called, which are to be defended by decrying those who reformed our Church, and flattering those who corrupted it. But this is not sound, this is not consistent, this is not high Churchmanship. The true Churchman feels that there is a vast gulph between him and the Papist-I do not say an impassable gulph; but the Papist must come over to him; he must not take a step towards the Papist; the Churchman made the gulph by putting from him certain errors and corruptions; and the Papist must destroy the gulph by putting them from him too. And if, in spite of what we know Popery to have been, and of what we know it to be, we would indulge any thought of reunion with the Roman Church, except through that Church's rejecting what we rejected when we separated from it-then might it be vain to look for audience amongst ourselves as the projected apostasy were denounced, so besotted must we be, so bent on our own undoing. But there shall not be wanting listeners, amazed and frightened listeners: the very heavens, that have gathered to themselves the "noble company of martyrs," shall be astonished, and horribly afraid, and very desolate, and all because the purposed crime may justly be described as the forsaking the fountain of living waters for "broken cisterns that can hold no water."

And now one brief word in conclusion with regard to the present anniversary. We cannot consider the Gunpowder plot, merely as having been

the treasonable scheme of a disaffected few, though we know, from historical documents, that not more than eighty persons were in any degree privy to it. The great thing to be observed is, that undoubtedly the object of this plot was the re-establishment of Popery. The chief leaders, such as Catesby and Piercy, were irritated at finding that Roman Catholics were not treated with greater indulgence by James I., from whom, as the descendant of the Scottish Mary, they had expected such concessions as they had not obtained from his predecessor Elizabeth. When they found these expectations disappointed, they resolved on an act which should not only be one of terrible vengeance, but which, by removing the chief foes to their religion, should make way for its speedy and triumphant re-establishment. And in all human probability Protestantism would have been buried with our princes and nobles beneath the ruins of the parliament-house, had the daring incendiary completed his work-even as it would have lost its ascendancy had not William III. taken the sceptre from his father-in-law's hand. Therefore should we join heartily in the thanksgiving of the day, and consider that the commemorated events are such as should be held in lasting and grateful remembrance. For we are not yet, we trust, come as a nation to the point at which sight is lost of the worth of the Reformation. We are not yet prepared to believe that it was for trivial and speculative points that our fathers gave themselves

readily to the rack and the stake. We may have forgotten our privileges in the day of our security; but let Protestantism be assailed, whether from without or from within-and I am not the one to deny, however to deplore, that the assault may be from within as well as from without-and I think, and I trust, that something of the same spirit will be roused in the land as though an invader's foot were on its shore, or a traitor in its councils.

But let an anniversary such as this set each of us to the diligently examining what Protestantism is, that we may know our advantages, the responsibilities which they entail, and the duties which they involve. We have the fountain of living waters. It is well that we carefully guard it; but do we also eagerly drink of it? We are not forced to seek water from broken cisterns. It is well that we expose the worthlessness of these cisterns; but do we remember that which St. Paul says to the Hebrews, "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip ?" the marginal reading is, "lest at any time we should let them run out" as leaking vessels. We ourselves may be the broken cisterns, receiving grace but only to lose it. Let us look to it then, that we be earnest, decided, consistent Protestants. But such Protestantism is for exhibition in the life, rather than for declamation on the platform. It is a real tract for the times, "Known and read of all men."

Profounder humility, heartier

charity, more expansive benevolence, a more devoted consecration to the service of God-it is by these that Protestantism will be truly upheld, preserved to ourselves, transmitted to our children. Popery is not to be written down; it is to be lived down: and if we are to lose the advantages of the Reformation of the national Church, it will be mainly through the want of reformation in the national character. Each, then, as he strives to live more "holily, justly, and unblameably," in the world, is doing his part towards preserving to his country that Protestantism which, under God, is verily its shield, its palladium. Each, on the other hand, as he suffers himself to be inflamed with evil passions, cherishing, or not striving to quench, the fires of lust, is, in his measure, the conspirator who would ignite a train charged with destruction to our laws, our liberties, our religion. Depart, then, resolving, in the strength of the living God, to be more thorough Christians than you have hitherto been. This is the great practical use to be made of such a commemoration as the present. There is a Gunpowder plot to be detected and defeated: you must detect it by searching the dark recesses of the heart; you must defeat it by letting your light shine more brightly than ever before men.

SERMON XIII.'

THE MACEDONIAN PHANTOM.

ACTS xvi. 9, 10.

"And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them."

THE Apostles, and first preachers of Christianity, differed greatly from ourselves, in that they were endowed with extraordinary gifts, and miraculous powers. But it is distinctly to be observed, that they were not, on this account, exempt from the necessity of exercising faith. It might have been thought, that, possessed as they were of superhuman might, and privileged with immediate revelations of the will of God, there would have been, in their

1 Preached at York on behalf of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.