reach of your power? It is indeed beyond your power; but listen to the voice of God's omnipotent word, and every difficulty will vanish away. Or are you reluctant to turn away from the allurements of a present world? Or would you fear the ridicule of the scorner, if you made profession of such high and holy principles? And can you with such views satisfy your own soul? Could you state them as an excuse even to a fellow-creature? Or if Or if you find among your brethren those who may countenance or applaud, will they avail you aught when you stand before the judgment-seat of Christ?

To those who are in Christ we would address a parting word. Ye see "what manner of persons ye ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness." Let me beseech you to walk worthy of your calling. Be satisfied with nothing short of a real and of a growing conformity to the image of Christ-and leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, go on unto perfection. Consider that the work in which you are engaged is never finished till you are holy even as God is holy. Let this be the high mark at which you aim, and consider every day as lost in which, by the humble, and grateful, and believing observance of the means of grace, you do not add to your knowledge of the Divine perfection, and in which you do not experience in your heart, and manifest in your life, the transforming efficacy of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And may the Lord grant that you may daily increase, yea, that you may abound in the sight of God, in every work of faith, and labour of love, and in all patience of hope!

SERMON XII.

THE LIMITS AND EXTENT OF THE RIGHT OF PRIVATE JUDGMENT.*

"Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Roм. xiv. 5.

It has been arranged by the wisdom and piety of our fathers, that the office-bearers of our Church, before proceeding to the fulfilment of their functions as commissioned to hold rule in Christ's house, should unite with their people in the solemn services of public worship. The practice cannot fail to commend itself to the approbation of every Christian mind; for it is obviously of the utmost importance, that those who are to act as stewards in the household of faith should enter upon their arduous duties with hearts elevated and enlarged by the exercise of social devotion; that they should enjoy the privilege of the united prayers of the faithful people of God, for divine guidance and assistance; and that they should have their minds directed to those views of the spiritual kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, that may heighten every feeling of responsibility attach

* Preached in the Church of St. Giles, on Thursday, May 18, 1843, the day of the Disruption.

ing to those who have been ordained to take a part in administering its affairs. Never, in the history of the Church of Scotland, has there been a period when the benefit of such preparatory exercises was more urgently required. The controversy that has so long distracted our Church and country is at last to be brought to an issue. A fearful schism in the body that should continue one and undivided appears inevitable. A fatal rent is to be made in the walls of the pleasant house where we and our fathers have worshipped, and which has so long been a glory and a defence in our land. And amidst these alarming agitations and convulsions, none of us can continue unconcerned observers. The shock is too great to leave any beyond the sphere of its influence. The events which are in progress are of such magnitude as to carry all along with them in one or another direction. The collision reaches so far that all must be involved in it. Nor will the issues of our doings be limited in their extent, or of temporary interest. The eyes of all Christendom must be attracted to our struggle. What is done will not easily be undone. And the part that each one of us may this day take must send an influence for good or evil throughout succeeding generations. In circumstances so momentous, having already joined together in earnest supplications for that wisdom which is never denied to those who ask it from above in faith, nothing wavering; it now becomes my duty, before we go forth to proclaim to the world what our sentiments are, and to seal our declaration by an irrevocable act, and while we still continue outwardly united as brethren,

to take a calm review of those scriptural rules by which we should be guided in this great crisis. It is far from my purpose to allude even to the special reasons that ought to incline us to one course in preference to another. This would bring unseasonably before us matter " of doubtful disputation," for which a more suitable field will soon be opened. And I shall confine myself, therefore, wholly to an inquiry into those general principles which may be held with equal honesty by individuals who come to different practical conclusions respecting this great controversy, but which, I conceive, must be observed by all who would enjoy the blessedness promised to the man who "condemneth not himself in the thing which he alloweth."

It is a distinguishing peculiarity of the New Testament dispensation, that while the fundamental principles of faith and practice are exhibited by the sacred writers with a plainness that does not admit of misinterpretation by the unprejudiced mind, there is room for great diversities in the forms and combinations in which divine truth may be set forth in human systems, and in the manner in which the duties of religion may be fulfilled. The manifestation of the truth to the conscience constitutes the grand means for accomplishing the results contemplated in the economy of grace: that truth, in its own nature, and as presented for contemplation in the Scriptures, is ever one and the same; and there is a faith by which it is apprehended, common to the true members of the Church, which, in its distinguishing cha

racteristics, is the same in all. The essential element, however, of true and living faith, may present itself in different appearances, and be mixed up in various combinations with other conditions of the religious character. The perception of what is of vital moment may be connected with apprehensions more or less clear and consistent of other truths. A prominence may be given to one class of subordinate truths, to the comparative neglect of others. In some instances the truths of revelation may find their way at once to the belief and practice, with little or no acquaintance, on the part of those who receive them, with the philosophy of the evidence by which they are supported, and with scarcely any attempt to trace their natural connexions, or their relations to the truths of other systems. In other instances where they may operate with equal power, their character, and the theory of their energy, may be made the subject of speculative consideration. And not being delivered in the Scriptures in a systematic manner, and the language in which they are conveyed often admitting of different interpretations, they may be moulded into various scientific forms. They may be progressively developed in the advancement of true science, or they may be distorted by partial exhibition, or they may be vitiated by an admixture of the errors of a false philosophy. Accordingly, the views of divine truth have varied in different ages and countries, whether considered in the faith of individuals, in the symbols of Churches, or in the systems of philosophical theologians. And yet all these diversities may be compatible with a firm adherence