the sound of the warning voice-if, in a word, the pastor is to be what his very name implies, and what the Church's design is he should be, then I am sure you will agree, that 2,000 souls are quite as many as any single pastor ought to have the care over and if this be allowed, then to approach this state of things, we should require, at this moment, the number I have before mentioned at once doubled, or 2,450 additional clergymen.

It may, however, be objected to this statement, that we have not taken into the account our Wesleyan brethren and the dissenters. We have not done so, because the supply furnished by them does not in the least remove the responsibility or lessen the duty of the church. It is to her, as the queen and consort of the state, the question forcibly applies-Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? We are not, however, blind to the good which has been done by others, and if Christ be preached, therein we rejoice, yea, and will rejoice; but even taking the aggregate of those who attend the services of our church and of all denominations, and what think you is the startling fact? Why that seven millions in our land, or more than one half of our countrymen, either cannot or will not visit any place of worship; nay, more, that if the adult population were disposed to visit the house of God, there is not accommodation probably in all the churches and chapels of every description put together for more than one half. And this is Protestant Christian England! Wonder we at the vice, drunkenness, sabbathbreaking, contempt of God, his ordinances, his ministers, yea, at the enormity of our national sins, over which decency blushes and humanity sheds her tear. O, England! my country, what can save thee, if the Lord be provoked to give thee up, and what but sin can ruin thee? But if thou goest on thus heedlessly to forget the God of all thy mercies, remember Canaan, Tyre, and Palestine. Call to mind the seven churches of Asia, which once were blessed even as thou. Think of the removal of their candlestick, and tremble for thyself!

And now, brethren, shall this state of things continue; continue--it cannot; it must either grow worse, or by God's blessing we must meet and arrest the evil. this leads me in the third place to

And

3. The duty which devolves alike on all the members and ministers of the church.

With regard to this duty it is simple. We know who hath commanded us to feed the flock of Christ. Our duty, therefore, remains, whether our means be proportionate to the discharge of that duty as it ought to be. Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? So long as there is a wanderer unsought, the duty is unfulfilled. We trust, however, that what is her duty will, at no distant day, be within the compass of her ability. Bright prospects are opening before her; restrictions which injuriously prevented the increase of her temples have been removed; churches are increasing, ministers are multiplying, God is blessing her; and, among the tokens for good, I own I look with peculiar delight to the Society whose cause has been this day brought before you—the Church Pastoral Aid Society, a society which has sprung up within her, and uniting the energies, talent, influence, and wealth of her children, is consecrating them to the service and glory of God our Saviour.—A society, I believe, so far as any thing human can be, faultless-which is in strict accordance with the discipline and government of the Church of England,-which has at its head some of the bishops, and whose single object is to aid in providing additional pastors, or laymen, as the case may require and the incumbent may wish for, to extend the means of grace, and thus increase the spiritual efficiency of the church. Would to God that some such agency had existed long ago ! But, alas! for our church ! she hath too long slumbered at her post. It is faithfulness and friendship to her to confess this. Had she acted out the principles of the Reformation, had the spirit that kindled in her Latimers, her Ridleys, her Cranmers, kept alive upon her altars, we should not have been in the state in which we now are. So far from hearing the unnatural cry from her children, down with her, down with her, even to the ground, we should scarce have had a single wanderer from her fold, while all would have rejoiced beneath her fostering wing. But then we mention this, not that you should dwell with fruitless regret on the past, but to animate you to present duty and to warn you for the future. We live in brighter and better days. The Society whose cause I am desirous to advocate opens to us a new era. You will be gratified

to learn that since its commencement, being little more than eighteen months, it has received upwards of £10,000. that it has made grants to the amount of £5,400 per annum to about 90 clergymen having the charge of 602,000 souls, to enable them to obtain additional assistance, the aggregate income of whose benefices was only £12,700, giving an average of 7,500 souls at £160 each.

