And, if our opponents attempt to place tradition on the same level with the all-perfect word of God, most solemnly must we protest against the testimony of the fathers to any number of facts being constituted a joint rule of faith. Not for one moment must we allow tradition to be placed on the same level with the perfect word of God. "Scripture and tradition," observes bp. Wilson, Calcutta, "taken together, are not, we venture to assert, the joint rule of faith'; but 'Holy scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith.' And tradition is so far from being of coordinate authority, that even the ecclesiastical writers who approach nearest to them, and are read in our churches-which not one of the fathers culties a school, in which strength of character | may be tried and formed; and convert them from adversaries into your best friends. There is no sweeter recollection than the sense of difficulties overcome. Strive rather to shine yourselves, than to outshine others. Seek less to derive honour from your profession, than to honour your profession by your virtues. Cultivate a love of knowledge for the sake of the benefits it will enable you to dispense, as well as for the gratification of your own higher tastes and capacities; and then, whatever worldly fortune betide, you will win the most valuable of the blessings which the occupation of a life can confer-the satisfaction in the retrospect of having improved your opportunities, of having acted on right principles, of having been the honoured means of benefiting your fellow-creatures; while humbly, yet earnestly, endeavouring, under the divine blessing, to accomplish the will of your Maker, and toners,' are still, as being uninspired, not to be aplive to his glory. [The address, from which these extracts have been made, has since been published. Though designed for medical students, it contains a treasury of wise and judicious counsels, which the students of other professions would do well to lay to heart. It is to be had of Parker and Son, West Strand.-S.] CHRISTIAN AGREEMENT*. WE are apt to forget, amid the many petty jealousies and turmoils of the present world, that there is but one church in heaven, composed of the redeemed out of many nations and tribes, and people and tongues, and fused into one harmonious whole in the alembic of peace and love and charity. It would almost seem by their conduct, that it were the desire of some individuals to perpetuate in heaven the dissensions of earth. We, however, "have not thus learned Christ"; and to his conduct we must look, and his example we must follow. Have we then no sword that we may wield? Yes; we have "the sword of the Spirit," so powerfully handled by our great Champion in the wilderness of Judea, and to us committed, to be wielded by the help of the Spirit, in our conflicts in the wilderness of the earth. 1. Especially in our controversies with our Roman-catholic brethren, when pressed with their mcdern theory of development, their sophisms, and their unauthorized additions to the "faith once for all (paña) delivered to the saints," our reply must be-and that given in no wavering or doubtful spirit-"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isa. viii. 20)†. * From a valuable sermon entitled "Not Peace, but a Sword, &c.," preached at a private ordination of the bishop of Worcester, held Nov. 23, 1851, by the rev. H. J. Stevenson, M.A., examining chaplain to the bishop of Worcester, hon. canon of Worcester cathedral, and vicar of Grimley-cumHallow. Worcester: Eaton. 1851.-ED. It might seem almost superfluous to mention the names of Jewel, Chillingworth, Barrow, Stillingfleet, Tillotson, Wake, Sharpe, &c., whose writings are the bulwark and the glory of the Reformation. The "Scholar Armed," and "Brogden's Catholic Safeguards," will be found exceedingly useful to the younger clergy. is-'for example of life, and instruction of man plied to establish any one doctrine of our religion." And, if we are told that the system of Romanism-appealing, as confessedly it does, to the desires and feelings of the natural heart, to passions and sentiments, and enlisting in its cause the sympathies of its votaries-produces more of the fruits of faith and hope and charity, we must show in our own persons, and by our general teaching, that, though we are protestants in surname, we are catholics in name, desirous of offering up "spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. ii. 5), and of consecrating the powers of heart and soul and spirit to the service of the living God*. The people of England, as a body, have manifested with impassioned warmth the depth and soundness of their protestant faith. It is our duty, as her faithful ministers, to assail the fundamental principles of popery; to meet Rome by a full and firm counter-assertion of protestant truth; to appreciate our own principles, and maintain them thoroughly+; and by tempered zeal and welldirected efforts to rivet yet more closely the affec tions of the people to the faith and worship of their forefathers. And we should act to our op ponents in the spirit which dictated the resolve of the pious Samuel towards his wayward people; and say, "As for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way' (1 Sam. xii. 23). 