ing. It follows that God has given us a pattern, and we are to follow that example. We are not, indeed, to follow all the ritual of that Church, but we have a pattern given us to follow. Again, not only did God appoint that Established Church, but in the fulness of time God sent forth his son that he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth. God instituted that Church, and Christ perfected all; and there was not one jot or tittle of it that was not fulfilled by him. To this Church we are directed by the Holy Scriptures, they being written for our learning. And the Scriptures, neither old nor new, do anywhere prohibit under the Christian Church the appointment of an Established Church.

Now, my beloved brethren, I would say with candour, and with love and affection, to every Dissenter, if there be any such here, pause, my beloved brother, before you reject an Established Church, merely as such. Pause, before you reject an Established Church, because it is an Established Church, because the king rules and governs in it, for it is prophesied that kings are to be nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers in the Church. Pause, I say, before you reject an establishment, merely because it is an establishment. If the formularies of that Church be in accordance with the Scriptures, you dare not reject it.

I will grant that an Established Church may be an apostate Church, and that, strictly speaking, it may be no Church at all. It may be an idolatrous and apostate Church as that set up by Mahommed; or like the apostate Churches of Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Prussia. But of such the Scripture says" Come out from among them; be ye separate; touch not the unclean thing.' You are to join no religious establishment that is contrary to the Scriptures. But the Church of England teaches nothing that is contrary to the Scriptures. Therefore, we are bound, if we would not contend against God, to receive and support it. Therefore, I say to every Dissenter, pause before you reject it, pause before you withdraw from it; and if you have withdrawn from it, immediately investigate the subject; search the Scriptures, and pray to God for enlightened minds and prepared judgments, [No. 8.]

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that you may be enabled to return to the bosom of that Church.

If you turn to the 49th chap. of Isaiah, you will find what God declares, respecting the accessions the Church shall receive from the Gentile world. In the 22nd and following verses, we find what the prophet says respecting the increase of the Church under the dominion of Christ, that is, in the Christian dispensation. We know that kings were nursing fathers, and queens nursing mothers of the Church under the Old Testament dispensation. Such was David, and Solomon, and Hezekiah, and Josiah, and others. But this is a prophecy in accordance with the order which God had instituted in his ancient Church, of what should come to pass in the fulness of time under the Christian dispensation: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people"-" to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God”—“ and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders;" or, the words may be rendered-" Behold, I lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; thy sons and thy daughters shall be borne in their arms and carried on their shoulders; and their kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers, saith the Lord." Now, how can kings be the nursing fathers, and queens the nursing mothers of the Church, if they are to do nothing for the Church; if the Church is to do all herself, without recognizing kings and queens as part of that Church? If we only think and reason according to the common sense which God has given us, it is contrary thereto, and contrary it is, also, to the practice of every denomination of Christians. We have seen in our day an eminent fulfilment of this prophecy, in the success of the missions sent forth, not by our Church, but by our dissenting brethren; and we would here say we wish them God speed. For, as Paul says, in the close of his epistle to the Ephesians-" Grace be with all them that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity;" "For the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few; pray ye, therefore,

the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into the harvest."

But I say that this prophecy of Isaiah has been very eminently fulfilled in our day, in the success which God has given to the labours of the missionaries sent forth by the London Missionary Society. And how have they acted? Have they rejected the fostering care of princes and chiefs? Have they refused the aid of the great and mighty? Have they despised to make use of the authority of those in power, of kings and of queens, to further their object? I will refer you to a publication which has recently been issued under the authority of the London Missionary Society, and which describes the conduct and proceedings of its agents in the South Sea Islands, and other distant parts of the world. In looking through this narrative of the labours of those excellent men, one can scarcely fail to be struck with the happy effects which they experienced in availing themselves of the interference and assistance of the chiefs and others in authority over the people among whom the missionaries laboured. Not only did the chiefs themselves attend public worship, and commemorate, as true disciples, the dying love of the Redeemer, but they took measures to promote the spread of religion among the people; and yet we are told in the present day, that no influence must be used by those in power to make the people religious, and that if any be used it is improper. We find that the missionaries prevailed on the chiefs and princes to take means to promote good morals and the knowledge of the Christian faith, and that their influence and authority had a most beneficial effect. But not to multiply quotations, we find the following paragraph under the head of New South Wales; and here some of us may learn wisdom from what is stated :-" Mr. Henry addressed the people from these words- When two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them, and that to bless them.' I also addressed them on the necessity of giving a sufficient quantity of land to the missionaries; and I required of them to provide houses for the missionaries to live in, and gardens," &c. Thus, you see, that where the dissenters have planted the Gospel, they have proceeded exactly in the same way as those

