tually cutting himself off from the communion of saints, and hazarding his eternal salvation. If from the state of public confusion and disorder, of individual peril and uncertainty, consequent upon such an unauthorized deviation from the rule of Scripture, and the practice of the first disciples, as recorded by the Evangelist for our instruction, we turn to the consideration of that unity of devotion, recommended by the text, and enforced by the discipline of our own Church; how fair, how lovely is the prospect! If any spectacle can give us an idea of heavenly occupations and delights in this our mortal state, it must be that of a Christian congregation, prostrate before the footstool of the same God; and joining with one heart and one soul in the same fervent and devout expressions of faith, of hope, of gratitude, of reverence, of obedience. When then the mind is carried on from a single congregation thus employed to the idea, that the whole national Church is at the same time engaged in hallowing the Christian sabbath by one common act of devotion; striving together in prayer; and pouring forth from every town and every village the same voice of supplication, praise, and thanksgiving, in his name who is the Saviour of all; can we doubt the ' prevailing efficacy of such an offering, when sincerely made? or can we imagine a closer resemblance to the conduct of that heavenly assembly, which s❝ serveth "God day and night" continually! When to this we add, that every member of the Church has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and received into the number of God's faithful and elect children by baptism; what shall we require to complete the picture, but that they, who thus have been admitted into the fellowship of Christ's religion; who thus abide in the doctrine, and join in the prayers of that Church, which may justly claim to be t❝built upon the foundation of the Apo"stles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;" should I See Note LXXX. Appendix. t Ephes. ii. 20. s Rev. vii. 15. also " continue stedfast," in the great leading characteristic of true Christian worship, "the breaking of bread !" u Thus connected by every external bond of unity, and "66 going up with the multi"tude to the house of God, with the "voice of joy and praise," it might be hoped, that the Spirit of Peace, of which they would then be made partakers, would also dwell in their hearts; and accompanying them into the world, and directing them in their daily conversation, as well as in their religious services, would induce them to "follow peace with all men; and to prove that they were the faithful disciples of him y" who loved us, and gave himself for us," by the love which they uniformly manifested one towards another. u Psalm xlii. 4. x Heb. xii. 14. y Gal. ii. 20. SERMON V. 1 COR. iii. 3. Whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ? WHEN the present distracted state of the Christian world is compared with the harmony and union which prevailed in the infant Church at Jerusalem, as described by the Evangelist; so lamentable a departure from primitive excellence cannot but excite sensations of humiliation and sorrow in the mind of every man, who is zealous for the honour of his religion, and well instructed in the duties of its professors. Little consolation will such a person derive from knowing, that the divisions which now harass the Church are not peculiar to the present day. For he will perceive that their danger is not less alarming, nor |