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FAREWELL SERMON,

&c., &c.

ACTS xx. 25, 26, 27. 32.

25. And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.-26. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.-27. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.-32. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

THESE words, my brethren, were spoken by the great Apostle of the Gentiles, as a farewell exhortation to the Christians of Ephesus. It appears from the 10th verse of the preceding (the 19th) chapter, that St. Paul had continued to dwell at Ephesus for the space of two years: disputing and persuading during that time the things concerning the Kingdom of God. He thence crossed the Mediterranean Sea and came into Europe, visiting the countries of Macedonia and Achaia. After twelve months spent in these countries, the Apostle is directed to return to Jerusalem. He is anxious, on his way back, to pay another visit to his converts at Ephesus. This city, however, being at a little distance from the sea coast, he was unable to accomplish his wish; and, therefore, he sends a message from Miletus, and invites to his presence the Elders of the Church of Ephesus. When they were come to him, he relates to them his labours and ministrations among them, the dangers endured in their behalf, and the doctrines he had preached among them, "testifying repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." He then declares, in the words of the text, his conviction, that they would see his face no more; he takes

them to record that he is pure from blood-guiltiness towards them, and commends them to God and to the Word of His grace. The account of this interesting interview concludes with the expression of the sorrow of the Ephesians at the departure of the Apostle. For "when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all, for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship." This passage of sacred Scripture appeared to me to be a not unsuitable subject for the circumstances under which we meet together this day. I conclude, my brethren, as you are all aware, on this day, my ministrations among you. Having addressed you from this place for the space of two years, I speak to you as your minister for the last time this morning. I might, indeed, after the example of the Apostle, recount to you the chief events of my ministry among you; I might relate how, in a moment, the full care and responsibility of this portion of our parish most unexpectedly devolved on myself and my colleague; how, amidst many fears and hindrances, I applied myself to the organising and carrying forward, as at present conducted, our public services; how, as opportunity offered, I directed the attention of this congregation to the great duty of missionary exertion incumbent on the Christian; how, I have endeavoured by avoiding every extreme, to let my moderation be known unto all men. I might proceed further upon this subject, but I forbear to do so; for I remember, that we have been called upon in our public services to celebrate a great event in our national history; and this event has a better claim upon your attention than any circumstance of a more personal character. It is my intention, then, under the Divine blessing, to consider with you the event which we more particularly are called upon to commemorate on this occasion; and to conclude my discourse by taking you to record this day, that "I am pure from the blood of all men ;" in that I have not shunned during the period of my ministrations among you, to declare unto "the whole counsel of God."

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I shall endeavour to give you as shortly, and as simply as I can, a history of what is commonly called "the Gunpowder Plot." You will be all aware that about three centuries ago there was a great change or reformation made in the religion of this country. The Christian Religion, as now practised

and believed in by the nations on the Continent, who pay obedience to the Bishop of Rome, was, at the time of Henry VIII., received in this kingdom. During his reign, through the invention of the printing press, a great advance was made in learning and knowledge throughout the civilized nations of the earth. By the same means (the printing press), the copies of the Holy Scriptures became multiplied in this country; and when the king, and nobles, and prelates of this land were acquainted with its truths, they found many things in their religion opposed to, and contradicted by, the teaching of this Holy Word. On discovering this to be the case, the Church of England, and the State of England, the priesthood of England, and the laity of England, effected a great change or reformation in their religion. They did not, it is to be observed, make a new religion. They retained every truth of their religion, every article of their creed, every part of their liturgy, every portion of their ecclesiastical polity, then existing; so long as it was not forbidden by, nor was repugnant to, the Word of God.

Take our

Let me explain, by an example, what I mean. present Prayer Book. This existed for the most part, as it is now, before the Reformation. The same collects and prayers, the epistles and gospels which we now use, were also used by our ancestors before the Reformation. They had, however, many Prayers to Saints, many supplications to the Virgin, many adorations and bowings to the consecrated elements in the Lord's Supper, many commands to buy masses for the dead, and indulgences for the living, which are now utterly omitted and discarded. These alterations did not constitute a new religion.

