Mr. Simeon quotes subsequently, under his second head, certain pas. sages from the Liturgy itself, exquisitely appropriate to the feelings of penitence in one case, and to those of a person "full of faith and of the Holy Ghost" in the other. The former is the general confession in the Communion Service; the lat ter is the thanksgiving in the same place, beginning, "It is very meet, &c.," with the Trisagium, and the opening of the Te Deum; compositions for which we are indebted to the ancient church: in such truly ennobling and divine strains has an universal and unchangeable church from age to age addressed itself to Him, who is, as his worship should be," the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." And whilst we har monise in triumphant accents with the voices of a Cyprian, an Ambrose, and an Austin, we doubt if the feelings of genuine piety will be allayed, by reflecting that lips less pure than theirs have also chanted the same songs, or that penitence less strained from the dregs of superstition has also supplicated pardon in words which once conveyed the chaste odours of apostolical devotion to a throne of grace.

In summing up the excellencies of the Liturgy, Mr. Simeon well concludes,

"That it is calculated to make us wise, intelligent, and sober Christians: it marks a golden mean; it affects and inspires a meek, humble, modest, sober piety, equally remote from the coldness of a formalist, the self-importance of a systematic dogmatist, and the unhallowed fervour of a wild enthusiast. A

tender seriousness, a meek devotion, and a humble joy, are the qualities which it was intended, and is calculated, to produce in all her members." pp. 67, 68.

In his more general comparison, of our own forms with the usages of those who dissent from them in this land, we quite agree with the following challenge, in pp. 78, 79.

"There are about 11,000 places of worship in the Established Church, and about as many out of it. Now take the prayers that

are offered on any Sabbath in all places out of the Establishment; have them all written down, and every expression sifted and scrutinised as our Liturgy has been: then compare them with the prayers that have been offered in all the churches of the kingdom; and see what comparison the extemporaneous effusions will bear with our pre-composed forms. Having done this for one Sabbath, proceed to do it for a year; and then, after a similar examination, compare them again: were this done, (and done it ought to be in order to form a correct judgment on the case), methinks there is scarcely a man in the kingdom that would not fall down on his knees and bless God for the Liturgy of the Established Church." And in answer to an objection, alluded to in the former sermon, of the constant repetition of our Liturgy engendering formality, we recommend to our dissenting brethren the following pertinent observation in the same sermon: "Dissenters themselves know that the repetition of favourite hymns, does not generate formality; and they may from thence learn, that the repetition of our excellent Liturgy is not really open to that objection." p. 53.

Mr. Simeon's personal application of the doctrines of the Liturgy, to those who profess it and daily worship in its language, is always most excellent. So strong an argumentum ad hominem (and we conceive a stronger is not to be found in the whole theory or practice of logic), managed by such a hand, cannot It is fail of a most potent effect. indeed the sword of the mighty, in the hand of a giant. He who has handled so well another sword, that sword of the Spirit, the word of God, of which, in comparison with its closest derivatives, to say

"Unde nil majus generatur ipso Nec viget quicquam simile aut secundum,” can be no disparagement even to the Liturgy, has shewn us the strength and the edge of this secondary weapon also;-a weapon which, if indeed of earthly structure, we must allow to be of heavenly materials, and forged with etherial fire. In his hands it is, like its great origin, quick,

"

powerful, and sharp; piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Whoever reads Mr. Simeon's fourth sermon, in which he practically applies the Ordination Service, as most appropriate to the congregation he is addressing, will be convinced of the justice of our observation. Surely, there must have been those, in that, or in any congregation, of whom these sentiments, delivered with the peculiar awe and solemnity of Mr. Simeon's manner, (vidimus ipsi) in the university pulpit, must have made "both the ears to tingle;" and in recommending the perusal of them, which we do most seriously, to every true lover of his profession and of that flock which he may be sincerely desirous of feeding after the best manner, we distinctly confine our recommendation to such persons; fully persuaded, as we are, that those who desire not to be better, must be worse for such potent exhortations; that every minor consideration or persuasive must, after this, lose all its effect; and that but one step lies between a heart hardened against these last and awful appeals to conscience, and the terrors of that last and awful sound of judgment, "Out of thine own mouth will I condemn thee, thou slothful servant!"

66

Next to those immediately addressed, we cannot conclude without commending the notice both of this service itself and of Mr. Simeon's admirable remarks upon our professions, our promises, our prayers," as expressed in it, to those who have conscientious scruples against the validity of our church, from an idea that she has neglected any thing, as far as words can go, to secure the ability and faithfulness of her ministers, or the instruction and salvation of the flock entrusted to their care. We shall conclude with an extract towards the close of this admirable sermon, bearing upon that great and good cause in which we are all in

common embarked; to which we personally feel ourselves attached by every tie of duty and feeling; and which we cannot take our leave of without fervently commending to the fostering care of a gracious Providence, and the still persevering intercessions of those who love and who "pray for the peace of Jerusa lem."

