solemnity. After his own strict examination, he desired the clergy present, of whom there was always a number, to question the young men on various subjects, and only such as satisfied the clergy were ordained. He always preached himself on the occasion, and administered the holy communion. He took care that no fees should be paid by clergy at ordination or institution. He usually drew up the recessary papers himself, delivering them with his own hands, and requesting that nothing might be given to his servants; to secure which, he usually went to the gate with the parties. It is a subject for great thankfulness, that examination for holy orders is now conducted with much more strictness than it was wont to be, and that diligent inquiry is made both as to the Biblical knowledge of the candidate, and as to his views of divine truth and of ministerial responsibility. It is gratifying to know that some of our prelates it may be all, but some, to the writer's personal knowledge-take much pains to become acquainted with the candidates previous to ordinaton; and by their personal intercourse, edifying conrersation, and useful advice, do much to prepare the young men for the duties of their important calling. Convinced of the errors of popery, it was the bishop's earest aim to disseminate as much as possible the ely Scriptures. He endeavoured, and not without access, to convince the Romish priests of the corrupteas of their Church. He procured a translation of the Book of Common-Prayer into the Irish language, #kich he caused to be read in the cathedral every Sunday; and the New Testament having been translated by Abp. Daniel, he procured a translation of the Old Testament, which was afterwards printed at the expense of Mr. Robert Boyle, the bishop being unable to carry on the good work himself. It was thus that be testified his fitness for the distinguished and responsible office which he was called in God's good providence to fill. Living under the constraining influence of the principles of the Gospel, he was anxious that all should be able to read and to hear in their own tongue of the wonderful works of God. own family the Scriptures were regularly perused. Every day after dinner and supper a chapter of the Bible was read at table, whoever were present, Protestants or papists, and Bibles laid down before every one, and before himself either the Hebrew or the Greek. He had family prayer thrice a-day; in the morning, before dinner, and after supper. He looked on the obligation of observing the Sabbath as moral and perpetual, and considered its sanctification as a matter of the utmost importance. He was most exemplary in his own exact observation of it; preaching, as bas been observed, always twice, and catechising once; and used to go over the sermons again in his family, and, singing psalms, concluded all with prayer.

In his

While the bishop occupied the see of Kilmore, that fearful rebellion broke out, which caused the massacre of so many thousands of Protestants, and may be said to have deluged Ireland with blood. It is needless, in this place, to enter into details concerning the miseries which then followed those who were attached to the Protestant cause; or to enumerate the enormities practised on the unhappy victims of the infuriated rebels. It is sufficient to state that the bishop remained for many weeks in his house in perfect safety, and that many from all quarters fled to him for shelter, whom be most willingly received; exhorting them, at the same time, to prepare for the fate which seemed inevitably to await them. The rebels expressed the greatest kindness towards him, and declared he should be the last Englishman sent out of Ireland. He was, in fact, the only Englishman allowed to remain in his house without disturbance. That house, and the church and churchyard, soon became full of people expecting hourly to be put to death. The bishop, however, encouraged them to trust in God. The first Sunday

after they had assembled around him, he preached from Psalm iii., composed by David when there was a general insurrection under Absalom; and the Sunday following from Micah, vii. 8, "Rejoice not against me," &c.

The rebels sent, desiring him to dismiss those about him. This he refused; resolving to live and die with them. He would much more willingly have offered himself to have died for them, than have accepted any favour for himself which they should not share; and when they sent word that, though they honoured him beyond all the English that ever were in Ireland, yet they had received orders from the council at Kilkenny, that if he would not put away the people, they should take him from them; he answered, "Here I am; the Lord do unto me as seems good to him; the will of the Lord be done." On the 18th of December they seized him, carrying him, his two sons, and Mr. Clogy, his son-in-law, prisoners to Lockwater Castle, the only place of strength in the county. At first they were all put in irons, except the bishop, though afterwards their irons were taken off, and they were permitted to worship God without molestation. The day after their imprisonment, being Sunday, the bishop preached on the epistle, which set before them the pattern of the humility and sufferings of Christ; and on Christmas-day he preached on Gal. iv. 4, 5, and administered the sacrament, their keepers furnishing them with bread and wine. On the 26th, the bishop's eldest son preached on St. Stephen's last words, a proper subject for their meditation, who were every day in expectation when they should be put to give such a testimony of their faith as that first martyr had done; and on the 2d of Jan., the last Sunday of their imprisonment, Mr. Clogy preached on St. Luke, ii. 32, 33, 34. During these religious exercises, their keepers never disturbed them; often declaring that they had no personal animosity against the bishop, nor any other cause to be severe to him, except that he was an Englishman.

