added much to the scanty comforts of both petitioners in their latter days."

But the spiritual welfare of the parish is the first object which the Society has in view. It is material to observe this, for it is the true principle of unity in the Church, and of union among her members. And, therefore, the 17th Rule of the Society expressly enacts, "That no money be paid to any clergyman without the production of a certificate signed by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese, that the duty has been performed, during the incapacity of the petitioner, to his lordship's entire satisfaction."

The spiritual interests of the parish being, as I have already stated, the primary object of the Society, the committee consider that they cannot better promote this end, than by assisting in the building of parsonagehouses on benefices of little value, so as to enable the incumbent to reside among his parishioners; and we find in the report of one year £300 applied, in sums varying from £50 to £100, towards this essential purpose.

It is a humiliating subject for Christians to reflect on, (but humbling thoughts are good for us, if they awaken within us kindly and charitable feelings towards one another), and it is a painful reflection moreover, that the deceased clergyman sometimes does not leave enough behind him to defray his funeral expenses, and that he would be buried like a pauper at the parish cost, were it not for the timely assistance of the Church Union Society; and it is therefore enacted among her rules: "That a sum, not exceeding five

guineas, be given, at the discretion of the committee, towards the burial of any unbeneficed clergyman who may have partaken of aid from the Society." Accordingly among the items of one year's expenditure is the following:-"Towards the burial of a poor clergyman who had partaken of the Society's bounty-five guineas."

The Society desires to embrace within the sphere of its usefulness and charitable consideration the lowest functionaries of the Church; and we find in her reports annually, the sum of about £25 to parish clerks, whose age or infirmities have rendered them unequal to the duties of their office.

But, I find that I am exceeding the usual limits of my discourses, and must hastily and briefly conclude with the last point suggested by my text, viz., the blessings which shall revert to those who love the Church, and help her in her exigencies; "They shall prosper that love thee." They who love the Church, and endeavour to increase her usefulness, and to extend her spiritual influences, and to bring her children within her gates, and to feed them there with food convenient for them; "they shall receive the blessing from the Lord: and righteousness from the God of their salvation." All the promises of Scripture are theirs. "God shall supply all their need, according to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus." What they give to the poor, they do but lend unto the Lord, and that which they have given shall be paid them again. In their own day of trouble the Lord shall deliver them. "Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy:"-mercy on that

day, when the King of glory shall set them on His right hand, and say, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." "Come, ye blessed of my Father,

inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the founda

tion of the world."

GOD'S ORDINANCES MEANS OF GRACE.

Preached 4th Sunday after Trinity, 1845.

"I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them."-Ezekiel xx. 11.

THESE words of God to His chosen but rebellious people, may, with the strictest propriety and the closest parity of reasoning, be applied to all, from the beginning to the end of time, to whom He has revealed His will and His ways, and given the knowledge and the power to please and to obey Him. The words comprise the principle of faith, the duty of obedience, and the promise of eternal life. "I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments;" I gave them they came not of man's device, or suggestion, or forethought, or wisdom; I gave them; I, who at the first created them, and, when they had fallen, redeemed them; I, who set life and death before them, I left them not to the unenlightened and unguided bias of their own corrupt will; "I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments." I gave them, not as speculative matters to think merely, or to speak, or to argue upon, but practically to order their steps and

D

their doings; believing that they came from me, they were to do them as unto me. "I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do;" the very purpose for which I gave them was that they might act upon them, and prove their faith by their works. And to faith and obedience thus united, I attached the promise of everlasting life: I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them."

Thus has God from the beginning set before mankind two great principles on which their salvation depends, faith and obedience. We shall see the second always following upon the first. There may be a compliance with the bare letter of a command without faith; but where there has not been obedience, there has not been faith." "Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die:" nor did Eve eat of it until the tempter had persuaded her to doubt the Word of God, and that she might eat, and not die. Ever since the fall faith has led to obedience, and both have been essential to salvation. Take, first, the example of Noah. Noah's temporal safety was made dependent on his faith and obedience; and more than his temporal safety, for had he not believed and obeyed he would have perished in his sin here and for ever. God warned him that He would bring a flood upon the world of the ungodly, and commanded him to build an ark to the saving of himself and his family. He believed, and therefore he obeyed,