Christ also has received you; you that are strong, bear the infirmities of the weak, and not please yourselves.

Now we do not pretend to say, that all who do not thus enter a Christian Church are not in a state of grace. Some, after they are converted, may not have the opportunity. Some are repulsed by the rigidness of admission: they cannot pronounce every Shibboleth of a confession; or express their belief of the divinity of every part of the discipline.-These are to be pitied: the blame lies with the exactors of such righteousness. Some, otherwise disposed to come forward, are held back by a sense of unworthiness, or a dread of hypocrisy, or a fear of causing "the way of truth to be evil spoken of," by their acting unbecoming the Gospel. These are to be instructed and encouraged.

But after these concessions, we make no scruple to say, that if a Christian does not belong to a Christian Church, he is not walking according to God's appointment, and the order of the Gospel; but is living in the loss of privilege, and the omission of duty. It was not thus with the Christians of whom we have accounts in the New Testament. They are represented not as wandering sheep, but a flock having a shepherd and a fold. Not as stones loose and scattered on the ground, but built up a spiritual house. Not as separate and solitary plants and trees, but as a vineyard, a garden watched and watered. Not as rovers and vagrants, in the highways and hedgesbut as "fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God."-This brings us to consider,

II. THE OBLIGATIONS We are UNDER TO ENTER THIS STATE.

Let us notice four articles-Suitability-Consolation-Safety-and Usefulness.

He

The first claim is derived from Suitability. This state accords with the very constitution of man. is not only a rational, but a social creature and so natural are his social feelings, that they can only be rooted up with his very being. Religion, therefore, does not aim to destroy or injure these propensions; but it sanctifies them. It opens a new sphere for their developement. It presents new objects of interest and attachment.

Like attracts like; and when we become godly, our longing is for godly association. Then we pray, "Be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto them that love thy name:" then, we confess, "I am a companion of them that fear thee:" then, "we take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" then, we "choose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." These fall in with our new views, and hopes, and fears, and joys, and sorrows. These are now our new fellow-learners, fellow-travellers, fellow-labourers, fellow-warriorsyea, whosoever now, doeth the will of our Father who is in heaven, the same is our brother and sister and mother.

Saul, therefore, upon his conversion, assayed to join himself to the disciples: and every one, when he falls under the same influence, will be like-minded with him. It would be strange indeed, if when we turn away from the vain and the wicked, we should find ourselves in a state of destitution and abandonment. But God has expressly provided

against this repulsion of loneliness. come outcasts. He takes us up.

We do not be"Wherefore,"

says he, "come out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and be a father unto you; and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." Ye shall not be homeless and friendless. I will place you in my family. You shall have better relations than those you have resigned; and more valuable connexions than those who have renounced you. When you part with the world, you enter the Church, and this is more glorious than all the mountains of prey. You rise in rank; and so far from being losers, "Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left his house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the Gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life."-We, therefore,

Derive the second claim from Consolation. This is the law of Christ as we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men; but especially unto them that are of the household of faith." Their members, therefore, have the first claim upon a Christian Church for sympathy and succour. And the privilege arising from hence will appear to be the greater, when it is considered, that the discharge of this duty does not depend upon obligation only. Christians feel themselves disposed, as well as bound to this good work. Their principles lead them to rejoice with them that do rejoice," and to "weep with them that weep." And is it nothing to belong to a

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community, who, instead of envying and hating you for your successes, and endowments, and comforts,—it is so always with the world-will glorify God on your behalf? Is it nothing to be connected with those who feel it to be their duty and their privilege to guard your reputation, to explore your wants, to soften your cares, to soothe your sorrows; and where, not only the minister and the office-bearers, but all the members, will visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and comfort them that are cast down?

The poor and the needy are too generally overlooked, not to say despised by the world; and from the treatment they receive from others, there is danger of their feeling a kind of self-degradation that makes them regardless of their conduct. But here they have a name and a place. Here they feel an importance, that while it raises them morally, does not injure them in their civil dependence. Here their elevation does not draw them off from their stations; but improves them for every relative duty, by producing self-respect, and augmenting a sense of responsibility. Here their fellow-members, above them in condition, can without envy or uneasiness see their equality with themselves, or even their preeminence in experience. "Let thebrot her of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted; but the rich, in that he is made low, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away."

The Church is the only society in which it is either possible or proper to merge the ranks of life. Temporal things divide men, and keep them separate; and they have always a tendency to carry to excess those distinctions which are allowable, and

even necessary. However disposed towards each other, the small and the great cannot unite in secular friendship. The master and the servant cannot consort together either in the upper or the lower room. The peasant and the nobleman cannot inhabit the same cottage, or the same mansion. The noble and the vulgar cannot feed together, either at the dinner of herbs or at the stalled ox. But here they all surround the same table. Here all eat the same spiritual meat, and drink the same spiritual drink. Here the rich and the poor meet together. Here all are partakers of the same common salvation. Here all are one in Christ Jesus. Here every disadvantage is compensated. "Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people."

Safety furnishes a third claim. For it is not to be overlooked that this state fortifies individuals against the influence of example, and number, and ridicule, and reproach. It will be allowed that a man ought to do what is right, if no one stands by him. Yet singularity is sometimes a great trial; and to brave all the consequences, in many cases, requires more moral heroism than is always possessed even by one that is upright and sincere. But when he stands in connexion with others; when he sees himself countenanced and sunported by those he deems wiser and