deposit did comprise matter independent of and distinct from the truths which are directly scriptural,-that it contained, besides the substance of Christian doctrine, a certain form, arrangement, selection, methodising the whole, and distinguishing fundamentals; and also a certain system of church practice, both in government, discipline, and worship; of which, whatever portion we can prove to be still remaining, ought to be religiously guarded by us, even for the same reason that we recommend and retain that which is more properly scriptural; both being portions of the same Divine treasure?" p. 20.

We have, before this, admired the ingenuity displayed by Baron Cuvier, in deducing the shape, the size, the parts and proportions of an extinct antediluvian animal, from the piece of a fossil claw which had been discovered. We had not expected to meet with a parallel to this extraordinary instance of conceptive power in the mind of an Oxford divine, but we confess the baron here yields the palm to the Professor of Poetry. But Cuvier was proved, by a subsequent discovery, to have been correct: would Mr. Keeble be tried by a similar test? We have such a test at hand: for instance, Mr. Keeble says, that those who despise tradition take part with the despisers of Scripture. Is he, then, content to attach this reverence to that unquestioned part of apostolic practice and primitive tradition, the consent and concurrence of the people in the appointment of church officers?* Will he assert that those who set this aside take part with the despisers of Scripture? We think not; for the "craftsmen" of the "Anglican Diana" would gain nothing by the admission. Still less would the Oxford writers accord with the early tradition which relates, that "at first all were permitted to evangelise, to baptise, and to explain Scripture in the church."—Ambrose's Commentaries on Eph. iv. "The laity have the right to administer the sacraments and teach in the churches. It was then determined, by the whole council, that traditions should be received as of equal authority with Scripture.

In giving their votes on the fourth article, Cardinal Pacceco said, that "the Scriptures had been expounded by so many persons, and those so excellent in character and doctrine, that we must not expect any thing new to be added. The new heresies (Protestantism) had all originated in new senses given to passages of Scripture; it was, therefore, needful to curb the petulance of modern intellects, and to make them satisfied to be governed by the fathers and by the church; and whoever originated any new sense should be forced to keep it to himself, and not to confound the world by publishing it." Almost all coincided in this opinion.

The decree was, "Whoever does not receive the list of books as canonical, (as contained in the Vulgate,) and whoever despises traditions, is ANATHEMA. Holy Scripture cannot be expounded against the sense which is held by holy mother church, nor against the unanimous consent of the fathers."

* Thus, the apostolic father, Clement, speaks of bishops as being "appointed by the apostles, or chosen by eminent men, with the consent of the church."-Clem. Ep. to the Corinthians.

The word of God and the sacraments were communicated, by God's grace, to all Christians, and may, therefore, be communicated by all Christians, as instruments of God's grace."-Tertullian on Baptism.

For ourselves, we could not have discovered in the text cited so much as a hoof of antichrist, but should have concluded, in happy ignorance, that "the good thing" which the apostle charges Timothy to "keep," was the same which he himself, in the prospect of eternity at hand, rejoiced in having kept. "I have kept THE FAITH "—that faith which is recorded for our instruction in Holy Writ. But behold, (ex ungue leoneum,) one member being thus added to another, we have no difficulty in discerning the lineaments and proportions of Babylon the Great," full of names of blasphemy, but most scripturally founded, not on the " many waters," but on this simple text in Timothy! We may well ask-What next? However, as the Jews refer us to the Talmud, so do these "Anglicans" to Vincent of Lirins, as a more hopeful authority in their case. This writer belonged to a noble family in France, and followed the profession of arms; but, disgusted with this life, retired to the seclusion of Lirins, an island in the south of France, was ordained a priest, and died about A.D. 450. "Tradition is Vincentius's panacea for all heresy, with the single exception of such as has arisen in the earliest ages of the church, and is itself armed with the shield of antiquity; to such he avows that his test of tradition will not apply." This admission, of itself, is fatal to the system; because that which, in A. D. 450, was antiquity, might, in A. D. 350, be "profane novelty;" and many things were doubtless current in A. D. 350, which in A. D. 150 were looked upon with suspicion; and thus up to the times of the apostles themselves.

