principles, let them abandon all further reference to the Scriptures as the oracular and authoritative guide of faith and practice.

primitive Churches as the Christian Sabbath. Mr. Lingard thinks our translation of Acts xx. 7. inaccurate, because it "seems to hint, rather remotely that they were accustomed to assemble on that day;" and he renders the passage év dè τñ μια τῶν σαββάτων συνηγμένων τῶν μαθητῶν τε κλάσαι ἄρτον. "On the first day of the week the disciples having been assembled to break bread," &c. On this proposed amendment, I remark, that it is not merely from the phrase ovvηvμɛvwv τwv uanrov that we infer the custom of assembling on the first day, but from the preceding information connected with it that the Apostle waited at Troas, the whole week, in order to observe the Lord's supper with the Church in that place. Had the meeting of the disciples been occasional, the historian would have naturally adopted a very different mode of relation. I would remark that many passages in the writings of the early Fathers, prove that the primitive Christians had been from the beginning in the habit of observing the first day of the week, as the Christian Sabbath. Here, Mr. Lingard would say, that I resort to tradition. This I acknowledge; but not as the ultimate reason or rule of the practice in question. I object not to any argument from well authenticated traditionary relations or observances, to confirm or illustrate scriptural allusions: but this is materially different from appealing to such traditions as in themselves authoritative and obligatory.

On the subject of infant baptism it is common for Roman Catholics to assert that our only reason for the practice is derived from tradition; and the Antipædobaptists generally avail themselves of this unwarrantable concession. I am, however, most deliberately convinced that the practice needs no traditionary authority for its support. It accepts indeed in confirmation of scriptural reasonings, the continued and successive testimonies of ecclesiastical writers from the earliest times; but its obligation as a divine ordinance is founded on the strongest analogical reasonings, the scope of the Abrahamic Covenant, the intimations of prophecy, the conduct of our Lord himself, the unrepealed institution of infant-discipleship, the difficulty of accounting for there being no apostolic record of the baptisms of adult children of baptised Christians, and the practice of the Apostles in baptising "households." Mr. L further alludes to our receiving the canonical books of the New Testament, on the ground of tradition; but to this most sophistical argument in defence of tradition as an ultimate rule of faith, 1 have already adverted in the course of the lecture.

What expressions can be more degrading to the sacred volume, than to represent it, as a dead letter, an untelligible record, till explained by the interpretations of their Church, and the "traditions of their elders!" And this is the uniform and invariable style of Roman Catholic writers. It is not asserted by Protestants, that every part of Scripture is alike intelligible: but to suppose that the Almighty has revealed his will, and that any part of that revelation, the knowledge of which is essential to salvation, is not intelligible, till tradition, or ecclesiastical authorities have explained it, is a tremendous reflection on the wisdom of God! It is such a reflection as at once. invalidates its sacred claims and insults its divine Author.

What is the practical effect of this appeal to tradition? It" makes void the word of God."It leads men to attach no importance to the language of the inspired volume; however plain and explicit its meaning, they must distrust their eyes, and ears, and understanding, till it has been explained by the infallible authority of the Church: and as the Priest is the only representative of that infallibility to the immense majority of individuals in the communion of the Church, they must of course affix no sense of their own to the words of Scripture. They must implicitly receive his explanations; and thus a foundation is laid for the most humiliating dominion over the faith and consciences of men. The assertion of an individual becomes the rule of judgment. The habit of neglecting the Scriptures is confirmed by their systematic rejection of them as the ultimate rule; and ignorance, superstition and ecclesiastical intolerance prevail, in exact proportion to the practical and uncounteracted influence of this traditionary authority.

priesthood: and he who wishes to prove the divine right of such a system will never find the Scriptures, a sufficient authority. But "if any man will do the will of God he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God." For all the purposes of human salvation, the sacred volume is a sufficient guide. It unfolds the character of God, the spirituality of his law, the humiliating doctrine of human depravity, the perfection of that atonement which the Divine Redeemer accomplished by the sacrifice of himself, the promise of purifying influence to renew and sanctify. the hearts of men, the nature of acceptable worship, the principles of true religion,, and the prospects of eternal glory. On all these subjects of inquiry, its discoveries are explicit and intelligible; and in the principles and consequences they involve, it comprehends all that is sublime in doctrine all that is holy in tendency, all that is consolatory and delightful to the human heart, and all that is essential to our present and everlasting happiness. It proscribes not the right use of our rational faculties in matters of religion. does not command men to disbelieve their senses. It furnishes general principles and maxims, of most extensive application; and the very effort of the Romanists to employ its language in defiance of their own peculiarities, is a tacit admission of its sufficiency. My Christian friends, bind this sacred volume to your hearts. Rejoice in the proof of its divine authority; with "simplicity and godly sincerity" endeavour to ascertain its meaning; seek by fervent prayer the illumination of the Holy Spirit; let your conduct be an intelligible explanation of your principles: and while the Bible is dearer to you than ever, by the examination of its claims, and the comparison of its

It

authority with the opinions and traditions of men, aim at the universal dissemination of it; till “ all "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of "the Lord," and the Shaster of the Brahmin, the Koran of the Turk, and the "traditions of the "Fathers" be exchanged for the PURE, EXCLUSIVE, AND ALL-SUFFICIENT AUTHORITY OF the HOLY BIBLE.

LECTURE III.

ON THE PAPAL SUPREMACY.

In the character of Jesus Christ, during his incarnate state on earth, there was a mysterious combination of grandeur and humility. His assumption of our nature was an act of omnipotent mercy; but the "espoused wife of a carpenter" was his Virgin Mother. His birth was announced by a choir of angels; but that intelligence was at first made known to the shepherds of Bethlehem. A star guided the Eastern magi to the hallowed spot where the Saviour of the world was born; and they found him " laid in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn!" When he entered on his public ministry," a voice from the excellent glory" attested his divine commission, and proclaimed his sacred authority; but that scene of splendour on the banks of the Jordan, was succeeded by the solitude and temptations of the desart. A similar succession of glory and of humiliation, marked the ever-varying life of the incarnate Redeemer. The glory which invested his character, was of an order and degree which placed it infinitely beyond our reach; and it is the humiliation only, which we can imitate. It is the highest dignity of a Christian to "know the fellowship of his sufferings, and be made conformable to the death" of his Lord.