remained distinct; and that the human nature was not swallowed up of the Divine. These truths we find in the Scriptures, and therefore we believe them. We reverence those councils for the sake of their doctrine; but do not believe the doctrine for the authority of the councils. There appeared too much of human frailty in some of their proceedings, to give us such an implicit submission to them, as to believe things only because they so decided them.” There is nothing in this statement but what is notorious to all men who have read the formularies of our Church, without trying to warp them to Tractarian notions. And allow me to say, that our venerable Reformers acted wisely in making ample use of the decisions of early councils and the writings of holy Fathers, though not clothing them with authoritative sanction. Why might they not properly refer to those who went before them, as we refer to themselves, for instruction, counsel, testimony to facts, and general edification? not viewing them as infallible, but glad to learn from them in all that they are able to teach us. In simplicity and love they are often bright examples even where they greatly err in judgment. But especially are they valuable as exponents of what was received from the beginning in regard to several matters upon which there is difference of opinion respecting the true bearing of the sacred text. Do remind your readers of this; lest in receding from one error they should oscillate towards another; instead of gravitating to the central line of truth. PHILLIPPus. We have always endeavoured to find this due Scriptural and Anglican medium between Popery and ultra-Protestantism. Thus, in our last Number, at page 52, in reply to Daillé, who affirms that the Protestant writers, of whom he names Bucer, Martyr, and Jewell, use the Fathers "only by way of confutation, and not to establish anything; to overthrow the opinions of the Church of Rome, and not to strengthen their own," we maintained that Anglicans do not use the Fathers only thus negatively; and that in truth they cannot be used only negatively; for to coufute one opinion is to strengthen its antagonist. We mentioned, as instances in which the testimony of the early church is highly valuable in the way of corroboration, the change of the appointed day of rest from the last to the first day of the week; the apostolical appointment of Episcopacy as a distinct order from Presbytery; and what we called "the proprieties of baptism "-meaning its specialties in regard to the proper mode and the proper subject. (Our concise phrase, we see, was not lucid, for the printer has read “propriety," we therefore explain our meaning.) Now on none of these points are there distinct positive statements in the New Testament; but we appeal to various passages which, in their fair implications and inferences, carry to our minds satisfactory evidence. But anti-pedobaptists, Sabbatarians (as they are called), and non-episcopalians are severally at issue with us on these points. Under such circumstances it is not derogatory to Scripture to shew, by facts, that what we believe to be deducible from the New Testament, and to have been the practice in the apostolic age, was assuredly the practice from the earliest days of Christian antiquity after the close of the canon of revelation. This is not authority; but it is practical comment; and not to be undervalued in its proper place. Our Reformers also made good use of the Fathers in their contests with Rome; shewing that Popery is a heap of corrupt innovations. COLLATION OF THE REVISED "SINNER'S FRIEND." To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I AM the wife of a clergyman; and being in the habit of perusing tracts before I distribute them, I felt, with some of your correspondents, that some expressions in the tract called "The Sinner's Friend" might be liable to misuse; though, as the tract is on the whole striking, awakening, and scriptural, I have largely circulated it. The new editions appear to me greatly improved by the alteration of the general heading, as well as by the addition of two chapters. The heading which stood "Sinner! this little book is for you! to give you hope and comfort; joy and peace," is now enlarged to," Sinner! this little book is for you! that by repentance and faith you may obtain remission of sins, and then exult in the blessings of hope and comfort;-peace and joy." I inclose the two new chapters, in case you should see fit to annex them to my note. A CLERGYMAN'S WIFE. 66 SALVATION THROUGH FAITH-NOT BY WORKS. "What must I do to be saved?—Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Acts xvi. 30, 31. "All who believe on Jesus are justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the deeds (or doings) of the law. Acts xiii. 39. Romans iii. 20-22. Gal. ii. 16, 17. (Read the texts referred to). "O what comfort,-what joy,-what heavenly delight, does this afford to the poor afflicted soul, stretched (perhaps) on a bed of sickness, harassed in body and mind, without the smallest power of performing any works to obtain the kingdom of heaven,—and possibly, so greatly impoverished, with regard to this world's goods, as to be unable to give even a mite to aid a fellow-creature in distress. "If then, heaven could only be obtained by works, (by something to be done, and seen, of men), such persons must be lost for ever. But, O blessed, for ever blessed be our gracious God, he requires no works of this kind to obtain an inheritance with the saints above all the work which God requires is, faith in his beloved Son, with sincere repentance, and a forsaking of all kinds of sin. "If we truly believe, we love; and if we love, we gladly obey; and obedience is the best proof of our sincere desire to be sanctified, and be numbered with the children of God. Yet our best obedience will not justify us in the sight of God, for we can only be justified by faith in Jesus Christ, without the deeds (or works) of the law, (without any merit of our own). (Romans iii. 20 to 28.) Read the whole of the verses; read them for your own comfort. 