desirable that it should be properly understood. There are two kinds

of honour-personal and official. Official honour does not belong to the man, but to the office, and is due to him only while he holds it. Yet the honour that is annexed to an office, must of necessity be addressed to the official. We cannot honour an abstraction. But while honour is to be rendered to priests on account of their office, they ought not to arrogate that honour to themselves. The difference in this respect between the wise and the unwise priest, consists in this, that the one ascribes all the honour to himself, whilst the other ascribes it to the Lord, to whom it belongs. The danger does not seem to lie so much in others ascribing honour to the individual who is invested with the office, as in the individual attributing that honour to himself. So long as the honour is not ascribed to self, but to the Lord, there is little danger of the evil which has been alluded to. Humility on the part of the pastor will do much to prevent excessive devotion on the part of the flock. For myself, I do not desire, and hope I shall never receive, anything approaching to adulation; and trust that those whom I serve may view the function in a rational way, as being, for the sake of use, adjoined to a finite being of like passions with themselves, whom undue homage is ever in danger of puffing up with self conceit. Personal honour is different to that of office, and consists in wisdom and the fear of the Lord. To this honour every one is entitled according to his personal worth; and a title to it may be earned as well and as worthily by the humblest, as by the most exalted in the society. We ought, therefore, one and all, to strive to render ourselves worthy of this honour, which has not a fleeting endurance like the honour of office, but will continue for ever. The office of minister, while one of honour, because of eminent usefulness, is not unattended with care and anxiety. We must not, however, shun the performance of any use because it has its difficulties, or even because it is painful. It has been observed, and no doubt truly, that those who have occupied the humblest stations in life, have often enjoyed the greatest amount of happiness; and men in the highest walks of life have in many instances regretted that they did not seek happiness in retirement. But we know that true happiness does not consist in ease or personal gratification, but in the satisfaction and delight arising from a life of usefulness. We are required to perform uses under any and under all circumstances; and he who shuns office because of its labours and troubles, shuns that which provides the means of promoting at once his own happiness and the happiness of others.—I would only observe, in conclusion, that I trust it will be the endeavour of every individual so to conduct himself, so to unite with his brethren, and so to coöperate with him whom they have chosen as their minister, as to

promote the real welfare of the society by increasing the knowledge, the virtue, the order, and consequently the happiness of the whole body. Let every one, therefore, consider it an important duty which he owes to the Lord, to his brother, and to the society at large, ever to restrain his own personal feelings when they would lead him into collision with those around him; that self-denial is as necessary a part of our social as it is of our immediately religious duties; that love to God can only exist actually and beneficially in love to the neighbour; and therefore that he who violates the principle of charity, either in ecclesiastical, in social, or in strictly religious matters, violates in reality the principle of love to the Lord. It is only when we live together in unity, that we are receptive of that heavenly influence which descends from the Father of love and light, and which flows forth in love to the neighbour. It is only when there is unity among the brethren, that the oil of love descends even to the skirt of the garment; in other words, love and unity amongst brethren are the sure indications, as being the certain and necessary effects, of love to the Lord-that Lord who bestows such precious blessings upon us, not for our own individual benefit only, but that we may dispense them to one another, and that we may exhibit in our social intercourse, as well as in our daily walk and conversation, the sincerity of our profession and the reality of our love and devotion to Him who is the Parent of us all, and in whose sight we ought to live together as affectionate and obedient children."

A serenade was then performed, "Blessed be the hour," with the following additional verses, written and adapted for the occasion;—

Happy the heart where love makes its dwelling,

Filling with peace its deepest recess;

Every unholy feeling repelling

With gentle emotions conspiring to bless.

Voices blending-hearts in unity

We hail this happy hour;

Calm and sunny may life's pathway be,
And strewn with many a flower!

Hail, hail, hail, hail!

Happy the home where brethren combining,

Together in peace and amity dwell;

Mutual love, each impulse refining,

Suffers not discord the bosom to swell.

Love and kindness, peace and charity,

Are ours this happy hour;

Calm and sunny may life's pathway be,

And strewn with many a flower!

Hail, hail, hail, hail!

The Rev. T. C. SHAW then spoke as follows:-" Mr. Chairman, and my dear Friends, I rise for the purpose of giving, in a very few words, expression to those feelings of pleasure which I have experienced in witnessing the proceedings of this evening; and I have no doubt that I shall express also the feelings of pleasure and gratification which have been experienced by all present, who are not members of the Crossstreet society, but who are nevertheless interested spectators of what has taken place, and who feel it a privilege to be present on such an interesting occasion. It is an occasion which I hope will be long remembered in the Church. We have the pleasure, as observed by the Chairman, of seeing a number of young persons, who I hope will grow up in the love of spiritual things, and in the love of the Church. May they be able, in many years distant, to look back on the present occasion with feelings of great satisfaction; and may they be also sensible of the advantages which shall have resulted from what is now taking place! This is an auspicious occasion. The welcome given by the Cross-street society to their future minister may be taken as an earnest of that union which should exist between a minister and his people, and we cannot but pray that that union may long continue, and be productive, under the Divine blessing, of all those benefits which are to be derived from such a connection; benefits which we cannot too highly estimate, and which I hope it will be our pleasure and our profit daily to experience. But, my dear friends, while I thus express the joys and hopes which we entertain in reference to the connection betwen Mr. Bruce and the Cross-street society, we claim to be not mere spectators, and we rejoice in the opportunity of giving to the Rev. William Bruce a sincere and a cordial welcome to London, as a New Church friend, as one capable of contributing greatly to the advancement of the external Church in London; as a co-operator in New Church institutions, and in every thing that concerns the interest of the Church; as a coadjutor in that great cause of righteousness and truth upon which must rest as a basis all genuine union, and from which alone must spring all pure happiness and delight. While, then, many who are here present do not participate with Mr. Bruce and our Cross-street friends in that external union which peculiarly belongs to a minister and his society, we do hope to participate with them in that internal union which belongs to those persons, wherever they may be found, in whom the love of God pervades the heart, and the love of Divine truth reigns in the affections. We hope to participate in that internal union which must exist where there is one faith, one love, one hope for eternity. We know, indeed, my dear friends, that faith alone

