His golden censer, and shall come as incense before Gon; they shall be an offering "pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years."

Let us speak to ourselves "in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our heart to the Lord: giving thanks always for all things unto GOD and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Let us reverently and devoutly make use of all those agencies which He has appointed "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ." Let us continue in "the unity of the faith," and "speaking the truth in love," strive "to grow up into Him, in all things, Which is the Head, even Christ." Thus, by our citizenship in the heavenly Jerusalem, shall we not only maintain a living communion with "an innumerable company of angels," with "the general assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven," with "GOD, the Judge of all, and the spirits of just men made perfect,' and with "Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant;" but, by the part we take in the worship of the courts of the Lord's house here below, we shall be fitted for the endless service of His temple above. We shall learn to attune our voices to the glad hallelujahs of those who "rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Which was, and is, and is to come." We shall be prepared to set our harps to the new song of those who "are redeemed from the earth," who will then be "without fault before GOD," and to sing the chant of praise for the final triumph over Sin

Eph. v. 12-15. Heb. xii. 22-21.

and Satan and Death. We shall be ready, when GoD calls us from the Church militant on earth to the Church triumphant in heaven, to swell the full chorus raised by "the great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues," who will then "stand before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." We shall "cast our crowns," the crowns of victory which He has awarded to us, "before the throne," and ascribing our salvation to "our GoD Which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb," we shall worship GOD for ever and for ever, saying, "Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our GoD for ever and ever. Amen."

NOTE.

THE following extract from Bishop JEREMY TAYLOR so fully expresses the doctrine which it has been my object to [set forth in this and the preceding Sermon, that I make no apology for appending it here.

"When Christ was consecrated on the Cross, and became our High Priest, having reconciled us to GOD by the death of the Cross, He became infinitely gracious in the eyes of GOD, and was admitted to the celestial and eternal Priesthood in heaven, where, in the virtue of the Cross, He intercedes for us, and represents an eternal Sacrifice in the heavens on our behalf. That He is a Priest in heaven, appears in the large discourses and direct affirmatives of S. Paul; that there is no other sacrifice to be offered, but that on the Cross, it is evident, because He hath but once appeared in the end of the world, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; and, therefore, since it is necessary that He hath something to offer so long as He is a Priest, and there is no other Sacrifice but that of Himself offered upon the Cross; it follows that Christ in

S

heaven perpetually offers and represents that Sacrifice to His Heavenly Father, and in virtue of that obtains all good things for His Church. Now, what Christ does in heaven, He hath commanded us to do on earth, that is, to represent His death, to commemorate this Sacrifice, by humble prayer and thankful record; and by faithful manifestation and joyful Eucharist to lay it before the eyes of our Heavenly Father, so ministering in His Priesthood, and doing according to His commandment and His example; the Church being the image of Heaven, the Priest the Minister of Christ; the holy Table being a copy of the celestial Altar; and the eternal Sacrifice of the Lamb, slain from the beginning of the world, being always the same; it bleeds no more after the finishing of it on the Cross; but it is wonderfully represented in heaven, and graciously represented here; by Christ's actions there, by His commandment here; and the event of it is plainly this-that as Christ, in virtue of His Sacrifice on the Cross, intercedes for us with His Father; so does the Minister of Christ's Priesthood here; that the virtue of the Eternal Sacrifice may be salutary and effectual to all the needs of the Church, both for things temporal and eternal and, therefore, it was not without great mystery and clear signification, that our blessed Lord was pleased to command the representation of His death and Sacrifice on the Cross should be made by breaking bread and effusion of wine; to signify to us the nature and sacredness of the Liturgy we are about, and that we minister in the Priesthood of Christ, Who is a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck: that is, we are Ministers in that unchangeable Priesthood, imitating in the external ministry the proto-type Melchisedeck of whom it was said, he brought forth bread and wine, and was the Priest of the Most High GOD; and, in the internal imitating the Antitype or the substance Christ Himself; Who offered up His Body and Blood for atonement for us, and by the Sacraments of bread and wine, and the prayers of oblation and intercession, commands us to officiate in His Priesthood, in the external ministering like Melchisedeck; in the internal after the manner of Christ Himself."-Worthy Communicant, chap. i. sec. 4.

SERMON XX.

Whit-sun Day.

CHRIST THROUGH THE SPIRIT THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

S. JOHN I. 9.

"That was the True Light, Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

WH

[HITSUN-TIDE marks a new period in the Church's celebrations. It stands mid-way between the former part of the year, during which our thoughts are directed mainly to matters of faith-the right faith in our Lord's Incarnation-and the latter part, when we are chiefly taught lessons of holy practice.

Thus by the arrangement of her Services would the Church impress upon us the important truths that the influences of the Holy Ghost are derived to us through the mediation of the Second Person in the adorable Trinity; and that He must be in us as "the Lord, and Giver of life," before we can perform works of acceptable righteousness.

Although the text, taken literally, applies to the Eternal Word, it will not, I apprehend, be an unjustifiable accommodation to shew how it includes the operations of the Holy Ghost; for it is through the Spirit that the Son of GOD acts on the minds and consciences of the children of men.

My purpose is to prove that Christ, through the Spirit, is "the True Light Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." I shall endeavour to shew that these influences are not limited to the favoured few to whom an express revelation has been vouchsafed, but that they are to be understood as embracing, to some extent, the whole of our race; that it would be as reasonable to conceive of any spot in this earth as entirely destitute of the light of the sun, as to suppose that any child of GOD (for "we are" all "His offspring") can be beyond the sphere of the Sun of Righteousness.

In pursuing this subject, I shall speak first of His operations in the world at large before the publication of the Gospel; and,

Secondly, shew the nature of that higher Sacramental Presence vouchsafed to the Church.

I. I have spoken on former occasions of the fact of the existence of traditions scattered over the whole world, in which, amid much error and superstition, might yet be traced original truths. I shewed how, from the extreme antiquity and universality of these traditions we could arrive at no other conclusion than that they were not devised by human reason, however subsequently debased by human error; but that they