"What then might not be hoped for, if all who have undertaken the sacred office of

the ministry, fulfilled their engagements in the way we have before described? What if all prayed the prayers instead of reading them; and laboured out of the pulpit as well as in it; striving to bring all their people, not only to the knowledge and love of Christ, but to such ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ, as to leave no room among them either for error in religion, or for viciousness of life? If there were such exertions made in every parish, we should hear

no more complaints about the increase of ral are in favour of the Establishment: and dissenters. The people's prejudices in genethe more any persons have considered the excellence of the Liturgy, the more are they attached to the Established Church. Some indeed would entertain prejudices against it, even if all the twelve Apostles were members of it, and ministered in it: but, in general, it is a want of zeal in its ministers, and not any want of purity in its institutions, that gives such an advantage to Dissenters. Let me not be misunderstood, as though by these observations I meant to suggest any thing disrespectful of the Dissenters; (for I honour

all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in since

rity, of whatever church they be; and I wish them from my heart every blessing that their souls can desire :) but, whilst I see such abundant means of edification in the Church of England, I cannot but regret, that any occasion should be given to men to seek for that in other places, which is so richly provided for them in their own church. Only let us be faithful to our engagements, and our churches will be crowded, our sacraments

tions will be set on foot; liberality will be exthronged, our hearers edified: good instituercised, the poor benefited, the ignorant en lightened, the distressed comforted; yea, and our wilderness world will rejoice and blos-, som as the rose."" pp. 108-110.

(Concluded from p. 449.)

In resuming our account of Mr. Scott's work, it is no little relief to ourselves, and will, we doubt not, prove so to many of our readers, that we have already disposed of the main strength of the battle. What remains, forms for the most part a sort of subsidiary force; which, though formidable from its numbers and appearance, will maintain no very determined or lengthened conflict. The auxiliaries, whom the Bishop of Lincoln has, in the fifth and sixth chapters of his work, pressed into the service, in order to overwhelm his adveriaries, prove, in fact to be the most heterogeneous and unmanageable troops that were ever arranged under the same banners. Independently of their mutual differences and animosities, they actually spare neither friends nor foes; but involve the whole field of contension in one undistinguished scene of slaughter, tumult, and disorder. Lest any of our readers should be at a loss to understand this metaphorical language, we proceed to inform, or rather to remind, them, in more simple and intelligible terms, that the fifth chapter of the Bishop of Lincoln's work, is composed of a series of quotations from the ancient Fathers of the Christian Church, for the purpose of proving that the sentiments of those pious and venerable writers are in direct opposition to the peculiar tenets of Calvinism. With the exception of that in the succeeding chapter, which is, to be sure, very considerably worse, a more unhappy attempt to support a favourite hypothesis has not, we think, very often been made.

We are perfectly ready to admit, that if the primitive authors of the Christian church had, with any thing like a clear, consistent, and consentaneous voice, declared their opinion on any particular point of doctrine,

as they certainly have done as to many of the great leading truths of the Gospel, such an union of sentiment would afford a strong presumptive proof in favour of its truth and importance. Had the inquiry even been confined to what are strictly and properly the peculiarities of Calvinism, we should have been equally willing to allow, that the general tenor of ancient Christian doctrine, so far as it could be accurately brought to bear upon the points in question, was pretty directly opposed to those peculiar tenets. But, when we call to mind what those tenets really are which the Bishop of Lincoln has been pleased to designate by the name of Calvinism; when we recollect, that the doctrines of original sin, or the total corruption of buman nature as to any thing spiritually good in the sight of God; of regeneration by the Holy Spirit, as distinguished from any inseparable connection with baptism; and of justification by faith alone, productive, indeed, of good works, but the sole instrument, from first to last, of man's acceptance in the sight of God;-when, by such a retrospect of preceding discussions, we have placed distinctly before us the pecuhar tenets which his lordship intends to refute and overwhelm by the testimony of the Fathers, we feel compelled to declare, that, if their testimony be indeed either directly or indirectly opposed to such Calvinism, if Calvinism it must be called, it is opposed both to the fundamental doctrines of the word of God, and of the truly scriptural Articles of the Church of England. We can, however, by no means admit this to be the case. The truth is, that the Bishop of Lincoln, baving, as we have before observed, given in his four first chapters a caricature of Calvinism, has in the fifth, without doubt unintentionally, framed what may not unjustly be termed a constructive libel on the Fathers. His lordship has, with a degree of pains and labour which might, perhaps, have

been more beneficially bestowed, but to which, as it is well known, the Benedictine editions afford peculiar facilities, brought together a crude and undigested mass of what, thus insulated and unconnected, appear to be amongst the most heterodox, obscure, uninteresting, and, for any useful purpose, inconclusive, passages, which could well be collected from those ancient authors. Were we left to form our judgment of the early Fathers of the Christian Church from the specimens of their doctrine and reasoning with which the world has been thus favoured by the Bishop of Lincoln, we cannot help thinking, that the character of those venerable men would suffer more severely in the general estimation of well-informed Christians, than by all the attempts either of ancient or modern infidels to ridicule and traduce them. In drawing such an unfavourable conclusion, the world would undoubtedly be guilty of much injustice towards those primitive writers; to whose piety, zeal, and fidelity, notwithstanding their errors, which modern Protestant authors have been but too apt to exthe Christians of every age owe pose, such essential obligations.

