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There was a time when such a daring, such a loathsome fiction would have been regarded with horror by every respectable clergyman in the Church of England. But Mr. Oakeley defends it.

"The Blessed Virgin must have been in some posture, why not in this? This is the most natural and reasonable. Why may I not please to imagine that she knelt to the Divine Infant when she first beheld Him, and that He smiled on her with a look of uninfantine intelligence ?"-Introduction, p. vii.

Why not? Why may I not imagine what I please, and publish to the world whatever I please to imagine? Why not, certainly? And are such gross and disgusting liberties with the Word of God, with the only record of that stupendous mystery on which the whole hope of human salvation depends, matters left to the taste and caprice of every one that pleases to indulge an unchastised imagination? Bonaventure, however, as the reader will observe, gives this part of his story as a report from one of his brother Franciscans, " of undoubted credit," to whom he says, "I believe it to have been supernaturally imparted." Nothing, however, is more worthy of notice than Mr. Oakeley's question: "What great harm, though I be mistaken?" As to the lawfulness of such proceedings, it seems to be not worth considering. Provided he does not see any "great harm" done by such licentious abuse of his imagination, he is satisfied. Mr. Oakeley adds, "I do no violence to the sacred text." One would like to know what he would consider "violence." But certainly to represent Christ as smiling on his mother "with a look of uninfantine intelligence, the moment after his nativity, seems plainly to contradict the doctrine of Holy Scripture regarding the infancy of the Lord, just as much as the language translated from Bonaventure, in his first chapter, contradicts the doctrine of the incarnation.*

Another remarkable passage is the account of the ministering of the angels after the Lord's temptation in the wilderness, and Mr. Oakeley's defence of it:

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"As soon as Satan has been repulsed, the Angels flock in numbers to our Lord Jesus Christ, and prostrate on the ground adore Him, saying, Hail, Lord Jesus, our Lord and our God.' And our Lord humbly and benignly raises them, inclining His head, as the Son of Man, who was made a little lower than the Angels. The Angels say to Him, Lord, Thou hast fasted long; what wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee ?' To whom He replies, Go to My dearest Mother, and if she have anything at hand, bear it to Me; for of no food do I partake so gladly as of that which she prepares.' Then two of the number set out, and in a moment are with her. They respectfully salute her, and having acquitted themselves of their embassy, bring a mess of pottage, which she had got ready for herself and St. Joseph, and a piece of bread, with a linen cloth, and other necessaries; perhaps, too, our Lady procured, if she could, a small fish or two. Then they return, bearing the repast in their hands; and spreading it on the ground, pronounce in due form the solemn words of benediction. Here consider Him attentively in each of

*The passage referred to is this-" Now you may piously imagine, how the Son of God, on undertaking this laborious mission of obedience, inclined and recommended Himself to the Father, and that in the same instant His soul was created and infused into the womb of His mother; perfect man, according to all the lineaments of the body, but very minute; so that, though He afterwards grew in the womb, as naturally as other children, yet his soul was infused, and his body perfectly formed from the first," pp. 12, 13. Is this notion of the perfect formation of Christ's body from the instant of the Incarnation, reconcileable with the Catholic Doctrine of the Incarnation? It is remarkable that the words here printed in italics are not found in the translation published by the Roman Catholics in Dublin.

his actions. How composedly He sits on the ground, and with what studious regard to every minute propriety He comports Himself, and how temperately He partakes of the food. The Angels stand around, ministering to their Lord. One serves Him with bread, another with wine, another prepares the fish, and others sing some of the songs of Sion, and rejoice with gladness and festivity before Him."—pp. 96, 97.

Fearful must be the state of the church if any great number of the clergy can approve of translating such horrible impiety "for the use of the members of the Church of England." Mr. Oakeley has not only translated and published it; he has defended it, and here is his defence

