self and fellows, as laid down in that mass of ignorance and absurdity called the judgment of Sir John Nicholl, in the case of Kempe versus Wickes. A short time since, amongst others, the Rev. Mr. Snowden, Curate of Charltonin-Dover, refused to read the burial service at the funeral of a Wesleyan child that had died without Christian baptism, having only had the Wesleyan profanation of that Holy Sacrament, and down goes a letter missive from the Wesleyan Inquisition, all duly signed and sealed by Father Osborn, calling Mr. Snowden to account for his conduct, and ringing in his ears the everlasting ditty of Kempe versus Wickes, as though forsooth a minister of Christ was at all amenable to such professors of a new edition of the old heresy of Koran, Dathan, and Abiram, and was to be frightened by the talismanic words of Kempe versus Wickes! Mr. Snowden very properly posted one of Father Osborn's missives back again, without even opening it, and this was such an offence to the great bookselling firm, that if the holy inquisitors had possessed the power, they would soon have brought him to bear, and handed him over to the civil power for summary and final punishment. In all conscience we are coming to something in these days of liberality and liberty of conscience! The truth is, that the ecclesiastical and civil laws of the country clash with and contradict each other; and the simple question for the consideration of the Clergy is this, whether they will obey the civil laws which they have not specially and officially sworn to obey, and which are opposed to the Word of God, or the laws of the Church, to which they have solemnly sworn to pay especial and conscientious obedience. Of course the laws must be so altered, that a Clergyman may not be thus circumstanced; but it is very probable that two or three faithful and bold men will have to suffer severely, for conscience sake, before any alteration in the laws will be made. It is said, that though dissenters are excommunicate, according to the laws of the Church, yet they are not to be considered as such, as it regards the burial service, until they have been pronounced excommunicate in due form. If this be the case, then the next step for a Clergyman to take, to bring the dispute to an issue, is to present the dissenters of his parish, or some one or more of them, as schismatics to the Bishop, who must proceed against them according to the canons, and pronounce them excommunicate for if the 68th canon is to be plied against the Clergy, surely the first twelve may be quite as effectually plied against the dissenters. Besides, we should then see how some of our Bishops would act when the responsibility, as in such a case, would rest upon them. We hope and trust, however, that the laws will be so altered as to prevent all unpleasantness of every kind. Meanwhile it falls very heavily upon those Clergymen who are made to suffer in the conscientious discharge of their duty. Mr. Escott's expenses will be heavy for an individual Clergyman to sustain; but we hope that he will not be suffered to bear the whole weight, and that ample assistance will be rendered him. We shall, in all probability, be able to give the result of the trial, if not a report of the speeches, in our next number. Whether Mr. Escott will appeal from the decision of the Court of Arches to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, we do not know; but we are led to believe that he would stand a better chance of success there than in the Court of Arches. While we have the pen in our hand, we will add a line in commendation of an able work, of great research and sound judgment, lately published, entitled, "Dissenters' Baptisms and Church Burials: Strictures upon the Decision of the late Sir John Nicholl, with an Attempt at an Investigation of the Judgment of the Church of England upon the subject. By the Rev. Walter Blunt, M.A., of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. (London, Longmans.) IN WHICH OUR "JERUSALEM." A Sermon, 66 SCHISM, OR SEPARATION FROM THE CHURCH," IS SHEWN, FROM THE APOSTOLICAL WRITINGS, TO BE A SIN. BY THE REV. HENRY CURTIS CHERRY, M.A. Rector of Burghfield, Berkshire, and Chaplain to the Right Hon. and Rev. the Lord de Saumarez. Psalm cxxii. "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the' house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good." 112 It is generally allowed that David was the author of this Psalm, and that it was composed by him, for the use of those pious Israelites, who, in obedience to the law of Moses, went up every year to the Tabernacle at Jerusalem, at the three great festivals of their religion-the Feasts of the Passover, the Pentecost, and of Tabernacles. It is also supposed that the monarch of Israel thus gave vent to the feelings of his own heart, when he had been graciously permitted by God to return in safety to Jerusalem, the metropolis of his kingdom, and seat of the Tabernacle, from which city he had been obliged to escape into the country beyond Jordan, in consequence of the unnatural rebellion of his son Absalom. David's great partiality for the city of Jerusalem, which he had taken from the Jebusites, its ancient inhabitants (in consequence of which it was called "the City of David"), may be inferred from the many glowing descriptions of it which we meet with in the Psalms, and in the writings of the prophets; it was "the stronghold of Zion," and "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth;" but it had greater claims in the monarch's estimation as being "the city of the Great King," and in whose "palaces God" was "known for a refuge.' Here, above all other places, "the Most High" had been pleased to "record" His "Name;" here, in token of the divine favour, the Tabernacle, "the habitation" of God's worship, had been allowed to be permanently settled, until that time should arrive when it should give place to that glorious temple which, planned in heart, and prepared by David, was to be completed by his son and successor, Solomon. What wonder then, that, as the peculiar seat of God's worship, the Psalmist should have enlarged on the praises of his favourite city, in these words? -"His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God." That individual must be insensible, indeed, who can hear unmoved the sweet singer of Israel thus expressing the anxiety of his soul to fix upon a spot where God should be known as the great object of his people's worship. "Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." And now, what pious heart, I ask, but will readily enter into David's gratitude and joy, on hearing him exclaim, upon the fulfilment of this his ardent wish ?