Although we should soon become weary in looking upon a boundless plain, covered with one unvaried sheet of grass, yet upon a rich landscape diversified with land and water, hills and dales, rocks and trees, we could gaze for a long time, with increased delight. And we are affected in like manner, in the things of religion. A long prayer may and frequently does cause weariness, which will prevent all ar dour, if it does not destroy all kind of devotion; but our short collects, each containing a separate petition, prefaced with a reference to the attribute, the display of which we therein supplicate, and concluded with a reference to the merits of Christ through which we expect every mercy, enables us to continue our devotions with increased engagedness even to the end. Every pious Episcopalian will readily add his testimony to the truth of this remark. Nor will he object to the frequent change of body with which the service of the Church is celebrated-be will neither be tired of rising to celebrate the praises of his Maker and Redeemer; nor of kneeling down to confess his sins and to supplicate the mercy he needs.

Such,

And the other objection made to a few expressions in the liturgy supposed to convey false doctrine will be found on examination to be equally groundless. Language, like every thing else not divine, is continually changing. Since our liturgy was formed, the use of a few words found in it is materially altered; their ordinary significa. tion, as now used, is widely different from what it then was. therefore, as have not been apprised of the change in the meaning of the words alluded to, suppose they were designed to convey erroneous sentiments; but Episcopalians, aware of this change, use these words according to their original import. Nor is it denied, that our formularies of worship, in some other instances, might possibly be considered susceptible of improvement. No human production was ever yet perfect. No one, however, it is presumed ever approximamated nearer to perfection than our liturgy. It is so nearly perfect, that were a revision attempted, it would probably receive more injury than profit. One person would wish to alter one thing, and another would propose to alter something else-one would wish to expunge this part and another that, till it retained none of its original features, or till nothing of it was left. Nor is it deemed necessary that our worship should keep pace with the for ever varying world. We revere it for its antiquity; and we are desirous that the Church and liturgy together should be as much as possible like the divine Head of the church, the same yesterday to day, and for ever. The materials, from which our liturgy is formed, came from the purest ages of the church; and the thought that it has been used by thousands and millions who are now in heaven, and that many have consecrated it even with their blood, cannot fail to endear it greatly to us, and to quicken our devotions when using it. It is a precious relick of their wisdom and of their piety. We venerate it; we venerate the men who formed it! Sainted spirits, having finished your labours and your perils on earth, you have entered upon the inheritance ordained for the righteous, encompassing the moral horizon, in a bright galaxy, at which we will gaze in admiration as long as life shall last!

The inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem were directed to survey the bulwarks and towers and palaces of their favourite and beloved city, that they might tell it to the generation following. It is chiefly in reference to the generation following, that I have been directing your attention to our Zion. It is too common for the children of Episcopalians to grow up without knowing wherein our Church differs from the communion of those who dissent from it. If the observations made on the constitution, ministry, and worship of the Church are correct, it is important that they should be deeply impressed upon the minds of the rising generation. Other denominations are careful to instruct their children in their own religious peculiarities; and there is certainly no good reason why we should not do the same. well know, that Episcopalians have trusted too much to the goodness of their cause; and the Church has consequently been permitted too much to provide for herself or else not be provided for at all. But if the Church is as apostolical in her ministry, and as heavenly in her worship as has been supposed, it still requires the nursing care of her members. The Church is to be enlarged and nourished by the use of regular means; and if these are neglected, we are to expect her light will wane, if not become extinct. And among the means used for perpetuating and enlarging our Zion, none can be more effectual than a proper attention to her young members.