66 Poor, doubting, afflicted sinner, here is your relief, your full deliverance, from every fear. The requirements of God are not hard; all he asks of you is confidence, (faith) in his promise, that whosoever believeth on his Son shall have everlasting life. (John vi. 47.) You would cheerfully give all you possess in the world to be assured of your safety in the world to come but you are not required to give any thing whatever, for you are invited to take of the waters of life (eternal life) freely, without money, and without price; without any righteousness (or good works) of your own; and the only thing required of you is, to obey the voice of God, who says, This is my beloved Son, hear him.' (Mark ix. 7.) 66 Pray then for the gift of repentance and faith, that you may be enabled to trust in the righteousness of Christ alone for acceptance with God; then your salvation will be secure. (Eph. i. 13, 14.) "LIFE AND DEATH. "The soul that sinneth it shall die. But if the wicked turn from all his sins that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Ezekiel xviii, 20, 21. “Sinner, mark this striking message of thy God unto thee. Here is no mention of the multitude of sins committed, nor of the depth of their guilt, nor of their long continuance; but there is a full pardon offered to every returning penitent, even at the eleventh hour. The self-righteous Pharisee, blinded by Satan, may raise objections against the willingness of God to pardon old notorious offenders, but what does God himself say? Though your sins be as scarlet,'-even of the very deepest stain of guilt,still, upon sincere, heart-broken repentance, they shall be as white as snow ;'-not a spot to be seen. "Sinner! you may have committed sins so black, so filthy, as make you shudder at the bare recollection of your guilt; and you can hardly think of being forgiven. But hear your God bringing out the black catalogue of sins, (Isaiah, chap. i.) "Ye rulers of Sodom;-a people laden with iniquity; your hands are full of blood!!' (murderers!) and then, mercifully speaking, even to these monsters of iniquity, Though your sins be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.' "Here then is pardon for the very worst of sinners; and it was sinners only that Jesus came to seek and save. "It should be the consolation of every penitent sinner, that our gracious Redeemer gave his life as the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, therefore for your sins, if you truly repent, and forsake them; not else. "However great, then, your sins may have been, let not your fears drive you away from God. His mercy reaches far beyond all your transgressions, even if they have been as Sodom or Gomorrah. (Psalm ciii. 11, 12.) "A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.' (Psalm li. 17.) This was happily experienced by the man who had just before cried out so earnestly, Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, (the murder of Uriah) O God;' and the Lord put away his sin,'-black as it was. (2 Samuel xii. 9, 13.) “The Lord will also put away your sins, if you sincerely repent, and turn from them, and return unto him by Jesus Christ. See the Lord's own promise so to do, (Isaiah Iv. 6, 7.) "Return instantly unto God, lest indifference, impenitence, or despair overtake you, and your soul be lost for ever!! You have everything to hope for, if you fall humbly at the feet of Jesus." REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. PUBLICATIONS ON THE OXFORD TRACTS. 1. A Plea for the Reformed Church, or Observations on a plain and most important declaration of the Tractarians, in the British Critic for July, 1841. By the REV. CHARLES SMITH BIRD, M.A., F.L.S., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 2. Evangelical Repentance. A Sermon preached in the Cathedral 4. The Divine Rule of Faith and Practice, or a defence of the Catholic Doctrine, that Holy Scripture has been since the times of the Apostles the sole divine rule of faith and practice to the Church, against the dangerous errors of the Authors of the Tracts for the Times, and the Romanists, as particularly, that the Rule of Faith is made up of Scripture and Tradition together,' &c. in which also the doctrines of the Apostolic Succession, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, &c. are fully discussed. By WILLIAM GOODE, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge; Rector of St. Antholin, London. HAVING, in our two last Numbers, reviewed nearly twenty publications bearing, directly or incidentally, upon the discussions on the Oxford Tracts, we will not dilate at great length upon the subject at present; but the works of which we have just copied the titles, will justify our recurring to it. The Charges of the Bishops of Winchester, Chester, and Calcutta, from which we gave ample citations, are eminently important at the present juncture. Having noticed, seriatim, all the other publications on our list, except two or three at its close, we will briefly refer back to these, before we pass on to those now in hand. We placed Dr. Miller's Second Letter to Dr. Pusey upon our list, that we might not seem to undervalue his useful labours ; but his pamphlet being connected with the controversy respecting Tract No. 90, most of the topics had been already alluded to in our pages. We will, however, quote one passage in reply to Dr. Pusey's argument respecting the influential picturesque operation of clerical celibacy upon the minds of the ignorant and debased. "I cannot perceive in the conduct of Christ himself, or in that of his inspired followers, any disposition to seek aid for their preaching in an appeal to picturesque effect. They preached the gospel in simplicity and godly sincerity, leaving it to affect the minds of their hearers, as they, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, might be more or less favourably disposed to receive it, not assisted by exhibitions, which, like the decorations of a theatre brought in aid of sacred music, might, in regard to the purity of the gospel, be not unfitly denominated meretricious. These they left to the Pharisees, who were the picturesque performers of that early period. You, on the other hand, have assured us, that we shall have sœurs de la charité, and I grieve to read it. I grieve to read that we are to meet in our streets and public places that dramatised representation of charitable devotedness, which, while it fosters in the minds of the de luded females an unchristian feeling of attention of gazers by other cords than meritorious service, would attract the those of a spiritual conviction. These, you say, 