From Lockwater Castle, the bishop, with his two sons and Mr. Clogy, were conveyed to the house of Dennis O'Sheridan, an Irish minister. During the last Sabbaths of his life, though there were three ministers present, he read the prayers and lessons himself, and likewise preached. The 30th of Jan. being the last Sunday he was able, he preached on Psalm cxliv., the first appointed for the day; and when he came to the seventh verse, "Send thine hand from above, rid me, and deliver me out of great waters; from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh of vanity, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood," he repeated the words so often, and dwelt on them with so many sighs, that his hearers burst into tears. The following day he became seriously ill; and on the fourth day after, his departure being obviously near at hand, he called his sons and their wives around him, and, after much interesting conversation, then blessed them.

"God, of his infinite mercy, bless you all, and present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight, that we may meet together at the right hand of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ, with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Amen." To which he added, "I have fought a good fight; I have finished the course of my ministry and life together. Though grievous wolves have entered in among us, not sparing the flock, yet I trust the great Shepherd of his flock will save and deliver them out of all places, where they have been scattered in this cloudy and dark day; that they shall be no more a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. O Lord, I have waited for thy salvation." After a little, he said, "I have kept the faith once given to the saints; for the which cause I have also suffered these things; but I am not ashamed, for

received them from the beginning, considering how near they lived to the apostolic age, and how remarkably they were blessed with the effusions of the Holy Spirit.

Associating Scripture in this manner with the opinions of the Church, when, under such circumstances, that apostolical practice must have been well known and carefully received, the defender of our Church, faith, and discipline, connects his position with apostolical times, and can place his foot on ground from which he has never yet been moved. On this position he rests, namely, that during the time of the apostles themselves, and that in the period immediately subsequent, the discipline of the Church was administered under three distinct clerical orders; that in those times the concurrent voice and concurrent practice of the whole Christian Church expressed the sentiments of the apostles themselves; that for fifteen hundred years, this order of Church discipline was never called in question (with the exception of one or two unimportant cases, and these evidently for factras purposes); that therefore episcopacy was the fellowship of the apostolical primitive Church. From this position, I say, he cannot be beaten off; he may be told that the possession of it is of minor importance; that notwithstanding this appeal to primitive usage, forms of Church government are of no moment; that they may be adopted according to the fancy, the caprice, or notions of expediency, which each or any may prefer; but on the point of primitive or apostolical testimony his argument is untouched; and how far that testimony may go, or what weight it may have with the inquiring Christian, I leave it with yourselves to determine.

We may now perceive, from these cursory remarks, in what way we stand distinguished from the two great divisions of the Christian world; that is to say, how we are to meet the Romanist on one side, and the anti-Episcopalian on the other. With the Romish Church, the grounds of our disagreement are sufficiently obvious, and the principles on which we contend are clearly established. We maintain the absolute necessity of the Reformation; that, from the manifold corruptions of the Church in the sixteenth century, it was an imperative duty upon men to examine into the causes of the great evils which had grown up, that they might return to the simplicity of Gospel truth, and adopt the Bible as the only rule of faith, and as containing all things necessary for salvation. The supremacy of the Scriptures in all matters of doctrine required to be asserted and upheld, the Church to be purified from numerous practices and opinions which they distinctly and decidedly condemned.

This is a principle of difference sufficiently explicit and intelligible; nor do we shrink from the argument with Romanists on the ground of Church authority, ecclesiastical antiquity, and primitive testimony. We admit fully the reverence due to these, and we admit that they are essential elements towards the attainment of truth; nor do we fear the results which are deducible from them. Whoever gives up the respect for antiquity, and abjures any deference for the opinions of the early Church, resigns most important ground to the Romanist, giving him, for the time, the

semblance of a triumph; for these can neither be safely nor consistently abandoned in the controversy. The Romish churchman can only be refuted by the Catholic churchman; and therefore the divines of our Church meet the Romanists on this ground, and contend against them on their own principles; and they have proved, as clearly as any moral and historical argument can prove, that the Romish Church has erred, not because she has taken catholic antiquity for a guide, but because she has not taken it; that she is wrong, not in her adherence to ancient and uniform tradition, but in her departure from it; that the Romish Church has been led into such errors as the papal supremacy, the worship of images, transubstantiation, and many others, from substituting the inventions and devices of the seventh and eighth centuries for the catholic opinions of the second and third. We value the unity of the Church as much as they can, but we cannot maintain unity and fellowship at the expense of doctrine; and we assert, that our reformers were in every thing borne out by the principles of ecclesiastical polity which they professed; and that their motto, "Hear the Church," was, in fact, the only real ground on which it was possible that sound and consistent opinions could be established: therefore they were fully justified in seeking again for the old paths, in returning to the uncorrupted doctrine of a Scripture rule of faith, and to the purer ritual of primitive times.

