Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

66

in the Homily of Salvation, to which Art. xi. refers, in a manner too plain to be evaded. For this faithful testimony which our Church bears, as a witness and keeper of Holy Writ," we cannot be sufficiently thankful; nor too resolutely defend her conformity, in this respect, to Scriptural and primitive Catholic truth.

But we are told, on one side and the other, that such evangelical doctrine is not in accordance with high-church principles. This we stoutly and advisedly deny. If by high-church principles be meant, the high and distinctive principles of the church as to doctrine, those called the moderate evangelical clergy are truly highchurchmen, because they ex animo subscribe all those articles in their “literal and obvious sense," and not in any "non-natural," and evasive, Rromanizing sense. Those articles, often and over, have been proved by scriptural references and quotations from the fathers, to be genuine primitive tenets, and therefore Catholic doctrines, which semper, ubique, et ab omnibus, (always, everywhere, and by all,) were held, till the process of development too soon perverted and obscured, and perhaps denied them. Why, on this as well as other questions, have the modern Romanists abandoned truly primitive evidence, and elaborated the theory of development, but because they knew that, as well as scripture, was against them? He then is the high churchman, who holds stedfastly to our Articles and Prayer book throughout, because they are primitive and scriptural; does not disparage them, as some Dissenters, most Tractarians, and all Romanists do; but fully, heartily, and avowedly loves, receives, and will defend them.

Then as to the constitution and ordinances of the church. If some of

the evangelical clergy during the last century, and the early part of this, dwelt, perhaps too exclusively, on the doctrines of the Reformation, there was a cause. They had been obscured; and the consequences were fatal, and such as the still subsisting, but consequently ineffective, framework and ritual observances of the church, could not compensate for. But were those of the present and past generation, such low churchmen, so loosely attached to the constitution of our church, and her liturgy, services, rites, and ceremonies, that we should, ere this, have been puritanized, and our lay members have deserted us, if the Tractarians had never written? Assuredly

not.

There would have been less tendency to puritanism, than there now is, and more real, devoted, strict high churchism, and far less dalliance with Romanism in doctrine, and popery in government, than have existed, continually more and more, ever since they came forth zealously, and many of them judiciously, but the effective leaders most mischievously, to espouse the cause of the church (which their Romanizing has now openly betrayed,) against the then sanguine and active Protestant dissenters. There were, and there would have been, equally able and safer defenders. The laity were, and would have been, ready to hear; for the attacks made on the church had opened anxious minds and listening ears to such subjects. We are but reiterating what we said nearly three years ago in the pages of this Magazine; we are speaking of what the observation of thirty years, the reading of all manner of controversies, the intercourse with men of all parties, has taught us. We now speak especially of the revived attention to the principles of the church's constitution, extension, and establishment, and of more regard to church order, worship, and

sacraments, during the last dozen years. Had what is now too exclusively called "the movement" never arisen, there would have gone on, for it had begun, a steady and accelerated movement, without the upsetting, unsettling, and alarm which have unhappily been occasioned. We do not deny that much learning, self-denial, and exertion, have been put forth by those celebrated men to whom we allude; the more is it to be regretted, that the result has been, what we and others at first portended, the defence and furtherance of Rome, the distraction and alarm of our own more primitive and restored branch of the Catholic church. But had that learning, self-denial, and exertion not existed in those individuals, was there none in others? Yea, verily, as sound a learning, as large a self-denial, as devoted an exertion, less noise and more meekness, more love for our church, more openness and trustworthiness, zeal without Romish innovation, and peace, and unity, and Christian edification.

tenets of our church. While grounded in these, as the essence of the Gospel, for the renewal of our hearts and lives, neither let us undervalue the importance of the order and worship of the church. Papal supremacy on the one hand, and the novel post-reformation forms of Protestant church government on the other, are equally hostile to the primitive and apostolical goverument of the church. The multiplied rites, symbols, and ceremonies of the one, are as alien to the spirit of the Gospel, as the professed, and vainly attempted abandonment of all such settled observances by the other. Let us calmly, and upon the scriptural and primitive, and truly catholic principles of our reformed church, adhere to her apostolic succession, and to all her wisely-ordered provisions; maintain high, and yet just and scriptural, views of the Christian sacraments, worship, and preaching of the gospel; and then deny that any man is a higher and truer churchman, a more faithful Anglican, a more real Catholic, than he who receives the title of evangelical, because he identifies the rejection of the doctrine of justification set forth in our Articles, with another gospel, which is not another, but a perversion of the gospel of Christ by them that would trouble us.

