struction in the doctrines to which they relate, and who shall have fi. nally rejected them. It is utterly repugnant to the attributes of God, nor can it be reconciled to our ideas of common justice, that a per son should be consigned to eternal punishment, because he did not believe certain articles of faith, which were never proposed to him, or of the truth of which he was not qualified to judge. We may be convinced that the belief of some doctrines as well as the prac tice of some virtues, is essential to salvation; but we are to suppose that the door of repentance is equally open in both cases: a man may be sorry for and correct an error in opinion, as well as he may be sorry for, and abandon any vice; in the one case he may conquer a prejudice, and in the other subdue a passion. We are not justi fied in saying that any man is so sunk in error, or so depraved by sin, that he cannot repent and be saved; but, as we may say, that if any man perseveres in the deliberate commission of known sin, he has no right to expect salvation; so we may say if a man through obsti nacy and prejudice, from a wilful misapplication or neglect of the talents with which he is endowed, finally rejects the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, when they are fairly and fully proposed to him, he likewise has no right to expect salvation: in either case he must be left to the uncovenanted mercy of God. We are comman ded to search the scriptures, that we may form a right faith, and be able to give a reason of the hope that is in us. We are also to con tend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints; that is, we are to maintain with zeal and firmness, what, after mature delibera tion and impartial inquiry, we believe to be revealed truth; but in our exertions to establish the unity of faith, we are not to violate the bond of peace; we are not to consider all who differ from us as un❤ worthy of, or excluded from, the favor of God.

Some learned men have contended that the creed, which is cem. monly called the apostle's creed, was composed by the apostles them selves, but there is no authority for that opinion in scripture. The primitive fathers often speak of an apostolical creed; but by that name they do not mean a determinate form of words drawn up by the apostles, but a creed containing the doctrines which they preach. -ed; and this is what we are to understand by the creed commonly called the apostles creed.

It is not known by whom, or at what precise time, this creed was written. But though we cannot trace it in the form in which it now stands in our liturgy to those times, it is certainly very old; and we find almost all its articles mentioned separately and incidentally in the earliest fathers, and particularly in Ignatius, who was contemporary with the apostles.

Great respect is due to all these creeds, on account of their antiquity and general reception among christians: but as they do not come immediately from Christ or his apostles, they have no other claim to our assent than as they agree with the New Testament; and upon this ground our church declares that they ought thoroughly to be received and believed, for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy scripture. The principal parts of these creeds have been already proved, and therefore it is unnecessary to enter in to that subject in this place.

FROM THE ORTHODOX CHURCHMAN'S MAGAZINE,

A new History and Illustration of the Common Prayer. Continued from page 17.

AMONG these were an addition of some forms of thanksgiving to the litany, and another concerning the sacraments, in the catechism, which till then ended with the answer to the question that follows the Lord's prayer. The words lawful minister, were also added, in the rubric at the beginning of the office for private baptism, to prevent the abuse of that ceremony by mid-wives or laymen, with some other amendments; the whole without any interference, or the authority of parliament.

In this manner the liturgy continued till the reign of Charles II. when the presbyterians requesting further alterations, a commission was issued, dated March 25, 1661, authorizing twelve bishops, and an equal number of presbyterian divines, to introduce such reasonable and necessary alterations as should be mutually agreed upon, Nine assistants were added on each side; but though several meetings were held at the Savoy, the presbyterians were so averse to any moderate or temperate proceedings, in the manner recommended in the commission, that the conference broke up prematurely, nothing being done, the adoption of a few alterations excepted, which were proposed by the bishops; and these, in the May following, received the assent of a full convocation. The alterations here alluded to, were the exchange of several lessons in the calendar, for others thought to be more proper.

The prayers for particular occasions, were also separated from the litany; and the two prayers to be used in the Ember Weeks; that for the parliament, and that for all conditions of men; the office of baptism for those of riper years; the forms of prayer to be used at sea; and the general thanksgiving, make up the additions. Several of the collects were added, and, instead of Cranmer's translation, the epistles and gospels were ordered to be taken. out of the present translation of the bible, made in the reign of James I. The other particulars of this review of the Liturgy, may be seen in the preface to the common prayer book.

