peace, having escaped from sin and sorrow, and being favoured with the immediate manifestation of the presence of Christ, and with a certain hope and expectation of the full reward of heaven.

"Such I believe to be the main subjects of the Christian Scriptures, which are to be enforced and explained to all people of the world. And I believe that one day all people shall receive them, so that the object of the death of Christ shall be seen in its accomplishment, even the salvation of mankind from vice and misery.

"There are many other points of Scripture doctrine, which I believe as Truths taught by God, but which I do not regard as so indispensably prominent and essential in the public ministry of the gospel. The preaching of the gospel is, calling men to repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ; and whatever does not conduce to this end may be true, and a proper subject of religious instruction, but is not so clearly and necessarily a part of the Gospel message. It is nevertheless highly proper that truth should be known and valued, and I will briefly state the mode, in which I regard some of the controverted parts of Christian doctrine, that I may have an opportunity of avowing my general concurrence with the churches of the Independent communion.

"The doctrines which 1 have already confessed, with respect to the Divine agency in the recovery of mankind,

as exercised by the Son of God, and by the Holy Ghost, lead me to believe as a clear inference from the doctrine of Scripture; that in the Unity of the Supreme Being there does exist a trinity-that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but one God-and that these three persons, as we venture to call them, of the one Deity, are not merely relations, and different exertions or manifestations of the same agent, but real though mysterious distinctions existing, as represented in Holy Scripture, and acting in perfect coincidence in the execution of man's salvation, yet so as to preserve inviolate the strict and proper Unity of the Divine Nature. This I regard as the just and necessary consequence of the plain doctrine of Scripture, with respect to the love of God, the dignity of the Son, and the agency of the Holy Ghost.

The necessary perfection of the Divine Attributes, requires foreknowledge or prescience, as human language calls it. And the perfection of the Deity seems to require no less that all His purposes should be eternal— and that those purposes should include the whole system of universal moral government. I believe the permission of sin to be perfectly consistent with the wisdom and goodness of the Deity; and have hoped that the light of the world to come may illustrate the connection. I believe that the purposes of God regard the final salvation of a multitude which no man can number, and I re

joice in the assurance which Paul gives us that where sin hath abounded, grace shall much more abound. And I believe not less that the Divine Justice shall be seen to be immaculate, and the Divine Goodness and Wisdom unimpeachable, even when the sentence and punishment shall go forth against the wicked. I believe that God wills and effects the salvation of those who are saved, the wisdom and goodness of this all men perceive. I believe also that for wise and good purposes, He permits the ruin of the impenitent, though as yet we cannot tell what those purposes may be.

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“This doctrine, which I call the doctrine of Election to Eternal Life, I receive as a necessary conclusion from the perfection of the Divine Character, from the doctrine of Divine Agency in human salvation, and indeed as the plain meaning of many Scriptural assertions.

State, finally, what are your resolves and expectations with respect to the actual discharge of your duties, as a Minister of Jesus Christ?

I enter on the discharge of those duties with feelings of high expectation, chastened and moderated only by a sense of the feebleness of my resolutions, and the unworthiness of my exertions. If I could hope, by God's grace, to be found approved as a faithful servant, the difficulties to be overcome would little move me, and my expectations of success would be sanguine indeed. Under a consciousness of infirmity and insufficiency, and above

all, of unsubdued depravity in my own mind, I feel called upon to check my warm hopes, and pray first of all that the Great Shepherd of the flock may watch over me, that I may then be enabled fitly to watch over others, and to deliver my own soul.

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Hoping that this petition, in which I entreat my fathers and brethren all present to join me, may be granted, I will hope, that the establishment of the faithful members of God's church, and their continual increase, shall be granted to my sincere endeavours.

"So far as concerns the Christian people, over whom it has pleased the Lord of the Church to give me an appointment-my great object will be to instruct them in all Divine Truth, that they may not be ignorant of any part of God's Revelation, nor attach to any one part an importance unduly above another; but that the whole sum of Truth in its harmony and consistency may be known and acknowledged. The object of such knowledge will be the production of the fruits of faith, holiness in the sight of God, and charity towards men. To the latter, in the present state of religious communities, I shall feel it a duty unceasingly to address myself. The suppression of the discords and alienations which have long afflicted the church, and the excitement of complete charity and brotherly love among Christians, I take to be both my great duty and my exceeding honour.* And with humility,

"Were the religion of Christ stripped of all that state policy, fleshly

I would pledge myself thus publicly before this congregation and before God, to make my constant effort for the harmonizing of all Christian sects, and the promotion of union among all disciples of the one great Lord. Not by the vailing or compromising of conscientious principles in which we may differ, but by the prominent exhibition of those greater principles in which we are agreed, and espewhich cially by the cultivation of those tempers compose "the meekness and gentleness of Christ." And the promotion and support of religious institutions, I shall feel to be a sacred duty ever before my eyes. By their support alone, can I feel myself to be taking any part in the execution of that command, which assigns to the Christian ministry "the world" as their "field," of labour, and all mankind as their cure.*

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interest, which gross superstition have added to it, how plain and simple, and may we not add, how amiable and glorious would it appear! Well may we say of human inventions in divine worship, what one said of the paintings on old Cathedral windows, "their principal tendency is to prevent the light from coming in." Dr. A. Clarke, on Lev. x.-See a passage from Flavel, in Evang. Mag. 1808, p. 74.-Transcribed from the Father's MSS. No. xii. p. 116. For some harmonizing considerations, worthy of more general attention, see Script. Mag. vol. iv. p. 177 and 344.

*

"Among the Dissenters have originated Societies and Institutions, which are the glory of our age and country, and the salvation of the world. We have heard of "the rust and indolence of an Establishment" (Chalmers' Sermon before the Scottish Society for spreading the Gospel) and many ages of the world have suffered severely, the effects of that "rust and indolence." We have now seen the reverse-the splendid and energetic exertions of those who can command none of the resources of an Establishment. And it is not overrating those exertions, nor glorying beyond measure, nor unduly 'magnifying ourselves, to say that the principal and the most useful of those numerous Societies of a charitable and religious cast, which have of late