Imatges de pàgina
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as he may not with a good conscience subscribe unto, let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored, but only by the Archbishops after his repentance and public revocation of such his wicked errors."

Thomas Rogers, chaplain to Archbishop Bancroft, published in 1607 the first treatise on the Articles ever written. In his preface to this work he says, "The purpose of our Church is best known by the doctrine which she does profess; the doctrine by the Thirty-nine Articles established by Act of Parliament; the Articles by the words whereby they are expressed; and other doctrine than in the said Articles is contained, our Church neither hath nor holdeth, and other sense they cannot yield than their words do impart."

Bishop Stillingfleet writes in 1631: "This we all say, that the doctrine of the Church of England is contained in the Thirty-nine Articles; and whatever the opinions of private persons may be, this is the standard by which the sense of our Church is to be taken."

Bishop Tomline, in his "Elements of Theology," 1799, lays down that "the Thirty-nine Articles are the criterion of the faith of the members of the Church of England."

In the preface to his work on the Articles written in the seventeenth century, Bishop Beveridge says: "The Bishops and clergy of both provinces of this nation, in a council held at London, 1562,

agreed upon certain Articles of Religion, to the number of thirty-nine, which to this day remain the constant and settled doctrine of our Church; which by an Act of Parliament of the 13th of Queen Elizabeth 1571, all that are intrusted with any ecclesiastical preferments are bound to subscribe to."

An Act of Parliament passed in 1865, called the 28th and 29th Victoria, cap. 122, and entitled, "An Act to amend the law as to the declarations and subscriptions to be made and oaths to be taken by the clergy," provides that every clergyman on being instituted to a living shall, on the first Sunday of his officiating there, " publicly and openly, in the presence of his congregation, read the whole Thirtynine Articles of Religion, and immediately after reading them make the declaration of assent to them." Till the passing of this Act a clergyman was obliged to read, not the Articles only, but the Morning and Evening Prayers as well, by way of declaring his acceptance of the Prayer-Book. This Act, while it dispensed with the latter obligation, retained the requirement of assent to the Articles, thus recognising them to be the only standard by which the Church tests her members, and to which she demands their adhesion.

Finally, the late Lord Hatherley, in giving judgment on the celebrated Voysey case some years ago, took the same view. He says on that occasion: "We have not in this our decision referred to any

of the formularies of the Church other than the Articles of Religion. We have been mindful of the authorities which have held that pious expressions of devotion are not to be taken as binding declarations of doctrine." And commenting on this decision, the Solicitor's Journal remarked: "The Judicial Committee have adhered to the principles of previous decisions in their recent judgment. The Articles of Religion, and those alone, are to be considered as the code of doctrine of the Church of England."

The united and according evidence of these various witnesses, who, dating from different ages, from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, are unanimous in their interpretation of the position and office which the Thirty-nine Articles were intended by the Reformers to hold in the Church, must, on impartial examination, be pronounced incontrovertible and decisive, and judgment accordingly given.

Having established by incontestable proof the fact that the Thirty-nine Articles are "the settled doctrine of our Church," we will now proceed to an investigation of their subject-matter, and further ascertain if that doctrine be worthy the acceptance and adherence of those who, professing the Protestant and Apostolic faith, would bring the light of the Gospel to bear on every statement of religious views that light in the radiance of which alone can anything be seen in its true proportions, and

which has been given, if we will but follow its leading, “as a light unto our paths," to keep us from straying along those that lead to death, "and to guide our feet into the way of peace."

The Articles may be roughly classified in the following order:

Articles i. to v. embody the chief principles of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, which we hold in common with all its branches.

Articles vi. to viii. set forth the great principles of the Reformation, as in direct antagonism to the decrees of the Council of Trent.

Articles ix. to xviii. deal with the subject of personal religion, and may be subdivided as follows: -ix. to xv. touching Justification, the very mainspring of the Reformation; xvi. to xviii. on those doctrines brought into prominence by the Calvinistic controversies.

Articles xix. to xxxvi. are on the corporate nature, authority, and power of the Church.

Articles xxxvii. to xxxix. are of minor importance, dealing rather with the State than the Church.

We now proceed to their minuter investigation seriatem.

ARTICLE I." Of faith in the Holy Trinity."

This Article fitly embodies that first great principle on which all other doctrines contained in the Scriptures are founded, and which must be rightly

accepted by each Church and individual before it can be built up in our most holy faith: "For he that cometh to God must believe that He is."

It has often been objected by the enemies of our Church, that the doctrine of the Trinity is not clearly laid down or enunciated in the Bible. This is no doubt in a measure true. It is nowhere taught or explained as are other Divine mysteries, as the Incarnation, Atonement, &c.; it is rather taken for granted as a first principle requiring no distinct assertion or proof, though evidences of this truth will unmistakably appear to the earnest student of God's Word scattered at intervals through its sacred pages, from the beginning of time and creation of this lower world, on through the ages of history to that second more glorious creation, when there shall be time no longer.

"And God said, Let Us make man in Our image." Mark this expression. In the Hebrew text the first person plural, instead of the singular, is used, according strictly with our rendering; and this, be it remembered, was written by that inspired historian and lawgiver who, in a succeeding Book, has declared, "Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord," thus foreshadowing our fuller understanding and knowledge (imperfect as our perceptions must ever in this world be) of that great doctrine of which we say, "The Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord, and yet not three Lords, but one Lord."

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