— "The Lord hath chosen Zion: he hath desired it for his habitation." Hear 2 Psalm xlviii. 2. 3 Psalm lxxxvii. 1, 2, 3. 4. Psalm cxxxii. 3, 4, 5. 2 Sam. v. 1 him again, as if by inspiration putting the words into the mouth of the Almighty, and saying, "This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall shout aloud for joy." Deprived as David had been, during his temporary retreat from Jerusalem, of publicly, and "in the courts of the Lord," giving "the honour" due unto His "name;" and, doubtless, on the recurrence of one of their stated festivals, solicited by the pious friends about him to go up to the Tabernacle, how heartily do we find him accepting the invitation, and exclaiming, "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem." The limits of a single sermon will not allow of my entering at any length into the verses before us (though I must, my brethren, ask this morning for more than an ordinary share of your attention), but having considered the occasion, and the feelings under which this psalm was composed, we shall be better prepared, from the first portion of it, to apply to our instruction, the delight and unity of spirit with which the godly attend the ordinances of divine worship; and from David's example, in the latter part of it, I shall briefly notice the two motives which should lead us also to " pray for the peace of" our "Jerusalem," viz. the love of our brethren, and a regard for the institutions of God. May the Almighty vouchsafe us his blessing, that our meditations this day may be to our benefit and comfort! In the character which the pages of inspiration so faithfully give us, of "the man after God's heart," though there are points on which we cannot dwell without painful reflection, and which, as passing clouds, darken the horizon of an otherwise bright and glorious day; much, blessed be God! has been handed down to us in which we can distinctly trace the workings of the Great Spirit, who, as He, in the first creation said, "let there be light, and there was light," can illumine the benighted traveller on his earthly pilgrimage, and call him "out of darkness into his marvellous light." Obscured, as sometimes was the life of David, through the innate depravity of the human heart, recorded as his failings have been, to fix indelibly on our minds the importance of the precept, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall," ," how encouraging are the instances of that upholding grace, by which the Psalmist never lost sight of a regard to the institutions of divine worship, and of the delight which every pious worshipper feels in his attendance upon the ordinances of religion! He who, in the psalm we are considering, said, "I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord, our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem;" in other passages has strikingly conveyed to us the longings of his soul, when deprived beyond Jordan of its communion, in the Tabernacle, with its Maker. "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night; while they continually say unto me, where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise; with a multitude that kept holiday." "My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary." "How amiable," when he was at a distance from them, appeared to him the "tabernacles" of the "Lord of Hosts," in which he could envy the happiness of "the sparrow" which had "found a house" therein, "and the swallow a Psalm xlii. 1-4. 4 Psalm xliii. 1, 2. ! Psalm cxxxii. 3, 4, 5. * 1 Cor. x. 12. 1 nest for herself, where she might lay her young, even God's altars;" when he emphatically cried out, "A day in thy courts is better than a thousand; I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Unspeakably blest as we are, my brethren, and brought up in "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints;" visible members as we are of that pure and Apostolical Church, which was "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;"" are there no 66 strangers and foreigners," whose “feet stand" not "within" the "gates of our Jerusalem ?" Not, I mean, in the sense of David's City, the seat of civil government, and of kingly power, implied in the 5th verse, as having within it "the thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David;" (for I expressly forbear, on the present occasion, any political view of the term "Jerusalem," as foreign to the pulpit ;) are there none, I say, among us, who shew their disinclination to accompany us when we say unto them "Let us go into the house of the Lord?" That there are we must be conscious; and while we cannot but deeply deplore the absence of the openly irreligious and profane from this house of prayer (where we confidently trust God has been pleased to "record His name"), what shall we say of them who, having once" tasted" with ourselves "of the heavenly gift," and been instructed in "the good word of God," "have turned aside unto" the "vain