superiority! It would ill become ine, therefore, to assume or to affect either, at this mo ment, when the little authority of office which I possessed is in effect at an end. In taking mybfinal leave of you, however, I may be permitted to say, that I do it with much less reluctance and regret, in that I leave you not to the chance of a doubtful choice, nor in the hands of an untried stranger, but to the care of a colleague whose services you are as fully able to appreciate as I am, from the 1ample experience of twelve years. During ten of those years we have been associated together in the same ministry, without a single occur rence in its course, so far as Tam aware, which' could give pain to either. The most painfur feeling which I have, in the separation how contemplated, respects not you but myself. Mydwish for thyself and for my family Wotha beim decided preference, as far as respects the! pastor and the people with whom I have been sonlongdassociated, to continue united with2 you in a private, as have so long been in'! public tapacity in the services of the sanctum aryo But from this continued personal asso ciation tircumstances completely preclude Me?!

6

Yet, in whatever place I may join in the sa

cred services of the Church to which we be

long, I shall ever feel myself peculiarly assor ciated with you, my first and my only minisĮ terial charge, in unity of spirit, in the bond of

10

peace, and, by God's blessing on His own in stituted means of grace, in righteousness of life: While I would hope, as I would ear nestly desire, that I may continue to enjoyi the charity of your prayers that I may be enabled so to number the short remainder of my days, that may seriously apply my hearts to that holy and heavenly wisdom, which may in the end bring me to life everlasting,i through the merits of Him who is our only, hope in life, our only support in the hour of death, and our only protector in the day of} judgment ud o tom 2199quer botsfo In whatever locality we offer up our public! prayers, we are not only associated as Chrisd tians under the same Divine Head, but we tally speak the same thing; we unite in the same language, in that sacred language of our admirable Liturgy, which is sanctioned at once, and sanctified by the authority of the mosts learned, and by the practice of the most pious

men, from among the clergy and laity, who have ever adorned the Christian Church. Those holy men, to whom, under God, we owe the reformation of our Church, and the devotions by which she is distinguished, could leave us no better legacy than the Scriptures and the Liturgy in our vernacular tongue. The Scriptures contain the revelation, the evidence, and the history of true religion. The Liturgy adapts, as it is requisite, this divine revelation to the necessary purposes of practical religion, and of the devo tion which is an essential part of our Christian profession. The Liturgy is to us the language of religion. This language is essentially practical. It is specially adapted to all the purposes of practical Christianity. All our Christian attainments are dependent on the grace of God. To obtain this grace, means are necessary. The Liturgy of our Church, commended to our hearts by the most sacred associations, presents to us those means of grace which God has graciously instituted for our salvation, in that plain and practical form which is equally adapted to all sorts and conditions of men. The Word of God is the best

guide to all persons at all times, and in all places, as the Liturgy is the best companion, directing the knowledge of the word to the practice of the will of God, and directing it in that devotional form which exhibits at once our utter insufficiency in ourselves and the all-sufficiency of Him on whose prevailing intercession and perfect worthiness we wholly rely; while we beseech Almighty God to have compassion upon our infirmities,

and pray unto him that he would vouchsafe to give us those things which, for our unworthiness, we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot, ask,for the worthiness of his Son and our only Saviour.

In the declaration which I read before the Bishop and this Congregation, very fully assembled on the day of my induction, I find the following clause, which will, I trust, explain and excuse the references which I have how made to the Liturgy and formularies of the Church: "I also declare, that, in all my sermons and instructions, I will abide strictly by the established and authorised doctrines of the Church, as they appear in their authentie form in the Liturgy,in the Catechism,

-in the Articles, and in the Homilies:-and that I never will, voluntarily or intentionally, swerve, in any case or circumstance, either in my general instructions to the Congregation, or in those more particularly addressed to the young, from the doctrine, discipline, and worship thus warrranted by the highest authority."

If I have been enabled, by God's blessing, in the course of my ministry, to fulfil, how, ever imperfectly, this declaration, which was made, on my part, in the most perfect sincerity, I feel myself fully entitled, in the highest acceptation of the phrase, to the character of a Gospel Minister. That I have endeavoured to fulfil it with the same sincerity with which it was made, I feel; and that I have fulfilled it to the best of my ability, in the doctrine which I have uniformly taught, will be conceded, at least by those who are enabled to judge of my instructions,-not in the insulated form which, all our instructions must, of necessity, take, when they are given, as they must be given, in detail, but in that systematic combination which is essential to the Gospel revelation,