the ministry of the Apostles, because it was to them, and them only, that the promise in question was made by our Saviour.

And this (I may observe by the way) will lead you to a very rational mode of limiting the time within which miracles were worked in the Church. When all the Apostles were withdrawn from earth, no new persons could be endowed (through the medium of the Church) with the power of working miracles. When the last of the Apostles died, the last of those appointed channels through which miraculous powers were to flow into the possession of the Church was closed.* And when all those upon whom the Apostles had laid their hands were dead, then no further miracles would be worked. Accordingly, while we read of some miracles, after the days of the Apostles, but during the probable life of some of their contemporaries, whose reality is scarcely to be denied, all the asserted miracles of later times bear plainly on them the marks of falsity.

What I have said is sufficient to establish the distinction between that commission which our Church addresses to those called to the Episcopal office, and that special commission which was given to the Apostles only. There are, however, other differences in addition to that just noticed, which,

* See the Encyclop. Metrop., article on Ecclesiastical History.

though less material perhaps, are too instructive to be passed over.

Thus, when the Apostles were directed to "preach the Gospel to every creature," it was added," he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned." Now, you cannot but observe that no such words as these occur in the passage of St. Matthew, which (as we have seen) was designed by our Saviour for his ministers and servants in the subsequent ages of the Church. And a very little reflection will shew you, that, to direct the use of such expressions on the one occasion, and withhold all permission to use them on the other, was exactly suitable to the very distinct circumstances.

The Apostles empowered to work miracles could demand, with force and propriety, an instant acquiescence in the truths they delivered. Those to whom they preached were to be careful indeed to understand what they taught; but when understood it was to be unhesitatingly embraced. They did not join issue on the question whether their preaching seemed to their hearers to be in agreement with God's word,* because their preaching

*The Bereans indeed are commended for searching the Scriptures, (of the Old Testament of course,) in order to try whether those things asserted by the Apostles were as the Apostles represented them. But the motive with which they searched should be regarded. They and the Jews generally had been in the habit of giving a false interpretation to the

was God's word; "God bearing them witness, (that they were his inspired servants,) both with signs and wonders and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost."

Miracles then were their credentials, and when they presented such credentials they had plainly a right to demand that their teaching should be received by all, at their peril. However awful the language was which they were permitted to employ, I will unhesitatingly say, its employment by them was in full accordance with human reason. They came as direct messengers from God, and they brought their credentials in their hands. They asserted that they were commissioned to convey a revelation from God to their fellow-creatures; but it was not to their own assertion that they demanded

Scriptures relating to the Messiah. Now, instead of pertinaciously adhering to their former interpretation, they re-examined the Old Testament under the help of that commentary given by the Apostles; convinced as they were by sensible miracles that the Apostles were messengers from God. The narrative is, first, that "they received the word" (as preached by the Apostles) with all readiness of mind," and then that they proceeded to search the Scriptures. This of course led to the confirmation of their faith; but it as little proceeded from distrust in the inspiration of the Apostles, as we now exhibit when weturn from a passage in St. Paul for instance to some prophecy which he has quoted. We make the reference, not because we distrust his authority, but because we judge it to be his wish and direction that we should examine and study what he refers to.

credence should be attached; they were empowered to prove their commissiom in a manner which left no room for disputation.

But it was not designed by our Lord and Saviour that his ministers in the succeeding ages of his Church should be invested with miraculous powers. And accordingly in his commission to us, He does not direct us to use similar language; which He well knew to be calculated, when unsupported by miracles, to excite feelings very different from those of respect. He promises, indeed, to be with us even to the end of the world; but this promise is addressed to our faith rather than to those we preach to. The assurance is a most gracious relief to us when oppressed with a sense of our heavy responsibilities; but we cannot plead this promise as a ground of conviction to the Heathen whom we would convert; nor can we rest upon it as a reason for your uninquiring submission to our instructions. The commission addressed to us, accordingly, does not authorize us to use the language referred to. The use of it is withheld from us by our Lord and Master, because it has pleased Him to withhold from us the power of proving by sensible miracles, that we have the right to use it.

When we preach to you, my Christian brethren, we must preach to you-not in the manner suitable to the Apostles, who could place before your eyes unquestionable evidences of their authority-but in the manner which is becoming our far humbler

claims. We have to bring before you the evidences of the truth of Christ's religion; the grounds and reasons upon which our own faith is founded. And when you are convinced that the Scriptures are the word of God, we are to expound to you the doctrines which we believe they contain. But so far from demanding your unquestioning acquiescence in what we say, we are bound to state to you, that it is your duty to examine for yourselves, and to compare our expositions with the revealed word. We are commissioned to help you, but not to dictate; to lay before you the truths of God as in our best judgment we collect them, but not to stop the exercise of your own judgments as to the truth or falsity of what we say to you.

*

We are not in short, like the Apostles, peremptorily to claim your assent on the ground that our preaching is "with demonstration of the Spirit and of power." We cannot pretend to represent God as responsible for the instruction we give. We must admit ourselves to be liable to error; or if we thought otherwise of ourselves, still we cannot demand or expect that you should acquiesce in our own assertions of our infallibility, because we are not empowered to exhibit to you sensible proofs of our inspiration, we cannot work miracles. We are not commissioned to convey to you a new revelation; but to help you in the study of

*See Hawkin's Duty of Private Judgment.