applied to the simplicity of Scripture, and which at one time extensively disgraced evangelic communions, have nearly disappeared; and that, partly as scattered by argument, partly as extinguished by their own fumes, these false fires are almost gone out.

"What then do we complain of? not of false doctrine; but rather of faintness at the heart; as a man may be labouring under no assignable malady, whose pulse yet is feeble, whose appetite is wayward, whose waking hours are listless, and whose repose is unquiet."-pp. 108, 109.

We confess our doubts as to the accuracy of this statement, if, indeed, we rightly apprehend its meaning. We cannot easily reconcile it with the fact, which Mr. Taylor will not deny, and which his own language partially admits, that at no time in the history of this country were what are called evangelical principles, or the theological doctrines of the reformers, more extensively prevalent, or better understood, than immediately before the publication of the Oxford Tracts. In the dissenting pulpits generally, this was the only theology ever heard, the only theology that would be listened to for a moment; and the case was to a great extent the same, if we mistake not, among our Methodist brethren. In Scotland the same theology prevailed, and in the church of England the increase of the evangelical party was (would that we dared to write is) a constant theme of congratulation. Nor was there, perhaps, ever a period in which greater talent and zeal were engaged on the same side, while books and tracts, of similar tendency, were multiplied and circulated in an unprecedented degree. Numerous societies, also, framed for aggressive movements upon domestic and foreign heathenism, were chiefly under the direction of evangelical men, and naturally tended to strengthen the religious principles out of which they arose. We know not where to look for the alleged languor, and "spent energy" of "the evangelic principle," during this period, nor for that "faintness of heart" of which Mr. Taylor complains; comparing it to the condition of a man "labouring under no assignable malady, whose pulse yet is feeble, whose appetite is wayward, whose waking hours are listless, whose repose is unquiet." Certainly, however, the symptoms of such a state are not to be found in the increased scale of Bible distribution, nor in the tidings received from all parts of the world of the ever-extending circle of missionary labours and missionary success.

We cannot quite understand what is intended by the expression, "Its interior force had been dissipated by many and distracting occupations commendable in themselves, but not easily made to consist with profound sentiments of any kind.” If it be meant that

the active operations connected with our public institutions are incompatible with profound sentiment, or unfavourable to its exercise, we must wholly dissent from the opinion. It appears to us that the reverse is eminently the case, and that nothing adds so much to the depth and permanence of any emotion, as the stedfast direction of the

active powers to a course of conduct in accordance with its requisitions. Action, in a good cause, deepens impression, but never dissipates it. The benevolent feelings of Howard were not weakened by his practical efforts to release the prisoner from his dungeon; nor did the attachment of St. Paul to the principles of his faith become less fervent, because he was engaged in labours more abundant as an active Christian missionary. If, however, this be not Mr. Taylor's meaning,-if he only intended to say, that zeal for evangelical truth was declining in some section or other of the protestant church, we have only to regret that he has not in this instance expressed himself with perfect clearness. The decline of zeal for truth, in any portion of the church, will, no doubt, invite the presence of heresy, and render it doubly dangerous when it makes its appearance.

The obtrusion of the Oxford Tract doctrines at this juncture, and their extensive prevalence in the Anglican church, which we consider as among the most remarkable of the moral phenomena of our times, cannot, we think, be justly referred to any decay or weakness, any "exhaustion or collapse," as Mr. T. terms it, of "the evangelic principle." We consider it to have been principally induced by certain well known political and ecclesiastical causes, of long standing in this country, but receiving a new impulse from circumstances comparatively recent. A party of divines always existed in the church of England, who differed in some important points from the theology of the reformers, denying that it was sustained by the Thirty-nine Articles, and who at the same time held notions as to the claims of the church, not differing much from those now advocated by Dr. Pusey. It was on this account that the Puritans, and their successors the Nonconformists, constantly alleged that the church of England was only partially reformed from popery; and the great secession took place in consequence of the strenuous resistance offered to their views by the high-church party. The Tractists themselves intimate, and we see no reason to doubt their statement, that the extreme pretensions of the church were held in abeyance of late years, till they had, in fact, "become obsolete with the majority of her members," and were revived in consequence of the legislative measures introduced a few years ago. The church, it seems, lost that political exclusiveness on which she had long leaned, and other changes of the same kind were apprehended.*

