Our reviewer remarked that it was important "to observe the spirit and tendency of these Reformed Confessions, as well as merely the bare tenets which are maintained in them; the piety and holiness, as well as the orthodoxy of those creeds: the evident tenderness of conscience, hatred of sin, love to the Redeemer, repentance for daily infirmities, pursuit of holiness, indifference to the practice and opinions of the world, which stamp and elevate these discussions." Yes, genuine vital godliness, not mere theory, however correct, was what their venerable compilers sought to promote; and in this day of theological strife, their documents are of peculiar importance and interest. We sincerely hope that Mr. Hall may not have encountered the toil and risk of this publication in vain; but may have the satisfaction of seeing the work widely circulated, and by God's blessing rendered extensively useful.

Next succeeds Mr. Goode's work, the object of which is stated in his ample title. But what shall we say of about 1500 closely printed pages of condensed matter, and the catalogue of the contents of which occupies a dozen? We should pay a poor compliment to Mr. Goode, if we pretended in the brief space of a review to do justice to his volumes, the value of which consists not in a few striking passages, which might be extracted or commented upon, but in a mass of facts, documents, and reasonings, which, taken in their totality, go to the foundations of the great questions at issue, and are highly serviceable for instruction and reference. Mr.

and then the extract from each Confes

sion under it, as to turn to the same matter, by the aid of a good Index, in a collection of Confessions.

CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 50.

Goode has entered largely into the chief matters connected with the Oxford Tracts, as they relate to tradition both in theory and practice; and has shewn by copious adductions of extract from the Fathers, that the doctrine of tradition, being a concurrent authoritative rule of faith or conduct with Scripture, is not a catholic dogma; and that even if it were, it would not sustain the edifice that is attempted to be built upon it; first, from the impossibility of finding out the always, by all, and everywhere model; and secondly, because, so far as the stream of respectable tradition flows, it runs counter to the peculiarities of the Tractarian system; and he takes occasion to detect some of the errors, mistranslations, and misappropriations of the Tractators, in their application of patristical authorities. He follows a similar course with regard to the principal divines of our own Church; and shews that even of the writers quoted by Mr. Keble and other Tractarians as upholding their views, the chief are so partially cited, that when their whole opinion is given it turns out to be something very different from, and often quite opposed to, that which it is adduced to prove. Newman seems to have been conscious that his quotations might be open to the serious charge of being garbled; for having quoted and applied passages from Taylor, Stillingfleet, Waterland, Van Mildert, in proof that his "view of catholic tradition" is "received from and maintained by our great divines," he very coolly adds: "If it could be proved contrary to anything they have elsewhere maintained, this would be to accuse them of inconsistency, which I leave their enemies to do." But a truthloving man should not appeal to authors, ex parte, keeping back

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Mr.

something else in their writings which would modify, or set aside, the inferences which he derives from fragmentary extracts. As to the invidious manner in which Mr. Newman consigns to his opponents this task, Mr. Goode says, with equal truth and manliness, "Their statements, as a whole, are perfectly self-consistent; and I am not at all fearful of being reckoned their enemy for having shewn them to be opponents of the system under review." Mr. Newman is ludicrously sensitive in shielding the character of the divines of our Church from the opprobrium of not being good Tractarians; he leaves it to their "enemies" to prove that;-but his nerves are not affected at bringing them into peril of being accused of popery, on account of the anti-protestant construction which he puts upon their words. We congratulate the Church upon the publication of Mr. Goode's volumes. They are the fruit of diligent and well-directed study; and we doubt not will retain a permanent place in theological libraries.

We deceived ourselves when we hoped our present paper would not be lengthy; but long as it is, we have omitted more than we have printed of what we had to say and to quote. We trust we have now done with the subject for some time.

