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The Clergyman's advice to his Parishioners.

with regard to his house, his wife, his servants, and his goods; that is, are not to covet what is another's, not so to desire it as to use any unlawful means for the attainment of it.

This is the substance of the moral law, given of old to the Jews; and renewed, explained and improved by Christ, for the use and practice of the whole Christian world.

But, besides the moral law contained in the ten commandments, ye are obliged, as Christians, to obey those positive laws which our blessed Saviour hath been pleased to add to them; and which do therefore more peculiarly belong to your holy profession. These are the commands by which He hath appointed two sacraments to be received in His Church; namely, baptism and the Lord's supper. The former (which hath been already explained) is the dipping in, or sprinkling with water, at the time of your admission into Christ's Church. The latter is the eating bread and drinking wine (as often as ye have opportunity) in communion with your fellow members of the Church, to preserve thereby a memorial of Christ's death, until His rising to judgment. And these ye are to look upon hot as empty ceremonies, or as mere emblems of something else signified thereby; for our blessed Saviour has promised, that the receiving of his sacraments shall be accompanied by His especial. grace, whensoever it is done faithfully and with a sincere and penitent heart; that, as your bodies are sprinkled and cleansed with water, so shall your sins be washed away, and your souls purified by His Holy Spirit; and that, as by breaking bread and pouring out wine ye do fitly represent His body broken and His blood shed upon the cross, so shall ye thereby ensure to yourselves the benefits of His death, which ye so thankfully commemorate; and, as your bodies are strengthened and refreshed by the bread and wine, so shall your souls be comforted, and your Christian graces quickened and revived. As ye have been already baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, let me exhort you not to lose the benefit of one sacrament by a neglect of the other. For, be assured, that they are both equally necessary to your salvation. If ye do habitually absent yourselves from the Lord's supper, it will but little avail you that ye have been admitted into his Church by baptism. It will not then be uncharitable to think of you, that ye would have neglected baptism, in like manner, had it been left to your own choice whether ye would be baptized. For the same faith and the same repentance, and purposes of a good life, which are required of you to prepare for baptism, are as necessary for the worthy receiving of the Lord's supper. And, if ye refuse to qualify yourselves for this, it may well be supposed that neither would ye have qualified yourselves for that. So that, if no person had brought you to baptism when ye were infants, and had undertaken that ye should fulfil the conditions of it, it is probable ye might and would have died unbaptized. Examine yourselves thoroughly, and see that ye are perfectly sincere in this great matter. For, if ye deceive yourselves herein, nothing can be of more fatal consequence to your souls. Convince yourselves and the world that ye heartily embrace the terms of your baptism, by fulfilling the terms in a frequent receiving of the communion of Christ's body and blood. And let me earnestly advise you to enter upon this necessary duty now, in your younger years, as soon as ye have informed yourselves of what is required from those who come to the Lord's table. For it is found by experience, that they who absent themselves from it whilst they are young, are not brought to it without great difficulty when they are advanced in years. Some are discouraged by the increasing burthen of their sins; and others merely by the force of an evil habit, continue in a neglect of this important and necessary duty. But, if ye begin early to appear at the Lord's table, ye will escape both these delusions: Ye will neither be terrified by your guilt, which, as yet, it is to be hoped, is not very great; neither will ye be seduced by any evil custom, which ye have taken care to prevent. What is required of those who come to the sacrament of the Lord's supper your prayer books will instruct you; it being clearly and plainly expressed in the exhortation before the communion office. "Repent ye truly of your sins past: Have a lively and stedfast faith in Christ our "Saviour: Amend your lives: Be in perfect charity with all men: And, above all, give most hearty thanks to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, for the redemption of the world by the death and

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Ecclesiastical terms explained.