did who planted it in this country, by securing glebe lands, houses, endowments, and provisions for the ministers of the Gospel, and God prospered them. But let us hold fast our profession to the end. It is stated that one of the chiefs said he would give the missionaries as they desired. The system of the Church of England, with respect to endowments, has been introduced into the islands of the Pacific by the dissenters, according to the statements of Messrs. Tyerman and Bennett, who express in unequivocal terms their disapprobation of the conduct of such of the colonial authorities as do not provide for the religious instruction of the people. But how can a government do so, if there is to be no established church or authorized system of religion? Speaking of New Holland, and of the want of proper church accommodation, they say

"There are numbers of young people who would be glad to hear the Gospel, if they had the opportunity; but it is to be deeply lamented, that our Protestant government should take so little care to carry the knowledge of true religion wherever it carries the arms, arts, and power of Britain into foreign parts." Why, this is the janguage, not of churchmen, but of dissenters! They represent the defenders of a corrupt faith, and the followers of Mahommed, to have been wiser in this respect. Now, in this very arrangement for the allotment of land to the missionaries, and for the support of the future preachers of the Gospel, we perceive the very principle of an establishment recognized as it exists in this country. It is hardly necessary, perhaps, to add that the Church Missionary Association has acted in just the same way. Its agents and missionaries have secured, where they could, the aid and support of kings and chiefs, and thought it no violation of the precept-" My kingdom is not of this world."

If, then, we recognize the power and authority of kings and governors, and if we claim protection for the Church from kings and princes, then we have next to introduce to your notice and consideration the manner in which we recognize their authority, and this will bring us to the ceremony of the coronation, which includes the solemn oath and pledge given by sovereigns to protect their people, to

be the defenders of the faith, to grant all liberty of conscience that is consistent with the maintenance of divine truth, and through Almighty assistance, to give protection and freedom to all.

But time would fail me, on this first occasion, to inquire into the divine authority of kings and princes as regarding the establishment of a national Church. Let us, however, take these three principles as a guide for our judgment of the matter. In the coronation service the sovereign is solemnly set apart, crowned and inducted into the kingly office. Now, we have the order of coronation written in the book from whence my text is selected, and whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning. We find also that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, conformed to the Established Church in the days of his flesh, and sanctioned all its proceedings. And then, thirdly, as God appointed, and Christ conformed to, an established Church, and no part of the Scripture prohibits, or sets aside, an establishment, let men take heed how they set aside that which has been appointed, ordained, instituted, and set up by God himself; some things have been set aside, the ceremonies of the Jewish Church establishment have been set aside, because they were only types and shadows intended to be abolished by the Great Sacrifice which was to be offered up for sin once and for ever. But by that abolition, by his one offering, he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Still, let it be observed, that those parts of the Old Testament which were not types and shadows, have not been repealed by the declarations of the New Testament. Therefore they are not lightly to be disregarded by any who love the truth, and who are desirous of conforming to the truth and to serve God in their generation, and who would become partakers of that eternal glory which the King of kings and Lord of lords has prepared for those that serve him. O let us pray to God, to enable us in all things to conform to the institutions which he has appointed, that we may honour the queen, love the brotherhood, and show forth all good piety, and have all men to see our good works, that they may glorify our Father who is in heaven.