But what if this general consent of all-this catholic unity—this subordination to the bishops and presbyters, as to Jesus Christ and his apostles,—what if all this so much lauded antiquity formed but the smooth and easy slope down which the professing church passed to a fatal apostacy; not a mere declension, but a "falling away" from Christian truth, so that the condition of the witnesses for the truth became at length that of rejection and persecution; a state deprived of all visible church privileges, but inheriting the blessing promised to the two or the three gathered in the name of Christ? If this be the history of the professing church, (and, we apprehend, if faithfully written it would pourtray her lineaments in no fairer colours,)—if, moreover, the mystery of iniquity which produced this apostacy "did already work" in the days of the apostles, (so that St. Paul bore the mournful testimony, in his old age, "This thou knowest, that all they which are

in Asia be turned away from me,") what becomes of "the general consent of antiquity?" or how shall we rest assured that, in following the footsteps of " the fathers," we are not going with a multitude to do evil? How can we consent to the axiom of Mr. Keeble, that “ apostolical or episcopal grace is, by God's ordinance, the guardian of sound doctrine," unless we follow this talented writer, along his via media, through the Pontine marshes, to the city that is seated on the seven hills, and acknowledge, with Mr. Melville, of Camberwell,—

"We do not deny that the Roman Catholic is a true and apostolic church, her bishops and priests deriving their authority in an unbroken line from Christ and his apostles ;" [?]" accordingly, if a Roman Catholic priest renounces the errors of papacy, the Established Church immediately receives him as one of her ministers, requiring no fresh ordination before she allows him to officiate at her altars; and if his ordination be not valid, neither is ours. If we have derived our ordination from the apostles, it has been through the channel of the Roman Catholic Church; so that to deny the transmission [in this case] of the authority in the popish priesthood, would be to deny it generally; and thus we should be left without ordination that could be traced back to the apostles. There is no doubt, therefore, on the principles of an episcopal church, that the Roman Catholic is a true branch of Christ's church."

This inference appears very evident, if we admit the authority of tradition; but it would prove the Church of England to be wrong in so far as she is Protestant, because tradition fully asserts the surpassing dignity of the Bishop of Rome; and if the Roman Catholic be a" true branch of Christ's church," it must be conceded that she is Christ's church; all separatists from her communion being self-destroyed heretics.

Bishop Stillingfleet has shown how little credit should attach to the testimony even of the age immediately succeeding the apostles; he says,

"For my part, I see not how any man that would see reason for what he doth, can adhere to the church for any unquestionable tradition received from the apostles, when, in the case of keeping Easter, whether with the Jews, on the fourteenth moon, or only on the Lord's day, there was so much unreasonable heat shown on both sides, and such confidence that on either side their tradition was apostolical; the story of which is related by Eusebius, and Socrates, and many others. They had herein all the advantages imaginable in order to the knowing the certainty of the thing then in question among them; as their nearness to the apostolical times, being but one remove from them; yea, the persons contending pleaded personal acquaintance with some of the apostles themselves, as Polycarp with John; and Anicetus, of Rome, that he had his tradition from St. Peter: and yet so great were the heats, so irreconcileable the controversy, that they proceeded to dart the thunderbolt of excommunication in one another's faces; as Victor, with more zeal than piety, threw, presently, all the Asiatic churches out of communion, only for differing as to this tradition. The small coals of this fire

G

kindled a whole Ætna of contention in the Christian world; the smoke and ashes, nay, the flames of which, by the help of the prince of the air, were blown over into the bosom of the then almost infant northern churches of Britain.

6

The observ

ation of this strange combustion in the primitive church, upon the account of so vain, frivolous, and unnecessary a thing as this was, drew this note from a learned and judicious man: By this we may plainly see the danger of an appeal to antiquity, for resolution in controverted points of faith. Oh, how small relief we are to expect from thence! for, if the discretion of the chiefest guides and directors of the church did, in a point so trivial, so inconsiderable, so mainly fail them as not to see the truth in a subject where it is the greatest marvel how they could avoid the sight of it, can we, without the imputation of great grossness and folly, think so poor-spirited persons competent judges of the questions now on foot between the churches ?"