"passion of our Saviour Christ: so shall ye be meet partakers of those holy inysteries," Ye may observe, that, in these words, there is nothing enjoin ed you but what every Christian, at all times, is obliged to perform. When, therefore, this is called a preparation for the worthy receiving of the Lord's supper, nothing more is meant by it than that, upon this occasion more particularly, ye should examine yourselves whether ye do truly and faithfully perform, what it is always your duty to do. If ye do this, rejoice, and persevere. If ye do not, repent, and resolve (by God's grace) to reform. There is no new task laid upon you (as some people are apt to imagine) in preparing yourselves for the holy sacrament of the Lord's supper; ye are only obliged to inquire into the state of your souls, and see whether your belief and practice is such as becometh Christians. And can this be done too often? Can it be safely put off from time to time? Will not your sins daily increase upon you": and will they not increase the faster, because ye neglect the grace of God offered to you in this sacrament? And will not this neglect add to the number of your sins? Will they not, many of them, when thus increased, escape your memory, and therefore not be particularly repented of? May ye not be cut off in the midst of them, or disabled by sickness from recollecting them? Surely, no excuse can avail you, if these things are duly considered. I charge you therefore, as ye hope for eternal salvation, thankfully to embrace every opportunity of receiving the sacrament of Christ's body and blood. Judge yourselves, that ye be not judged of the Lord. Draw near with faith; and receive these pledges of the love of your Redeemer to your comfort. Offer to Almighty God this your sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving: Yourselves also, your souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto Him; humbly beseeching Hum, that, as ye are partakers of His holy communion, ye may be filled with His grace and heavenly benediction. So shall ye be conducted in safety by His holy spirit, through the snares and temptations of this mortal life: so shall ye fully know, diligently bear in mind, and sincerely practise every Christian duty; so shall the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. [To be continued.]

SOME ECCLESIASTICAL TERMS EXPLAINED, BY WAY OF QUESTION AND ANSWER. [CONTINUED.]

Q. What is Easter-Day?

4. The day of our Saviour's resurrection from the dead.

Q. Why is it called Easter ?.

4. The Saxons had a yearly feast about this time, which they called Easter: and when they embraced Christianity, they called this, the Christian Easter: Q. What is Rogation-Sunday?

A. It is a day so called because Rogations or Litanies in the primitive Church were used at this time of the year for a blessing on the fruits of the earth, and to avert the sources of pestilence and war.

Q. What is Holy-Thursday?

A. The feast of our Saviour's ascension into heaven.

Q. What is Whit-Sunday?

4. The commemoration of the descent of the Holy Ghost.

Q. Why is it called Whit-Sunday?

A. Because this was antiently the solemn time of baptizing those who were prepared for it who were immediately clothed with white garments, as tokens of their admittance into the kingdom of light.

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Q. Why is the state of the gospel culled the kingdom of light?

4. Because it is a state of divine knowledge, purity, and joy; under the government of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of light.

Q. Why is this feast of the descent of the Holy Ghost sometimes called the

Christian pentecost?

4. Because it is pentecost, (that is) fifty days from our Saviour's resurrection.

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Of the Thursday before Easter.

Q. What is Trinity-Sunday?

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A. The commemoration of the mystery of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Trinity of persons in an indivisible unity of essence; and their joint work of creation-preservation and redemption. There are THREE that bear record in heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY GHOST, and these THREE are ONE. [To be continued.]

OF THE PASSION WEEK.

As the Fasting during the time of Lent was appointed in imitation of our

Saviour's Fasting, so the one in Passion Week may be considered as appointed to commemorate his Sufferings and Passion, which were then completed. Some consider it, as only a continuation of the same Fast, but kept in a stricter degree. This was called The Great Week, on account of the important transactions it witnessed, and the great effects derived to us from them; and The Holy Week, from the devout exercises in which Christians employed themselves upon this occasion. Some persons are said to have fasted the whole of this week, from Monday morning to cock-crowing on the Sunday morning, at which time our Saviour was supposed to have risen. There are several constitutions of Emperors, to prohibit all law proceedings during this week.

The Church of England has made provision for exercising the devotion of her members in public, by rehearsing, in the Lessons, Epistles, and Gospels, most of those portions of Scripture, that relate to the occasion of this week's commemoration.

The same Collect that is used on the Sunday before, is appointed to be used on the four days following, till Good Friday.

Our Reformers did not much confine themselves to the Gospels appointed for this week in the ancient Offices; but thought it would be most useful, to read all the accounts of our Saviour's Passion, given by the four Evangelists, as they stand in order. St. Matthew's account is, accordingly, appointed for Sunday; chap. 26th for the second Lesson, and 27th for the Gospel. St. Mark's account is read on Monday and Tuesday. St. Luke's on Wednesday and Thursday. On Good Friday is John 18th for the second Lesson, and 19th for the Gospel.

