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bless his family; as the seed of his mercy is received into our souls, to bear fruit and perpetuate his goodness amongst our fellow men. And as the highest specimen, both of his own lovingkindness and of our duty as brethren in the world, he has set forth Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, that we should be conformed to his image: who was made like to us in suffering and temptation, that we should be made like to him, in patience, self-sacrifice and holiness.

As he laid down his life for us, "we ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren:" as he, by the grace of God the Father, "tasted death for every man ;" so we, out of love to God the Father, should spend our lives for the good of every man, which is the true method of glorifying the one living God.

And thus this doctrine of one God, is the basis of human brotherhood; affords motives to this common fellowship, in the example and work of Christ, the elder brother and Redeemer of humanity. This first simple Bible truth therefore, is like the sun in outward nature, radiating light in straight lines in all directions: displaying the common hopes and duties of mankind.

Would you then secure human rights, and cultivate generous affections amongst men? seek a live coal from off the altar of heaven; let the love of God our Father, through Jesus Christ, kindle your own; and being thus bound unto him, you will understand the truth and perform the duties of ONE COMMON BROTHERHOOD.

11.

PRIESTS' RELIGION.

HUMAN AUTHORITY AND INVENTION versus CONSCIENCE AND THE BIBLE.

The Scriptures are the only standard of Christian faith and practice: every one is at liberty to examine them; but no one is at liberty to decline this examination: and though we may receive the help of others, we may not rest on their authority, (which is man-worship ;) nor receive as religion, what is not in the Scriptures, (which is willworship.)

THE REFORMATION REFORMED.

FINALITY is the appropriate doctrine of an omniscient or of an imbecile teacher: it is becoming omniscience to give us confessedly "all the truth," suitable to our condition; but is it suitable only to human weakness and presumption to pretend to have appreciated all that truth, and condensed it into unchangeable formularies and a stereotyped everlasting system of outward observances, or politico-ecclesiastical institutions.

The word of God itself is final, inasmuch as none can wisely go beyond that; but the Church's interpretations and advances towards "the mind of Christ," are as progessive as our investigations into the works of nature. It is for God, and not for man to say, "thus far shalt thou go, and no farther;" it is only for the voice that can place an impassable barrier to the swelling of the ocean, to "put gates and bars to the tide of human enquiry.

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All human breakwaters, or attempts to put the shore in the middle of the sea, can raise only treacherous sands, on which brave vessels may be wrecked.

The Bible is the sea; the covers of the Bible are the only shore and boundary for religious enquiries, to such as receive this for the divine word. Even though the theory we adopt be the Scriptural truth; it is a dangerous principle to rest upon that theory as final, and not to fetch our life and convictions fresh from the Spirit of God; since then our faith stands in the wisdom of men.

But when the theory we adopt is itself unscriptural, and supported only by the assertion, that it containeth nothing contrary to the word of God, the danger is still more obvious.

The evil of this human imposition is in proportion to the number of human beings brought by force or persuasion under its influence; and therefore in a national religion, as a provision for an extensive empire, the mischief is inconceivable, when in addition to the establishment of a new ૨ 2

VOL. I.

standard of man's creation, we find in that standard itself many things contrary to the divine standard.

That the formularies of the English Church, contain many such departures from the Scriptures, was demonstrated in our last number, from the Prayer Book itself.

And since many of the laity, and some of the clergy, in that Church, admit that Puseyism is anti-scriptural, we shewed that Puseyism is in the Prayer-Book, and that Puseyism leads to Romanism: therefore, the safest antidote to Rome, so far as England is concerned, is to reform the Prayer Book by the Bible. And this is the point we shall consider in the present enquiry.

But because from the force of men's prejudices, a truth is not willingly received from a source that is unjustly regarded as hostile, we shall fortify this conclusion from such sources as are more likely to be admitted by members of the Church of England.

At the same time, it must not be forgotten by such, that the argument hitherto has been based on what they acknowledge, namely, the Prayer Book itself.

We shall however adduce additional witnesses-first, such as though out of the Church, are not considered so hostile as others; secondly, those in the Church who acknowledge its defects; and thirdly, those who though in the Church, are now attempting to carry out a Bible reformation, and are associating for that purpose.

From the first class of witnesses, we select one, against whom exception will not be taken, who in a "Pastoral Address to his flock," entitled "The Papal Aggression, and Popery, religiously considered," observes:"There will be more reading and thinking upon questions of ecclesiastical polity than there ever has been. Men will think for themselves. Inquiry can neither be stifled nor limited. Investigation must go on; all systems must come to the ordeal. It is only by some such convulsion that men can be roused to examine. The usual course of controversy has not power enough to stimulate a searching trial: a hundred pamphlets, or even volumes, would have less force to awaken inquiry than this one event. The popular voice will ask the question, "Who is right?" and "What is the standard?" We must consent to have all our systems weighed in the balance of the sanctuary-the word of God; and they that cannot stand this, will be swept away as the chaff before the whirlwind. Is not all this good, and are not all things working together to produce it?"

The same author (after declaring his preference of the Church of England to that of Rome, and that he will unite with his brethren of the English Church in resisting the aggression) thus proceeds :-"Nor do we feel disposed, in a spirit of bitter hostility, to avail ourselves of the present state of affairs, as an opportunity to attack the Church of England, instead of resisting the Church of Rome. Yet we are by no means prepared to be silent as regards the unscriptural constitution of the former of these.

"It is impossible to forget that Puseyism has no doubt led to the present aggression of Rome; and Puseyism is the offspring, illegitimate it is contended by its evangelical members, of the Church of England.

