object') that the poor shall have the Gospel preached to them. It is thus she has provided, that the word of Christ may dwell richly in the understanding and memory of all her children: that they may be brought up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord "," ready always to give 1 The Rubric, which is found in the Preface to the Common Prayer Book, expressly orders, that "all priests and deacons are to say daily the morning and evening prayer, either privately or openly, not being let by sickness, or some other urgent cause. And the curate that ministereth in every parish church or chapel, being at home, and not being otherwise reasonably hindered, shall say the same in the parish church or chapel where he ministereth; and shall cause a bell to be tolled thereunto a convenient time before he begin, that the people may come to hear God's word, and to pray with him. To this Rubric all clergymen are bound, by the Act of Uniformity, and by their own promises of conformity. In the second Prayer Book of Edward VI. and until the revise in 1661, the clause ran, "except they be letted by preaching, studying of divinity, or by some other urgent cause.' But the present Rubric is much more stringent, neither preaching nor study being now recognized as sufficiently urgent cause to justify the omission. an answer to every man that asketh them a reason of the hope that is in them, with meekness and fear; and so established in the truth of Christ, that they be (to use the words of St. Paul,) "no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive 2." For, undoubtedly, the main protection against the intrusion of religious error, is not a knowledge of controversy, or a sharpness and clearness of intellect to unravel the snares and mazes of sophistry, but an understanding filled with positive truth. In other words, it is to have the judgment and the memory stored and occupied with the words of that sacred book, which (if we will believe the sentence of God himself,) "converteth the soul," giveth "light unto the eyes," and "wisdom unto the simple 3." 3 The design of our Reformers (as they have themselves told us,) was to bring the people "unto that agreement in the faith 2 Eph. iv. 14. 1 1 Peter iii. 15. and knowledge of God, and to that ripeness and perfection of age in Christ, that there be no place left among them, either for error in religion, or for viciousness in life 1." The main instrument by which they expected this to be effected, was the public reading of the Scripture in the daily service; which, for this reason among others, they required to be celebrated every morning and evening by all the clergy. The event fully justified this wisdom. For, at a time when there was a great deficiency of preachers, the Reformation, by means chiefly of the reading of the Bible in the Church Liturgy, made far more progress than it has ever since made, or, to express my deliberate and mature consideration, far more progress than it ever will make, until the same means are once more resorted to, and steadily and perseveringly applied. The Holy Scripture is that pure milk (to use the striking figure of St. Peter) which the children of God desire with the natural instinctive craving of a new 1 Exhortation in the Ordination of Priests. 4 born babe 1. It is that "incorruptible seed," as the same Apostle will tell us, by which they are "born again," and by which they "grow """in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ *." The Church, therefore, reads the Holy Scripture solemnly and publicly, and requires us to assemble and hearken to its words, as an act of faith, an essential part of divine worship, "a part of our Church Liturgy, a special portion of the service which we do to God 5." The very act is a solemn recognition of the power and wisdom by which this book was written. The very act is a formal acknowledgement of the efficacy of the Spirit of God, to sanctify our hearts by this ordinary means of grace and illumination; "whereby it pleaseth God, of His gracious goodness, to instil that celestial verity, which, being but so received, is nevertheless effectual to save souls "." The very act is a religious confession of the pre-eminent dignity 11 Pet. ii. 2. 6 2 Ib. i. 23. 3 Ib. ii. 2. "Hooker B. V. §. 19. • Ib. §. 22. and authority of those lessons, where every word is truth, where every sentence is a principle, demonstrative and fundamental. It is, I repeat, as an act of faith and worship, that we assemble in order to receive, from the hands of our Creator himself, "such infallible axioms and precepts of sacred truth, delivered even in the very letter of the law of God," without note or gloss of human commentary, as shall serve even "the simplest and rudest sort" among us, "for rules whereby to judge the better all other doctrines and instructions which they hear 1" Sermons, indeed, are invaluable, where they are what they should be, faithful expositions of the Holy Scriptures. Nor is it possible to overrate the value of the pulpit, when it holds its due and natural place in our estimation. "So worthy a part of divine service we should greatly wrong, if we did not esteem preaching as the blessed ordinance of God, sermons as keys to the kingdom of heaven, as wings to the soul, as spurs to the good affections |