appear. The first is derived from the necessity of expérience in our guide. For how desirable was it, that he who was appointed to lead us to glory, should himself be personally acquainted with the dangers, difficulties, and trials, to which his followers are exposed in their way thither? Nothing would so powerfully engage the confidence which we are to place in him.. Experience in every case encourages dependance; but see the afflicted; it is not to the gay and prosperous, but to those who have been in misery themselves, that they approach with pleasure, and with a conviction that they shall not be heard in vain, when they cry, "pity me, pity me, O ye, my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me." Sympathy, I know, is produced and cherished by experience. If you endured the sorrow under which you see a fellow-creature labouring, you can enter into his views, feel his sensations, and weep with him. Who are the most kind and humane? I can tell you from experimental knowledge, that they are those who have been most in the school of affliction; for, by ten year's experience in the school of affliction, was I taught that the tender and social affections are matured there. Be kind to strangers, says God to Israel; why? for ye know the heart of a stranger, for ye were strangers in a strange land. The high priest under the law was taken from among men, that he might have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way, for that he himself is also compassed with infirmity. All this is gradually applicable to our Lord and Saviour; for in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted." Though his state is changed, his nature is the same; "For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities: but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." This opens a source of exquisite consolation, and we feel the pleasing motive. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." He knows our sorrows. If we are poor, he knows it. Not like a wealthy countryman who may accidentally hear of it by report, while he is indulging only in luxury. He was poor; "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head." If we suffer reproach, and things be laid to our charge, which we are innocent of, he who was once deemed a glutton and wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, a Samaritan, one who had a devil, a stirrer up of the people, sees us. And if we feel evil suggestions, let us remember the enemy approached him. Another reason to be derived from his example; it was necessary for him to show us the influence of holiness in a state of suffering. Afflictions are una

voidable; they occupy a large proportion of life, and of godliness; many parts of religion relate entirely to suffering, and every part receives a lustre from it. The Christian is more formed from his trials, than from his enjoyments. But we are like bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke; we are unskilled in the science of passive obedience; even after the experience of years of sorrow, we know but little of the holy mystery of suffering affliction, and of patience.

A third reason may be found, in the demonstration of which, his sufferings gave us, of the divine benevolence. We find it no easy thing to believe in God. Conscious of the wrong our sins have done him, and judging of the Supreme Being by ourselves; it is hard to persuade our guilty minds, that God is ready to be pacified towards us for all our abominations; and, that after such provocations, he is willing to receive us graciously, and love us freely. Now, I cannot love God, till God appears lovely. I should never approach him, till I hope in him. Hidden among the trees of the garden whither my fears had driven me, it is only the voice of mercy that can draw me forth. It is confidence alone that can bring me back to God; it is the simple principle of our restoration; till this be gained nothing can be affected. To place himself before us in this encouraging view, to show us in himself an accessible refuge as soon as ever we feel our danger and our misery, to keep us from turning again to folly by the desperate conclusion that there is no hope, to scatter all our misgiving fears, and to allure us into his presence, he was pleased to sacrifice his own Son. The inference is easily drawn. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things."

We behold indeed the love of God in his incarnation, but much more in his sufferings; these suppose the former and add to it. If he will take one so dear to him, one so worthy, one who always did the things which pleased him, and bring him through such a depth of sufferings, rather than we should perish, we are convinced that he will not refuse pardon and grace to returning sinners; and to this the sacred writers turn our attention, when they would magnify the goodness of God: "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins" God hath commended his love towards us, "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled unto God by the death of his son; much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life."

I shall also advance a fourth reason. For as Divine goodness, acts in harmony with every other perfection of his nature, the

sufferings of our Saviour were designed to display the glory of God, as the moral ruler of the universe. There is no governing without laws; laws are nothing without sanction. If the penalty attached to the law of God be founded in equity, and if it were otherwise, how could he have annexed it? Does not the same principle which led him to propose it, constrain him to maintain it? Suppose a governor, when he established a new system of legislation, were to issue a proclamation that whoever transgressed it should be pardoned upon repentance and reformation; would not this disarm the law of all its terrors, and rather encourage than repress a violation of it? Is the Gospel such an enemy to the law? "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: Yea, we establish the law." I do not intend, however, on this subject, to go all the lengths that some advance; I cannot limit the Holy One of Israel, or affirm that he could not have pardoned sin without an atonement. Let us remember that the Supreme Majesty is accountable to none; let us not try to fix the bounds of absolute prerogative. Our Saviour in the garden, does not intimate that the cup could not pass from him, but he resolves this impossibility into the will of God. It is sufficient for us, to know that in this way God chose to glorify his perfections, and that to us no other way appears, in which we could have had an equal display of the Divine attributes. Justice could have seized the transgressor, or mercy could have spared him; but in the case before us, both mercy and justice are blended in their exercise; we see the one in requiring this mediation, the other in providing it. The law is secured, and the offender too. Sin is condemned, and the sinner pardoned; and God neither beholds the iniquity or the misery of man.