The Epistles now appointed were thought somewhat more suitable, than those in the older Offices.

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OF THE THURSDAY BEFORE EASTER.

N this day did our Saviour give commandment to his Apostles, to commemorate the Sacrament of his Supper, which he this day instituted, after the celebration of the Passover; hence this day is called Dies Mandati, thence Mandate, or Maundy-Thursday; though some think it is so called, from that new commandment, which he gave them, to love one another, as is recorded in the second Lesson for the Morning Service.

The Gospel for this day is peculiarly proper to the time, as it treats of our Saviour's Fassion. The Epistle contains an account of the institution of the Lord's Supper; the constant celebration of which, both in the Morning and Evening, after supper (as was the practice among the early Christians, in memory of its being first instituted at that time) rendered that portion of Scripture very suitable to the day.

On this day, the Penitents, that were put out of the Church on Ash Wednesday, were received into it again; partly, that they might be partakers of the Holy Communion, and partly in memory of our Lord being on this day apprehended and bound, in order, by his sufferings, to work our deliverance and freedom. The form of reconciling Penitents was this: the Bishop went out to the doors of the Church, where the Penitents lay prostrate on the earth; and thrice, in the name of Christ, called them, Come, come, come, ye children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord; then, after he had prayed for, and admonished them, he reconciled them, and brought them into the Church. The Penitents, thus received into the bosom of the Church, trimmed their heads and beards; and, laying off their penitential weeds, reclothed themselves in decent apparel, [To be continued ]

Popery Revived.

POPERY REVIVED.

had

If was the glory and pride of our ancestors, that they had broken the shackles of private opinion, and the unmolested toleration of conscientious worship. The triumphal song of the Protestants for many years after the reformation, consisted in deprecating those slavish wrongs they had suffered in their spiritual captivity, and extolling that glorious liberty with which Christ had again made them free. The court of inquisition, the supernumerary rites and ordinances established in the Romish Church, unprecedented by the primitive Christians and unwarranted in the scriptures, were looked upon as so many instruments of cruelty and oppression, designed to defraud men of their wealth and enslave their understandings; while the Pope was thought but too mercifully treated, when mentioned in the vilest terms that ingenuity could invent or language express. Antichrist, the Beast, and the Harlot, were, in the Protestant vocabulary, among his familiar titles.

The faith and doctrine of that Church were still more odious than their discipline. The sale of pardons and indulgencies, and the belief in works of supererogation, were reckoned among those damnable heresies, which St. Paul had so circumstantially foretold.

What would those zealous reformers have thought, however, could they have foreseen the apostacy that was afterwards to arise in their own family, and the exchange that was to be made of the free and tolerant modes of faith and discipline, which they had labored to establish, for those arbitrary and superstitious principles which they had so violently opposed. What had been the sensations of Luther, Calvin, Zuingle and Knox, could they have known that a considerable part of those nurselings whom they had weaned from the old strumpet (as they stiled the Church of Rome) and trained up to the exercise of religious liberty, would, notwithstanding their guardian care, grow up into harlots themselves, and equal their mother in her spiritual abominations. Yet such is the truth; and no reproachful name is more truly characteristic of the Romish Church, than the mother of harlots.

To trace the likeness of the mother in the features of her children, through all the diversity of shades, grimaces and distortions, which are common to them all, is more than can be expected in the compass of this speculation; but to exhibit some of the more ostensible traits of similitude, between her and one of her daughters (familiarly known in this country) is humbly attempted in the following comparison.

The Pope is supposed to have a supreme power in the management of al the spiritual concerns of the Church. His opinion is thought infallible in the interpretation of God's word;-his right of annulling, altering, or establishing articles of faith, is deemed unquestionable; and he is allowed the preJogative of promoting or disposing, at his sovereign pleasure, any officer or minister in Christ's Church.