Our position as regards the anti-episcopal portion of the Christian world is no less clearly defined, and our differences with them are equally intelligible. We hold in like estimation with themselves the great principle, that the Bible is the ultimate test, and the paramount authority, in all matters of faith; and we prize as the very foundation and essence of Christian truth these articles, which, as justification by faith, and the repudiating human merit as an efficient cause in the work of salvation, had been perverted and obscured. But in the interpretation of Scripture, that is, of passages which are ambiguous, which are obscure, or which do not give more than some passing reference to a religious practice or doctrine, we look for guidance from every quarter where sound interpretation is likely to be found; we look to that portion of the Church where it is most probable the light would be still reflected with greatest strength, from the torch of inspiration itself. The harmony of such passages in Scripture, with what was universally received in the primitive Church, surely gives us a satisfactory elucidation of them. In returning to what was the doctrine of the apostles, our own reformers were solicitous to retain what was the fellowship of the apostles, and those forms of conducting the service of the Church which were most early approved and adopted. Such a method of dealing with Scripture doctrine, and such a method of establishing Church polity, are surely both rational and consistent.

The principle is thus defined in the words of Dr. Waterland: "If," says that clear and perspicuous writer, "if what appears probably to be taught in Scripture appears certainly to have been taught in the primitive and catholic Church, such probability, so strengthened, carries with it the force of demonstration." Now, this principle is so sound, so natural,

of opulence, have been defeated; or what with those who are impatient of obscurity, who fancy they possess gifts which should qualify them for other and better situations than those they hold, or those who think they have mistaken their profession, or whose talents and exertions have not been rewarded as they deserve, the general prevalence of discontent is striking; and upon a calm and deliberate view of it, we stand amazed at the fertility of the human mind in creating for itself sources of discontent, or, in short, at its proficiency in the art of self-tormenting.

I am well aware there are instances which might be quoted as exceptions apparently to this general rule. Our admiration is often challenged for men who seem to be most raised above the force or influence of external circumstances; who preserve an equilibrium of mind in all the vicissitudes of fortune; who, in reverses the most sudden and unforeseen, never give vent to the murmur of complaint. In regard to such cases I shall only say, to what degree the heart may be torn with anguish, while pride forbids any expression of it, it is not easy to determine. There are instances, no doubt, of those who, while in the possession of the ebject of their fondest hopes, and when they have realised their best desires, do feel an inward contentment; but their tenure of it is dependent upon the possession of the cherished idol; and an unforeseen calamity, a stroke of adverse fortune, may dash to pieces the fabric of their happiness. And thus the man who, while in the possession of the Holised object, whatever it be, seems to be shut up in measureless content, is, on its removal, plunged into inconsolable misery. A contented spirit, therefore, one proof against the storms of this ever-shifting and troublous scene,-may be safely pronounced a blessing not to be attained out of God. Providence has so ordered it, that the human heart shall never find its resting-place till it finds it in himself. "Our heart is restless," said Augustine, "till it rest in thee."

But, my brethren, it is reserved for the Christian to realise the blessing of contentment in all its perfection; and whether his lot be dark or bright, elevated or depressed, to preserve a spirit ever calm, and serene, and cheerful,—"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." And it is delightful to hear such a declaration as this from one who, at the time of delivering it, was exemplifying in his own case the truth of what he said, and that too under the most trying circumstances. Paul was in prison when he wrote those words, suffering the hardships of bondage; and if the voice of antiquity speaks true, these were of no or

dinary kind. Here he was cut off from all those excitements which can impart a cheerful tone to an enterprising spirit. Here was every thing to damp and depress him. Here religion was allowed free scope to exhibit her own intrinsic power to support and comfort the soul. We know that there is a good deal of that cheerfulness found in those who are actively engaged in a religious course, which is to be traced to excitement arising from outward causes, the circumstance, for example, of being enlisted in a good cause; the sympathy and approbation of those who are looked up to, and respected; the very alacrity of spirits flowing as a natural consequence from active exertion, and from various other causes. And we cannot but think that were their present sphere of duty to be exchanged for solitude and imprisonment, they would find their cheerfulness and alacrity in the ways of God considerably slacken and abate. Even Luther himself, with all his zeal and valour for the truth, found, while in confinement in the castle of Wartenberg, his faith and patience tasked to the very utmost, and said he would bear martyrdom itself in its worst form rather than a lengthened imprisonment. But it was during a far worse imprisonment, and amidst privations a hundred times more severe, that Paul wrote, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." And I do not know a more delightful testimony to the power of religion than thus to find this apostle, whose natural character was marked beyond that of almost all men by extraordinary energy, who seemed to live only in excitement, who was made for bold and daring enterprise, who led a life so full of incident-in this place to-day, in another to-morrow,—to find him, amidst the dreary solitude of a prison, writing in a strain which bespeaks such measureless content, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." Here is the true contentment enjoyed by the child of God, who lives up to his privileges. And we cannot, my brethren, more profitably employ a few moments of our time than in inquiring into the true secret of it.

We may, then, in a general way, remark, that to the great change, which, through Divine grace, has taken place in the views and sentiments of the believer, it is, without doubt, mainly to be attributed. The light in which he now regards the world differs materially from that in which it is viewed by others. His life he views as a scene of moral discipline, intended to fit him for another and higher state of existence. And it is unnecessary to add, the influence which this conviction, when abiding and practical, must have in reducing within their proper dimen