2. The treatment of such as are separatists rather than schismatics, absenters rather than dissenters, from our communion (for such, holding, as most of them do, the vital docrines of Christianity, must they be viewed), requires peculiar caution, if happily they may be won back to the unity of the flock. And in the spirit of meekness * See Jones' (of Nayland) Essays on the Church. † It should ever be borne in mind, particularly at the present day, when a similar line of policy is pursuing by Rome, that "it was not until the cardinal presbyter, John De Crema, took precedence as papal legate over abp. William (Corboyle). in the synod of Westminster, A.D. 1126, that England's ecclesiastical succumbency to the Roman pontiff was consummated. During this period, canon law, vitiated by false docu ments and glosses, was introduced; while, at the same time, what it retained of ancient discipline was superseded by papal dispensations, exemptions, provisions, and licences; and the national church increasingly reflected the ceremonial super stitions and corrupt practices of Italy" (Baxter's "Church History of England," preface, p. 4). and conciliation and tender love, we must address ourselves to the work, "counting them not as enemies, but admonishing them as brothers" (2 Thess. iii. 15), in meekness instructing "those that oppose themselves" (2 Tim. ii. 25). Remembering that the church, owing to the vastness of our teeming population, has necessarily failed to discharge her recognized duty, as the instructress of the nation's soul; that imperfections as well as deficiencies have, in the lapse of ages, crept into her institutions; that something of ministerial unfaithfulness may have tainted many of her ministrations; we must make all due allowance if, in pointing out her defects, some acerbity should occasionally be exhibited by those whose sincerity we cannot doubt, and who, we believe, anriously desire the extension of her usefulness. Considering also the prejudices of education the bias naturally acting in favour of longaccustomed habits, the reverence due to ancestral modes and forms of worship, the deep jealousy of any approximation in form or ritual to that church which they feel bound strenuously to oppose, as the inveterate enemy of civil and religious liberty-all these, in combination, acting upon minds susceptible and judgments untutored, require great discrimination, consummate tact, and patient charity, in dealing with scruples, removing objections, and bringing wanderers from the fold into agreement in the faith and knowledge of God." 66 The question, beloved, to which such of you as are to be admitted to the order of priesthood will shortly be expected affirmatively to reply, suggests one of the principal duties which in this age of turbulent distraction requires the devoted attention of all the ministers of Christ: "Will you maintain and set forwards, as much as lieth in you, quietness, peace, and love, among all Christian people, and especially among them that are or shall be committed to your charge?" An apostle would not have suggested the duty, were its performance impossible, of "keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace." the In conclusion, I would express my own firm conviction that the unity of heaven will consist in the complete development of charity; and that, consequently, the business of earth is to anticipate occupation of heaven. And I would sustain my long-cherished opinion by the language of an apostle who had seen "visions and revelations of the Lord," who had been "caught up into paradise, and had heard unspeakable words": "Charity never faileth; but, whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there shall be knowledge, it shall vanish away. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Cor. xiii. 8, 13). Pray we then, beloved, and earnestly let us strive, each in his appointed location, that all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly union and concord, may be speedily removed; and that we all, being of **Though we wish heartily that all controversies were aded, as we do that all sin were abolished; yet we have hope of the one or the other till the world be ended; in the meanwhile think it best to content ourselves with, and to persuade others unto, an unity of charity and mutual Foleration (Chillingsworth's "Religion of Protestants"). times: they point at the gathering of the remnant "Let us beware of mistaking the signs of the of Israel under their heavenly King: let us carry salvation among those from whom it has been handed down to us; yea, let us love and care for spiritual respects; for are we not become of the the people, to whom we are so nearly related in seed of Abraham? Have we not ourselves been chosen as joint-heirs with the people of the inadmitted into the ranks of the royal nation, and heritance? Away, then, with the olden hatred If we hate him, we are no followers of that Master, and contempt which trod the Jew under foot! who said, 'Love