"Scripture says, that, after our Lord's Temptation in the Wilderness,' Angels came and ministered unto Him.' If we are to conceive of their ministry, we must also conceive of the way in which they ministered; surely it is profitable, with all reverence to do so. On first thoughts, I suppose, we should all say that these ministra. tions were spiritual alone. Yet this seems an unreal view, considering that our Lord came in the likeness of sinful flesh, all but its sin; that he was tempted like unto us, and that the Sacred History has just before recorded for our instruction, that He was an hungered.' Our Saint, pondering these words, and again reading elsewhere in Scripture of the employment of Angels in the carrying of food to God's elect, devises a sweet conception, that such was one mode in which these blessed comforters ministered to our Lord. But farther, whence did they seek this food? Our author carries them, in the same strain of devotional poetry, to the little dwelling at Nazareth, and introduces into the scene our Lord's Blessed Mother (who had for the twenty and nine years before ministered to her Divine Son with devout reverence and affection) as the associate of the Angels in this work of earthly consolation towards Him, who, though He were not of the earth earthy, but the Lord from heaven,' yet vouchsafed for our sakes to empty Himself' for a time, of the exclusive prerogatives of His Divine Nature. This instance has been selected as well for other reasons, as because it is one of the strongest which occur in the following pages, of addition to Scripture, and presumes an interpretation of the sacred text for which our minds are, I think, not at once prepared."-Introduction, pp. xv. xvi.

So that, acknowledging the violence done to the sacred text, both by addition and interpretation, Mr. Oakeley deliberately undertakes to defend Bonaventure for writing, and himself for translating, such profane fiction. How is it possible for any persons to allow their imaginations such unbridled licence for any length of time, and retain any distinct perception in their minds of what is true and what is fiction? Is it not certain, that they will gradually come to regard the truth as fiction? Disguise it with whatever sophistry he may, no argument Mr. Oakeley can adduce can shake one's conviction that this system of turning the gospel into a romance and a myth, must tend to the subversion of Christianity itself. At present it serves the purposes of superstition; by-and-by it will be proved how direct is its tendency to promote infidelity itself, and infidelity the most incurable and hopeless. For the worst species of infidelity is that which begins in lowering the standard of Scripture as an inspired record. He who takes such liberties as these can have little idea what inspiration means; and in after times, every thought of retracing the steps which led to infidelity, and of searching the Scriptures as the oracle of truth, must be met by the recollection that Christians consider their sacred record merely as a text to found romance and poetry upon. And with that will come the suspicion, that truth may have been treated with equal freedom by the Evangelists themselves, and the gospel itself be no better than a romance, a legend, a myth, a meditation.

361

SOME NOTICES OF THE EARLY COLONIAL CHURCH.

(Continued from p. 252.)

ON Mr. Neill's removal, in 1758, from Dover, to the less laborious mission of Oxford, in the same province (Pensilvania), Mr. Charles Inglis was recommended to the Society as his successor. He had, during the last three years, conducted the free-school at Lancaster to the satisfaction of all, and thus had become favourably known to the clergy of the neighbourhood, who now testified of him "as a young gentleman of unblemished character, discreet in his behaviour, and free from even the suspicion of anything unbecoming. With these high testimonials he came to England, was admitted by the Bishop of London to holy orders, and re-embarked for his humble mission, to which a salary of 50l. a-year was attached. Such was the modest commencement of a career, which was destined to be marked by various fortunes, and distinguished by services of the highest value to the church.

Mr. Inglis, after a long and dangerous voyage, arrived at Dover on the 1st of July, 1759, and at this distance of eighty-six years, it is impossible not to remember with thankfulness that the son is still administering with unimpaired vigour and energy that same important diocese where, under the father's spiritual superintendence, the church was first perfectly organized in the British colonies. So long a period of service (still, let us hope, to be considerably extended) to the colonial church, deserves, surely, special notice and remembrance. Mr. Inglis, on coming to his mission, found the situation unhealthy from the neighbourhood of low, marshy lands. There were within it three churches, but that at Dover was in a most ruinous condition. He soon, however, contrived to restore it, and to build a fourth on the borders of Maryland. The mission comprised the whole county of Kent, thirtythree miles in length and ten in breadth, with a population of 7000, of which a third belonged to the communion of the church.*

In 1763, he informed the Society of the flourishing state of his mission as evidenced by the erection and restoration of churches, the crowds who attended divine service, the return of dissenters to the church, and the revival of a spirit of piety in many persons. His own health, he described as much affected by the dampness of the situation, as well as by the excessive fatigue of having to attend stations distant severally fourteen, seventeen, and eighteen miles from his own residence.t

In 1765, Mr. Inglis obtained the sanction of the Society to accept the appointment of assistant to Dr. Auchmuty, and catechist to the negroes at New York. During the six years of his ministration at Dover he had baptized

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while, within the same period, his communicants had increased from forty-nine to one hundred and fourteen.

The churchwardens and vestry of Dover wrote on occasion of the departure of Mr. Inglis to express their great regret at his going, and to testify that he had, "with unwearied diligence attended four churches, discharging every duty of his functions, and conducting himself on all occasions in a manner truly laudable and exemplary."

