are not subjected to death for your profession of faith in Christ. You do not wish that lay-Christians were now persecuted. And if you do not, then you are not justified in undervaluing our present Bishops, on the ground that their office now is one of distinction, and free from personal danger.*

I believe, however, there is no office of distinction which is not accompanied by its peculiar penalties. I have lived long enough to be certain that a conscientious Bishop is far from being exempt from this general rule. The very feeling of a heavy responsibility is a weight upon the spirits. If you were to read the Address of the excellent Archbishop Secker to his clergy, in which he dwells upon the pressure of episcopal responsibility;-if you were to read this without sympathising with him, I should conclude you were sadly destitute of all moral and spiritual feeling.†

Similar sneers are often heard at rich endowments held by the lower clergy. Now, if Church endowments were but one-twentieth of their value, they would hold out just the same allurement to avarice and ambition; only, to a lower class of men. There would be a struggle, (as there is now for the office of Sexton,) of men saying, "put me, I pray thee, into one of the Priest's offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.”

"Non sunt, experto credite, non sunt tanti vel honores vel reditus amplissimi ecclesiasticis destinati, ut a quopiam enixe cupiantur. Multum habent solicitudinis, non parum forsan invidiæ; veræ delectationis nihil, nisi quoties occurrit, occurrit autem raro insignis, benefaciendi occasio.”—Oratio Synodalis.

Shall I refer you to the experience of our own admirable Bishop Bedell, persecuted and maligned by those who should have supported him ;* or to Archbishop Tillotson, whose sober good sense could not overcome the spirit of malignity; or again, to him who for depth of devotional feelings, and singleness and purity of mind, was never exceeded by any human being the venerated Archbishop Leighton? These men,— among the lights of our Church,—were in their own day censured with bitterness, and maligned; their motives misrepresented, and their conduct held up to scorn and execration. We now look back with astonishment upon the blindness of their contemporaries; we think if we had lived in their days, we should have appreciated duly their wisdom and integrity, and spiritual singleness of mind. But we cannot be sure of this. The Scribes and Pharisees of our Saviour's days had the same impression concerning themselves. "Ye build" (said our Saviour to them) "the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." yet these men did "fill up the measure of their fathers," and more than follow the very example which they censured. The fact is, my brethren,

And

* See Burnet's Life of Bishop Bedell. † Mat. xxiii. 29.

while we can always look back with perfect coolness, to distant ages, we too frequently are ourselves slaves to all the excitements and depraved feelings of the times in which we happen to live.

But I do not wish to damp the spirits of that member of our Church who is this day to be invested with the cares and the duties of the Episcopal office. I will not therefore dwell on the responsibility which, I have no doubt, he already feels. Rather let me direct words of hope to him, his fellow-labourers.

and to you,

We believe the promise of Christ that his

Church shall not cease to exist.

engagement He has made,

We believe the Lo, I am with you

alway, even to the end of the world." It is for us to prove to the world at large, that we do believe this, by striving to act in full conformity with his directions.

Is it your opinion that clouds are gathering in the horizon of the Church of Christ, or of that branch of it to which we belong? This then is the very time to display our faith; and we display it just so far as we employ those means which He authorizes for the advancement of his cause; carefully abstaining from such as He has prohibited, though to the human eye they may present a brighter prospect of success. If you really rely on his promises, you will trust that his means-those which He has commissioned you to use, will be

finally triumphant.

Remember, it is no great proof of faith to perceive that the cause of Christ is advancing, when his Church is actually and visibly making progress. It is when his enemies have risen up against Him, that you have the best opportunity for manifesting your fidelity. It is not when the multitude are exclaiming "Hosanna to the Highest, blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord," that the steadfastness of your adherence is tried; but it is when your ears are assailed by the cry of "Let Him be crucified." To come to meet your Master when he is walking on firm land, demands no sacrifice of human feeling, and may be the act of one who has little or no confidence in his sustaining power. But to come at his call, treading on the waters, and on the waters of a troubled sea, that is faith. If when we perceive the waves roaring, we yield to fear, we shall indeed sink; but if any of you be thus tempted, pray to Him in secret for help, and that He will stretch out his unseen hand and say, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt," and He will reanimate your drooping confidence, and enable you to walk firmly amidst surrounding dangers.

And it is in times of danger especially, that it behoves us, each to perform that particular service which is appointed for him. Most of us are disposed to think chiefly of those duties which belong to others. And most especially we are apt to

paint to our imaginations vividly, the great things which might be effected for the cause of Christ, by those in a higher station than ourselves; we are ready to censure their failings, and to point with our finger to the consequences of their neglect. But we should remember that to enable us to discover or to think we discover the faults and deficiencies of others, corrupt human feelings are perfectly sufficient. Faith, on the contrary, is displayed by our own persevering assiduity, each in the discharge of his own proper duties. It is not by our asking, "Lord, what shall this man do?" that we shew our love to Christ, but by our obedience to his command "follow thou me;" in the humble trust that "in due season we shall reap if we faint not."

However unsuccessful, or seemingly unsuccessful, our efforts as regards others, the effort is, itself, as far as we are concerned, accepted for the deed. But in truth, God only knows what good may be effected even by the very meanest among us. It was to the slave the Apostle directed the exhortation to "adorn the doctrine of his God and Saviour;" to the slave-a meaner member of society than, thank Heaven, exists among ourselves; to such a man the apostle urges-not merely that he might obey Christ, but that he might adorn his cause. And which of us, there

*Titus, ii. 10.