fices as they can upon these foundations; for 'other foundation can no man lay than that is laid-Christ Jesus.'

89. I confess, my brethren, when I place these three great grounds in their simplicity before you, and in their absence of detail, I seem to heave a great sigh of relief; I am freed from the incubus of a thousand forms; my spirit leaps towards the Church of the Future, I join hands with all the company of good men. When I see you believe in God, in the Divine communion, and in the ideal life of a Divine Saviour, I acknowledge that there is a basis of doctrine and of action for us all. There is a basis of doctrine for us in the belief about God, and in the belief about communion with Him; and there is a basis of action in the Divine life, which Jesus Christ lived out upon this earth. In these things I am joined to you, and I am joined to all Christian sects throughout the world. I will cling to these, they are sufficient. I do not want any other union; I do not sigh for an organic union of the Churches; I am content with a spiritual one. No man can put us asunder then, no Popes excommunicate, no Councils curse; for, taught by the Spirit, we shall all in different ways be led, we shall all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.'

There are men and women amongst us who decline to accept the orthodox ideas about Christ, and who reject our present formularies, yet who would rejoice in

the higher 'Unity' and the practical 'fulness' of which the apostle speaks. There are thousands living lives which might well put to shame professing Christians, and yet because you will force them to see through your theological spectacles, and define for them, instead of leaving them to define for themselves, they will turn their backs on the Church, and on every organised form of religion. But if in our Church of the Future we could some day have all the sects, and the people outside the sects, willing to meet upon certain broad grounds, and then willing to express their details and differences for themselves, I think it is not wholly visionary to look forward, as the years roll on, and the plan of God fulfils itself, to something like a unity of the spirit, a bond of peace and a righteousness of life, for which, in that great petition for all conditions of men, we in our troubled churches never cease to pray.

VI.

WORSHIP.

ARGUMENT.

IN Worship as in other matters principles are permanent, rules are transitory.

The Jewish Sabbath is obsolete. The Apostles, the Fathers, and the Reformers all maintained this.

At the Reformation the Lord's day became confounded with the Sabbath, and the Fourth Commandment wrongly applied to it.

But even Sabbatarians do not keep the Sabbath. Pseudo-Sabbatarianism falls lightly upon the rich, but heavily upon the poor.

What are the foundations of the Lord's day, and how it ought to be observed.

The special duties of Sunday are Rest, Worship, and Charity. The rights of Christian liberty must be asserted, but the consciences of weak brethren must be respected.

The Eleventh Discourse deals with the sphere of the Christian ministry. Sermons must be doctrinal and practical.

The false and the true conception of the clergyman. Let us understand what he is, and then we shall see what he ought to preach. He is bound to see the relation of thoughts, words, and deeds to morals. He is to uphold the spiritual side of life. All that has to do with moral and spiritual things concerns him. He is to judge you and your actions in relation to the heavenly spheres. Business, Idleness, Marriage, Celibacy, Pleasure, Education, Sacrifice-all these things concern him, because they belong to the moral and spiritual aspects of life.

Tenth Discourse.

ON THE LORD'S DAY.

Delivered JULY 30, 1871.

SUPPOSE there is no subject which has been
more often discussed than the subject of the
Sabbath day, and the Lord's day.
I sup-

pose there are no two days which have been

so hopelessly confounded together as Saturday, which is the seventh, or the Sabbath day, and Sunday, which is the first, or the Lord's day.

Now, at the outset, we must remember that rules for religious worship, rules about days, and months, and years, rules about seasons or ceremonies cannot possibly be of a permanent nature, because the rules laid down for one state of society and one nation are not at all likely to fit all states of society and all nations. What do you mean by a rule? You mean a systematic attempt to lay down a course of duty, founded upon a principle. Principles are permanent, rules are transitory. You may have the same principle at work in two different ages, and at work under different sets of