rinthians. From the chapter now before us (the 2d chapter of the 2d epistle to the same Church), we learn that they had obediently attended to his directions. The rebuke and excommunication which had been inflicted on the transgressor by the Church (acting according to the sentence and command of the apostle) had produced a salutary effect; and now therefore, "lest such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow,' he entreats for him, as he had before protested against him," sufficient to such a man (says he) is this punishment." "I beseech you" that ye would "restore him to your communion;" that ye would "forgive him and comfort him," and "confirm your love to him :" and then he assigns as a motive for his entreaty, "lest Satan should get an advantage over us;" lest overmuch sorrow should unfit the erring brother for his duty, or give Satan an opportunity of tempting him to hard thoughts of God and religion, to apostacy, or even to despair, which might swallow him up, and occasion the final and everlasting ruin of his soul; "for," he goes on to add, we are not ignorant of his devices." So subtle is he, that, on the one hand, he can persuade men so far to pervert the grace of God, as to continue in sin under the pretext of magnifying that grace, and making it to abound; and, on the other hand, when sin has, in some measure, met with its merited, though merciful, condemnation, he can induce men to an undue severity; thus bringing an evil report on the Christian character, as rigorous and unforgiving, and keeping the erring brother without the pale of Christian charity and comfort.

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There is nothing Satan hates so much as the mercy which extends forgiveness to a wandering sinner, and rescues from his dominion one whom he had hoped irrevocably to have retained within his grasp. Should there be here one whom he has tempted to the commission of wilful and deliberate sin, to the dishonour of the Christian name, and whom he would seek to keep from returning to the God whom he has offended by hard thoughts of his heavenly Father,-let such an one beware of his devices; let him listen to the gracious words of the Sovereign whose laws he has transgressed, and turn a deaf ear to the tempter, who has well nigh ruined him. "Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" (Ezek. xxxiii. 13.) "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah, lv. 7).

But, my brethren, it is not to either of the classes whom the apostle had immediately

in view, that I desire at the present moment more particularly to address myself; neither to those who presume upon God's goodness, to whom the apostle, in his epistle to the Romans, indignantly replies, in answer to the question, "Shall we, then, continue in sin, that grace may abound?... God forbid;" nor yet to those who, having grievously offended the holiness of God, in the words of the preacher, " go about to cause their heart to despair" (Eccles. ii. 20). My address is designed for those who, we hope, are not to be found in either rank; to those who have recently presented themselves as, we trust,

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a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is their reasonable service" (Rom. xii. 1). Our desire is, being ourselves "not ignorant of Satan's devices," to guard them against some of those temptations to which they will be subject, that "Satan may not obtain an advantage over them." Attend, then, to me, my young friends, as unto one who has sought, in solicitude and prayer, to prepare you for the engagements on which you have lately entered, and who now entreats of God, that he would further honour his servant by enabling him to assist you in faithfully observing them.

I have already in private warned you, that you must expect temptations. They who, whatever they may before have done, have now, at least, ceased to halt between two opinions, and have openly declared themselves on the Lord's side, are those who will be likely to experience the most ingenious exercise of the enemy's devices. There are many who are willingly his slaves, who feel no desire, and therefore make no effort to release themselves from his thraldom: upon these he bestows little pains; they give him little trouble. If at any time they manifest dissatisfaction with the wages which he bestows, he will not object that they should amuse themselves with half-formed resolutions of repentance, or distant purposes of amendment; he knows that to-morrow's resolutions never lost him a single captive; therefore, leaving them, he devotes his utmost energies, and he sets the myriads of fallen spirits, who do his bidding, in array against those who, like yourselves, have dared to promise that you will "renounce the devil and all his works;" and if such shall be the consequence, I may surely say unto you, "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" (James, i. 2). Yes; fear him not. Could I now cause your eyes to be opened, as Elisha caused the eyes of his servant to be opened that he might see, it is not improbable that you would behold, as he did," that they that be with you are more than they that be with him." You have