your enemies;' no disciples of him, who prayed from the cross itself: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.' Away, too, with the profitless endeavour to defor their conversion! Shall we inquire, what are liver the Jews from the curse without labouring we doing when we strive to break down with our unbaptized Jew from the flock of Christ? "Tis own hands the wall of partition which severs the nothing short of denying Christ: 'tis not as were they seeking to be one with us; but as were we seeking to be one with them, and partaking of their curse. O, no; verily, it is not by heedlessness of the difference between Jew and Christian, that its glory as a people is to be restored to them; but by nothing less than the conversion of Israel, for we must never forget, no, never! that, when an Israelite is converted, he does not forsake his own nation, and forfeit God's promises; but, on the contrary, in becoming one of us, his heart yearns but more tenderly towards his forefathers, and his inner man becomes an Israelite indeed. Ye would win Africa, India, China to Christ: ye * Prayer for unity in the accession-services. Things will appear far more black and dismal perhaps than they really are; and he may suffer many terrors with a troubled mind, even though he may have led a pious life. But, what if it be otherwise? What if he be one of those of whom it is said, at the fourteenth verse, God speaketh once, yea, twice; yet man perceiveth it not"? What if the sick man, my brethren, has had "line upon line, and precept upon precept," in a way of religious instruction, and calls, often repeated, to come to God by Christ, but has Archdeacon of Salop, and Vicar of Meole Brace. wilfully neglected that great salvation, or JOB XXXiii. 22-24. "Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness; then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom." THESE are the words of Elihu, addressed to Job when he was in a state of great bodily suffering and weakness, and, at the same time, of great mental distress and perplexity. They have in them, I. A case of distress supposed; and, II. An intimation that it will be well to call in a competent adviser under it. III. They suggest what, in general, such an adviser will have to do; and, IV. They declare the consequences, through the divine mercy, if sound counsel be faithfully followed. On these points I propose to speak, and to add a few words of exhortation with reference to them. I. And, first, as to the case of distress supposed: "Yea, his soul draweth near to the grave, and his life to the destroyers." 66 The words lead our thoughts to a very common spectacle-that of a person suffering under pain and dangerous illness, and oppressed at the same time by much darkness and anxiety of mind. These things, we know, very frequently go together. "Without,' as the apostle speaks, are fightings; and within are fears." "He is chastened," it is said at the nineteenth verse," with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain; so that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones, that were not seen, stick out." Whatever a man may be, illness, when it comes to this excess, will lower his spirits grievously, and weaken and oppress his mind, and render him very incapable of collecting his thoughts, and of wrestling against gloomy apprehensions, even though there should be comparatively little real cause for them. irregularly or heartlessly attended upon the means of grace, or procrastinated and put off the work of repentance from day to day? Or what if he has been a backslider from impressions received, and resolutions solemnly made? Or what if, worst of all, having had a form of godliness, he has been all along be the case of such an one, when he perceives denying the power thereof? What is like to himself to be "hard at death's door"? Such persons, I know too well, are ofttimes very hardened and stubborn, and ofttimes very confident and self-righteous. But whatever lengths they may have gone in this way, the way of peace they know not: "The wicked worketh a deceitful work." And though he will endeavour, and for a time may succeed, in shutting his eyes and stopping his ears, there are rents in his covering of self-deception, which the light will break through, and there are moments when the voice of conscience will be heard; and then his soul must confront, in some measure, the fearful lookingfor of judgment and fiery indignation. He may be very unwilling to look his case in the face perhaps, like the bankrupt who is afraid to balance his accounts; but yet there is a fear which haunts him, and cannot be got rid of: for either he has never applied his mind to the consideration of gospel truth, or, having known the way of righteousness in some sort, he has turned away from the holy commandment delivered to him. And then what is to give him ease? Even Job is constrained to say of God: "I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him; on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him" (xxiii. 