Thus, after à process of more than an hundred years duration, the whole of our church service was brought to the standard in which it still remains; and on the 20th December 1661, it received the una nimous sufferage of both houses of Convocation, and was legally es tablished by the last act of uniformity, Stat. 13 and 14. Car. II. chap. 4. when lord chancellor Clarendon received the charge of the house, to return the thanks of the lords to the bishops and clergy of both. provinces for the great care and industry shown in the review.

But since this period it has been found necessary to add four services to the Common Prayer Book, by royal authority, which is reprinted at the beginning of every reign, viz. those for the 5th Nov. 30th of Jan. and 29th of May, and that for the inauguration;* and by • These services being entirely of a local nature, are nevossamly omitted in the American revised Prayer Book.

the authority of the Lord Lieutenant, a service for the visitation of prisoners has been added to the Irish Common Prayer Book.

The whole of the Common Prayer, since the period just alluded to, naturally divides itself into, first, The Common Prayer, containing the services, viz. the administration of the sacraments, and rites and ceremonies of the church, according to the use of the church of England; together with, secondly, The Psalter or Psalms of David, printed as they are to be sung or said in churches; and, thirdly, the form or manner of making, ordaining, and consecrating of bishops, priests and deacons. Upon those heads, from which doctrinal truths may be drawn or applied, it is now intended to offer some illustrations of their general propriety, utility and excellence, with a particular view to the obviation of the objections started by Dissenters, whose deviations from the use of set forms is certainly an innovation, as those formerly in use by Calvin, at Geneva, and his successors in other places, are still extant: and from the extreme length and heaviness of some of these forms, and the very small part borne by the people, in the way of responses, or any other mode of participation, the superiority of our Liturgy, though considerably longer than their ser vices, may be justly inferred. Besides, our church service is so happily constructed, that any small portion of it, joined in by those who may not be present at the whole, may have a much better effect upon the devout auditor, than an equal or larger portion, pronounced by the minister only, in which it is possible, that general supplication or thanksgiving may be excluded, or expressed in terms much too limited or particular. On the contrary, the attendant upon our church service, having but one opportunity of joining the congregation in any of the several repetitions of the Lord's Prayer, may possibly drink deeper of the spirit of genuine devotion, than in a much. longer service, where this divine pattern is omitted, or repeated by. the minister only once in the course of his duty.

Respecting the last revision of our excellent Liturgy, by the commission suggested by Tillotson, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, and approved by William III. it ought to be subjoined from the elegant and scholastic pen of the present curate of Paddington, that the bishops in this commission were, Lamplugh, of York; Compton, of London; Mew, of Winchester; Sprat of Rochester; Smith, of Carlisle; Trelawny, of Exeter; Burnett, of Salisbury; Humphreys, of Bangor; and Strafford, of Chester. Besides the bishops, the twenty assisting divines, included the following eminent names : Stillingfleet, Patrick, Tillotson, Kidder, and Tennison. By these commissioners some new collects were drawn up, more agreeable to the epistles and gospels, and they are said to have been written with great force and beauty of expression. The first draft was made by Patrick, who possessed a peculiar talent for composing prayers. Energy and spirit were infused by Burnett; Stillingfleet examined every word with the exactest judgment; and Tillotson gave the last polish, by the free and masterly strokes of his eloquence. Kidder made a new version of the Psalms, which is said to be more conformable to the original; and Tennison collected all the words and expressions throughout the Liturgy, that had been excepted against,

and proposed others in their room, which were either more clear, or plain, or less liable to objection.

In reference to the composition here referred to, Nicholls says, "The Collects were composed with such elegance of style and splendor of diction, with such force and ardor of christian piety, that nothing could more powerfully affect the mind of the hearer, inflame his affections and elevate his soul to God."....Def. of the Ch. of Eng.

Who does not regret, says the Rev. Mr. Shepherd, that these collects, improved by men so well qualified to reduce them to the standard of perfection, remain unknown and unseen?

The elucidation of the Litany, the communion service, and the other offices of the established church, announced by this author, as in a state of considerable forwardness (see page lxxx. of the second edition of his introduction to A critical and practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England), we have reason to expect as an acquisition to religion and literature.

