corrupted. These learned divines executed with zeal and diligence the order of the Emperor. The treatise of Scorus perished in the ruins of time, but that of RATRAMN furnished ample matter of dispute, and is still extant." "From all this, however, it evidently appears, that there was not, as yet, in the Latin Church any fixed and universally received opinion concerning the manner in which the body and blood of Christ are present in the Eucharist."-Mosheim, ii. p. 153-155. D. "It was not so easy to stop the mouth of the famous BERENGER. This eminent ecclesiastic maintained publicly in the year 1045 the doctrine of JOHANNES SCOTUS, opposed warmly the monstrous opinions of PASCHASIUS RADBERT, which were adapted to captivate a superstitious multitude, by exciting their astonishment, and persevered with a noble obstinacy in teaching that the bread and wine were not changed into the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, but preserved their natural and essential qualities, and were no more than figures and external_symbols of the body and blood of the divine Saviour." In 1050, Leo IX. attacked this wise and rational doctrine with peculiar vehemence, " and in two Councils, one at Rome, the other at Vercelli, I had the doctrine of Berenger solemnly condemned, and the Book of Scorus, from which it was drawn, committed to the flames. This example was followed by the Council of Paris, summoned the same year by Henry I., in which Berenger, &c. were menaced with all sorts of evils." These were partly executed, "but neither threatenings, nor fines, nor synodical decrees, could shake the firmness of his mind, or engage him to renounce the doctrine he had embraced." In 1054, however, 66 overpowered with threats, rather than convinced by reason and argument," he abjured his opinions, but again taught them, though with more circumspection and prudence. In 1051, NICHOLAS II. summoned him to Rome, and terrified him so, that he declared his readiness to embrace the doctrines which the Council "should think proper to impose upon his faith." Again, "taking refuge in the countenance and protection of his ancient patrons in France, he expressed the utmost detestation and abhorrence of the doctrines he had been obliged to profess at Rome. . . . . ALEXANDER II. employed the seducing influence of soft and friendly expostulation to induce Berenger to dissemble anew. . . . but his remonstrances were ineffectual. Hence the controversy was prolonged during many years. In 1078, Gregory VII. sent an order to Berenger to repair to Rome, where he made another confession agreeable to his wishes, and in 1079, another declaration, which "excited a warm and vehement controversy;" but "amidst the clamours of his incensed adversaries, of whom Lanfranc was the chief, Berenger observed a profound silence." In the year 1088, death put an end as well to the affliction which he suffered in his retirement, from a bitter reflection upon the dissimulation he had been guilty of at Rome, as to the penitential acts of mortification, &c., to which he seems to have submitted with a design to expiate the enormity of his criminal compliance, and the guilt of his perjury." "Whoever examines with impartiality and attention such of his writings as are extant, will immediately perceive that he looked upon the bread and wine in the sacrament as no more than the signs or symbols of the body and blood of the divine Saviour. In this opinion" he "persevered to the last.”—Mosh. ii. 330-337. Mr. Soames has proved that the dogma of Transubstantiation was not held by our Saxon ancestors. E. I would earnestly entreat every member of the body of Wesleyan Methodists who may chance to read this sermon, to meditate as well upon these circumstances as upon their own establishment. Even now that they are celebrating their first centenary, and are marking the period of their foundation, (to say the least of it not established upon the sure ground of Scripture, 1 Cor. iii. 3-12) they can hardly count a company amongst themselves, who adhere to their founder's rules. If in one short century their divisions are hardly to be reckoned, and their creed is undefined and dispersed throughout the volumes of John Wesley's sermons, what shall be remembered of their company but the name, in another hundred years, besides the unhappy schism it shall have created? F. It is to be lamented, that names of men eminent for their piety, their learning, and their devotion to the Church of Christ, such as Pusey and Townsend, and Newman and Faussett, and Hook, should be