8, 9). What then must be the confusion of the ungodly? and, above all, as Job himself asks, "what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained (that is, thriven in this world, and been approved of men), when God taketh away his soul? Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him? Will he delight himself in the Almighty ?” (xxvii. 8, 9). But I will pursue this no further. The text, as I said, intimates, II. That it will be well to call in a competent adviser, if such a one may possibly be fourd. "If there be," says Elihu, "a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand." If there be, let him be applied to, and his counsel sought. Or, to bring the case quite home to you, let him that is grieved with sickness, whether he be in apparent danger of dying or not, send without delay for his proper spiritual counsellor; or, in plain words, send at once for your parish minister, and be thankful that you may. If ye have any piety and humility, ye will do this, and, whatever be the case, ye ought to do it; and that, whether your actual fears for your souls be more or less. For, if ye be in doubt and alarm, it is self-evident that ye need a guide; and, if ye be at ease, and confident, your case may possibly be the worse for that. The scripture says to you, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. x. 12). And it will be well to get help in examining whether your confidence be indeed well grounded. iron: so a man soul's concerns. In many respects the least sagacious of us know our neighbours better. than they know themselves, and for obvious reasons. Many a pious man in sickness, and with death before him, thinks his case much worse than it really is, and than another can see it to be; whilst many an ungodly man errs as grossly, and far more fatally, on the other side, crying, "Peace, peace" to his soul, "when there is no peace. And then neither of them will take the best course; and both may be much the better for the help of one who sees them in a different point of view, especially if the adviser called in be, as Elihu expresseth it, "a messenger, an interpreter, one among a thousand. And this is so in the case of the sick man's own parochial minister, perhaps to a fuller extent than some may think; for, though we are but men of like passions with yourselves, and perhaps inferior to yourselves in some respects, and have our treasure in earthen vessels, yet that treasure we have: a dispensation is committed to us to preach the gospel; we have our commission and authority from God himself, who hath promised to be with us always, even to the end of the world; and hath said of us, to the people of our charge, "He that heareth you heareth me" Luke x. 16). So that, in deed and in truth, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, to pray you in Christ's stead, that ye would be reconciled to God," and to declare to you, to your great and endless comfort, that God is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, and not imputing their trespasses unto them; having made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. v. 19-21). This too is God's commandment: "For the priest's lips keep knowledge; and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts" (Malachi ii. 7). And again: "Is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the church" (James v. 14). And the church, accordingly, has a special office for the visitation of the sick, and directs all her members to avail themselves of the services of their proper pastors, and to send for them to that intent. And, let me tell you, this may be greatly for your advantage. For, first, says Solomon, 66 two are better than one; for, if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falleth." And again: "Iron sharpeneth sharpeneth the countenance of his friend," And, in the case of sickness, and the debility and distraction thence arising often to the best people, the minister may be a great and necessary assistance, even to one who in other circumstances has a mind much vigorous than his own. Elihu, though we cannot well suppose him to have been a man more advanced in godliness than Job, was yet, it appears, a better judge of Job's case than he was himself whilst his pains and actually upon him. The physician, however skilful, will not prescribe for his own case under serious disease, but will take advice from a brother; for he is naturally afraid of thinking too much and so misjaging of that which is actually oppressing him; and much more does this apply to the more troubles were 66 one III. But this brings me to the next point to be considered; that is, to show what the text suggests in general as to the course which the sick and distressed person's spiritual adviser will have to take. The messenger, or interpreter, must show unto man, to the afflicted person, his (God's) uprightness. And, in proportion as he shall be able to do this through divine grace, he will prove of a thousand" to him who is in want of guidance and consolation. People have great need to be made to understand and to be led to consider that, wherever God seems to be contrary to us, he is wholly right and merciful too; and, wherever we are contrary to him, we are wholly wrong, and