maintained through all the churches, made to bring the inspired epistles, made the messengers of communicating with the Apostles and other churches, of the faith, and hope, and stability of their brethren in other communities of the great spiritual body of Christ; and you will find an activity which realizes the prediction of the prophet, "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased," carried out through the whole face of the apostolical epistles, and involved in the whole extent of the history of the apostolical churches; and known to none of the organized schemes, which would excite jealousy, without having this view of their Scriptural unity. There is nothing, therefore, to prevent unity so far as co-operation is concerned—but everything to prevent unity so far as judicial and executive power are concerned. We protest against the unity of legislation, and we protest against the unity of execution in consesequence of legislation: but we do not protest against the unity that lies in brotherly kindness, in community of views, and in community of exertion: on the contrary, we live peaceably, secure of that unity and we are compelled to adopt the sentiments of no body external to ourselves, whilst we can act with all that may call themselves brethren in Christ.

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Lastly I consider the Independent system as having claims upon the people of God because it is liberal. I have no doubt that it may excite some surprise, that I should say that a system is a liberal system, which, whilst it asserts its own divine right to urge the precepts of the Gospel, denies the scriptural authority of others. For this must be the character of that system, should its claims be true. But, my friends, when we come to look at liberality, and ascertain what it really is, I think there will be no surprise at my considering the Independent system as a liberal one. I am quite aware that the term liberality" is very frequently understood to mean, the refraining to exercise our own sentiments with any degree of distinctness, in a great many matters not of the highest importance, lest we should touch the feelings, or seem to offend the judgment of others. Now, I consider "liberality" to signify the liberty which I am called on to allow to every man, to think and act for himself. This is not liberality that silences me, that I may not disturb the feelings and reasonings of my brother; this is not liberality that silences me, lest I may appear to impeach the justice of my brother's conclusions. Liberality has nothing to do with the silencing of any one: liberality unseals the lips of all, permits all to speak. Liberality does not, in any instance, curtail the freedom of any body: it signifies individual and universal freedom. It is not the giving up of freedom on my part, and the giving up of freedom on the part of another, and the giving up of freedom on the part of a third, that we may all have harmony, just because all of us have nothing which we would differ about. This species of harmony would be nothing more than a kind of exterior delusion; and, far from being calculated to bring the minds of individuals near to one another, it would forbid the occupation of that very ground on which these minds may be united. If I do not speak, and my brother does not speak to me, lest we should offend one another, then the ground on which we meet, and which is held to be neutral ground between us, is the ground on which we must always be silent: yet it is all that is essential in the case. This very neutral

ground we dare never occupy; there is all the space which lies between us, therefore we are prevented from ever meeting by the interdict that prevents us occupying this neutral ground. I should say, let there be no neutral ground: let there be a distant spirit; let there be sound thinking, or, at least, an attempt to think soundly; let the word of God be examined in common, and all the principles between you and them; you are on this neutral ground, and while each has his peculiar territory, it may be, at least, adjusted between you: there should be no neutral ground. When you have ascertained the real character of the spirit you are proposing to consecrate, you find, while you may divide it between you, and possess it in common, that it becomes all your own. And thus each several territory is found to belong to the great body, and the neutral ground separating between these common territories is found to belong to the great foe.

I reckon that, therefore, to be liberality-to think, and speak, and act boldly at all times and at any time; leaving the exercise of discussion in these matters with the individuals themselves, questioning the exercise of that discussion, if we find it had not been properly exercised and so making every subject matter of inquiry, of investigation, admonition, instruction, doctrine, and reproof, between us, that we may be thoroughly instructed in every good word and work. Liberality, therefore, and liberty, are with me, precisely the same. Call that which is usually called liberality, "concession," if you will, and you have rightly named it; call it "a mutual giving up," and it has its own designation. Then also call it "a common surrender on each side," and you have also a proper phraseology. But never call it liberality; for that would be insisting on the part our brother shall occupy, and the part we shall occupy and excluding all liberty.

I urge the Independent system, therefore, because it is a liberal system, and allows each man to think for himself, and each church to think and act for itself, whilst, at the same time, it maintains the strict unity of the whole. And if, my friends, we were thus to adopt the Independent system in all its bearings in going out and coming in-were we, like it, constantly referring to the Word of God; were we, like it, constantly seeking to extend the knowledge of that word; were we, like it, engaged in the service of enlightened liberality-what must be the advance, the rapid advance, of Christianity!

I am quite aware, my friends, that in submitting this subject to you, though I have occupied so much of your time, I have only touched its leading parts. Could I go into all the points, to which I might refer, I know many an objection might be met, many a doubt solved, and many a difficulty removed. I have, however, directed you to the general outlines on the subject, and I press it on your attention and consideration. Reflect whether in religion God has sent his truth into the world without any executive means to bring it to bear in the world. And if you look into the Word of Truth for the means that he has appointed, say not they are not directly stated, but only by inference; for I must be permitted to remind you, that the doctrines we draw from the Word of God are all doctrines drawn by inference. We gather up the divinity of Christ, the atonement of Christ, and the salvation of the sinner, out of conversations between him and the Jews, out of letters written by the apostles to the churches.

been greater sinners than others: but we do say that wherever there is sorrow, and (as in the subject especially before us) wherever there is poverty, there is the evidence that sin hath entered into the world.

