exercise of his sovereignty, and for her benefit, he has appointed for her seasons of darkness and suffering; but, at the same time, he has ordained for her seasons of light and of refreshing, and he has connected her deliverances, and her enlargement, and the overthrow of her adversaries, with the prayers of his people." For all these things," he has said, "I will be enquired of by the house of Israel to do them for them." Wherefore, "ye that are the Lord's remembrancers, keep not silence, and give him no rest, till he establish, and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Say to him,-" Let thy kingdom come, let thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." "Arise and have mercy on Zion; let the time to favour her come, even the set time." "Let thine enemies be scattered, O Lord; let thine enemies perish: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at thy presence!"

And, my brethren, in pleading for the final ruin of the adversaries of the Lord Jesus, you act in entire accordance with the great rule of Christian charity. Your prayers do not respect the persons of your Redeemer's enemies, but their cause. You seek not the destruction of individuals, but of the system which they support. And, far from entertaining or expressing hostility to them, your fervent supplications for the ruin of the system by which they are deluded and destroyed, are the truest expressions of tender and affectionate regard which you have it in your power to give.

In the third place,-Let it be your study to cherish high and jealous regard for the glorious principle on which the Reformation was conducted and established. I need not, surely, inform you what that principle is. You are aware that implicit faithunenquiring subjection to the authority of the church

-was the principle that lay at the foundation of all the unhallowed influence, and the proud dominion of Papal Rome.-In opposition to this degrading and ruinous principle, the Reformers were led in the progress, and as the ground of their generous and holy contendings for the spiritual liberties of mankind, to establish THE PERFECTION OF THE WORD of God,

AND THE RIGHT OF EVERY MAN TO READ AND

EXAMINE IT FOR HIMSELF. This, my brethren, is the fundamental principle of the Reformation. Appealing from the tribunal of the Pope, from the decisions of councils, from the writings of the fathers, from the traditions of fallible and erring men, the Reformers took their station on the broad and firm basis of the Word of God. There they stood-there they called upon their fellow-men to stand. There they contended; and on that high vantage ground, under the blessing of God, did the Reformation gain its sublime and immortal triumphs.There, my brethren, as true Protestants, let us stand! Embalming in our hearts the memory of that blessed revolution which rescued the bible from darkness, and set it open to the people of every land-let us

rejoice in the perfection and sufficiency of the holy word, and venerate and exercise the glorious and dearly vindicated right of searching it for ourselves. Let us scorn that blind and degrading subjection of our consciences to authority, which is the very essence of Popery, and, in all points of truth and duty, make a firm and unhesitating appeal from the dictates of man, to the unerring oracles of the living God. "To the law and to the testimony" be our venerated maxim-" if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."-In short, in adopting and maintaining a peculiar profession of Christianity, let our conduct be the result-not of education merely, nor of compliance with the external circumstances in which we are placed-but of close and serious application to the Word of God; and, having found THE TRUTH, and being firmly persuaded in our own minds, "let us hold fast our profession,"-" following the Lamb through good and through bad report," and remembering his solemn assurance-" whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven: but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father, who is in heaven."*

Let me exhort you, moreover,to Give your testimony, in every legitimate and scriptural way, against *Mark x. 32, 33.

the errors and abominations of the Church of Rome. In the first place, testify against her, by exhibiting an intelligent and steadfast attachment to that profes sion of the reformed religion, which-from conviction, I trust you have been led to embrace.-Testify against her, too, by exercising a holy jealousy over yourselves, lest, while you are Protestants in name, you should retain and display the spirit of Popery. You renounce images in your worship; but beware, at the same time, of the spiritual idolatry of the heart. You believe not, in the mediation of saints and angels; but, beware, lest you dishonour the One Mediator, by neglecting that improvement of his blessed offices, which is unto salvation. You repu❤ diate the penances, mortifications, indulgences of Popery; but be jealous, lest in some secret way your own righteousness be the ground of your confidence before God. You exclude, from your confession, the Popish doctrine of baptismal regeneration; but, forget not, that "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." You contemn the vain ceremonies of the Papal Church; but beware lest you yourselves take up your rest in a form of godliness." You reprobate the intolerant and sanguinary complexion of the Popish creed; but see that yourselves do not merit the censure incurred by the disciples of old time-" ye know not what spirit ye are of." While you denounce as unscriptural and fatally delusive the Popish doctrine of extreme

anction, beware lest, postponing care about your im mortal interests to a future season, you neglect "the accepted time-the day of salvation," and come short of everlasting life. In short, my brethren, see to it, that the great doctrines of Protestantism be embodied in your own conduct, and that thus, on your part, a practical testimony be held forth before the world against the corruptions and idolatries of Rome. -Moreover, let me remind you, that in prosecuting a consistent and effective testimony against Popery, it is your imperative duty to separate yourselves from every association that countenances, directly, or indirectly, the corruption of the Word of God. Hoping, and longing, and praying, and believing in relation to the final overthrow of " the man of sin," far be

it from you to " say a confederacy" with men whose measures have a tendency to prop up his throne and to extend his influence, by polluting with human errors and blasphemies the oracles of God !*. -In fine my

It will be obvious to every reader that there is reference here to the associations in this country that are in connexion with the British and Foreign Bible Society. This institution, although it has abandoned the direct printing and cir. culation of the Apocrypha, in which for many years it persevered, has settled itself down into correspondence with Apocryphal men, and Apocryphal societies on the Continent, and is, therefore, implicated with them in the fearful crime of adulterating the oracles of God. As a Protestant minister, under solemn obligations to point out to his people