Thither he accordingly took his family, Sunday after Sunday; and deserted, of course, the old parish church, the venerable building in which he and his had received the holy rite of Baptism; in which, as each of them in turn outgrew their infancy, they had heard for the first time the solemn sound of congregational prayer ; and in which those who had arrived at a proper age had frequently received from CHRIST's authorized Ministers, the symbols of His sacred Body and Blood.

It will be seen from what follows, that in making this change. upon such grounds as have been described, John Evans did not understand that he was disobeying the GOD, whom he was trying to serve, and putting a slight upon that SAVIOUR, whose disciple he not only professed himself, but in good earnest desired to be. Yet though he did not enter into this view of the matter; though he knew not that he had shown disrespect to CHRIST, in His Minister; still he felt as though he had not been behaving with perfect respect to the Doctor, whom he loved on his own account, as he had indeed every reason to do. So what with his fear of a rebuke on this ground; a rebuke which he dreaded the more from the mildness of the language in which he knew that it would be clothed; what with the irksomeness of having to avow opinions which must be disagreeable to one whom he so highly respected; and, moreover, the suspicion which he could not help feeling, that in these new ways of his, so different from what he had been used to revere, and so suddenly taken up, he might possibly be wrong; for all these various reasons, he met his Pastor with a downcast and half-guilty look, very different from the open, honest smile with which he had till then, ever greeted the good Clergyman.

Dr. Spencer, however, took no notice of the difference. "Well, John," said he, "I am glad to see you. I was on my way to have a little conversation with you, and should have been sorry to have missed you."

John thought it best to be bold, and come out at once with his defence of himself "I believe, Sir," said he, "that I can guess what it is you were wishing to talk with me about. I have taken a step which I fear, . . . I know, . . . must be displeasing to you, Sir. I trust, however, that in exercising my Christian Liberty in the choice of my spiritual teacher, and joining the meeting instead of going to Church, I shall not seem to have acted from

...

disrespect to you, Sir, who have so long been a good friend to me and mine."

Dr. By no means, John; do not suppose either that I feel personally offended at your conduct, or that I do not regard you with feelings as friendly as ever. But, as to the Christian Liberty you speak of, we perhaps understand that matter rather differently; and it was because I thought you were in some mistake about it, that I was coming to see you to-day. I have missed yourself and family for some Sundays past in Church, and understood you had joined the meeting. Is not this the case?

John. It is, Sir; and, as I have already said, without the slightest notion of showing you disrespect.

Dr. Say no more about that, John; I know you too well to suspect you for a moment of such a feeling as that. Speak to me as to your sincere friend and well-wisher, in perfect candour: and do not fear that I shall be offended at any thing you say, while you tell me fairly your reasons for this change in your conduct.

J.-I am sure, Sir, that in the old Church I never heard any thing from you but what was good; and I never thought, till the other day, that I could pray better in any other words than in those of the Church Service. But there is something so fine in the prayers without book, as they are offered at meeting, and . . .

...

Dr. And something perhaps in the manner and language of the preacher, who preaches there without a book also. But let me ask, had you no other reasons than these, and such as these, for leaving the Church?

J.-None, Sir; but such as these; at least, none that I am aware of.

Dr.-You did not consider that either the Church PrayerBook, or my Sermons, taught doctrines contrary to the great truths revealed in God's Word?

J.-GOD forbid, Sir.

Dr.-You had then, perhaps, some such notion as this; you thought that in the Church you could pray well, but at meeting you could pray rather better?

J.-Just so, Sir.

Dr.-And you thought that

you were doing GoD service, then,

by joining that worship which touched you most?

J.—And, surely, Sir, I was right in that thought, at least.

Dr.-You would have been right, if God had not chosen a Minister for you. In that case perhaps you might have used your Christian Liberty, as you call it, and joined any congregation and worship you pleased. But His having given a clear command alters the case, and makes that which would otherwise have been a matter of indifference, an act of disobedience and sin.

J.—But if I may be so bold as to ask, Sir, when did God give this command, and where is it to be found? I am not so ready with the Bible as learned people, yet I know it in my own way. That was the very thing I heard Mr. Tims, who preaches at the meeting, ask last Sunday. He said, "Where is the Church of England spoken of in the Bible? name chapter and verse where we are bid belong to it." And then he went on to say, that the new heart is every thing, and that we shall not be asked at the last day, whether we were Churchmen or Dissenters, but what the state of our heart is.

Dr.-We shall be asked at the last day whether we have obeyed God's commandments; now, one of those commandments is, that we should belong to the Church, as I will soon show you. But, first, you shall tell me what has been your reason, till lately. for going to Church.