The shipwreck and death at sea of the Rev. Messrs. Giles and Wilson, who had been appointed by the Society his successors in the mission of Dover and Mispillion, furnished him with an opportunity of renewing with increased force the argument for the appointment of bishops. The following are his observations on the subject:

"April 19, 1766.

"The expense and hazard in going to England for orders were always discouraging circumstances. This melancholy accident will increase our apprehensions of danger, and shews they are well founded. Nothing but our having bishops here can remove these and many other grievances which the American churches labour under.

"Our having bishops here on the terms we want them is a thing so equitable in itself, and so essential to the interest of religion in our church that I am lost in astonishment at our being deprived of them so long. Why are we denied the common privileges of all other subjects? or why are we distinguished by grievances and persecutions to which all other denominations are perfect strangers?

"Our church must necessarily decline while we are in this situation, and must finally sink unless the timely remedy is applied. If the clergy of England, therefore, do not exert themselves, and with spirit second the applications hence on this head, a person without the spirit of prophecy may easily tell what the event will be. For my part, I look upon it to be the immediate cause of Christ and his church; and therefore, every obligation we are under to serve these calls on us to promote this measure.

"As we want not to encroach on the liberties or privileges, civil or religious, of any other denomination, the most violent, unreasonable dissenter dares not openly avow his disapprobation of this measure. Some may murmur in secret, but, as their murmurs will not bear examination, proceeding entirely from a perverse, persecuting spirit, they keep them to themselves. All of them that are moderate and reasonable, and in charity we should suppose these to be the majority, own the necessity and equity of our having bishops. This I know to be the case. But suppose they were violent in opposing this, yet have they any right to do so or be heard? Have we not an equal right to oppose their having ordinations, and synods, and presbyteries, and sessions? Or might we not, with equal justice, oppose any sect here in having the full exercise of their discipline and government? We have already seen what delays in this affair produce. They only weaken our cause, and add strength to our opponents'; and I pray

* Journal, vol. xvii. p. 41.

God the government may not have cause to repent, when it is too late, their omission of what would be so great a means of securing the affections and dependence of the colonies, and firmly uniting them to the mother country. Even good policy dictates this measure, were the interest of religion and our church left out of the question."

At the request of several of the principal inhabitants, Mr. Inglis paid a visit to his old mission of Dover in 1767. He remained with them three Sundays, and officiated at each of the churches. During this visit he baptized fifty-five children, and had the satisfaction of learning that not a single member of the church had left it since his departure. During the whole of his residence at New York, he exerted himself most zealously in behalf of the Mohawk Indians, and was frequently in communication on the subject of the conversion of these tribes with Sir William Johnson, than whom the church never had a more loyal supporter in America. Owing to the influence of his example, the members of the church within his neighbourhood increased in a few years from 40 to 140 families. Both Sir William and Mr. Inglis were of opinion that the most likely means to civilise and convert the tribes was to settle missionaries and schoolmasters among them, and they estimated that this plan might be attempted on a sufficiently large scale at an annual outlay of 500l. Mr. Inglis rightly regarded it as "a matter in which our church and nation, as well as the peace and welfare of the colonies, were deeply concerned, not to mention our duty as Christians, to diffuse the saving light of the gospel among those poor savages." (September 1771.)

But the government would lend no assistance to the design, which, owing to the death of its great promoter, Sir William Johnson, in 1775, and the subsequent civil troubles, was never carried into effect.

Indeed, every plan for the social and religious improvement of the people, whether European or aborigines, was now suspended by the contention of parties and the preparations for war. This state of confusion is described in detail by Mr. Inglis; and as it will appear from his narrative that the clergy were among the more prominent sufferers, his letter seems properly to belong to this history.

"New York, Oct. 31, 1776. "Reverend Sir,-The confusions which have prevailed in North America for some time past must have necessarily interrupted the correspondence of the missionaries with the Society, and that to such a degree as to leave the Society in the dark with respect to the situation both of the missionaries and the missions at present. I flatter myself, therefore, that a short authentic account of them, and of the church of England in general in this and the adjacent colonies, may be acceptable to the Society at this most critical period. The success of his Majesty's arms in reducing this city, and driving out the rebels, the 15th of last month, affords me an opportunity of doing this, as packets are now again established between this port and England. "I have the pleasure to assure you that all the Society's missionaries,

* Journal, vol. xvii. p. 452.

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