"It is indeed a portentous sign for that Church, and one that deserves its most serious reflection, that such a leaning towards Rome, should have been felt by so many of its clergy, and that it should possess either no power or no will to rid itself of the evil. It is clear that, as long this remains, we can never be safe from Papal Aggression. Hundreds of the clergy of the Church of England have, no doubt, been preparing, many of them we fear designedly, this country for restoration to Catholic unity. It cannot be wondered at that many Dissenters knowing this, should feel strongly, and speak somewhat harshly of the evils of our National Establishment. Nor ought any Dissenter to be indifferent to the subject. Charity does not mean indifferentism. We must still continue zealous for the authority of the New Testament; the only Headship of Christ in his Church; the spirituality of his kingdom; the entire independence of the Church of all State control; and the voluntary support of religion by the free-will offerings of its friends. There is much Popery in the Church of England, even by the admission of many of its best supporters, and if they say so, it cannot be wondered at that the affirmation should be believed and repeated by Dissenters. Our Church of England friends cannot but know, and should not forget, that apart from its religious creed, Popery has been in act, cruel, persecuting, and bloody, only by the aid of the civil power. Take away one of its swords, I mean the temporal one, and it may anathematize, but could not kill. Its curses would be only thunder on paper, mere brutum fulmen. The principle which in Popery is so dangerous to our liberties is that which she holds in common with every Protestant secular Establishment of religion-the union of Church and State.

"We must therefore stand forth against the Popery of Protestantism, as well as of Rome. We must still continue to lift our voice against those religious distinctions which breed eivil discontents and ecclesiastical corruptions amongst ourselves. We cannot but mark and reprobate the inconsistencies in which this union of the secular and the spiritual involves the State where it is maintained. It is led by policy to do many things which upon principle it must condemn. Wherefore should the State frown on genuine Roman Catholics, if it rears and shelters in its stipendiary Church a race of counterfeit and mock Romans? Why should the State wonder now at these new demands of a power, with whose ambition it was or ought to have been acquainted, and whose boldness it has increased, and whose encroachments it has encouraged by the smiles it has shed upon it, and the favours it has lavished by various colonial and diplomatic arrangements.

"We cannot help thinking that much of the evil of Popery, and evils of other kinds and from other sources, have arisen from that meddling of the State with the affairs of the Church, and of the Church with the affairs of the State; against which we, as Protestant Dissenters, have ever lifted and must continue to raise our protest.*"

Such admissions respecting the principles and constitution of the Church of England, by one who enjoys the co-operation of many, and the esteem of more, amongst the members of that Church, deserve some consideration in the present crisis.

* The Papal Aggression and Popery contemplated religiously. By Rev. J. A. JAMES,

But we come nearer home, when we adduce the declarations of one who has been for fifty years an officiating clergyman of the Church of England; who still remains in her communion, but has given the result of his experience as his most solemn thoughts in the prospect of eternity. Besides the light thrown upon this immediate enquiry, by the writer now referred to, we shall find in his quotation from the historian Macaulay, a confirmation of what was formerly asserted in The Bible and The People, viz:-that the present Church of England was not the work of the English Reformers, but a compromise through the policy of men in high political positions, and the timeserving of Romish prelates, who took advantage of some of the Reformers' principles, persecuted the Reformers, and gained the credit of the Reformation, together with its emoluments. But our author and his quotations shall speak for themselves: his pamphlet is thus entitled:-"A Letter to the Right Honourable Lord Ashley, M.P.; being Reflections, at the expiration of fifty years spent in the Anglican Ministry, on the pastoral office and character; including Remarks on the Present Crisis of the Protestant Cause, and chiefly as affecting the perils and responsibilities of the united Church of England and Ireland. By John Riland, M.A., one of the Honorary Chaplains of the Birmingham Magdalen Asylum."

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Mr. Riland observes,-"It is undeniable that sectarianism, however disguised by ecclesiastical pretension, discolours the Anglican system. Of this, its partisans and opponents are generally, but variously, conscious. One result is, that a perpetual stream of self-adulation issues from the lips and writings of Churchmen. Our pure and apostolical Church'our incomparable liturgy'-' our sublime simplicity of worship'-'our high and impregnable position between the errors of Romanism and Dissent' these and many other stock phrases constitute the principal of their possessors; while their poverty glaringly detects itself in the triliteral monosyllable OUR. The plain truth is, that the current of our own Reformation was interrupted early in its progress; and soon coagulated into the Elizabethan Church.' Mr. Macauly observes,-The English Reformers were eager to go as far as their brethren on the Continent. Thus Bishop Hooper, who died at Gloucester for his religion, long refused to wear the episcopal vestments. Bishop Ridley, a martyr of still greater renown, pulled down the ancient altars of his diocese, and ordered the eucharist to be administered in the middle of churches. Bishop Jewel pronounced the clerical garb to be a stage dress. Archbishop Grindal long hesitated about accepting a mitre, from dislike of what he regarded as the mummery of consecration. Bishop Parkhurst uttered a fervent prayer that the Church of England should propose to herself the Church of Zurich as the absolute pattern of a Christian community. Bishop Poynet was of opinion that the word bishop should be abandoned to the Papists, and that the chief officers of the purified Church should be called superintendents. When it is considered that none of these prelates belonged to the extreme section of the Protestant party, it cannot be doubted that, if the general sense of the party had been followed, the work of reform would have been carried on as unsparingly in England as in Scotland. But as the Government needed the support of the Protestants, so the Protestants needed the protection of

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