* Let the reader mark some of their expressions :-"Should the government and the country so far forget their God as to cast off the church, to deprive it of its temporal honours and substance, on what would you rest the claim of respect and attention which you make upon your flocks? . . . The question returns, on what are we to rest our authority when the state deserts us?.. I fear we have neglected the real ground upon which our authority is built, our apostolical descent... Exalt our holy fathers, the bishops, as the representatives of the apostles, and the angels of the churches," &c. &c.-See Oxford Tracts, Vol. I. pp. 1, 2-4.

What was then to be done by those who considered that important ecclesiastical interests were in jeopardy? Could they unite with popery? Or might they venture to approximate to any of the less obnoxious of the dissenting bodies, so as to strengthen their position in the country? Or should they, by reviving obsolete pretensions, create a petty popery of their own, founded upon a presumed antiquity, and adapted as far as might be to the circumstances of modern times? The last course appears to have been chosen by the writers of the Tracts, and the Nicene age was fixed upon as the standard or patternperiod, and as furnishing materials best adapted to the purpose contemplated.

This view of the immediate cause of the movement, at once explains its partial success, and points out the proper means of opposing it. Many of the younger clergy seem to have been fascinated by the doctrine propounded, from the importance it gives to their order; and zealots not a few were, perhaps, disposed to avail themselves of any weapon which they thought might be used at once against Dissenters and Catholics. The remedy is, to show the fallacy of the scheme on all its alleged grounds, and to prove the necessity of upholding the principles of the Reformation, particularly the right of private judgment, and the sufficiency of Holy Scripture, as the only means by which the spirit of popery, in any of its Protean forms, can be effectually opposed.

Mr. Taylor has done essential service to the cause of truth, by showing, both directly in his work on ancient Christianity, and indirectly in these lectures, the utter unsoundness of the assumptions of the Tractists. He has proved that the Christianity of the Nicene period was corrupted Christianity, replete with errors and delusions; and that the "catholic superstitions" sought to be restored, involved principles destructive of the first elements of the religion of the Bible. Instead of affording a satisfactory resting-place, the corrupted Nicene faith seems to resemble nothing so much as that "Serbonian bog-where armies whole have sunk." Its precedents, doctrinal and ecclesiastical, are available for the ends proposed, only so far as they can be proved to be innovations upon the truth and simplicity of earlier times. Instead of resting in that antiquity, we have, unquestionably, a right to go back to the higher antiquity of Christ and his apostles. To antiquity those writers have appealed, to antiquity let them go; but they surely cannot object to be referred at once to the highest antiquity, the antiquity of the Bible itself, where human error cannot be imagined to mingle with a teaching confessed to be purely divine.

Various impressions are entertained by well-informed men, as to the extent to which the dogmas of the Tractists are held by the clergy generally. Upon this subject we refrain from expressing a positive opinion; but as lovers of truth and consistency, we rejoice when any of that body

are wise enough publicly to condemn, and protest against, such injurious sentiments. In the Bampton lecture for 1840, delivered at Oxford, by Dr. Hawkins, Provost of Oriel, we find it expressly admitted, that the Bible is the only standard of truth, "the sole rule of faith," a doctrine utterly incompatible with that claim of authority on the part of the church which lies at the foundation of the Puseyistic theory. Very recently, that exemplary prelate, the Bishop of Winchester, is said to have refused ordination to a candidate who had imbibed the Oxford notions; for which, however, he has been exposed to severe animadversion in a portion of the daily press, on the ground that the Puseyites are the only consistent churchmen.* We cannot stay to discuss this topic, but we consider the settlement of it a matter of the most urgent importance to the church itself. Whatever our opinions may be on the subject of a national establishment, we have no doubt that the episcopal church would greatly increase its legitimate influence, both in England and abroad, if it openly repudiated these doctrines, and fearlessly struck out from its formularies every expression which might appear to sanction them. Severed entirely from all connexion, real or supposed, with the absurd pretensions of the papal system, the episcopal church of this country would naturally occupy the foremost rank among the reformed communions; but, mixed up with Rome, or holding an ambiguous position between popery and protestantism, or speaking a doubtful language upon the great principles of the Reformation, the advocates of that church will inevitably find themselves weak in argument, divided in action, and regarded with suspicion by each of the great parties into which, not England only, but Europe itself, is divided. Intelligent and conscientious men will ask the question, and press for an answer too, whether, in attaching themselves to the church as by law established,