At an early period of the controversy, our advice was, in addressing any person who seemed likely to be led away with these delusions, not to waste words in discussion, but go at once to the conscienceand the heart. Has there been true, penitent, evangelical "conviction of sin;" sin, not in act only, but in its spring? If there has not, theological argument is merely literary disputation; if there has, the penitent truly feels his ruined condition, and is earnestly

asking "What must I do to be saved?" the doctrines of grace (which, be it not forgotten, are also the only genuine doctrines of holiness) meet his wants, and by God's blessing will appeal to his understanding and affections. And such is still in spirit our exhortation; but alas! the revival of the popish doctrine of remission of sin through penance and priestly absolution, instead of by the spiritual application of the blood of Christ, stops the ears against this appeal. If there is conviction of sin, without its leading the penitent to the only fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness, the effect is to harass - perhaps to overwhelm, but not to sanctify; and should there supervene the delusion that only by severe penance such as the priest is satisfied with, can the way be re-opened for pardon, either despondency or self-justification will be the result. And this makes the system so fearful. The whole of our Lord's dealings with the Scribes and Pharisees prove that those who are ignorant of Christ's righteousness, or careless of it, are not in so perilous a condition as those who deliberately substitute something else for it.

The best-the only effectual check to the progress of the evil, is, under the divine blessing, the simple, faithful, cordial, unreserved preaching of the Gospelnot stinting its duties to please one man, or its grace to please another. Subordinately we hope for much from the revived study of the writings of the Reformers ; and we rejoice to see the success which has attended the pious design of the Parker Society in reprinting them. The British Critic speaks of them as being rather "Literary curiosities than valuable contributions to our theology." Thirty years ago our Homilies, and even our Articles,

were

"curiosities." We bless God they are such no longer. We trust that the writings of the Reformers will be extensively studied;-by many for edification;

and if by some at first from curiosity, in the end from a better motive; and that they will cause many to burn their "curious" books of another kind.

For the reasons which we assigned in our remarks upon the birth of the infant Prince of Wales (Appendix for 1841, p. 811) we heartily sympathise in the marked and glowing interest evinced by the nation upon occasion of his baptism. There is, in the affectionate sympathy of the people towards the royal house, a revival of those feelings which were warmly manifested during the earlier part of the reign of George III., but which had become, from various causes, if not less ardent, at least less apparent, during the last thirty years; and which, by God's blessing, may be of great service in binding the members of the community together in a common bond. The splendors of a great national solemnity require careful chastisement of mind to be kept in perfect unison with a religious service; but we do not question that amidst what upon the surface might seem to be only a civic rejoicing, and even to partake of those very "pomps and vanities" which in baptism we engage to renounce, there has been a deep conviction, and to a wide extent, of the thrilling solemnity of the the sacrament of baptism, and that many and ardent prayers have been offered, both by those present upon the occasion, and by the faithful throughout the land, in behalf of the infant Prince, that he may be educated, and grow up, as becomes a disciple of Christ, and in the course of nature succeed to the crown of his ancestors, and be a blessing to the land; till taken "by Him who wears the crown immortally" to wear a crown of glory in heaven.

The King of Prussia, who came over to England to be sponsor in baptism for the Prince of Wales, has been received with marks of honour, due not merely to his rank, but to his personal character. His recent pious munificence in the affair of the new bishopric at Jerusalem, had prepared for him a welcome reception by all faithful and consistent members of our Church; though some of the new Altitudinarian party have taken the occasion of his Majesty's becoming a godfather according to the Anglican rites, to inveigh against the