jangling" of those who "desiring to be teachers of the law," understand "neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm :" who, as St. Paul calls them, "children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"s not onlyt hemselves run "greedily after the error of Balaam for reward," by presumptuously taking upon them the priesthood for a pitiful subsistence, but would have others perish with them "in the gainsaying of Core," in a wilful opposition to constituted power and authority. "Jerusalem," we read, was "builded as a city, that is compact together, whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord." The dwellings of its ancient inhabitants were scattered, but the Sacred History informs us that "David built round about" Jerusalem, thus making it the centre of religion, and the bond of union among "the tribes of Judah," which are here called "the tribes of the Lord," for amid surrounding idolatry, they only possessed the knowledge of the true God; they resorted to the Tabernacle in that city, for there were "the ark of the covenant," the "two tables of the law," here styled "the testimony of Israel," and "the mercy-seat," where the Most High, dwelling "between the cherubims," delivered his sacred will to their authorised ministers, chosen from the "family of Aaron," and of the "tribe of Levi." "The tribes of the Lord" went up "unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks also unto the name of the Lord." Call now to mind, I beseech you, the yet more inestimable blessings we enjoy, under our temporal " Jerusalem :" in times when, through "the tender mercy of our God, the day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death;" when, not in visions of the night, in the thunderings of Sinai, or between the uplifted wings of cherubims, but in the covenanted mercies of the Gospel, and through the mediation of "the Lord our righteousness," we too may have access to a God of mercy; when, not in one city only, but in very village of this populous kingdom, the open portals of the Church 1 Psalm 1xxxiv. 1. 7 Jude xi. 2 Jude iii. $ 2 Sam. v. 9. Ephes. ii. 20. 9 2 99 11 invite the weary of this world's troubles, and the "heavy laden" with his infirmities and sins, to enter and there find rest. Shall we, the heirs of "a better covenant, established upon better promises,' " than David, and the subjects of his Jerusalem enjoyed, shall we not gladly hail every invitation given us to enter into God's "gates with thanksgiving," and "to speak good of his name," who hath permitted us "the public and free profession of his true religion and worship;" a faith and services hallowed to us by the blood of martyrs, and confessors, and dispensed to us by a body of men duly ordained to minister" in things pertaining to God," of whom, though they have this "treasure in earthen vessels," it is surely not saying too much, with the fervour of St. Paul, who magnified his "office," that as they knew their sufficiency is of God," their " preaching" is not after "the doctrines and commandments of men ;"7 or "with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit, and of power.' Would to God we could repel the charge as false of our Jerusalem; that "they are not Israel which are of Israel." In a city that was "compact together," in days long passed away, the tabernacle of God drew within its hallowed centre all of "one spirit and with one mind;" 10 no jarring interests, no different forms of worship unsanctified the cause of the one only and true God: they "took sweet council together, and walked to the house of God in company." In times more near to our own, the same unity of purpose distinguished the congregations of the primitive Christians, for we read of their assembling on the first day of the week, "stedfast in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers," and "continuing daily with one accord in the temple;' ;"" and though thirty-three years afterwards, mention is made of" certain men having crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness; despising dominion, and speaking evil of dignities and things which they know not." 13 St. Jude forcibly reminded the true "household of God," " of "the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how they told" its members "there would be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts," and that "these be they who separate themselves."" As the word "schism" means a division in the Church of Christ, a tearing asunder of that "oneness" of mind and spirit which the Apostles of Jesus laboured to inculcate; so the often-repeated cautions of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, most pointedly mark out the course we must adopt, as members of an Established Church, viz. while "earnestly contending for the faith of the Gospel," to use our utmost exertions "that all who profess and call themselves Christians, may agree in the truth of God's Holy word, and live in unity, and godly love." 17 St. Paul most deeply lamented the divisions which prevailed in the Church of Corinth, and the numerous evils, from false preachers, against the peace of society, and of that religion of which he was an accredited minister; hence he told his hearers that they were" yet carnal," and under the guidance of a worldly spirit, rather than under the light of the Gospel: "whereas there is among you envying and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men,' 18 i. e. not as Christians. To the same people, in regard to their own conduct, he gives these salutary admonitions: "Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of Form of Prayer for the Restoration of the Royal Family. 1 Heb. viii. 6. 2 4 2 Cor. iv. 16 5 Romans, xi. 13. 3 Heb. ii. 17. 62 Cor. iii. 5. 9 Romans ix. 6. 12 Acts. ii. 42, 46. 15 Jude xvii. 18, 19. 17 Church militant Prayer. |