trouble. I will deliver him, and bring him to honour. And St. Peter telleth thee: The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, yea, all such as call upon him faithfully.*

Art thou a sinner? Hast thou offended God? Read the scriptures, they will teach thee: Hate the evil, and love the good. And again : Flee from evil and do the thing that is good, and dwell for evermore. Arise, and go to thy father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee; and am no more more worthy to be called thy son.†

Dost thou despair of the mercy of God? Read the scriptures, they will teach thee. Christ telleth thee: I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Again Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. At what hour soever a sinner doth repent him of his sin from the bottom of his heart, I will put all his wickedness out of my remembrance, saith the Lord. Again: I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way, and live. And: The Lord is good to all, and his mercies are over all his works.

Art thou going out of this life? Read the scriptures, they will teach thee I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Say with St. Paul: Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. I desire to depart and to be with Christ.§

What should I say more of the scriptures? How profitable and comfortable they bein all cases and parts of our life? In adversity, in prosperity, in life and in death, they are our especial comfort. If we must fight, they are a sword: if we hunger, they are meat: if we thirst, they are drink if we have no dwelling-place, they are a house: if we be naked, they are a garment: if we be in darkness, they be light unto our going.

They are comfortable to kings, to subjects, to old men, to young men, to man and to wife, to father and to child, to master and to servant, to captain and soldier, to preacher and people, to the learned, to the unlearned, to the wise, and to the simple.

They are comfortable in peace, in war, in heaviness, in joy, in health, in sickness, in abundance, in poverty, in the day time, in the night season, in the town, in the wilderness, in company, and when thou art alone. For they teach faith, hope, patience, charity, sobrie

8

Psal. xxxiv. 19. xci. 15. 1 Pet. iii. 12. 1 Cor. x. 13. Psal. cxlv. 18. † Amos v. 15. Luke xv. 18, 19.

Matt. ix. 13. xi. 28. Ezek. xxxiii. 11.

John xi. 25, 26. Phil. i. 20. 23.

GOSPEL ADVOCATE, VOL. IV.

ty, humility, righteousness, and all goodness. They teach us to live, and they teach us to die.

Wherefore hath Paul said well: The whole scripture is profitable. It is full of great comfort. It maketh the man of God absolute, and perfect unto all good works. Perfect in faith, perfect in hope, perfect in the love of God, and of his neighbour: perfect in his life, and perfect in his death So great, so large and ample and heavenly, is the profit which we reap by the word of God.

FOR THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE.

We are pleased to see the following sentiments, on the recreations of clergymen, in the primary charge of the Right Rev. Dr. Jebb, lord bishop of Limerick. After quoting part of the 42d canon of the Irish church, which prohibits "playing at dice, cards, or any other game unbecoming their functions," he proceeds thus :

"To speak my sentiments plainly, (for, in all my intercourse with you, I shall be plain and simple,) I do not see how a clergyman, consistently with the sacredness and separation of his character and office, consistently with the edification of the flock committed to his charge, or consistently with the vows which he has made at his ordination, can pursue the sports of the mountain or the field; can resort to the race ground or the theatre; can be found at the card-table or in the ball room. In avowing these sentiments, I avow the sentiments, which, from the earliest ages of the church, have been maintained alike by the old catholick bishops and fathers, and by the most distinguished and illustrious Churchmen of modern times. these sentiments I have lived; in these sentiments I hope to die and, at the close of life, it will be to me a crown of rejoicing, if, through my humble instrumentality, any of you, my reverend brethren, shall be induced to become like-minded; and to consider, even in their most unguarded hours, what gravity and recollectedness are, at all times and in all places, demanded of our sacred order." Charge, p. 53.

In

;

The church of Ireland has of late been greatly enriched by the elevated characters of the clergy who have been promoted to her vacant bishopricks. It must be an occasion of joy to every one who is interested in the prosperity and purity of the Christian church that a man of so much singleness of heart, purity of intention, and sober piety, as Bishop Jebb is described to be by those who know him, not to mention his various and elegant learning, has been added to the bright list of Irish bishops.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE.

ADVERSARIA.

(Continued from page 33.)

ON THE STYLE OF A SERMON. It is necessary to put ourselves [preachers] in the place of the lowest of our hearers; to consider

that what is clear and familiar to us, may be dark and strange to him; and to say nothing that is not level to his capacity. In doing this, we may easily avoid all words that are mean and vulgar, so as to make our discourse no less useful to the highest than the lowest understanding; for the matter that will suit the one will equally suit the other; they have both the same exigences. If they had not, the poor and ignorant have always the first claim, for they generally make the greatest number. From both, it is true, we might obtain more admiration and applause by following a different course. But our business is not to get applause ourselves, but glory to God, and good to our people. Our business is to make men think, not of our eloquence, but of their own souls; to attend, not to our fine language, but to their own everlasting interest. One of the ancient fathers used to weep when his hearers applauded his sermon. Would to God," said he, "they had rather gone away silent and thoughtful!" He considered serious and deep reflection on their own state to be the best effect of a discourse upon the bearers, and the best commendation of the preacher. That great monarch, who so finely complimented the eloquent bishop of Clermont, seems to have been of the same opinion. Father," said he, "I have heard many great orators, and heard them with pleasure; but for you, whenever I hear you, I go away displeased with myself, for I see more of my own character." Smith's Lectures on the Sacred Office, pp. 175, 176. Balt. 1810.