Lutheran Church, as being no Church; and one or more young zealots, it is said, have seriously talked of doing our communion the service of leaving it, if his Majesty should be admitted to that office by the Primate of all England, who certainly has expressed no such scruples. Had he done so, his conduct would have contradicted his well-known letter to the Church of Geneva; and he would have been the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, Laud excepted, who unchurched the Lutheran and Reformed communions, and consigned them to uncovenanted mercies. Lutheran missionaries were long ago sent out in the service of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; the conductors of which must have concurred in the sentiments expressed upon the subject by not only such Archbishops as Wake, Tillotson, Tenison, Secker, and others of what were called the moderate school, but by Sancroft and his predecessors, with only the one dissentient above named. And it is matter of notoriety that, in times past, Lutheran princes have been sponsors for English royal infants. And, lest the new objectors should reply that this recognition of foreign Protestants was by the State, and not by the Church, we might adduce-but where should we begin? for the documents numerous ; but we will mention one of the early ones as a specimen; more especially as we have never seen it alluded to. In the fifth of Elizabeth, cap. 26: "The prelates and clergy of the Province of Canterbury, being lawfully congregated and assembled together in a Convocation or Synod," express their gratitude to her Majesty for various things, "principally for the setting forth and advancing God's holy word, his sincere and true religion," among which Christian deeds they mention her successful efforts in "abating of all hostility and persecution within the realm of France against the professors of God's holy word and true religion;" on which grounds they vote her a subsidy. Nor was this a transitory feeling; for we find a similar acknowledgment and grant from the Provincial Convocation,

are

Eliz. xiii. 26; and again Eliz. xxix. 7 ; and again Eliz. xxxv. 12. The same spirit has pervaded the great body of the bishops, clergy, and laity of the Church of England from that time to this, with the exception of Laudites, Non-jurors, and the sect of the 90 Tracts. We rejoice to add, that not only her Majesty's court, but those dignitaries of our Church who have had occasion to hold intercourse with his Prussian majesty, have felt that they could well uphold, as in duty bound, the constitution of their own church, without its being a corollary that they were to turn away from foreign Protestants as "heathen men and publicans."

Some jealousy has been expressed lest the king of Prussia should have had certain ecclesiastical objects in view in visiting England. Now it happens to be within our private knowledge, on good information, that long before the proposition was made of his becoming sponsor to the Prince of Wales, his Majesty had expressed great interest in the spectacle presented by England in a Christian aspect; that nation having shewn much love and zeal for the Gospel, as evinced abroad by her Bible, Missionary, Educational, and Tract Institutions, and at home by these and other pious labours; nor is it any secret that his Majesty, in his desire to promote religion, and its attendant blessings, in his own land, has inquired into the institutions, civil and ecclesiastical, of other countries, and has expressed peculiar respect for the Church of England, a public mark of which he exhibited in the grant for the endowment of the Anglican bishopric at Jerusalem. But in all this there was nothing but what is honourable to his Majesty's character as a man, a king, a patriot, and a Christian; but it is one of the calamities of exalted station, and is perhaps mercifully intended as a counterpoise to the self-gratulation which it tends to foster, that its possessor cannot speak or be silent, sit still or move, without being suspected of some deep political mystery. His Majesty's addresses to various classes of his subjects, at his accession to the throne, were construed, and commented upon, after this sinister fashion; and yet nothing could appear more frank, gracious, and heart-felt. As his Majesty's visit to this country has justly excited much interest, not only on account of his relationship to our Sovereign, but from the religious tie by which he has attached himself to her royal infant, it may be gratifying to many of our readers to peruse a few passages from his addresses on the occasions above referred to. They were translated for us

6

To the nobility, on their taking the oath of allegiance to him at Berlin, Oct. 15th, 1840, he said: "It was formerly an established custom with the various estates of Germany, not to take the oath of allegiance until they had received the assurance of the firm maintenance of all their rights and privileges. I will conform to this custom. I know indeed, and I confess it, that I derive my crown from God alone, aud that it well becomes me to say, Woe to him that shall touch it.' But I also know, and I avow it before you all, that I wear my crown as a solemn trust confided to me by the Most High, the great Sovereign of all, and that I must render unto Him an account of every day and every hour of my government. Such is the pledge which I give (if any be desired) for my future conduct. A better I cannot give; nor indeed can any man on earth. It weighs heavier, and binds more firmly, than all coronation oaths, than all assurances engraven on brass, or written on parchment; for it flows from the heart, and is rooted in faith. Those of you who do not desire a government seeking its so called fame and glory in exploits of war, in the thunder of the cannon and the sound of the trumpet, but who will content themselves with a plain and simple, with a paternal, truly German and Christian government, you I invite to repose confidence in me, and with me to trust in God, that He will render the vows which I daily offer before Him, conducive to the promotion of the best interests of our native land, and accompany them with His rich blessing."