A similar power in all these things is likewise claimed by that branch of the Church, which assumes Papal jurisdiction in this country. The mode of administration in these two hierarchies, however, is essentially different. In the former, the supreme power is concentrated in one person; in the latter, it is diffused among the whole community. How this change crept in, it is not easily determined; unless it be from the perversion of this political maxim-" Vox Populi est Vox Dei,"--which would seem to give the whole mass of the people a better pretence than an individual, to arrogate the authority of God.

The power of the people in the interpretation of scripture is severely felt by all those who preach and offer to expound it before them; who are not unfre quently called before the popular tribunals, to answer for their heterodox opinions. This usually terminates in a public censure, and the preacher is either deposed or recants his errors. Articles of faith are framed by the people, who reserve to themselves the privilege of further altering or amending them, at their discretion. They found platforms for the regulation and government of the Church, and propose covenants between man and his maker. They, like his holiness lay claim to the keys of the kingdom of heaven, declare the conditions on which man shall be restored to the favour of God, and specify the quantity of faith and holiness that shall entitle him to Church-communion and

Objections to the necessity of being in the Church refuted, &c.

other means of salvation. The decision of these questions, as might be expect→ ed, occasions much altercation and dispute in the popular assemblies; but as the will of the majority must rule, the matter is eventually determined by vote. And as the several congregations of the people act independently of each other, it is in no wise strange that they cannot all be brought into a system of uniformity. Access to the kingdom of heaven is rendered more or less intricate or plain, contracted or wide, as the various opinions or caprice of the people prevails.

Public opinion is not only various but subject to change; hence any mode of faith which has once been adopted, becomes afterwards liable to exceptions. When the conditions of a religious covenant, therefore, become generally obnoxious to the people, they are convened for the purpose of altering it according to the prevailing taste. This is a stretch of power, hardly equalled by the Pope of Rome; for it seems indeed unwarrantable, to alter the conditions of a covenant or agreement between God and man, without the consent of both contracting parties.

In places where the terms of the adopted covenant are rigourous and severe, it is usual to meet the wishes of the grieved party, by engaging on the part of God, that he will compound the matter with them, and accept their com pliance with some of the duties he has enjoined, for which they are to receive some share of his favours, particularly the privilege of baptism. This is called the half-way-covenant. Such a kind of barter is not unlike the practice of the Pope, in granting indulgences.

Should any one, after remaining a while in this state of imperfect obedience, become willing to acknowledge the whole covenant, he is translated by the people, from this court of the Gentiles into the body of the Church, and entitled to all its privileges. This ceremony may well be compared to the beatification of a saint.

The power of the people in superintending the clergy is equal to that of the Pope. By their consent and approbation, a minister is ordained; by their accusation and authority, he is deposed. The detail of the business, it is true, is performed by some of the neighbouring clergy; yet they must be selected by the people and can pretend to no authority for their sacerdotal character, but what was originally derived from the people. These creatures of the populace are consequently dependent upon their sovereigns, in like manner as the cardinals, legates, and other subordinate clergy are dependent upon the Pope. So far it must be confessed, the daughter has equalled, if not superceded the mother, in domineering over God's heritage; and in arrogating greater authority in the Christian Church, than was ever delgated to mortal man. Some of their ceremonials and articles of faith remain to be considered and com pared.-[Fo be continued.] M. C.

FOR THE CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE..

OBJECTIONS TO THE NECESSITY OF BEING IN THE
CHURCH REFUTED, &c.

Messrs. Editors,

EING a constant reader of your Magazine, I cannot but express my satis numbers a writer has decidedly proved, from scripture and reason, the divine constitution of the Church: viz. that it is the spiritual ark; and that it is the indispensable duty of all those who desire to be saved to enter into the Church. I wish to enforce this primitive faith, remove some objections and explain the ways and means of being added to the Church.-1st. It is objected by many in this novel age, "there is no necessity of being in the Church, or at least, there is no necessity of receiving the sacraments of the Church, we may be saved, as well without them, as with them." In answer to this, I would ask the objector:

Would Adam have fallen, if he had not eat of the forbidden fruit? Would Abel's sacrifice have been accepted, if he had not shed blood? Would Noah, have been called righteous before God, if he had not built the ark accordingte the divine command? Or would he, and his family have been saved, if they bad

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