It is a remarkable fact that poverty has existed in every country, and in every form of society with which we are acquainted. In ancient times, as well as modern; amongst the highly civilized and cultivated, as much as those who are sunk in the debasement of savage uncivilization; amidst all the variety of political changes, amidst the rising and falling of dynasties, amongst the various forms of government, plastic and harsh, still poverty has remained; and, in spite of the benevolence of man, in spite of the benevolence of philosophical and refined minds, still remains: so that luxury and want, superfluity and need, have been in the closest juxta-position—have been almost as it were chamber-fellows. Now, if we receive the notion of a superintending providence (which, I trust, there is not one here inclined to deny), we cannot question that these things are by God's permission. In the wide sweep of that glance which goes through creation, and which rests on the dimmest and most inconsiderable spot in all the universe which God at first formed, not one portion is overlooked; not the smallest creature which forms a link in the chain of animal existence is

forgotten of God. We are quite sure that all the forms of mankind, with their immense variety of interests, and the apparent entanglement of their concerns, are all open before the eye of Him with whom we have to do: and since He, who thus looks with watchful eye on the concerns of all, is the same who, by resistless hand, administers the concerns of all, we come to the conclusion immediately, that these things cannot be without his permission.

But we are prepared to advance beyond this, and to affirm that God not only permits, but that he appoints. We cannot pronounce what would have been, in this respect, the condition of an innocent race in a world which crime had never defiled; we cannot pronounce how it would have been with the lineage of unfallen man we are quite sure there would have been no pain or privation; and the teeming earth would have poured forth, from her own rich storehouse, enough for the supply of all the wants of all who trod her surface. But we are by no means prepared to affirm that, notwithstanding this, there might not have been as many, and as plain, distinctions in human society, though that society existed and was held together in a world on whose surface the footprint of sin had never trodden.

Neither can we affirm with any degree of certainty-though the question is one of very deep interest-what shall be the condition of the restored creation, tenanted by blessed ones, purified from all sin, and taken far away out of the reach of all sorrow. We are not prepared to affirm one opinion, or the other opinion-whether or no there shall still subsist distinctions of rank-whether some shall be in the inner circle, in greater nearness to God, wearing crowns of brighter radiance, singing anthems of sweeter melody, and sent forth by God upon missions of higher trust; it may be so, or it may not be so: but we are quite aware that the authority of Scripture texts may be arrayed on the one side, or on the other side. Concerning the unfallen world, therefore, and the restored creation, we do not affirm.

But concerning God's dealings with a fallen state, his dealings with those who have gone far from the original purpose and design of their creation, we

are bold to affirm that God hath appointed more than this: God, by his providence, doth maintain inequalities of condition. And we see that this precisely agrees with the analogy of all God's dealings. The whole of nature is one vast system of unequal distribution: even in the lower walks of animal life we find the obtaining of the same principle; and when we have made all possible deductions because of the adaptation of the creatures to the circumstances in which they are placed, and the various systems of compensation which we find so beautifully established for the supply of the apparent deficiencies-when we have considered all these things, there still remains yet unexplained a vast amount of difference of condition. So in respect to human creatures, the higher and the more intelligent walks of création: we may explain away a great deal of the apparent distinction, and may say, that those who are raised high in station, and those whose affluence seems to abound, at the same time are charged with weightier responsibility, and anxieties and cares cling closely to the possession of wealth: yet it is beyond denial there exists in human condition a vast variety of advantage. We therefore think this is God's established mode of dealing, and that, in the divine administration, God is giving to his creatures a model for their own internal government.

Now, there is a great deal which even the most trusting, and even the most calm-minded amongst us, will perceive, in the present aspect of society, to cause us alarm. We may almost believe that there is amongst us the slumbering of the volcano, that shall, in our own day or the day of our children, break forth and pour its consuming stream over the land: we find it not difficult to believe that we are just now in the calm before the out-breaking of the mighty storm : and it may be we are now pressing with our footsteps upon the verge of the latter day; and that there is coming upon us much of tremendous and unimagined trial. Amongst the various reasons why we come to this conclusion is this: we mark with great fearfulness that the apostles of disorder are abroad in the land, and that they would rejoice to confound the social and the individual rights of men, because (we believe) they hope in the fermentation of society, during its transition-state, having the smallest proportion of character or of possessions to lose, to be the greatest gainers. We think that, in our own day, there hath arisen a restlessness of established order, an impatience of appointed authority and control, a contempt of dignities and superiority. Now, we say broadly, concerning this matter, that with the political bearing of the case the minister of the Gospel has, in his pulpit and elsewhere, absolutely nothing to do: and if we were pressed even to give an opinion on this, we think it were an abundantly sufficient answer if we reply in the words of Christ, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" We would leave the potsherds of the earth to strive together about these things. Yet with the religious and with the scriptural bearings of the question, we have, I trow, very much indeed to do, for we have the fulfilment of an apostle's duty before us.

Now, since it seems that God, in the established order of his providence, hath appointed, and doth maintain the varieties of human condition-it is a perfectly tenable position, that they who are striving to confound these distinctions, and to place the rich in array against the poor, and the poor in array against the rich, are not only doing that which shall be for the harm of society, but that which tends to contravene the declaration of God himself. For how could

And so we must come unto a description of evidence, abundantly satisfactory, abundantly luminous and clear; but, at the same time, furnishing only the grand elements, out of which we draw certain inferences. Hence, therefore, it is God's method of teaching; and it is the best and the safest. And here, when we come to examine the word of truth, let us take all its bearings with us; and when we have come into the condition of the church, whose case we have been considering, we shall then find, that like them, we shall be able in the spirit of Christian charity, to "walk in the fear of the Lord," to be "edified," to enjoy the comfort of the Holy Ghost," and "greatly be multiplied."

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