We must therefore revert, with increased conviction of their truth, to the sentiments so admirably expressed by Chillingworth :—

"The Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants. * * * I, for my part, after a long, and (as I verily believe and hope) impartial search of the true way to eternal happiness, do profess plainly that I cannot find any rest for the sole of my foot, but upon this rock only. I see plainly, and with mine own eyes, that there are popes against popes, councils against councils, some fathers against others, the same fathers against themselves, a consent of fathers of one age against a consent of fathers of another age, the church of one age against the church of another age; traditive interpretations of Scripture are pretended, but there are few or none to be found. No tradition, but only of Scripture, can derive itself from the fountain; but may be plainly proved either to have been brought in in such an age after Christ, or that in such an age it was not in. In a word, there is no sufficient certainty but of Scripture only, for any considering men to build upon."

How little tradition, or any such means of upholding a church, agrees with "the mind of Christ," may be seen from the apostle Paul's address to the elders of Ephesus. Into that peaceful flock, collected under his ministry, and for a long period watched over by himself, did the inspired apostle foresee that grievous wolves should enter, not sparing the flock; and that, also, of their own selves should men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Under these painful circumstances he says, " I commend you [not to tradition, but] to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance amongst all them that are sanctified." And the effect of his exhortations may be seen in the same church, when, after a period of thirty years, they were thus commended by Him who searcheth the reins and the heart:-" Thou canst not bear them which are evil, and hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars." Will our defenders of tradition venture to assert, that the touchstone by which the Ephesian church had "tried them" was any other than the same

"word of grace" which we richly and fully enjoy? But mark the state of the church of Ephesus, still in the enjoyment of this faithful word— still retaining whatever advantage might arise from tradition; the declension had begun; an obscuration had commenced, which was, ere long, to remove the light altogether; and this consisted in the decay of love. If Mr. Newman be really sincere in his search after that which the first Christians possessed, and which the nineteenth century has lost, let him seek it in the restoration of the " first love," and consequent unity of the church. The want of this "charity, which is the bond of perfectness," was sufficient to eclipse the brightness even of an apostolic church. No company of professed believers has one day's lease of the title of "a church," longer than it keeps to the condition, "whose house are ye, if ye hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope, stedfast unto the end."

In the writings of those who, from their proximity to the apostolic times, are called "the apostolic fathers," we find abundant traces of the remaining corruptions of our sinful nature, worked upon by the superstitious and blameable admiration of their fellow-Christians. We may clearly trace, in their attempts to exalt the bishops and their presbyters to an authority which interferes with the government of Christ in his own church, the fallibility of man; yet it is consoling to see that they constantly acknowledge their deference to the inspired apostles. Thus Clement, writing to the Corinthians, says, "Look into the holy Scriptures, which are the true words of the Holy Ghost: ye know that there is nothing unjust or spurious in them." "Ye know, beloved, ye know full well the holy Scriptures, and have thoroughly searched into the oracles of God; call them, therefore, to your remembrance." Ignatius says to the Romans, "I do not, as Peter and Paul, command you; they were apostles," &c. ; to the Trallians, "Lest I should seem to prescribe to you as an apostle;" to the Magnesians, "Study, therefore, to be conformed to the doctrine of our Lord and of his apostles: that so, whatsoever ye do, ye may prosper both in body and in spirit.' Barnabas tells the disciples, that, "Not as a teacher, but as one of you, I will endeavour to lay a few things before you." And the martyr Polycarp says to the Philippians, "Neither can I, nor any other such as I am, come up to the wisdom of the blessed and renowned Paul, who being himself in person with those who then lived, did, with all exactness and soundness, teach the word of truth; and being taken from you, wrote an epistle unto you; into which ye will look, you will be able to edify yourselves in the

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