I

The remark is often made that persons seldom leave the Episcopal church, who have been once sincerely attached to it, and have been well instructed in its distinctive principles. As members of that Church we might profit much from this remark in causing our young members to be well instructed in these principles. Nor should the religious education of our youth be wholly or even chiefly intellectual. The distinctive principles of our Church should only be made the basis of a religious education that would form the moral powers to habits of piety and practical godliness. I am aware, it is a favourite idea with many Christian people, that children are to be permitted to grow up without receiving any religious bias, leaving their conversion altogether to the irresistible grace of God. But if we reason from analogy, or that abundance of facts within our observation, we cannot but conclude, it requires time to raise a moral as well as a physical or an intellectual structure. What is there in nature that springs into existence in full perfection? Does genius ever in the infancy of life dart all its bright beams upon the world? Or do renowned monuments of human art rise into being, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye? If not, why should we look for such operations in the moral world? Does not the same God of order govern in one as in the other? The conclusion, moreover, drawn from analogy on this subject is made certain, by the elucidation of important principles in moral and intellectual philosophy, from the existence of historical facts. Most of the exertions to Christianize the heathen, it is known, have been fruitless. Century has rolled away after century; missionary has succeeded missionary, in peril, in toils, in self-denials, and then in descending into the silent grave; but where are we to look for the

Christian churches which they formed from heathen converts? With few exceptions we shall look in vain for them! Nor is their want of success owing to any want of fitness in the Christian system to the moral necessities of the heathen, or to any neglect of duty on their part, save not having begun the work of conversion in childhood. This, however, in the present more enlightened age of the world, is supposed to be the principal, if not the only cause, why former attempts to convert the heathen have been so unavailing; and those, at present most engaged in this charitable work, have adopted the long and much ridiculed idea of making Christians of children. If the gospel is now to be preached in heathen countries, it is preached to children; schools are established; and in this way, the truths of revelation are made to gain place upon the mind before it becomes corrupted by the vices and prejudices of more advanced age. And reasoning from this fact, as we might from numerous others of a similar character, it is reckoned probable that a large proportion of those who ever become pious, become so in childhood and youth at least so far as their situations, and maturity of understanding, and moral perception, will permit. Indeed, had it not been for the religious instruction we ourselves received in childhood and youth, we might have been, at this time, morally no better than heathens! What a delightful field, my brethren, does such a consideration open for the pious labours of Christian parents in bringing up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Away, then, with the absurd, the irrational, the unchristian idea of permitting children to grow up without religious impressions and religious principles, under the pretence, that they may have opportunity, on coming to maturer years, of choosing a religion for themselves, unbiassed by previous instructions. Why not then let them grow up without education, that when grown up, they may choose for themselves what to learn! Why not let our young men grow up without a knowledge of any mechanick art, or of any profession, that, when men, they may choose for themselves what calling they would like! One would be comparatively as absurd as the other; and one, it is apprehended would be as destructive to their immortal as the other to their temporal well being. Permit me,

therefore, to urge you, my brethren, to inculcate upon our young members the distinctive principles of our Church, to form their minds to habits of piety and practical godliness, and to impress them with the beauties and excellences of our worship-or in the language of the text, Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers there f. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following.

It is certainly through no hostility of feeling to, or want of respect for our Christian brethren of other denominations, that we would inculcate upon our own members the distinctive principles and excellences of our own Church; and when we do it, we would avoid giving offence; we would endeavour to speak the truth in love. We pretend not to dictate to them; we leave them to the light given them, to their own consciences, and to their God; we only, in these things,

speak in reference to ourselves, to the welfare of those committed to our charge, knowing that we must render unto God an account of the stewardship we have received. Indeed, we would with pleasure acknowledge, that many of them are worthy of our imitation, in zeal, in active benevolence, and in practical piety; and we would rejoice whenever they successfully labour for the good of their fellow creatures and the glory of God.

But for what purpose, my Christian brethren and friends, let me, in the conclusion of this discourse, press the inquiry upon your minds, are these religious institutions and these religious solemnities? Let me entreat you to consider seriously, for what purpose are these Christian temples, these altars, and these ministrations of the sanctuary? Why are we so often called on to abstract ourselves from the world and to engage in the service of God? Are these things merely for outward show! Far from it! They are to prepare us for rendering unto God an account for all the deeds done in the body; to prepare us for those holy exercises in which the righteous are to be engaged through eternity; to prepare us for the reception of that crown of glory and immortality which are their promised inheritance beyond the grave!