But may the great Head of the Church overrule and heal these divisions among us! Assuredly he will, in his own good time, unite his holy Catholic church, so as to be one in heart, and doctrine, and communion; nay, also, we firmly believe, even in order of worship and government, A few words, in conclusion, as to Let us now, as evangelical high the agitation now so painfully dividing churchmen, hold fast our faith, our the church, respecting exact rubrical worship, our spiritual privileges, un-conformity. It is not true, that the dismayed and unmoved, whether by advocacy of observing every particular the onslaught of papists, or the tempo- clearly specified in our rubrics, is pe rizing of Romanizers ; or by the culiar to Tractarianism. Under other allurements and vaunted liberty, whe- circumstances, ourselves, and many ther of separatists, or of half-separa- others, many eminent evangelical clertist churchmen. Staunch to the prin- gymen, have uniformly desired, and ciples of primitive episcopacy, resolute attempted, as gradual and systematic maintainers of our whole liturgy, and return to them as possible. We again opponents of all really Romish inno- repeat, that although the Tractarians vations grafted upon it, let us also advocate these, whether they be called more earnestly cherish the evangelical innovations or restorations of outward

S. M. W.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
MEMORANDA.

CLEMENT, THIRD BISHOP OF ROME.

customs, in order to connect them with and not individual, if recommended their real innovations on Protestant by all our bishops, would rather principles, and restorations of Romish, strengthen, than weaken, our PROTEST under the false name of Catholic, against those serious errors. Let us principles, they have, properly, no hope, that recent events and discussions connexion with them. Under present in the diocese of Exeter, and elsewhere, circumstances, we deem it best to will lead to some authoritative settling continue in the long-established, of these, not less disuniting, because though later customs. At the same they are subordinate questions, even in time, we should unite in a return to regard to church order; much more in such an exact and well-considered regard to those fundamental and essenuniformity of a revived observance, as tial doctrines of Christianity, which it either Convocation, or the nearest is the primary office of the church, approach to it, in conjunction with under whatever diversities of indiffethe collateral lay concurrence (formerly rent and alterable rites and ceremogiven through parliament) should, in-nies, to teach and uphold. dependently of any notice of the tractarian little party, recommend and order. Even if it were true, which it is not, that they alone have stirred the question, still many reforms are caused by the taunts and reproaches of enemies; and it would be well, if, on such really LITTLE is known of the life of this, very subordinate points, they could say nothing against us. We wish the necessary battle against them were fought on other ground; not by sulkily refusing, on their account, to do all our Prayer-book tells us, as it now stands; but by denouncing the doctrines and practices which they adopt, or espouse, in addition to, or contrary to, the Prayer-book, Articles, or Homilies. Let us be Protestants still, protestants again, in all those matters. Let us protest against their Mariolatry, against their advocacy of the pope's supremacy, of monastic orders, of the confessional, and of a doctrine of the real presence, manifestly implying a change in the substance of the elements, and the doctrine of a propitiatory sacrifice in the Eucharist, &c. If we do not restore disused observances, they may still propagate these absolutely tridentine Romish tenets. But if we protest against these, as high churchmen and evangelicals are bound to do, the most accurate conformity, if universal,

66

the earliest Christian writer, after the Apostles, any of whose writings are extant. But the threshold of Christian biography is a situation of moving interest to the mind, which will pause awhile to survey the scene presented to it, and converse with the persons latter are the immediate disciples and that immediately encounter it. These companions of the Apostles, who now stand alone, without the aid and concurrence of superiors, in the high places of the Church, to which they Theirs was no had been ordained. common charge; they were no common men; nor could they have earned their honourable commission by common services of wisdom and piety. As referred to their predecessors, they appear to us like younger brothers, who, being destitute of the privileges and wealth entailed upon the elder, are left to make their way in the world as well as they can. As referred to their contemporaries, they are the flower of their generation, exceeding all in their beauty of holiness, and odour of sanctity. As compared to their successors, they came before us with all the ma

jestic attributes of founders of fami- | and examples of faithful devotion a

lies; and more especially excite our imagination and feelings, where the churches, at whose foundations they laboured, are still seen towering with their walls and pinnacles."

mong the Gentiles, he concludes with a suitable exhortation, and a solemn prayer to God. The epistle was accepted, and obeyed; and nearly foulscore years after, we are told they read this letter in the church.

administration of Nerva was followed by that of Trajan. But before the treatment of the christians had undergone any change in the counsels of this Emperor, Clement had breathed his last, in the third year of his reign. Thus his death appropriately marked the close of the first century of christian suffering, and of christian glory.-Abridged from Evans's Biography of the Early Church.

JOSEPH MEDE, B.D.