Let me also make this plain to you. Picture to yourselves any person whom you well know, to be blooming with health; the life-blood's active flow mantling in his cheeks, and the strength of manhood visible in every member of his body. Suppose such an one to become, through the power of disease, weak, and sickly, and emaciated; his cheeks to be shrunken by illness, and his limbs to lose their vigour. Yet further imagine your friend to be again restored to you, his form to re-assume its manliness, his every limb re-invigorated and refreshed, again to perform its office; would you call your friend a new, or consider him a different person? You would know him to be one and the same man. He is healthy, and was sick; he was sick, and is now healthy.

Or again, if any of you have a garden, with its trim beds, and tidy walks, showing the attention you bestow on it If you neglect that garden, thorns and thistles will soon overrun your walks, and destroy your flowers. Should you again cultivate your plot of ground, restore its order, and remove its weeds, you do not tell your neighbours, who congratulate you on the completion of your task, that you have a new garden; but that you have re-made, re-newed, and re-formed it. So it was at the Reformation. There was no new religion. The Church of England was healthy in declaring the truths of the Scriptures, in preaching the religion of Christ, in maintaining the doctrines of the Apostles. The Church of England became sick in holding the traditions of men, in propagating Popish legends, in withholding the Word of God. The Church of England at the Reformation became, as the garden re-made. She was restored to her former purity, refreshed with her early piety. She taught no new truths, but re-established, in greater conformity with the Scriptures, that religion for which, centuries before, many of her earlier sons had witnessed a good confession with their blood.

Neither was there, my brethren, any change at this time in the persons who composed the Church of England. I particularly beg you to observe this point.

The property of the Church did not change hands. It was not taken from one set of men, and given to another. The fact was this:-The men who held the property still continued to hold it. There was no change in the men, but in the opinions. The King and Laity in their Parliament, the Bishops and Clergy in their Convocation, consented to receive the new Prayer-Book. They agreed to omit the things altered by the Reformation. There was some murmuring and discontent, but no schism, made in the Church, at the time of Henry VIII. The whole Church and realm acquiesced in his arrangements.

So, also, it was under Elizabeth. The whole hierarchy and commonalty of the land accepted the reformed Prayer-Book of

"Be it known, therefore, to all the world, that our Church is only reformed or repaired, not made new. There is not one stone of a new foundation laid by us; yea, the old walls stand still; only the overcasting those ancient stones with the untempered mortar of new inventions displeaseth us. Plainly set aside the corruptions, and the Church is the same."-BISHOP HALL'S WORKS, Vol. ix. p. 315.

Queen Elizabeth. It is a well authenticated historical fact, that every one, however great his attachment to the old system, did frequent the churches, and did conform to the reformed ritual of the Church of England, for the first eleven years of Queen Elizabeth's reign. It is, I repeat, a wellknown fact, that every denizen of England, during the first eleven years of this Queen, did alone worship in this country according to the ritual of the Church of England.

At this date it was, that the then Bishop of Rome, for the first time, published a Bull, condemnatory of the Reformation of Elizabeth; and at this date, in consequence of this Bull, those who retained more affection for the Pope than for the alterations then permanently established in the Church of England, seceded from her pale, renounced her communion, and first commenced that community of Christians in this country, who acknowledge the authority of the Bishop of Rome in preference to the Bishops of the National Church, within which the providence of God has placed them.

This Bull of the Bishop of Rome, issued at this time, gave rise to the Plot from which we celebrate this day, the deliverance of our nation.

The party which acknowledged at this time the authority of the Pope, was powerful by their numbers, and by their union, and by the aid imparted to their plans by the avowed sympathy of all the nations then exercising political influence in Europe. The Romanists were constantly engaged, during the lifetime of Elizabeth, in treasonable plots and serious conspiracies against her crown, with a view to place a sovereign on the throne who should re-attach the English Church to the Pope. These plots were all discovered and repelled; and when James I. peacefully ascended the throne of this country, and in his numerous family gave a guarantee to the nation of a settled succession, then this party contrived the Plot on this day remembered, to destroy the three estates of the realm, in the hope that, in the confusion which would ensue, they might obtain the object of their machinations in the appointment of a Popish Sovereign to the throne.

I know, indeed, my friends, that it is the fashion of a cer

1 Queen Elizabeth, in her instructions to Sir F. Walsingham, her ambassador to France, dated August 11, 1570, speaking of the leading Romanists, says, "They did ordinarily resort from the beginning of her reign, in all open places, to the Churches, and to divine service in the Church, without any contradiction or show of misliking."