mistaken also as to what is for our own real benefit; that, though clouds and darkness are round about the Lord, righteousness and judgment are, nevertheless, the habitation of his throne; that it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not, and that they are new every morning, though we may not understand it; that the Lord, whatever appearances may indicate, is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him; that it is good, therefore, that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord; that the Lord will not cast off for ever; but, though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies, inasmuch as he doth not afflict willingly or grieve the children of men. A minister of the gospel cannot indeed expound to the sick and sorrowful the precise reasons which the Lord has for afflicting them at this special time, or in such special manner. But he can show them that it is the Lord's doing, and that he is willing to bring good out of it. He can say, in the words of the church, 66 Know you certainly that this is God's visitation. And for what cause soever it be sent unto you, whether to try your patience for the example of others, and that your faith may be found in the day of the Lord laudable, glorious, and honourable to the increase of glory and endless felicity; or else it be sent unto you to correct and amend in you whatsoever doth offend the eyes of your heavenly Father; know you, certainly, that if you truly repent of your sins and bear your sickness patiently, trusting in God's mercy, for his dear Son Jesus Christ's sake, and render unto him humble thanks for his fatherly visitation, submitting yourself wholly to his will, it shall turn out to your profit, and help you forward in the right way that leadeth unto everlasting life. Take, therefore, in good part the chastisement of the Lord; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth" (Service for the visitation of the sick). A minister of the gospel, moreover, can call upon a sick and afflicted man to consider his ways; can exhort him, in the name of God, to remember the profession which he made to God in baptism; can remind him that after this life there is an account to be given unto the righteous Judge, by whom all must be judged without respect of persons; can urge him to make humble confession to Almighty God, and full restitution to his neighbour if he have injured him; can hear what he has himself to say, if he has any special trouble of mind or conscience; can bid him "behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world"; can declare to him the certainty of his acceptance in Christ, if with hearty repentance and true faith he turns unto him; and, leading him to compare God's goodness with his own worthlessness, can show him how God hath not dealt with him after his sins, or rewarded him according to his iniquities; so that he may be led to say with Nehemiah, "Howbeit thou art just in all that thou hast brought upon me; for thou hast done right, but I have done wickedly;" and with David, "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." And then, with an humble hope, he may say with Micah also, "When I fall, I shall arise when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indig nation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light; and I shall behold his righteousness." IV. For to this effect, in the last place, is the text: "If there be a messenger to show unto man his (God's) uprightness, then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom." "And his flesh"-that is, the afflicted and sick person's (so it follows at the next verse)" his flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth: he shall pray unto God; and he will be favourable unto him; and he shall see his face with joy. For he will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh upon men; and, if any say, I have perverted that which is right, and it profiteth me not, he will deliver his soul from going down into the pit, and his life shall see the light." These are the consequences, through the divine mercy, where sound counsel is given by the Lord's ambassador, and faithfully followed by the sufferer to whom it is sent. "Every scribe instructed unto the kingdom of God", every minister of Christ fitly furnished for his spiritual work, is, says our Lord, "as an householder which bringeth out of his treasures things new and old", whatsoever is suitable to the case on which he is consulted: and then, if the patient has that docile, sincere, and child-like disposition of mind which befits a perplexed sinner seeking deliverance, the truth delivered will be blessed to him, and the fruits will show it. To use the words of our church, God, in answer to prayer, "will sanctify his fatherly correction to him; that the sense of his weakness shall add strength to his faith and seriousness to his repentance." So that, if it shall be God's good pleasure, as very possibly it may be, to restore him to his former health, he shall lead the residue of his life in his fear, and to his glory; or else the Lord shall give him grace so to take his visitation |