* See a letter in the Morning Post, October 15, 1841, by a warm partizan of the Tractists, signing himself "a member of the church of England," who contends that " evangelical protestants cannot remain in the church for a moment, if the main argument of Tract 90 be reprehensible," and that "Mr. Newman must cease to be censured, or the Evangelicals must quit a church which, in its literal fulness, is so antagonistic to Protestantism." This was followed by four letters in defence of the bishop, in which the most opposite conclusions are deduced, with equal zeal, from the self-same documents! The controversy still continues, and the Morning Post, of November 17, occupies nearly six closely printed pages, with five letters on the subject, which are chiefly remarkable for presenting a curious melange of contradictory opinions upon all the points at issue. Some denounce the Tractarian doctrines; others defend them; and a third class fancy they can a steer a middle course between the two extremes, and be good "Anglo-Catholics," if they cannot be consistent protestants, in the ordinary sense of the term. The progress of the discussion will probably convince these intermediate theorists, that there are important principles involved in the Protestant confession, and that no ingenuity will be sufficient to discover a consisent via media, between the practical recognition of these principles, and a passive unreasoning submission, after the manner of the Honourable Mr. Spencer, and Mr. Sibthorp, to those well-known slavish dogmas, of which the church of Rome has been, time out of mind, the unflinching representative.

they are following the bright track of the first reformers, or vainly lending their influence to protect from extinction the fading relics of Romish imposture? No man who has been educated out of a cloister, can seriously believe in the possibility of forcing back the human mind to the miserable thraldom of the middle ages. Yet this is the object for which the Oxford Tractists, and their literary coadjutors, propose a sort of mental crusade ;* and it remains to be seen, how far the soberminded members of the church will become accessary to their own disgrace, as well as that of their age and country, by allowing the resources of the national establishment to be made available in such a cause.

With regard to Christian union, Mr. Taylor's observations have our most cordial concurrence. It is a great reproach to Christendom that there has not been a more sincere co-operation among Christians in the promotion of common objects. Instead of lesser motives giving way to greater, the reverse has obtained, and considerations having reference to party interests and prepossessions, have prevented that combined movement of benevolent effort, which the exigencies of the world required. In some happy instances of exception to this rule, where a concurrent effort has been made, its success has been of the most encouraging kind; sufficiently so to warrant the belief, that any object upon which the religious sections of this country can be brought to unite, is almost sure to be attained.

The extinction, first of the slave trade, and then of slavery itself, so far as this country was concerned, is a case in point. The enormous guilt of this system was something too gross for the most unblushing partizanship to justify, and the singular spectacle was seen of men of all religious opinions, combining, almost without concert, for the attainment of a great moral purpose. In this remarkable instance, the result was worthy of the efforts made, and has left a bright example to other times, of the perfect practicability of the most difficult enterprises of philanthropy, if Christian men can only be brought to unite for their accomplishment.

That jealousies, either ecclesiastical or sectarian, should have robbed the world for so long a period of the benefits of such a union, is discreditable to the reason as well as the feelings of men; for it proves that more importance has been attached to the mere external adjuncts of Christianity, than to the essential principles of the system. Mr. Taylor's remarks upon this subject deserve special attention.

"We affirm that Spiritual Christianity is peculiarly adapted to the purpose of diffusing truth and virtue through the world, because, as a spiritual system, Ir is ALWAYS SUPERIOR TO EVERY VISIBLE INSTITUTION. Such institutions, subject as

* See Dr. Sewell's book on morals: also certain articles in the Quarterly Review, supposed to be from the same pen; as well as the letters signed " Catholicus" in the Times, a few months ago, addressed to Sir Robert Peel, who is lectured, in good set terms, for venturing, in his speech at Tamworth, to express opinions on the subject of education and general knowledge, quite at variance with the doctrines of the new luminaries of the university which he formerly represented.