ceived, then, that men compromise their eternal interests by conforming to that pure and apostolical Church, and that sublime and primitive Liturgy, for which our martyred Reformers were content to sacrifice their lives?

A complete removal of every difference of opinion, in all that relates to the less important doctrines and institutions of a Church, is, under the present constitution of our nature, as we all know, impossible; but a quiet submission to authority, and a peaceful communion with each other, notwithstanding such differences, is not only possible, but our bounden and positive

"can they desire more? To be better or more saved, we "know not what it means. To leave such a commu"nion upon such an account, proceeds from peevish❝ness, uncharitableness, or some ill principle; and is "downright schism, if ever there was schism in the "world. Bring but an honest, sincere, and teachable "mind, and it will find improvement and advantage in "offices and administrations, fuller of spots and ble"mishes far, than they can pretend to find in the Eng❝lish Church; but if the mind be biassed by a party, or "corrupted by designs, if its palate be vitiated, the best "food is coarse and insipid to it." Dr. Hascard, Discourse of Edification; London Cases, p. 463.

duty. "If in any thing ye be otherwise

minded," says St. Paul, "God shall re"veal even this unto you. Nevertheless, "whereto we have already attained, let "us walk by the same rule, let us mind "the same thingy." How else can we testify our love of peace and union, or escape the imputation of that "pride" by which "cometh contention z?" How else can we be fairly said to avoid doubt"ful disputations," and to do nothing "through strife or vainglory b?" By what other course can we evince our claim to those graces so preeminently Christian, so conspicuously classed amongst the "fruits "of the Spirit," gentleness, meekness,

y Philip. iii. 15, 16. "This last clause, let us mind "the same thing, is in the sense of the original, let us "be unanimous, as Bishop Stillingfleet has shewn, (Un"reasonableness of Separation, part 2. section 19;) and "he has at the same place largely shewn, that this ad"vice of the Apostle is intended for this very purpose " to which I have here applied it, namely, that such a "man as we are here speaking of, should continue.in "communion, and conform to all that he can, and omit "the saying Amen to what he judges a mistake." Wall's Hist. of Infant Baptism, vol. ii. p. 420, 4th edit.. b Philip. ii. 3.

z Prov. xiii. 10. a Rom. xiv. 1.

long-suffering?" Where, in fine, will be the traces of that heavenly "charity," which is superior to all "mysteries and all know"ledge," which "vaunteth not itself, is "not puffed up, doth not behave itself "unseemly," which, rather than furnish occasion for offence or confusion or disunion, to the utmost verge of its Christian liberty," beareth and endureth all things d?"

To adopt the language of a most eminent ornament of our Church, "It is bet"ter to be humble than to be a prophet; "it is better to be righteous, than to have "the faith of miracles; and it is better to

be holy than to have the gift of tongues. "But to be peaceable, and love union, is "as great a grace as to be humble, right"eous, and holy; nay, as to be pure and

દ

temperate ;—for it is equalled with all "those and many other of the prime graces in the New Testament; it is reck

oned, with many of them, among the fruits of the Spirit; and the fruits of the

© Gal. v. 22, 23.

d 1 Cor. xiii. 2-7.

Spirit are better and more desirable than "the gifts thereofe."?

e Hickes's Posthumous Discourses, sermon vii.

THE intimate union generally subsisting throughout the Christian world between the ecclesiastical and civil powers, so greatly to their mutual advantage where it is conducted with discretion, has nevertheless sometimes given occasion to the most erroneous ideas of the nature of Christ's spiritual kingdom, and the extent of its authority. In ages more favourable than the present to the machinations of priestcraft and the delusions of superstition, it led to the undue, and not unfrequently the mischievous, influence of spiritual men over affairs purely temporal. And now by a reaction, as natural perhaps, as it is excessive and prejudicial, it has tended to a corresponding subjection of ecclesiastical authority to the powers of the world, until the