2 Jehovah loves his Church's gates,
More than the world around;
And there the springs of richest grace
For ever shall abound.

3 How happy they who born of her,
Are nourished by her breast,
For they shall pass through present scenes,
To worlds of endless rest.

4 Her singers shall rehearse the deeds
Of Christ, her Lord and king;
And he most high with tender care,
To him his sons shall bring.

The Protestant Gentile Church now, at any rate, occupies the place of the ancient Jewish.

[Psalm xlv. Part 2.]

1 AT God's right-hand the Church is seen;
Array'd in splendour stands the queen,
Her vesture gold, her beauteous dress,
The Lord her strength and righteousness.

2 Daughter of Salem, all within
Is glorious, purified, and clean;
Garments of holiness are thine,
Mercy and truth, and grace divine.

3 Heiress of glory, upward soar,
Thy temp'ral state regard no more;
So shall the King thy graces own-
Adore and worship him alone.

4 O happy hour, when thou shalt rise
To his fair palace in the skies ;
And all thy sons, a num'rous train,
Each like a prince in glory reign.

5 The heavenly gates expand, they come
Triumphant to their glorious home;
The sacred mansion bought with blood,
The palace of their Saviour-God.

6 Let the whole world his praises sing,
Let every age its tribute bring:
Thy glorious name enroll'd shall shine;
And praise, eternal praise, be thine.

340.

DISMISSION DOXOLOGY.

1 PEACE be to this congregation,
Peace to every soul therein;
Peace, the earnest of salvation,
Peace, the fruit of pardon'd sin.
2 Peace, that speaks its heavenly Giver,
Peace, to sordid minds unknown;
Peace divine, that lasts for ever,-
Here erect thy glorious throne.
2 Prince of Peace, be present near us,
Fix in all our hearts thy home;
By thy word of promise cheer us,
Let thy sacred kingdom come.
Raise to heaven our expectation,
Give our favour'd souls to prove
Glorious and complete salvation,
In the realms of bliss above.

3 May the grace of Christ our Saviour,
And the Father's boundless love,

With the Holy Spirit's favour,
Rest upon us from above!
Thus may we abide in union

With each other and the Lord,
And possess, in sweet communion,
Joys which earth cannot afford.

END OF BOOK IV.

ON

THE CHURCH.

THE word Church originally signifies the house or household of God; and hence, in common language, it has come to be applied to the building in which the people of God meet for divine worship. The household or family of God, although one in reality, is usually distinguished in a two-fold manner, as the Church visible and invisible. In the different ages of the world there has been-first, the Patriarchal; next after that, the Jewish; and since the resurrection of Christ, there has been and is now the Christian Church. These, however, are only a continuation of God's household under different forms: multitudes of each of these are now dead, and multitudes more of the last may yet be born-so that the whole body taken together is invisible; those who are gone to glory being called the Church triumphant, while those now on earth bear the name of the Church militant, (or in a state of warfare). This last constitutes the visible Church, the society now existing on earth before our eyes.

This visible Church has also been sometimes divided into the outward and inward Church; the one containing all baptized professors-the other true Christians only: but that this distinction is not correct, will appear thus :- A society (which the Church will probably be allowed to be) is necessarily an outward visible tangible thing; for a number of independent persons cannot constitute a society-evidently they must be collected together, and distinguished by certain outward marks and rules to which they are subject: every person must, therefore, be in it or out of it, and known to be so. The notion, then, of a society which is not yet gathered, separated and distinguished, but is in this sense invisible, is manifestly absurd. Doubtless, in the future kingdom of Christ, none but true Christians will have place, because the Lord himself will then have separated the chaff from the wheat; but then, this holy assembly is the Church which is to be, not which is a distinct visible society, to be formed hereafter; for a society not associated, can exist only by anticipation.

The Church is called, in our nineteenth Article,

a congregation of faithful men," or believers; i. e. a society or body of men called out and distinguished from a heathen world, as was the Jewish Church or congregation of old. From the use of the word "congregation," an error has been committed of supposing an assembled congregation was intended, and that each separate flock, met together for divine worship, is an independent Church of itself: (the word, it is true, may be so applied in the New Testament, but it can be only figuratively, taking a part for the whole). The spouse of Christ can be but one; not, therefore, an assembled congregation, for that is impossible, but still a congregation, i. e. a "calling out" and separation from the rest of the world. Of this Church, Christ is the head and supreme governor, his Apostles were its first founders: none but they with his authority, and their successors, could found Churches. There can be none, then, but what they founded; no independent self-constituted Church, formed by private individuals from reading the New Testament, any more than from reading the statute-book of England would make a man justice of the peace without the king's authority. The Apostles went into various countries, and planted Churches every where; and these are described as different Churches, merely because they were separated by the division of the countries; but being all originally under the Apostles' care and government, and holding the same faith and ordinances,

they were in fact but one society, and when it was needed, sent relief to each others' wants. After the conversion of the Roman Emperor, who then governed nearly all the known world, these countries being now under one head, general councils were called, and the bishops of each particular Church met together in one body for the determination of all weighty affairs. The first general council held at Nice, A.D. 325, established the Nicene Creed as the standard rule of faith for the whole Church, and it was also decreed, that although the smaller and provincial Churches were now in communion with, and had begun to pay a sort of respect to, the Patriarchal or principal Church, as of Rome, for instance, where were the head-quarters of the empire; yet it should be lawful, if necessary, for them to withdraw from this communion and respect, and to reform each one itself, according to the primitive pattern. This, however, is plainly a very different thing from any one part taking upon itself to establish new doctrines or rules, at variance with the general uncorrupt body-an act by which it would be cutting itself off from the rest, and setting up as independent. It was of course intended that any one, who was baptized a member of the Christian Church in one country, (say England), should be looked upon as a member of the general body, and be received as a Christian all over the world for if he were refused admittance by any part of the Church, and required to conform to new rules, it would be a proof of that part having separated from the rest, and begun to act independently, and therefore no longer Catholic, but Sectarian. In like manner, a Christian from another country coming into England, would of course be received by us, and would naturally communicate with us as the Church of the country, or in fact, only another part of the same Church he had left. Thus it is at home: he who is baptized in one parish, may, upon changing his abode, be confirmed in another, and communicate in a third, all being but one and the same Church, the ministers of the different parishes being united under