[To be continued.]

On the union of Faith and Works.

AN EXTRACT FROM A LATE PUBLICATION ENTITLED

"A WORLD WITHOUT SOULS.”

THE preacher took his station just as they entered the building: time had laid his hand upon him, and had gently wrinkled his brows; they were however wholesome tracks, the furrows of the winter's field, the meet and honorable ornaments of a head silvered by the snows of three-score years. The eye bore its testimony that the revelation on which it rested was true, by indicating how long the soul can survive the body: and its brow, like that arch which bestrides the heavens, not only said that the storm had passed away, but, like it, prophesied also of a peace which was to come. The words from which he preached were found in the mouth of an apostle, add to your faith, virtue.

He began by telling them, that " the justice which banished man from Paradise, left him also a prey to error; and that the text might serve them to examine two errors which had almost divided the world. The class who adopt the one," he said, " is without religion, those who adopt the other pervert it. The first suppose faith or belief to be of little importance if the life be right; the second esteem faith every thing, and virtue nothing. The first error involves an impossible supposition, that the life may be right, if the faith be wrong. Faith is a part of life; it is the great member of spiritual being, it is the heart's blood, the living principle of real existence. If then the source of life be destroyed, can life remain? Faith is that part of life which connects man with God; is this portion of it of no importance? It is that part of it with which the soul is concerned; is this insignificant? It is that part which regards eternity; and is eternity then to be trifled with as a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then passeth away? But let us examine why faith has this extraordinary value attached to it in the Bible."

"The great end of revelation," said the preacher," as it res pected man, was to give a Redeemer to a ruined world. The will of God was to rescue those whom sin had endangered. He determined to accomplish this by the death of his Son; sacrifice and of fering for sin, thou wouldst not, then said I, lo, I come. The great end of religion therefore being accomplished in Jesus Christ, every thing in it must have a reference to him, must be excellent in pro portion as it makes him its fountain-head and very element. And such is faith. It is that principle in the mind of the christian, the work of God indeed, but which appropriates the merits of Christ te himself. When the Son of God was upon earth, faith was debarred the exercise of some of its powers. Men had then to believe the use alone of his coming, since their eye could ascertain the reality of his appearance. But every day makes additional demands upon this principle. We are called upon to see the past as the pres ent, to realize occurrences that are gone; and as patriarchs and prophets, before the coming of Christ, could hurry over intervening ages, and make futurity past, he was led as a lamb to the slaughter; so we are required to summon past ages in review before us, to crowd years into moments, to transmute memory into sight, to sink at once the centuries heaped on centuries that obstruct our retrospect, to feel that in Him, though now we see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. This is not all," continued the man of God; "faith secures the two important ends of humbling man and elevating God. Of man it records his fall, and his punishment. When it looks to God, it reads his holiness in his hatred of crime, his justice in its chastisement. It ascribes salvation to his mercy, it discovers his wisdom in the design of redemption, and his power in its accomplishment; Christ the wisdom of God and the power of God. Surveying thus on every side the great scheme of man's salvation, it borrows from every point a brilliant illustration of the attributes of the Deity; from every star in this glorious `constellation it borrows a ray to form, as it were, a crown to cast at the feet of Him who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords."

The preacher continued: "the doctrine which asserts an indissoJuble connexion between faith and works, makes faith valuable; for, by embodying it in works, it teaches men to respect the principle in the acts to which it leads, and in the principle to honor Him who is its author. It makes faith valuable also in this respect, that it bends it to its second purpose, the advancing the happiness of mankind. God, (he said in amplifying upon this idea) created men to contribute to the happiness of each other, and in councils, without variableness;' the work of redemption could not change the design of creation. All the principles of Christianity, therefore, and faith among the rest, breathe a spirit of charity. They link man to man; they make every one the wheel of a vast machine, of which every part facilitates the motion, and secures the harmony of the whole : ye are every one members one of another. No principle of religion then can be good which does not provide a motive for the performance of our social duties, and the exercise of our charities. But faith here takes the highest ground, when it teaches us the sublime