found engaged in controversy with each other on points of doctrine, or compelled to explain their shades of difference on subjects of minor importance. Without entering minutely into these topics, I cannot but express my grateful sense of our obligation to Mr. Townsend, for his defence of the apostolic practice of preaching the doctrine of the atonement without reserve; at the same time that I deplore there should be occasion for it, amidst the much that is admirable, in the "Tracts for the Times." I cannot but also think that Mr. Townsend is completely justified in the course he has pursued, by the Bishop of Oxford's charge, wherein the Right Reverend Prelate says: "I would implore them, by the purity of their intentions, to be cautious, both in their writings and actions, and to take heed lest their good be evil spoken of-lest in their exertions to re-establish unity, they unhappily create fresh schism-lest in their admiration of antiquity, they revert to practices which heretofore have ended in superstition."-Bishop of Oxford's Charge. Quarterly Review. The Romanists rejoice in these things, and build chapels; but they will be for protestant Christian congregations, if Church of England ministers be faithful in marking the distinction between Truth and Error. G. Dr. Wiseman, in his Lectures on the Eucharist, speaking of this "dogma," with reference to a former "examination of Scriptural Testimonies," in his "biblical course of Lectures, says: "Its repetition will still serve to prepare them more immediately for the practical application of HERMENEUTICAL PRINCiples. To such as have not yet studied in detail the science of BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS, the observations I am about to make will be necessary for our present inquiry," &c. pp. 19, 20. I merely give this as a specimen of these Lectures, which are so contrary to the simplicity which is in Christ Jesus, and so completely adapted to exclude all men who have neither studied, nor had the means of studying BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS, from any fellowship in the Lord's Supper, that my manner of alluding to them is justified. Dr. Wiseman's Lectures have been divested of all power to do harm, by Dr. Turton, in whose hands the Roman missionary may be safely left. H. It is with reluctance and no small hesitation, that I presume to animadvert upon the works of Mr. Newman, so infinitely my superior in learning and theological attainment. Nevertheless, I think this expression warranted by his letter to Dr. Faussett, 2nd Edit. 1838, wherein he is treating of the manner "how Christ's body is present,' p. 56. "Let it be carefully observed," says he, "that I am not proving or determining any thing; I am only showing how it is, that certain propositions, which at first sight seem to be contradictions in terms, are not so. I am but pointing one way of reconciling them," p. 62. This is his own caution upon his own suggestion, in p. 57, on the subject of the meaning of the body of Christ being really present, and not locally; and "in answer to the problem how Christ comes to us, while remaining on high," p. 61. This very language, in attempting to remove a stumbling-block, creates one, and merits the caution of the Bishop of Oxford, in Note F. I. Urban II., after confirming Gregory's laws and anathemas, held the famous Council of Clermont. In this council he "forbade the Bishops and the rest of the Clergy to take the oath of allegiance to their respective Sovereigns." To the fifteenth Canon of this Council the following words were added: "Ne Episcopus vel Sacerdos regi vel alicui laico in manibus legiam fidelitatem faciant:" i. e. It is enacted that no Bishop or priest shall promise upon oath liege obedience to any king, or layman. Mosheim, Cent. XI. Part ii. xx. Labbe's Con. Eadmer. Hist. Liter. de la France, tom. viii. p. 514. Printed by J. RIDER, 14, Bartholomew Close, London. A SERMON PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PAUL, BEFORE THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD MAYOR, THE JUDGES, THE WORSHIPFUL THE ALDERMEN, THE RECORDER, THE SERJEANTS AT LAW, THE SHERIFFS, THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LONDON, AND THE CITY OFFICERS, ON SUNDAY, THE TWENTY-SIXTH DAY OF MAY, 1839, BEING THE FIRST SUNDAY IN TRINITY TERM. BY THE REV. CHARLES CATOR, M. A., Of Brazenose College, Oxford; Rector of Stokesley, Yorkshire; and Chaplain to the Lord Mayor. LONDON: J. G. AND F. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL; Price One Shilling. |