfectly holy; another, in which they are perfectly such; but one and the same Church, in relation to different times, admitteth or not admitteth the permixtion of the wicked, or the imperfection of the godly. To conclude, the Church of God is universally holy in respect of all, by institutions and administrations of sanctity; the same is further, yet at the same time perfectly holy, in reference to the saints departed, and admitted to the presence of God; and the same Church shall hereafter be most completely holy in the world to come, when all the members actually belonging to it shall be at once perfected in holiness, and completed in happiness"."

Much may be said respecting the Church and its members individually; but it is a chance if any thing be said more to the purpose than what has been now quoted. It answers the questioning spirit, and is in itself unanswerable. Whoever fall out by the way, and lose their election, the fault is all their own. He that purchased to Himself an universal Church, by the precious blood of His dear Son, willed the salvation of all men to be set forth, (as it is in the first Ember Prayer,) through Jesus Christ our Lord. It was with the weaker capacities of the creature in view, nowise forgetful of mortal man's transgression, that the poet sang,

"And though these sparks were almost quench'd with sin,
Yet they whom that Just One hath justified,

Have them increased with heavenly light within,

And, like the widow's oil, still multiply'd "."

To contemplate the Church aright, we must look upon it, though immarcessible as amaranth, subject nevertheless to eclipse, so that faithless and unbelieving men might consider the 6 Pearson on the Creed. Article ix. "The Holy Catholic Church." Vol. i. p. 518.

7 Sir John Davies. "Immortality of the Soul."

light darkened in the midst thereof. And such periods will occur more or less frequently, as the members of that body, of which Christ is the head, shall need the more or the less to be purified and cleansed. Sometimes the furnace of affliction may be for trial, but oftener, it is to be feared, for correction. The humbler members of that Church to which we belong-a part of the Holy Catholic Church throughout all the world-will most readily accede to this. That it has never failed, is because of our Redeemer's promise; that it has often been shorn of its beams, and marred of its original and perfect beauty, is of man's infirmity :

"And if physitians in their art can see

In each disease there is some sparke divine,
Much more let us the name of God confesse
In all these sufferings of our guiltinesse "."

Again, when we look to the ruder shocks which the Church meets with in its opposition to the world, we may be sure it is all for good. Though the mountain of the Lord's house shake at the tempest of the same, moral, like natural tempests, in the end, purify and refine. Winds and storms fulfil the Almighty's word; and the volcano, by giving vent to combustible matter, does the same; thus, as it has been said, preventing the world from being burnt up before its time.

What has been here said applies to the Church at large; but as regards that pure (as we hope) and apostolical branch of it, established in this kingdom, the storm has at different times fallen upon it, and yet, by the blessing of God, it has revived and lifted up her head, fair as the rose of Sharon, and beautiful as the lily of the valleys. Amongst other times of danger and distress, one might mention those of the Great Rebellion, and the Revolution; -more recently that atheistic burst at the end of the last century, and the shock received some ten or twelve years ago, when all abettors of mischief rejoiced, and they had reason to hope that what is called the Establishment, would fall to the ground, and become the prey of the spoiler. On the last occasion there were many thoughtful and wise men who deemed it next to impossible that we could weather the storm; but, at the same time, they

8 Lord Brooke. "A Treatise of Warres."

were not slow to deliver their opinion, that if the present order of affairs ecclesiastical were overturned, many now living would see it restored. Meanwhile the members must suffer; and it was recollected that there had been much inertness, much supineness, much indifference! Church preferment had been made a mere political engine of; and many were thrust into her benefices with little other intent than to "eat a piece of bread." Nay more, good men scrutinized their own doings, and sifted their own hearts, and confessed then, as they will for ever, that they had been unworthy and unprofitable servants, saying, They made me keeper of the vineyard; but mine own vineyard have I not kept!

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The result of all this, by God's mercy, is what we now see. Individuals have suffered, and are impoverished; the revenues of the Church are curtailed, and are dispensed by other hands than they ought to be; but the Church itself suffers no damage. It rises under the pressure from without; it becomes more and more aware of its own strength and vitality: the little one becomes a thousand; the scant remnant is increased, like the widow's cruse of oil, and handful of meal. The grace of God, it may seem, and we may hope, is proportionably bestowed upon us, as upon the Churches of Macedonia, of which St. Paul tells, How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality 1o. That saying of the prophet is once more verified in us: I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence: in their affliction they will seek me early1. And all this is come to pass. The stagnant waters have been moved, and the pestilence averted. New churches are springing up on every side. The great societies for the dissemination of Christian knowledge are better supported. The education of the people is made a matter of conscience. The Propagation of the Gospel is looked upon as a real thing; and when the State, by a measure as impolitic as wicked, gave up the clergy reserves in Canada ', the Church of this land put herself in the gap, and did what she could in the

9 Solomon's Song, i. 6.

10 2 Cor. viii. 2.

1 Hosea v. 15.

2 It will be seen by the Preface that these pages were written some years ago. In this day's" Times," April 29, 1853, appears the following: "The Canada Clergy Reserves' Bill was read a third time and passed, after some opposition from the Earl of WICKLOW."

present distress. Doubtless it is not expedient for the Church to boast-yea, rather to mourn, for her short-comings and backwardness—but it is expedient, it is her bounden duty, to acknowledge the hand of God in all this!

As

But is it intended to be said that the clergy of the Establishment had forgotten their duties to God and man-their high position, and their ordination vows? Is such a reproach as this to be cast on the labourers in the Lord's vineyard? and can it be truthfully averred that, some twelve or fourteen years ago, the ministrations of the sanctuary were asleep? Certainly not. was stated, there had been great remissness in many quarters, and the heavenly functions, as well as the awful and tremendous privilege of rightly and duly administering the sacraments, had been lightly esteemed by the unworthy. But there was a remnant according to the election of grace, and a great one too. The world had its own, but so had the Church too, and it was even in accordance with that ancient answer of God unto Elias: "I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal3."

It is indeed a remarkable fact, that when, but a few years ago, such a hue and cry was raised against the Church and the ministry in this land, the whole body had been bestirring itself, and there was more energy and more determination to good than had been for years. There was likewise more learning amongst her sons, and more sterling divinity, than had been for a century. Something of what Lord Clarendon states to have been the case before the breaking out of the Great Rebellion was the case now. "The Church was flourishing with learned and extraordinary men, and (which other times had in some degree wanted) supplied with oil to feed those lamps." True, we had not that vast learning, or those extraordinary talents, but our Church was a seminary in which religious and useful learning was on the increase. And besides, it was an exception when the clergy did not love sermons as well as preach them, so that the parallel is again, in a sort, realized. "In those reproached, condemned times, there was not one Churchman, in any degree of favour or acceptance, (and this the inquisition that hath been since made upon them,

3 Rom. xi. 4.