Reserving, however, for the present, some additional observations upon this subject, we proceed to that view of it which is now more immediately before us. In the preface to his Remarks on the Bishop of Lincoln's quotations from the Fathers, Mr. Scott, after stating from the sixth Article, and from the first Homily, that the Holy Scriptures alone contain "all things necessary to salvation," and are the only infallible rule of faith; and distinctly admitting that the decisions of our church are authoritative to the whole body of the clergy; peremptorily and justly disclaims all other human authority whatsoever.

With respect to the Fathers, Mr. Scott observes, that they may be read with benefit in various ways; that their persons ought, in general, to be venerated, and their supposed

mistakes treated with candour; but that they have no authority over our creed, any more than we have over the creed of our remote posterity. He notices their discordancies, inaccuracies, and frequently weak and erroneous comments on the Scriptures; their general want of many advantages, which subsequent ages have enjoyed, for the interpretation of the Sacred Volume; and the positive disadvantages under which many of them laboured, from a heathen or neglected education. "They were," he says, " in general, men of great earnestness and piety: some of them had much learning, of various kinds, (for that time), and brilliant talents: but few of them possessed that stock of theological knowledge; and that quick and accurate judgment, on disputable points, by which the least shade of difference is promptly and exactly perceived.

"

Indeed," continues Mr. Scott, "it seems highly probable, that the Lord, foreknowing how prone men, in subsequent times, would be to over venerate the uninspired writers of the primitive church and to make them even the rivals of his holy oracles, a kind of authoritative expositors of them; was pleased to counteract this tendency, by permitting it so to come to pass that we no sooner leave

the apostolical writings to open' the books of these ancient fathers, than we seem, as it were, at once got into another climate; and the inferiority of their productions strikes our minds, in proportion as we enter into the spirit and views of the Divine word, and relish and delight in it."

"The difficulty also of distinguishing the genuine writings of the fathers, from the works falsely ascribed to them; and from the interpolations, which have been made in them, is allowed even by the most zealous asserters of their claim to our almost implicit credence. If then we would know, what primitive Christianity was; we must go to earlier times, than even those of the most ancient fathers of the Christian church; even to the times of the Apostles, and the writings contained in the New Testament." Vol. ii.

pp. 227, 228.

The principal object of Mr. Scott, in his remarks on this chapter, as he observes in his general preface, "is to shew, that in very many of the

nents.

Of Justin the Martyr, Mr. Scott observes, that it would be in vain to deny, that he held sentiments very different from those of the Calvinists; but adds, that his argument, addressed to heathen princes, did not at all relate to the Christian doctrine of predestination, but to the necessity of heathen fate. Mr. Scott admits, however, that he would probably have reasoned nearly in the same way on the former subject; but appeals, of course, from Justin's authority to the word of God. He notices the inaccuracy of this ancient father in the quotation of Scripture; his occasional neglect of the doctrine of original sin, and of Divine influences; his assertion of the absolute power of man over his opinions, thoughts, and faith; and his intimations of the merit of works; as proofs, that, without detracting from his real worth, we ought to acknowledge, in the words of Dr. Jortin*, "what truth and plain matter of fact extort from us, that he and the rest of the fathers are poor and

• Remarks on Eccl. Hist. Book ii. P. 1. vol. i. p. 352.

insufficient guides in things of judgment and criticism, and in the interpretation of the Scriptures; and sometimes in points of morality also, and of doctrine; as Daillé, Whitby, Barbeyrac, and others, have fully shewed." Mr. Scott adds a similar testimony respecting Justin Martyr, from Dr. Cave*. The celebrated passage from this father on regeneration, proves, as Mr. Scott admits, what were his views of that subject, but is not decisive as to the whole primitive church; and is, in fact, easily accounted for on the grounds which we have already stated.

From Tatian nothing is quoted by the bishop which is worthy of observation.

Irenæus affords matter for many remarks. On the subject of regeneration, this learned father either meant more by his assertions, as represented by the Bishop of Lincoln, than the outward administration of baptism, or he is manifestly unscriptural. That the former was very probably the case, appears from one passage, in which the term "regenerated," cannot be referred to that ordinance.

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