publicly professed your faith in "God the Father, who hath made you and all the world; in God the Son, who hath redeemed you and all mankind; and in God the Holy Ghost, who hath sanctified you and all the elect people of God." If you have truly and faithfully pledged yourselves to the service of your Saviour, you may confidently trust that he "will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able to bear, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape" (1 Cor. x. 13); and if you are filled with apprehensions at the number of those evil spirits of whom we have spoken, do ye not remember the most encouraging intelligence which our Lord declares unto us respecting his little ones, 66 that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven?" Is it not an animating and delightful thought that the highest angels, who stand continually in the presence of God, watching the expression of his countenance, and ready on the instant to obey his motions, do not disdain to perform services of friendship and protection for the youngest, meanest, weakest Christian, but are, as St. Paul expresses it, "all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation?" (Heb. i. 14.) Do I then say too much, when, adopting Elisha's words, I say to you, "They be more that be with you than they that be with him?"

But now let us, from the general notice of your high privileges and consolations, turn to a particular consideration of some of your dangers.

First; it is not improbable that the tempter, who is too wise to approach you all at once with a direct temptation to sin, may whisper gently in your ear some such insinuations as these: Well, now you have been confirmed, and you have done a good act, and you have attended with much regularity the appointments made by your minister for the purposes of examination and instruction; and you have read the books he gave you, and have said your prayers and sought the Saviour's presence night and morning; and during this season of preparation you have abstained more than you have been used to do from worldly ways, and light amusements, and idle and unprofitable company,you have been very good in all this, and it was very right; but, now it is all over, there can be no need for all this strictness; you may now surely relax a little, and indulge yourselves as before prayer once a day will now serve; or, as you are very much engaged in your worldly callings, and, you know, God commands you to be "not slothful in business," it will be sufficient if you read the Scriptures and attend diligently to your religious duties on the Sunday; you will remember that

your Lord himself condemned the Pharisees for their much praying; be not you like them; "be not righteous overmuch."

It is possible that the serpent may insinuate suggestions such as these into the ears of some among you. He can cite Scripture when it suits him, and by perverting and wresting it to his purpose, seduce the hearts of the unguarded, and "obtain an advantage over them."

Should he have assailed you thus, remember that it was with passages of Scripture he approached our Lord in his temptation in the wilderness; and bear in mind that it was with passages of Scripture our Lord resisted his assaults. If he would beguile you by urging the performance of one duty as a ground for the omission of another; if he tempt you to the neglect of prayer by setting before you the duty of being "not slothful in business,"-meet him with the very weapon he employs, and tell him he has cited only half the text say to him, "it is written," indeed, "not slothful in business;" but it is added, "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." O, how can you be fervent in spirit without continual supplies of his most gracious influences? and how can you obtain or expect them, except your heavenly Father, in answer to your prayers, (offered up, not on the Lord's day only, but night and morning, yea, seven times a day), be moved as he has promised, to "give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" And then, how shall you know what blessings to ask for, or what evils to avoid, or what are God's accustomed dealings with his children, if his blessed word be laid aside and read only on the Sabbath? How would your bodies be kept in health and vigour if they were to be fed but once a-week? But you will say, The case is different, we could not live if we ate but once a-week. I know it well, dear friends; but I know that unless you would starve your immortal spirits, and provoke the Lord to "send leanness into your souls" (Ps. cvi. 15), you will not give less attention to the preservation of the inestimable jewel, than you do to that of the poor perishing casket. Neither, let me add, will you be likely to be "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," in the indulgence of any habits, or the presence of any society, from which the reasonableness of the thing has led you to withdraw during the season of preparation if it was reasonable then, it is no less now. You found seriousness of mind and prayer, and the reading of the Scriptures, inconsistent with those habits, and you withdrew from them. Let it be for ever; let not Satan persuade you to resume them. Confirmation, and the preparations for it, were but means to an end-the end is the salvation

in the second and last place, some of the means by which, through God's assistance and a constant remembrance of our own frailty, we may combat the devices of the evil one, that " he get not the advantage

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over us.

