the practice of "the great commandment ;" they all attend to this paternal exhortation of the most zealous of the Apostles: "If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."

Is it in this spirit-is it in order to do the will of Christ and to advance his kingdom-that the sectary scatters the fire-brands of discord in the Church, and kindles anew the torches of fanaticism which He had taken such pains to extinguish? Is it to promote the love of His doctrine, that he revives in our times, and once more places in mutual opposition, the Samaritan and the Jew, the Greek and the Barbarian? Can he be a Child of God, a Disciple of Jesus Christ, who, far from labouring to promote peace in the Church, introduces division even into the bosom of families, abuses the Divine Authority to excite children to rebel against their parents, and severs the holiest ties of nature?-My conscience, he says, commands me-when my Master is to be

obeyed, I may not

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"confer with flesh and

blood." By faith are we saved"-all else is nothing: faith must be replanted and renewed, cost what it may.-Can any one, My Brethren, sin more clearly against the light of his own mind? Can one offer a more direct contradiction to the Gospel? Listen: “ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."-Leaders of religious factions, reflect on these words. If you would proclaim the Gospel in "a tongue" that all nations understand, and the force of which the souls of all can feel-if you would obtain the útmost success, convert countless multitudes, and, like Jesus, "draw all men after you"-let an ardent charity form the inspiring soul of

your

associations; let their members be distinguished,

not by the singularity of their maxims and the intolerance of their tenets, but by an indefatigable zeal for the relief of suffering humanity. Let alone men's opinions, but go and search out their miseries and misfortunes. "Visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction." Employ your eloquence in soliciting help for timid and retiring poverty. Go to the public receptacles of the wretched; and console the stranger stretched there on his bed of pain, without relative or friend to pity his sufferings be thou his father and his mother. Enter the prison and pierce the gloom of the dungeon, in order to reconcile to God, and save from eternal punishment, those unhappy beings whose sentence in this world is pronounced, and who have no mercy to expect from men. Restore distracted families to peace. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."-Such is the noble career which your Saviour lays open to you, as the way to heaven, and the sole means of acquiring a title to his rewards: "Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the

children of God."

"Come, ye blessed of my

Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me."

What shall I say more? If these works of charity, if these affecting labours, present not a field sufficient for your restless activity-if a "zeal" for conversion "eat you up," and "consume" you-go and visit the barbarous tribes who still sit in darkness and in the region and shadow of death," "strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world," who sheep having no shepherd." If you are Christ's Apostles, EXTEND his empire, instead of TROUBLING it; labour to found new Churches, instead of destroying the old-for such is the melancholy consequence of religious dissensions, as will now be shewn.

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III. "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation." These are the words of our Saviour, and they are confirmed by the history of all nations. From the moment when a state becomes the prey of factions, it is hastening towards ruin. The work of destruction has begun. The wisest institutions, the result of the experience of ages, are subverted in a day; establishments of public utility are left to languish deserted; the love of country is chilled and extinguished; conceit, obstinacy, self-love, suspicion, distrust, succeed to the social virtues, and the union of all hearts for the public good. Every man is either the chief of a party or one of a misled multitude; and each has in view only the triumph of his particular opinions, and the pursuit of his personal enmities. Satires, libels, and the most violent invectives, present the frightful signal of more sanguinary encounters; until in a short time the whole country becomes a field of battle, where lawless factions meet in furious conflict, and countrymen and brethren slaughter one another without remorse. The magistrates, forced to descend

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