they

relate! It was natural indeed, that' pious and reflecting men, deeply impressed with the importance of those occurrences which themselves witnessed, should have been led to imagine, that in each of the temporary triumphs of error or infidelity over revealed truth, they could trace the completion of prophecy. As years have rolled away, these several applications have, in their turn, been found in some respects unsatisfactory; and the predictions themselves, as yet unfulfilled, stand as beacons in the sacred pages, to warn us of the trials which await the Church; and to teach us, who "look for such things," to be diligent, that we at least may be found of him," whose speedy coming they will signify, in peace, without spot and blameless." Doboz ghenion die

The signs of the times have indeed been often misinterpreted, and the minds of some have been shaken and troubled without cause, as ify the day of Christ" was at hand. But such mistakes affect

x 2 Pet. iii. 14.

y Phil. i. 6.

not the veracity of prophecy. The word of God standeth sure: and though we know not the day nor the hour, which he has appointed for the execution of his purposes; and all our conjectures and researches on the subject may end in 'disap pointment; assuredly, whatever is written shall be accomplished in its season; and they, whose lot may fall to them in the latter days, will probably witness an apol stasy, more general and more fatal than any which has yet afflicted the world. To this apostasy, neither the partial falling away of Judaizing Christians, nor the more extended corruptions of Romish superstition, nor even the atheistical frenzy, which was permitted for a season to be the scourge and disgrace of our own times, may be compared. So wide indeed will its influence be spread, that it is even made a question, whether, when “the "Son of Man cometh," he shall z❝ find "faith on the earth!" whether, among the multitudes of every nation and lan

z Luke xviii. 8.

guage, which profess to believe on his name, and to be zealous for his service, even a small remnant shall be left of those, who are truly his disciples! What then are the reflections, which the prospect of such a fearful departure from the truth should inspire? Should it not lead us seriously to consider, whether the prevailing spirit of our times may not favour the increase of error? whether they, who disregard that unity of faith, which the Scriptures require, and they, who neglect to enforce it, by argument, by per suasion, by intreaty, may not unintentionally cooperate, the one by their thoughtlessness, and the other by their silence, to hasten this predicted triumph of infidelity? The character of that apostasy, to which the Scriptures refer, is not precisely defined: but perhaps we shall not altogether err if we conceive, that it will not consist in an open denial of Christ; but rather in that strange diversity of opinions, that exaltation of imaginations above revealed truth, that moulding of the Scriptures after the fashion of human preju

a

dices, of which too many instances are daily forcing themselves upon our observation. ZORI

By those then, who are convinced that in the doctrines of the Church of England the true faith is now to be found, the path of duty can scarcely be mistaken. Taking their stand on that foundation on which she has built, they will be stedfast and immoveable: their firm and temperate resistance of plausible, but unauthorized novelties will prove, that they are faithful "stewards of the mysteries of God:" and if it please him still to raise up those within her pale, who are thus prepared to defend and uphold her, the prediction of the Evangelical Prophet may yet be fulfilled in her favour; and the generations to come may b❝ see our Jerusalem a quiet “habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be "taken down; not one of the stakes "thereof shall ever be removed, neither "shall any of the cords thereof be bro"ken."

a 1 Cor. iv, 1.

b Isai. xxxiii. 20.

od

go biule modi qu And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

费

SUCH is the account preserved in the sacred pages, of the practice of the Christian Church in its infant state; presenting a striking instance of that perfect unity, by which its earliest records are distinguished. It is humiliating to reflect how faint a resemblance we find, to this entire agreement in faith and worship, in succeedinglages But the certainty that the Church has once been, what our Saviour intended it to be, will prove at least, that there is no physical impediment to the recurrence of such a blessed state of harmony and peace; while the example itself leads us to consider the conduct by which