is not capable of producing such union: the divided state of the Christian Church at the present day demonstrates the contrary. There must be not only faith, but the love of goodness and truth, the love of essential goodness, even the Lord himself, and the love of goodness in all its derivations and outgoings. There must be a regard to eternal ends; there must be the pre-eminence given to spiritual things, and the subordination of natural things. There must be a submission of individual feelings, individual judgment, and individual interests to the general good and the real service of the Lord. When such is the blessed state of mind, it must bring together and closely unite the members of an individual society; it must connect together all the various societies; and, indeed, combine all the members of the New Church in one strong and powerful, because united, body. You may, perhaps, say that this state of things is what we may desire rather than what is already realised; but we have a hope that we are making progress towards that end. We have a hope that there is an increasing sense of the necessity of having the Church built up individually in our own minds, in order that its members may be externally united, and a growing conviction that such union and strength in New Church societies is the most effectual means by which the Church may be extended and enlarged. We hope, then, that this is an occasion which may contribute to that great end. We hope that our friend Mr. Bruce, in coming to London, will, under the Divine Providence, be an instrument of great good, not only as pastor of the Cross-street society, but also by his general influence, in demonstrating the truths of the New Church in their effect and practical bearing on the life of man, and in performing those uses to which he has alluded in such elegant and impressive terms. We hope that our friend Mr. Bruce may, by his important duties in the Church at large, and by his valuable services in the Crossstreet society, contribute greatly to improve the state of the Church in London, so that it shall make itself felt through the country, and thence throughout the world. I will not detain you further, except to state for my friends, and for myself individually, that we shall have the greatest pleasure in co-operating with Mr. Bruce and this society in every thing that is calculated to promote the welfare and good of the New Church."

Mr. BRUCE, in responding to the address of the Argyle-square society, said "Amongst other pleasing circumstances connected with my arrival in London, I may be suffered to mention, as amongst the first, the approval, as I have been given to understand by Mr. Noble himself, of the choice of the society by that very eminent and

revered minister. It is highly agreeable to me to receive not only the congratulations of the society to whom I am to minister, but also the cordial invitation of the minister whose coadjutor I am to be. Another pleasing circumstance is the cordial reception which I have received from my very much respected brother, the Rev. Thomas Shaw. I have also reason to feel gratified by the affectionate manner in which I have been received by this assembly, in which are many members of his congregation. I will now beg to express my thanks for this very warm, and to me very agreeable reception; and express my sincere desire, and my earnest purpose, of being of use, as far as possible, not only to the Cross-street Society, but to the Church in general in London. I certainly regard it as most desirable that the two societies should live in friendship, that they should cultivate a mutual intercourse, that they should co-operate with each other in all things that are necessary to their mutual advantage and the prosperity of the Church, and that they should hand in hand in all measures that are calculated to extend the

go

knowledge of the doctrines, and to build up the Church upon the sure foundation, as our friend, Mr. Shaw, has remarked, of righteousness and truth. I beg, in conclusion, to express my sincere and unfeigned thanks to all the friends who are now present, for this very kind reception which they have given me; and I beg to assure them, individually and collectively, that it shall be my most earnest desire and effort to promote the welfare of the Church, as far as my humble abilities and my time will permit, in any manner which may be necessary; and to promote, within my own sphere, that harmony and unity which ought to reign in the New Church. The societies, as well as the members of the New Church, should regard each other with love and affection; they eminently should have that mark of discipleship-to love one another even as the Lord loved them; that is to say, that as the Lord loved men with a love purely disinterested, from the spontaneous feeling of his own Divine love, which desires to make others blessed out of himself; so we should endeavour to imitate our Divine Lord in thus loving each other, not merely as we love ourselves, but as far as possible separate from self, and at the expense of self, and endeavour to go forward in that state of unity and love which alone can make us the true disciples of our Lord, and worthy members of the Lord's new and glorious Church.

Mr. A. ESSEX, in a few concluding remarks, observed-"There is a circumstance come to my knowledge since I entered this room, which I think well worthy to be recollected as coincident with our friend Mr. Bruce's appearing for the first time as pastor in the pulpit of Cross