Clement was a fellow-worker with St. Paul, in the Gospel of Christ; and The accession of the Emperor Nerva the Church of Phillippi (Phil. iv. 3), suppressed the last sparks of the peramong others, was the scene of those secution which Domitian originated; services, which were ultimately to be and Clement presided once more over transferred, with such benefit of expe- an undisturbed and increasing fold. He rience, to Rome. We can only now saw somewhat of the fulfilment of the conjecture how blameless was the life, promises by the ancient Prophets, and and how unwearied the exertion, by Christ himself, respecting the esta which won the suffrages of the bre-blishment of the church. The peaceful thren, who deemed him not unworthy of presiding in a Church, where the words and works of St. Paul and St. Peter were still fresh in memory. About 23 years had elapsed since their martyrdom at Rome; and two bishops, Linus and Anencletus, had successively discharged the pastoral office there, when Clement was summoned to its ministration, A.D. 92. Two years af terwards, he must have undergone much trial during the persecution of the Church by the Emperor Domitian. When the trial was over, Clement and the Church of Rome had opportunity to attend to an application, which, as we learn from himself, they had some time neglected in consequence of the persecution. Fortunatus, mentioned in 1 Cor. xvi. 17, had been sent from Counth, to invoke aid in quelling the disorder which had broken out anew in the Corinthian Church, after an interval of 40 years. The epistle which Clement wrote, in the name of the church of Rome, (his only remaining genuine work) is of a very instructive character, and was read in several of the early churches. Its spirit is also remarkably mild and unassuming, showing therein, a remarkable contrast to the letters and bulls of his degenerate successors in the see of Rome. He urged upon them the recollection of their former unity, the blessedness of it. He dwelt also upon several prevalent errors in doctrine, and then returuing to the subject of subordination, the apostolic succession as a remedy against schism, the praise of charity,

This "pious and profoundly-learned divine was born at Berden, near Bishop's Stortford, in Essex, in Oct. 186, and lost his father by the small-pox, when he was ten years old. Mr. Gower, of Nazing, in Essex, his mother's second husband, sent him to school at Hoddesden, and afterwards at Wethersfield, Young Mede purchased a Hebrew Grammar, while a boy at Wethersfield; and although his master told him, it was not a book fit for him, he made considerable progress in Hebrew, as well as other pursuits, before he left school. In 1602, he was sent to Christ College, Cambridge; in which he afterwards acted as assistant tutor, and was subsequently chosen fellow.

After his election he

held the Greek lectureship, founded by Sir Walter Mildmay, and laboured assiduously in the instruction of the students in the college. He had a considerable hesitation in his speech, which perhaps was one reason why he avoided much public exercise, declined the re

quest to become chaplain to Bishop Andrews, and remained a fellow in his college, as well as a hard student all his life; which terminated after a short illness, Oct. 1, 1638, when he had reached the age of fifty-two. He refused several preferments, and especially the Provostship of Trinity College, Dublin, which was repeatedly offered to him by Archbishop Usher, after the resignation of Bishop Bedell. His character, pursuits, and sentiments on many important points, are very largely set forth in the memoir prefixed by Dr. Worthington to the folio edition of his works, published 1677. That volume is a very valuable and interesting one, the result of the great learning, judgment, and piety of this excellent divine. His fifty.

three discourses "on divers texts of Scripture," are peculiarly valuable. They abound with explanations of difficult texts, and are full of enlarged views on many scriptural subjects. He was justly said by his contemporaries to be "among the best in the world for assoiling Scripture difficulties;" and Mr. Alsop observed in his funeral sermon before the University, that "if he had been encouraged to write on the more difficult places of Scripture, and that God, in mercy to the world, had been pleased to lengthen out his days, assuredly he would have outgone any author then extant, and probably would have given light to some hard places of Scripture, which may now remain dark and unassoiled till the last day of judg

ment."

Much valuable matter is also contained in his works on " Churches, i.e. appropriate places for Christian worship," and his "Christian sacrifice;" but his "Clavis Apocalyptica," and other writings on the prophecies in the book of Revelation, and also in Daniel, Peter and Paul, are those for which he is most celebrated. Although on some of the questions connected with the difficult subject of unfulfilled prophecy, many have differed from him, yet his writings are very valuable to the inquirer on that subject, in which he has at least very successfully prepared the way for subsequent students of prophecy. Though

he rendered few active services in the

[ocr errors][merged small]

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Mrs. J. A. Sargant's "Christian's Sunday Companion, being reflections in prose and verse, on the Collect, Epistles, and Gospel, for each Sunday, with a view to their immediate connexion (Smith and Elder. 1843), has We trust it will have a large circulation but recently been brought to our notice. among her immediate connexions; and it deserves a large one elsewhere. The best writers; and the verse, though not prose is admirably condensed from our equal to Keble's Christian Year, is on the same general model, and always useful, frequently striking.

The Rev. J. COGHLAN'S Popular Companion to the Study of the Holy Scriptures. (Hamiltons, Houlstons, and Wertheim. 1843. Pp. 538.)

It

This work deserves commendation.
was published to assist in the erection
of an organ at St. James the Less, Beth-
nal Green. We hope all the copies are
nearly sold.

Vigilantius and his Times. By W. S.

GILLY, D.D. Seeleys 1844.

A well written account of that early opponent of Halian superstition, and precursor of the Reformation. He lived in the fifth century, a Gaul by birth, but a Presbyter in Spain. Enough is known of his writings, labours, and controversy with Jerome, to show, as Mr. Soames observes, that "Paganism did not gain firm footing in the Church of Christ, without remark or opposition." Dr. Gilley deserves the best thanks of every Christian and Protestant for this addition to his useful works.

Sketches of the Reformation and Eliza

bethan, taken from the contemporary

« AnteriorContinua »