ately to remind him of the question proposed to him when he was ordained a minister of Christ, and the answer he then made, with every circumstance of religious solemnity, receiving the sacrament upon it, and thus evidently resting all his hopes of God's blessing on his sincerity.'

The question is, "Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon you this office and ministry to serve God, for the promoting of his glory, and the edifying of his people ?" "I trust so," replies the person to be ordained.

As the topic is rather invidious, and certainly concerns myself as well as any of them whom I have the honour to call my brethren in the profession, I will refer it to bishop Burnet, to make remarks on the response to the interrogatory. "Certainly," says the truly able prelate, "the answer that is made to this, ought to be well considered; for if any one says, 'I trust so,' that yet knows nothing of any such motion, and can give no account of it, he lies to the Holy Ghost, and makes his first approach to the altar with a lie in his mouth; and that not to men, but to God. Shall not God reckon with those who run without his mission, pretending that they trust they have it, when perhaps they understand not the importance of it? nay, and perhaps some laugh at it,

"All sacerdotal power is derived from the Holy Ghost; and they who do not acknowledge themselves under the Holy Ghost's influence, acknowledge that they have no sacerdotal power. Our Saviour himself took not the ministry upon him, till he had this consecration."

We think too lowly of the priest's office in our age. Very great it is under the energy of the Holy Ghost.

as an enthusiastical question, who yet will go through the office. They come to Christ for the loaves; they hope to live by the altar and the gospel, how little soever they serve at one or preach the other; therefore they will say any thing that is necessary for qualifying them [to receive the loaves and fishes,] whether true or false." The bishop's animadversion is severe; and every man's own conscience must whisper to him, in his own case, whether it be just and true.

One thing, however, is certain, and sufficient for my purpose. It is plain that persons who enter on the ministry, thus declaring themselves to believe that they are under a supernatural motion or impulse, cannot consistently deny, or explain away, the main principle of my book, which is the reality of such a supernatural motion or impulse. They confess that, in their own persons, they believe they have experienced that divine energy of the Holy Ghost, which, I maintain, moves the mind to believe in Christ, and inclines the heart to all moral virtue.

If the sublime and comfortable doctrine of immediate grace were generally preached, the churches would be better frequented and infidelity rare.'

"We must carry this yet further than the bare believing that these things (the doctrines of Christianity) are true; such a faith devils have. We must make our people understand, that this faith purifies the heart, and works by love: and it only becomes a saving and justifying faith, when, upon our entering upon the practice of those rules that this religion prescribes, we feel a real virtue derived into us, that makes us new creatures, and gives us such a vital perception of the truth of the promises made us in it, that we receive these, as earnests of our inheritance, and so taste and see that God is gracious to us. This makes us living stones in the spiritual building." Bishop Burnet's Charge.

The common people, unspoiled by vain philosophy, hunger and thirst for the spiritual food which comes down from heaven. Ought not their shepherds to feed them with such as is convenient for them, and to lead them from broken cisterns and barren lands, to the green pasture, and streams of living water? Who shall judge what is most convenient for them? a few individuals, or the million, directed, in their choice, by the concurrent guidance of the church, the liturgy, and the Scriptures ? It has been justly suggested, by a wit of antiquity, that the guests, and not the cooks, are to judge of the taste and salubrity of the viands prepared for the table. Now the guests invited to the spiritual feast, appear, by their numerous attendance, to prefer the food which comes from above, the truly evangelical doctrine of grace. However unskilfully dispensed, the places of worship where it is, or appears to be, dispensed at all, are thronged with multitudes, while other places are almost deserted. How are the churches crowded by young and poor persons, at confirmations; the whole of which office is founded, most evidently, on the doctrine of grace, and the Holy Spirit's actual interposition.

The following is the bishop's prayer, in the of fice of confirmation: "Almighty and everlasting God, who hast vouchsafed to regenerate these thy servants, by water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given unto them forgiveness of all their sins; strengthen them, we beseech thee, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, and daily increase in them thy manifold gifts of grace, the spirit of wisdom and understanding; the spirit of counsel and ghostly strength; the spirit of knowledge and true godliness; and fill them, O Lord,

with the spirit of thy holy fear, now and for ever.” The bishop then laying his hand upon every one severally, says, "Defend, O Lord, this thy child, with thy heavenly grace, that he may continue thine for ever; and daily increase in thy Holy Spirit more and more, until he come unto thy everlasting kingdom." He proceeds thus: "Almighty and everlasting God, who makest us both to will and to do those things that be good and acceptable unto thy divine Majesty, let thy Holy Spirit ever be with them; and so lead them in the knowledge and obedience of thy holy word, that in the end they may obtain everlasting life. Vouchsafe to direct, sanctify, and govern both our hearts and bodies," &c.

Can any bishop who reads these words, or any parish priest who sends the young ones of his flock to hear them, consistently deny the doctrine of divine energy, or immediate grace ?1

Exclusively of this sublime doctrine, the Gospel, considered merely as a book of morality, has not so great an advantage over the Koran, as every Christian must wish and believe it to possess. Mahomet requires, in the Koran, “the belief of one God, trust in him, frequent prayer and fasting, alms-giving even to strangers, keeping of covenants, justice in dealings, patience in adversity; to honour father and mother, and to maintain them if they are old and poor. He forbids usury, bearing false witness, profane swearing, and the murdering of infants, which had formerly been common in Arabia." The Mahometan also allows Bishop Beveridge says, 66 A man may as soon read the letter of the Scripture without eyes, as understand the mysteries of the gospel without grace."

Jesus to be a prophet sent from God, and commissioned to be a great instructor, reformer, and Saviour. I say, divest Christianity of the gift which our Lord gave to men, after his ascension, and the infidel will place Christ far below Socrates, Plato, Epictetus, Seneca, and rank him with Mahomet, or even in a lower class; since there are many who deem the Koran a very fine composition, far superior to the narratives of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and to the epistles of Paul, the chief of the apostles.

Divest Christianity of the Spirit's energy, and you rob it of its appropriate, distinguishing, and exclusive excellence and glory. You place it among the modes of superstition which, at various times, have been encouraged by states, in order to facilitate the movements of the political engine, in almost every country on the face of the globe. You make it the invention of man; and, as the invention of man, it will often be despised, in comparison with the philosophy which prevailed in the elegant schools of Athens and Rome, and which clothed its fine morality in all the seducing embellishments of a polished diction. The writings of Plato and Cicero will be preferred to those of the evangelists and apostles, if the pearl which enriches the plain compositions of the latter, above all that human ingenuity can contrive, be torn from its place. That pearl is figuratively emblematic of the Holy Spirit's influence, the unction from above.

The ray of divinity, the anointing of the Spirit, sheds a heavenly effulgence on the page of the written gospel, which all human lights but faintly emulate. These are merely moons or satellites: