consisted.  So the Apostle Paul took Timothy and circumcised him; so, also, he used all the Jewish customs with which he was familiar, and performed a vow, as related in the Acts of the Apostles, “having shorn his head in Cenchrea; for he had a vow.”  It was not his opinion that it was the duty of a Christian to overthrow the Jewish system.  He knew that the Jewish system could not last, but what he wanted was to vitalize the system—­to throw into it not a Jewish, but a Christian feeling; and so doing, he might continue in it so long as it would hold together.  And so it was no doubt, with all the other apostles.  We have no evidence that before the destruction of the Jewish polity, there was any attempt made by them to overthrow the Jewish external religion.  They kept the Jewish Sabbath, and observed the Jewish ritual.  One of them, James, the Christian Bishop of Jerusalem, though a Christian, was even among the Jews remarkable and honourable for the regularity with which he observed all his Jewish duties.  Now let us apply this to modern duties.  The great desire among men now, appears to be to alter institutions, to have perfect institutions, as if they would make perfect men.  Mark the difference between this feeling and that of the apostle, “Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.”  We are called to be members of the Church of England—­what is our duty now?  What would Paul have done?  Is this our duty—­to put such questions to ourselves as these?  “Is there any single, particular sentence in the service of my Church with which I do not entirely agree?  Is there any single ceremony with which my whole soul does not go along?  If so, then is it my duty to leave it at once?” No, my brethren, all that we have to do is to say, “All our existing institutions are those under which God has placed us, under which we are to mould our lives according to His will.”  It is our duty to vitalize our forms, to throw into them a holier, deeper meaning.  My Christian brethren, surely no man will get true rest, true repose for his soul in these days of controversy, until he has learned the wise significance of these wise words—­“Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.”  He will but gain unrest, he will but disquiet himself, if he says, “I am sinning by continuing in this imperfect system,” if he considers it his duty to change his calling if his opinions do not agree in every particular and special point with the system under which God has placed him.

Lastly, the apostle applies this principle civilly.  And you will observe he applies it to that civil relationship which of all others, was the most difficult to harmonize with Christianity—­slavery.  “Art thou called,” he says, “being a servant?  Care not for it.”  Now, in considering this part of the subject we should carry along with us these two recollections.  First, we should recollect that Christianity had made much way among this particular class, the class of slaves.