In his address on the 15th of October, 1840, at Berlin, to the Estates of the Kingdom, and to the People at large, he spoke to the same effect; saying among other things: "I implore the Lord God that it may please Him to confirm with his all-powerful Amen, those sacred vows which have just been made, or are about to be taken; those vows which I myself pronounced at Köningsberg, and which I here confirm. I solemnly engage to govern in the fear of God, and in love to man; to govern with open eyes, when the wants of my people and of the times in which I live are concerned, but with closed eyes, when the claims of justice are to be attended to. I will maintain peace in my time, so far as it may depend on my power and my will, and I am determined fully, and with all my might, to support the generous efforts of the great (European) powers, who for a quarter of a century have proved themselves the faithful guardians of the peace of Europe."

His Majesty having appealed to his people to aid him in his patriotic and religious designs, tens of thousands of voices loudly, determinately, and affectionately responded to his address, whereupon, said the king, "The solemnity of this day is important for our own land, and important for the world at large. But your approving yes, more immediately concerns myself; it is my own; I will not let it go; it indissolubly unites us in mutual affection and fidelity; it inspires courage, strength, and confidence; I will not forget it in a dying hour. I will keep my vows, such as I have pronounced them both here and at Köningsberg, and may God help me, for on Him alone I depend. In token of this I lift up my right hand to heaven. Accomplish now what remains to be done of this august solemnity; and may the fructifying blessing of God rest on this hour!"

We will not believe that such sentiments, so uttered, were tricksome nothings; and we pray that God may continue and prosper his Majesty's patriotic and Christian resolves.

The Oxford Professorship having terminated in the election of Mr. Garbett, without opposition, Mr. Williams not having been nominated, we withhold a mass of memoranda which we had collected, bearing upon the professorship, the contest, and Tractarian matters

thereunto anent; as we have no wish to revive past strifes without imperative necessity. But there is one matter which justice requires that we should advert to, because it has been most unfairly handled. It has been stated that the Tractarian party have won golden opinions, and greatly increased their moral strength, by their meek and strifeless spirit; their willingness to listen to conciliatory suggestions, to obey the voice of authority, and to suffer persecution rather than plunge the University and the Church in internecine war; whereas Mr. Garbett's friends refused to accept an equitable compromise offered in the most impartial and amiable spirit. Now first, after what we have quoted from the British Critic in another part of our Number, (p. 95), respecting the determination of the Tractators to be "ecclesiastical agitators," in the very tone of "war to the knife," we account very lightly of the panegyrics upon their mildness and candour; and, as we said at the very outset of the contest, in our reply to Mr. Newman and elsewhere, rough words were far more easily borne, than the coolly-sarcastic, overbearing, and supercilious spirit which distinguishes the writings of the Tractators. There is nothing so galling as contempt, whether real or affected. But how stood the facts respecting the professorship? On the one hand, against Mr. Garbett nothing was alleged as respected his doctrines, or competency; he was not regarded as a party man; his friends had good reason to believe that the suffrages in his favour were as two to one; and, even if he failed, neither he, nor any other person, was in any way exposed to risk, or bound by any inconvenient pledges. But, on the other hand, Mr. Williams was objected to upon principle; he was the writer and known advocate of opinions which rendered it injurious to the University, to the Church, and to Religion, that he should hold influential office; a Tractarian could have conscientiously voted for Mr. Garbett; but the opposers of the Tracts could not do so for the writer of the Cathedral, and the essays on Reserve; further it was well known that the promise of votes was unequivocally against him; and last, not least, the Tractators, in declining to recognize the authority of the Hebdomadal Board, had said that, had the Convocation decided against them, the matter would have been very different; and had held out something very like pledges or threats, (as they did also in the event of episcopal censure), that they would resign their official appointments; and as there was no longer any doubt that if the matter came