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DEITY OF JESUS." The Jehovah hath made all things for himself." Prov. xvi. 4. "All things were created by him, and for him." Col. i. 16. As the latter is spoken by the apostle of Jesus Christ, our blessed Redeemer must be Jehovah.

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DEITY OF THE HOLY GHOST.---" The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2. Pet. i. 21. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets." Heb. i. 1. As the moving power was the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost is God.

TRANSUBSTANTIATION. The Saviour of the world said to his disciples "ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always." Matt, xxvi. 2. What becomes, then, of the corporal presence in the sacrament of the mass, in the Roman Catholick Church?

ON DRESS.---It is an indication of "a youth void of understanding," to be wholly occupied about the decorations of his person, and the display of external pomp, or accomplishments. There is an attention to the decencies of dress, which is conducive to the well being of society. And if, by an attention to manners, men may smooth the asperities of social intercourse, and render themselves more pleasant and agreeable to each other, this also is a laudable, and a. Christian duty. But there are many with whom the adorning of their persons is the principal source of self-satisfaction, and the chief business of life. Man is an intelligent being. He has glorious faculties to cultivate. He has noble duties to discharge. He has an immortal soul to improve. He has eternal life to secure. What can more strikingly indicate a want

of that wisdom, by which such a being should be distinguished, than to have his faculties absorbed, and his ambition satisfied, with the transient varieties of external attire? Besides, how contemptible is the distinction, which is merely superficial! The bee that gathers treasures from every flower, has not the finest coating. The eagle, that soars on majestick wings to the birth of the morning, has not the most glittering plumage. It is the butterfly, that idly flutters on the passing breeze which the fopling emulates. The care of the body is more with him, than the care of the mind. With usefulness and virtue, with knowledge, and heaven to engage him, behold him the slave of a colour, or a fashion, placing his glory in that in which inferiour animals may often vie with him, and flowers and plants excel him. Such a young man, whom dress alone occupies and delights, will be claimed by folly as her legitimate child. Wisdom rejects him. Intelligence sighs over him, as a young man void of understanding." Bishop Dehon's Sermons, ii. pp. 463, 464.

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

GENERAL CONVENTION, 1823.

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39.)

A COMMUNICATION from the board of directors of the American Colonization Society having been transmitted by the house of clerical and lay deputies, the bishops delivered the following opinion thereon.

On consideration of the communication made by a committee of the board of managers of the Colonization Society, to the general convention, the house of bishops are of opinion, that as the objects of that society are more of a political than of a religious nature, it is inexpedient to accede to the proposal therein made, to send a delegate, on the part of the Church, as a body, to act on behalf of the same, at the proposed meeting of the society, at the city of Washington, on the first Monday in June next. While, as individuals, the objects of the society command their most hearty good wishes, and are entitled to all the aid they can give, they do not feel authorized, in their collective capacity, to take any order on the subject.

A report on the subject of a standard edition of the Book of Common Prayer, by a joint committee of the last general convention, was accepted. This report states, that the octavo edition, published under the superintendency of the committee, by S. Potter and Co., Philadelphia, from the stereotype plates of the Common Prayer Book Society of Pennsylvania, and accompanied by their certificate, bearing date September 2, 1822, approaches nearer to correctness than any which have preceded it, and is therefore published as the standard edition of said book.

A report was also received from the joint committee of the convention of 1820, relative to a collection of documents connected with the

history of the American Episcopal Church. This report states, that the documents collected were deposited in the library of St. James's church, Philadelphia, under the care of the Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania; and it further recommends that the bishops, secretaries of convention and other members of the church, be requested to forward to the librarian of the said society, copies of all publications connected with the history of the Church in America. The committee enumerate, as desirable to be possessed, all journals, copies of pastoral letters and charges, sermons preached before conventions, reports of societies connected with the Church, copies of all publications in which the leading doctrines of the Church have been defended, and reports of the Society in England for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The house of bishops approved this report, and requested the committee to continue their services.

A report was received from the joint committee, appointed by the convention of 1820, on the subject of a standard edition of the holy bible. It recommends the adoption of the quarto edition of Eyre and Strahan, of 1812, in some copies of which the title page bears the date of 1813. The report was accepted.

The following canons were proposed in the house of bishops, the former introduced by Bishop Croes; the latter by Bishop Kemp. They are all that were passed by this convention.

CANON I.

Regulating the admission of persons as Candidates for Holy Orders, and repealing the first paragraph of the seventh Canon of 1808.

Every person who desires to become a candidate for orders in this Church, shall obtain admission from the bishop, or such body as the church in the diocese or state in which he intends to apply, may appoint, at least one year before his ordination. The first paragraph of the seventh canon of 1808 is hereby repealed.

CANON II.

Prescribing the mode of publishing authorized editions of the Standard Bible of this Church.

The bishop of this Church, in any state or diocese, or where there is no bishop, the standing committee, is authorized to appoint, from time to time, some suitable person or persons, to compare and correct all new editions of the bible by the standard edition, agreed upon by the general convention. And a certificate of their having been so compared and corrected, shall be published with said book.

The following resolution was ordered to accompany this canon. Resolved, by the two houses of convention, That it be recommended, to every future convention, to appoint a joint committee, to whom there may be communicated all errours, if any. in editions of the bible printed under the operation of the second canon of this convention; such errours to be notified on the journal of the convention, to which they may at any time be presented by the joint committee.