On the efficacy of private prayer, at the commencement and conclusion of every day, I have so often dwelt, and the Bishop, in his address to you on Friday last, spoke so much at large, that there is less need for me, on the present occasion, to insist upon it; but I will just refer to one point, which, doubtless, through want of time, was not insisted on. I wish you to bear in mind, that though the morning and the evening seem naturally pointed out as stated and suitable seasons at which God is to be worshipped, he is confined to no place or period. In the midst, therefore, of happiness, raise your hearts to him in thankfulness, and pray that you may be "wise as well as merry ;" in the midst of heaviness or temptation, let it be your practice, as well as your privilege, to "lift up your eyes unto the hills whence cometh your help;" when sitting down to meat, seek his blessing; when you have eaten and are satisfied, offer to him, as the Giver, the thanks that are his due; if you are busy, pray that you may be preserved from undue carefulness; if for a moment unemployed, entreat that you may not be led into temptation. The Lord is nigh; his "eye is ever upon the righteous, and his ears open to their prayers" (Ps. xxxiv. 15; 1 Pet. iii. 12). The rite in which you have lately participated is a means of grace, which has been blessed to many, who, like yourselves, have "vowed a vow unto the Lord." The vow which you have recently made is registered in heaven; the engagement is written in God's book of remembrance-read it over frequently. It shall be my part and duty also, if spared, to recall your attention to it occasionally; the remembrance of it may stand you in stead in the hour of temptation; in a moment of surprise, "when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord may lift it up as a standard against him" (Is. lix. 19), and enable you, under the recollection of your plighted troth, to say with our Lord, "Get thee behind me, Satan ;" and with Joseph, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Have nothing to say to those who are going about seeking to persuade you, that confirmation is either dangerous" or "delusive;" the Lord may work by the remembrance of this solemn season, to spare your soul the commission of many a sin; and every victory obtained by grace over the enemy of souls is, as it were, a supply of grace for future conflicts.

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There yet remains one topic on which, though generally referred to on Friday by my Diocesan, it will doubtless be expected that I should say a few words. I mean the sacrament of the Lord's supper; the commemorating, in obedience to his last injunction, of his precious death and passion.

From those who are truly sensible of a dying Saviour's love, and desire in obedience to his command to commemorate his passion and draw larger supplies of grace from communion with him, I shall rejoice to receive the notice which the Church requires, that I may speak with them on the subject; to those who desire counsel and instruction, I wish to say that I shall be always ready to impart it to the utmost of my power; while to all and each I cannot err in recommending an attentive and prayerful perusal of the communionservice in connexion with our Church Catechism.

I must now conclude; yet not without an expression of thankfulness to my young friends for their cheerful compliance with my directions; to their parents and relatives for the encouragement and assistance which I received from them during the preparation for this anxious and interesting service; and, above all, a grateful acknowledgment to our God and Saviour for the help of his grace at this season, without which," neither is he that planteth nor he that watereth any thing" (1 Cor. iii. 7).

ADORATION OF IMAGES.*

UPON this subject I have referred, as I have before done with respect to my other notices of the Romish dogmas, to the Scriptures for the purpose of discovering whether there be a single text or passage to authorise such adoration or worship. I have searched the Scriptures; and the result of my scrutiny is, that out of about a hundred and sixty passages in which the word image, or its synonymous word idol, occurs, there is not one verse or passage which gives the slightest sanction to this doctrine of the Romish communion; and I will further add, that in all in which

image - worship is mentioned, it receives from the written word an express and implicit prohibition. Indeed, it may be said, with the most perfect regard to truth, that if there be any one point on which the Divine mind is more sensitive than another, if I may so express myself, or, in other words, the Almighty is more particularly jealous, it is on this very practice; for this, perhaps, among other reasons that might be alleged, on account of the proneness and liability of the human mind to be betrayed into the marked, that the Greek word eldwλov, translated commission of this idolatrous act; for it may be re

in the Septuagint from the Hebrew one, image, signifies also an idol. It expresses and means one and the same thing in the Scriptures. They, therefore, who prostrate themselves before an image do, in strictness of speech, bow themselves down, and proffer homage to an idol. They justly expose themselves to the charge of being the worshippers of idols.

• From "Increase of Popery." By James Rudge, D.D. London, Painter.