'are one of the most powerful attractions to withdraw feeling but unof our own (church); they would be a disciplined minds from the communion grace to us, if we had them; the lack of them exposes us to loss.' Possibly the introduction of this beginning of scenic its effect, since, while it would repel the representation might disappoint you in more reflecting as a corruption of the simplicity of the church, it might lead the ignorant to seek a re-union with the church of Rome, as affording to their appetite for spectacle a fuller gratification." Mr. Eden's Sermon is one of the seasonable parochial discourses which the circumstances of the day-placed as the Church of England is between Protestant Dissenters without and Tractarians within-have elicited. We will quote a passage in which the author writes very judiciously the use of the terms "Proupon testant and "" Reformed," the first of which the Tractarians repudiate. "The Church of these realms must tant, but also as a Reformation Church. ever be regarded not only as a ProtesI use this expression, as conveying my meaning much more precisely than it would be intimated, were I only to say that ours is a Protestant community; since that word, understood strictly, would limit our doctrines to those which were opposed to Romish errors. Not only did the men who settled our standards of faith 'protest' against the encroachments of Popery (this they did-but it was not all :) but upon other points of universal faith also they set forth a declaration of those things which were most surely believed among them.' To describe our Church as 'Protestant,' is to make her the enunciator of only negative propositions concerning matters of faith:-to speak of her as Reformed,' is to imply that she has reviewed the total of her system, and left the whole in a state restored to its former integrity. And, as those Reformers have omitted to refer to tradition as authority, when it was open to them to have made such reference had they thought it right, I see in such omission the most striking moral evidence that they declined to recognize the claims of tradition to regulate the Church's faith. "And when, beyond this, we see that, having to speak of Creeds, they not only leave out any hint that they possess of themselves anything of final authority, but diligently explain why they are to be retained; namely, that they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy writ,' I see, in such a statement, an additional argument to the same effect." "The Confessions of an Apostate," by the author of "Felix de Lisle," is a tale of a young man who, being led by some Froudian companions at Oxford into Tractarianism, travels beyond them to Popery; from which, however, he breaks away, when his priest wishes to teach him the duty of intolerance and persecution, as enjoined by the fourth Lateran council. It is a rule which we have always followed, not to fight the battles of truth under the banners of fiction: and, therefore, we do not avail ourselves of these "Confessions." The writer, however, buttresses his statements by quotations and references; so that, though the narrative is invention, its basis is document. Mr. Bird's "Plea for the Reformed Church is an able reply to the British Critic of last July, which has been emphatically called "the atrocious Number;' though for doing mischief guarded and well-pruned plausibilities are more harmful than bold avowals of error. Tract 90 was "not only a crime but a blunder;" and so was the publication of Froude's Remains and in the same bad eminence stands the British Critic for last July, as witness the following passage in the article on Bishop Jewell; which article Mr. Golightly has assigned in print to Mr. Oakley, Mr. Dodsworth's successor at Margaret Chapel," and a zealous Tractarian. "It ought not to be for nothing; no, nor for anything short of some very vital truth-some truth not to be rejected without fatal error, nor embraced without radical change-that persons of name and influence should venture on the part of 'ecclesiastical agitators,' intrude upon the peace of the contented, and raise doubts in the minds of the uncomplaining, vex the Church with controversy, alarm serious men, and interrupt the established order of things, set 'the father against the son, and the mother against her daughter,' and lead the taught to say, I have more understanding than my teacher.' All this has been done; and all this is worth hazarding in a matter of life and death; much of it is predicted as the characteristic result, and therefore the sure criterion, of the truth. An object thus momentous we believe to be the unprotestantizing, to use an offensive but forcible word, of the National Church; and accordingly, we are ready to endure, however we may lament, the undeniable, and in themselves disastrous, effects of the pending controversy. But if, after all, we are not to be carried above the doctrine and love of the English Reformers; if we are but to exchange a ration, a vigorous extreme for an unreal congenial enthusiasm for a timid modemean, an energetic Protestantism for a stiff and negative Anglicanism, we see but poor compensation for so extensive and irreparable a breach of peace and charity. The object, important as it may be in itself, is quite inadequate to the sacrifice. "We cannot stand where we are; it will surely be the latter. It is absowe must go backwards or forwards; and lutely necessary towards the consistency of the system which certain parties are labouring to restore, that truths should be clearly stated which as yet have been but intimated, and others developed which are now but in germ." Here occurs a note which says, "As one among many instances of the way in which Catholic truths modify one another, might be mentioned the tendency of correct views of the sacramental efficacy of penance, and of the power of the keys, to adjust the doctrine of the Church concerning sin after baptism.' It is worth considering, whether the opposition which the ancient religion encounters in our own age, be not in part owing to the necessity entailed by our circumstances, of restoring it by degrees. Medicine is never so unpalateable as when sipped." Then the text proceeds to its conclusion thus: "As we go on we must recede more and more from the principles, if any such there be, of the English Reformation." |