May God Almighty grant, that these means of grace be blessed effectually to the important purposes named.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE.

AMONG the "religious communications" in the August number of the Christian Spectator, I perceive a formal attempt by a writer who signs himself W., to invalidate the evidence in favour of the epistles of Ignatius. As the editors of that respectable journal appear to be men of learning, it has not a little surprised me that they should have admitted such a piece in their pages without some remarks; and I have delayed my present communication for two months in hopes that something would appear in their subsequent numbers, from which I might infer that the editors, or some of their correspondents, were disposed to do more justice to a question which has long ago been settled by the judgment of the learned world. As I have been disappointed, I shall now take the liberty of offering, for insertion in the Gospel Advocate, a few remarks upon some of the positions advanced by this writer. I wish it to be understood that I am not entering into a formal defence of the epistles of Ignatius. I consider the question as settled. It never would have been so much agitated if it had not been for the conclusive testimony which these epistles give to the existence, at the close of the first century, of three orders in the Christian ministry. It is well for the cause of truth, however, that the question has been thus agitated. The enemies of Episcopacy have in general retired from the contest; having been obliged to yield to

the overwhelming force of evidence adduced by the defenders of these epistles. It is only when some novice takes hold of the subject, that we have arguments advanced which have been satisfactorily answered over and over again, and which the modesty, acquired by greater learning and experience, would have been ashamed to reiterate.

The writer begins, as all other enemies of Episcopacy have begun, by endeavouring to create suspicions respecting the narrative of Ignatius's martyrdom which accompanies the epistles. It "disagrees," he says, with the relation Eusebius has given of his progress to Rome. The former declares, that he sailed from Seleucia to Smyrna, thence to Troas, and from thence to Neapolis. The latter relates that he passed through Asia, and confirmed the congregations, throughout every city where he came, preaching the word of God, &c." If I understand the objection, it is that the Martyrology speaks of his going by water, whereas Eusebius asserts that his journey was by land. I shall take this to be the meaning of the writer, because, on any other supposition, there would not, I conceive, be any possible disagreement. Eusebius, then, according to this writer, asserts that the journey was overland. But Eusebius in truth asserts no such thing. His words are, Δι' Ασιας ἀνακομιδὴν ποιούμενος. Ανακομίδη means, according to Suidas, the same as ἀναγοδή, ἐπάνοδος, αναφορά. The word is used in speaking of the transportation of a dead body from one sepulchre to another, or from a field of battle to interment. See 2 Macc. xii. 39. 'Eenouilero, a word of the same origin, is used in Luke vii. 12. of the son of the widow of Nain, who was carried out for burial. The idea, then, conveyed by this expressive word, is that of carrying away without any will of the person carried. No phrase could be more appropriate to the case of the venerable martyr.

Ασίας.

Ara in this passage denotes merely the course of the journey; motum per locum, to use the words of Schleusner. The wise men departed into their own country Al' daars idou by another way. An examination of a map would show at once why Eusebius used the expression d'Arias. Instead of going straight from Antioch through the Mediterranean to Italy, which would have been the most direct and ordinary course, the martyr was conveyed di 'Arias by the way of Asia Minor. If the writer had understood the language of Eusebius he would have seen that there is no contradiction between his relation and the Martyrology. Eusebius merely states the course of the journey in general terms, the Martyrology, with that minuteness which is a characteristick of true history, specifies that Ignatius went by water from Seleucia to Neapolis, touching only at the several places mentioned in Asia Minor. The writer in the Christian Spectator was probably misled by trusting to the Latin translation of Va lesius, which is cum per Asiam ductaretur. This, in his zeal to find out an inconsistency, he thought could mean nothing else than an overland journey. If he had looked at the ancient translation by Rufinus, he would have found this very passage thus rendered, cum per Asiam sub custodia NAVIGARET. The idea of an overland journey in Asia never enter the mind of Rufinus.