These, I conceive to be a few of the reasons why it became Him, "for whom are all things, and by whom are all things," in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

I shall now close the subject with two reflections. First. Let not Christians think it strange if they should be called to suffer. Let us learn how to be abased, as well as how to abound-let us be determined to pass through evil as well as good report-and be willing to deny ourselves, and take up our cross and follow Him. The Gospel does not deceive us; it informs us of only one way, by which we can reach the crown; and when I can see a body of Christians, all walking in this way, in which our Elder Brother has gone before, I shall glory in uniting with them; but, until I do see this, I feel that I stand acquitted at the bar of God for all omissions in uniting with any particular sect or denomination, to worship agreeably to their creed. For, I discover too

many are looking for a smoother psssage than I can see in the Gospel. Secondly. If the sufferings of Christ were so eminently useful and necessary, and of such high importance in the view of God, I feel justified in dwelling so long on them. Can we estimate them too highly, or make too much of them in our meditations, and in the exercises of our faith and devotion? I have been more lengthy on this subject than I at the commencement expected-I come to a close.

CHAPTER VIII.

ROMAN CATHOLICS.

THE name "Roman Catholic," is given to those christians who believe the doctrines, and submit to the discipline of the church of Rome. They are also called papist, from the word påpa, Father, because the bishop of Rome is not only styled supreme, but œcumenical, or universal bishop; and they think they are entitled to the appellation of catholic, because, as they assert, the Romish is not only the true church, but the only true church; having all the marks of the true church, viz. unity, holiness, universality, and apostolicity. Whether the church of Rome has any exclusive right to these four assumed marks, it is not our business to enquire. The Roman or Latin church, is a system of government, whose jurisdiction extends to the greatest part of the known world; though its authority has been circumscribed within narrower limits, since the era of the reformation; and has been, particularly of late years, gradually decaying in every country in Europe.

Of the origin of this most extraordinary sect, there are various accounts extant. It appears, however, that after the Roman empire became christianized, it was greatly corrupted until the empire fell, and made way for the dominion and grandeur of the bishop of Rome, under whom, the corruption rose to an amazing height. Early in the fourth century, in which the fathers Cyril, Basil, Gregory, and Ambrose flourished, was instituted the monastic life. Notwithstanding the purity and sanctity to which this institution made pretensions, a manifest love of riches and power was predominant, and, at best, the monastic life laid the foundation and superstructure which, in subsequent periods of

the church, made such havoc with the peace and happiness of mankind. It was from this time, that the church became model*ed by assuming priests; the simplicity of the truth was obscured by mystery, and the kingdom of Christ became a kingdom of this world. The popes, as bishops of Rome, having laid the foundation of that monarchal power to which they afterwards rose, one of the first and most essential steps, was the creation of the dignity of Patriarch, afterwards confirmed by the Council of Nice. Thus, the hierarchy became formed according to the constitution of the Roman empire. After this, it was resolved, that the precedence and authority of bishops over others, should be determined by the rank of the cities where they resided; and of consequence, in process of time, as it could be effected, the bishop of Rome must have the supremacy; and this was managed with so much art, as to be confirmed in the next Council, without its having appeared previously to have been made a point of.

Constantine the great, who became a christian, A. D. 312, took the cause of religion into his hands, and defended his new friends against the rage of their heathen adversaries with so much success, that he restored peace and tranquility to the christian world. When the church, under this emperor and his successor, enjoyed the protection of the civil powers, the christians began to compare their present with their past condition, and called to mind the sufferings of their predecessors, and the patience and fortitude which they had exerted, particularly in the last and severest persecution.

These considerations raised in them a high, and indeed, in some degree, a just veneration, but it did not stop here; what was at first only a pious veneration, soon rose into a kind of adoration, and it was discovered that considerable profit might be derived by the sale of bones, reliques, &c. that it were honourable, not to say miraculous, to possess and meritorious to preserve. Athanasius, and Gregory Nazienzen, and Chrysostom used all their power and eloquence to increase the popular veneration and invocation of saints, the love of monkery, and the belief of miracles, wrought by monks and reliques. The period of intolerance and vassallage now commenced, and trick and finesse were soon discovered, by the avaricious and ambitious priests, to be far more profitable than the truth as it is taught by Jesus. It was about this time that the Council of Nice assembled, "by the grace of God and favour of Constantine, the prince beloved of God," to crush, by numbers, clamour, and authority, what proved too stubborn or too firm to yield to their argument. By the arbitrary decision of three hundred and thirteen, out of three hundred and