These grants have provided eighty-four additional clergymen, and twelve lay assistants (some graduates); the lay assistants having limited duties, similar to district visitors or Scripture readers, and being entirely under direction and control of the clergy, to whom they are responsible and under engagement. And the happy consequence has been, that additional services have been opened in churches and licensed school rooms, in remote and destitute parts of parishes; and, in some instances, these grants have occasioned the erection of chapels. Nor would I omit to mention, what I consider of prime importance, that while the Society leaves the nomination, where it ought to be left, with the clergyman applying for assistance, yet it requires the additional labourers thus sent forth into the vineyard should be, as far as one man can judge of another, and testimonials certify, spirituallyminded men, possessing the qualifications which the Church require, such as alone can meet the necessities of the nation, men whom the Holy Spirit hath called and set apart, and prepared by his own teaching, that they may be able to teach others also. This is the simple statement of facts, but, brethren, remember what immense funds will be required to keep up and increase the operation of such a machinery as this; and, consequently, when I tell you that the Society has already voted more than £5,000, which will require annual renewal, I am sure it will meet with your warmest and best support by annual subscriptions. I have a proposal to make to my own dear flock. There are amongst us many whom the Lord has blessed temporally and spiritually. It would be an easy thing for the congregation of St. Peter's, unitedly, to support one ambassador of Christ, who might proclaim the words of everlasting life in the midst of some dense benighted mass of our countrymen, at present perishing for lack of knowledge. And I know nothing that could be strengthening to your own pastor in his public minis

more

trations, or more joyous to the congregation, than the reflection, that God hath honoured us to be instrumental in adding, so to speak, another temple to be vocal with his praise. Freely, then, brethren, ye have received, freely give.

[The Rev. Preacher here forcibly illustrated the utility of the Society, by referring to the necessities of the chapelry to which he had himself been first ordained curate, the population 17,000, income £170, and to which the Parochial Aid Society has sent an additional clergyman.]

I will not say a word, then, as to what you may be constrained to give when the service is over. I trust the impression will not be momentary, but that you will devise some plan by which, as a congregation, you may support one faithful pastor; and thus, in some measure, diminish the existing evil. And as Sabbath will return after Sabbath, and we shall assemble within these walls to pray and to praise, who can tell whether that Saviour who hath promised that the cup of cold water shall in nowise lose its reward, may not remember this for good, and command the windows of heaven to be opened, and rain down blessings on our head.

To encourage and animate you to this duty I remark, in the last place,

4. That the prosperity of our Zion, in the fulfilment of her solemn responsibility, is inseparably connected with the nation's welfare and the world's blessedness.

Let us picture to ourselves a resident pastor after God's own heart, amid a population of 2,000 souls; let us contemplate the blessed results of the preaching of the cross, the charities which grow upon the soil of the Gospel, and beautify the place of the sanctuary; and which, to use the language of Scripture, transforms the moral wilderness into the garden of the Lord. Let us compare such a place with a district uncultivated by the ploughshare of the Gospel, from whence spreads a moral contagion around, and the receptacles of crime become peopled with their wretched inmates, whose lips blaspheme instead of praise. And shall we not then say, that the prosperity of Zion is a subject devoutly to be desired.

Think also of the blessing to the Church itself. Then, instead of its numbers being so few, they would be increased to a mighty multitude. Instead of such slumber

ing on the part of her members, there would be spiritual vigour apparent in all their actions, and seen in all their ways. Then would there be union and peace, mutual forbearance, and brotherly love dwelling in the midst of us. O when shall it be that our beloved Church shall arise and so shine? When all her pastors, from the archbishop down to the lowest curate, shall be men whose one object shall be to seek the glory of God, in setting forward the salvation of their fellow-men. Then, brethren, would there be a corresponding blessing to the country. We hear of complaints from every quarter, and we witness the effrontery of sin in all ranks. Are we to wonder when there is such a lamentable destitution of the means which alone can change murmuring into thanksgiving, and check the bold impiety of the day. If ever there was a time when the Church ought to be active, it is now; new facilities have been afforded to the energies of the nation, and it is for the Church to give a right direction to those energies, which she can only do by fulfilling her high responsibility, opposing the conflicting elements of error by the truth, and subduing Britain's children to the sceptre of the Redeemer's grace. Then would the voice of praise be heard in our land. Those national evils we now deplore would be repented of and forsaken. Instead of the Sabbath being desecrated and the places of amusement resorted to, it would be esteemed a delight, and men would be glad to go into the house of the Lord. Rulers would rule in the fear of God, and subjects would obey in the fear of God; there would be no complaining in our streets, and God, even our own God, would give us his blessing. Nor would the blessing be limited to our own nation. England, herself being evangelized, would triumphantly march to the conquest of the world. We wonder not that so little has been done as yet in planting the standard of the cross in heathen lands, and that so few have yielded to its power; when England, whose temple is religion, whose merchants are princes, and upon whose dominion the sun never sets, exhibits so little of the power of the Gospel; and so much that may well cause the reproach-see how these Christians hate one another. that the Church would unceasingly supplicate that the prayer of Jesus might be speedily accomplished; that