J.-I was born of Church-going parents, and that made me a regular Church-goer in my youth. And when I grew up, I always, at least till the other day, thought that I had the best of reasons for keeping regular to Church. In the first place, the Church was the Law Church; and that of itself would be a reason, even if there were no other, for good subjects keeping to it; and then, I knew it had been in the country many, many years, whereas all the meetings about are (so to say) of yesterday, and in one sense upstarts. And then I had heard from you, Sir, that in former times it had Saints and Martyrs, such as were when our LORD was on earth. And I thought it therefore far more likely to be right, and had a stronger claim on me than any other religion; and especially since I was a pretty regular reader of my Bible, and never found the teaching which I heard at Church different from that which I thus picked up at home.

Dr.-All good reasons as far as they went; but I see that I was right in supposing the chief claim the Church has on all Christians is unknown to you. Our Church is sprung from that

very Church which CHRIST set up at Jerusalem when He came upon earth; and none of the sects have this great gift. It is a

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branch of that Holy Church which CHRIST promised to be with, even to the end of the world." You must surely often have met in the Bible with mention of "the Church;" what did you suppose the word to mean?

J.—I do not know, Sir, that I had any very clear idea what it meant; but I rather thought it meant, all sincere Christians in all parts of the world, to whatever Church or sect they might belong.

Dr. Then it seems you did not understand the word "Church" to signify a body of men, bound by the same laws, acting together, speaking the same thing, attending the same worship, reverencing the same Pastors and Teachers, and receiving at their hands the Sacraments which CHRIST has ordained. Yet it is quite certain that this is what our LORD meant, when He spoke of His Church. He meant a Church such as the Church of England. This will be clear to you from Matt. xviii. 15, 16, 17. In these verses CHRIST speaks of the Church; in the last of them He bids His disciples regard any one who should in certain cases refuse to "hear the Church," as a heathen and a publican; as an opposer of His authority, and an outcast from His sacred fold. Thus it appears the Church He speaks of is not a mere number of good people scattered over the world, who may or may not have communion with each other, (which was your notion of the word) but one public, orderly, visible body, consisting of Ministers and people, such as the Church of England. To be sure, the Church of England happens to have wealth and honour, and that first Church had not; but this is but an accidental difference between them. If the Church of England were to lose its wealth and honour, it would not, could not, thereby cease to be a branch of the true Church; and by comparing the text just given you with Matt. xvi. 18, 19, you will see that it was to this visible Church that the promise was made, that the gates of hell should not prevail against it.

J.—If you would kindly write down these texts for me, I will turn them out of my own Bible, and think over them. There is one thing, however, Sir, which comes into my mind to ask you. Even supposing all Christians ought to join together in one, yet they do not. There are a good many religions among us, and how is a plain unlearned man like me to know which is the real Church spoken of in these passages?

Dr.-The matter is not so difficult as you imagine, even to the most unlearned. The true Church of CHRIST must possess, as I will now show you, certain marks; to which not even a pretence is made by the numerous sects of Dissenters with which our country, from different unfortunate circumstances, abounds. Let me go back to the time when the Gospel was first preached, and converts made by the Apostles. Many of these believers, we find, acknowledged in the Apostles the authority which CHRIST had given them over the flock, and were followers of them even as they were of CHRIST, (1 Cor. xi. 1.) remembering them in all things, and keeping the ordinances which they had delivered to the congregation in each place; and for this conduct the Corinthians received the inspired praise of St. Paul. (ibid. 2.) But there were others, who called themselves Christians, who caused divisions among the brethren, (1 Cor. ii. 18, 19.) forming parties of their own, and setting at nought the Apostolical Authority. To these St. Paul spoke in vain, when he said, "I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment." (1 Cor. i. 10.) They slighted the LORD's accredited Minister, and said that his bodily presence was weak, and his speech contemptible. (2 Cor. x. 10.) Many of the sects which these men formed, fell, as was to be expected, into follies and heresies; but even without reference to this fact, even if we suppose them to have taught the great doctrines of Christianity with the same purity as the Apostles did, could a reasonable man entertain a moment's doubt, granting CHRIST had indeed founded a Church on earth, which that Church was; whether the name of Church belonged to the company of Christians which obeyed His Apostles; or, on the other hand, to any one of the sects which vilified and despised them?

J.-Certainly not; that is, there could be no doubt, as long as the Apostles were alive, that the Christians whom they governed must have made up the true visible Church of CHRIST.

Dr.-But, Jolin, it is plain you see, that there were a great number of sects then as there is now; so that a man, who wished to do his duty, would have to look about him carefully, and would be in danger of doing wrong, if he joined the first body of socalled Christians, which he met with!-a great number of sects,