thodists of Great Britain, have increased above 38,000 in number, within ten years, according to their own population returns; and the Calvinistic branch is equally active, and probably equally numerous. Many of them have already entered the church, so many as to form a loud and powerful faction; and, it is said, that they have funds among them to strengthen their party, by purchasing presentations. Meantime the conduct of the church has been such, as leads to her own destruction; if she persish, it will be by suicide. Infidelity and atheism have been her bug-bears; she has been acting like an ideot, who cracks a flea in triumph, while he suffers a viper to crawl into his bosom. Infidels and atheists will always be the minority; their opinions will die with them untransmitted, and their children fall into the ordinary course of society. Nature will not suffer her instincts to be perverted blindness of heart is no more hereditary than blindness of eye; these defects are forbidden to be perpetuated by the same unerring wisdom which renders mules and monsters incapable of propagation. Some miserable individual may occasionally raise his voice, but they never form a sect; and like stage players, every new blasphemer effaces the notoriety of his predecessor. They have no common object; their very speculations differ; and, if in any one point they are united, it is in preferring, to all others, that establishment under which they are secure of toleration. Infidelity and atheism are excellent man-targets to fire at from the pulpit; they are enemies of straw, whom their antagonists may place in what attitude they please, and beat them at pleasure; but our clergy are called upon to a more sericus conflict. There are, in Great Britain, 110,000 united methodists, there are as many more united ealvi nists; they differ concerning unconditional election and irresistible grace, but they agree in hostility to the establishment, and will not dispute upon the partition treaty till they have won the battle. The church of England is in danger! Is she then to resort to coercive measures for defence? God forbid! better means are in her own power, better and more effectual than these, which are neither justifiable by policy, nor reason, nor religion. We are attached to the esta blishment; and the advice which we offer will prove the sincerity of our attachment, because it is salutary and unwelcome. The thirty-nine articles must either be enforced or abolished; it is an insult to the understanding; and the feelings of the people, that their articles should be calvinistic, and their clergy arminian. It is degrading and hurtful to the clergy, that they should subscribe one set of opinions, and preach another. It is upon this weak point that the schismatics bring their artillery to bear; it is this which excludes from the establishment, those who would be its best and most ardent defenders, from the very strength of feeling which occasions their exclusion. Away with the African and Genevan interpolations of Christianity; let us have the religion of Christ Jesus, and not of Calvin; let that which the scriptures have left indefinite, remain undefined! Open the doors of the church, that they who feel and love the gospel may enter in, that zeal may be opposed by zeal, ignorance by knowledge, enthusiasm by virtue. It is idle to object, that this would effectually change the establishment; the establishment must undergo a change, "if it do not reform itself from within, it will be reformed from without with a vengeance." There is yet time for it to make its choice between reformation and ruin. ART. LXIV. Vindicia Ecclesia Anglicana: in which some of the false Reasonings, incorrect Statements, and palpable Misrepresentations, in a Publication, entitled, "The True Churchman, ascertained by John Overton, A. B." are pointed out. By the Rev. CHARLES DAUBENY. 8vo. pp. 471. THE controversy which in this work is continued, has now, for some time, been before the public, who, with us, will probably conceive that all has been long since advanced that the subject deserves or requires. "Much more in deed," as Mr. Daubeny himself remarks concerning one part of it, "has been written than appears necessary to its perfect illustration. The real merits of it lie in a narrow compass, and, by a writer in the habit of annexing clear and precise ideas to the words he uses, may be comprehended in a few sentences." P. 233. For ourselves, we confess, that we have long been fully persuaded, that however the articles of the church may appear to lean towards that moderate Calvinism which is professed by some in the present day, it is contrary both to historic fact and the clearest evidence, to attribute to the compilers of them those sentiments which J. Calvin and his disciples taught. The slightest comparison between these articles, the liturgy, the homilies, the private works of our first reformers, Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and Hooper, and the institutes of Calvin, is sufficient to demonstrate the truth of this opinion: of this Mr. Overton himself seems to be convinced, as our readers will learn from the following passage, which at the same time will afford a specimen of the superiority which Mr. Daubeny has over his op ponent: "We are at length arrived at the conclusion of this chapter, professing to ascertain the true sense of our articles, and the genuine doctrines of our reformers; which Mr. O. winds up by telling his readers, that nothing is further from his purpose, than to infer, from what has been advanced in this section, that the precise theological system of J. Calvin in all its parts, and to its full extent, was intended to be established in the thirtynine articles. P. 93. The general object of Mr. O.'s publication, if I understand it, is to prove the articles of our church to be Calvinistic. This must be understood to mean, that they were constructed in conformity with the tenets, of J. Calvin. In page 85 of this section, Mr. O. told his readers, that the large portion of the great body of the clergy of our church, who favoured Calvinistic sentiments, included the very men who thus formed and imposed these articles. A few pages after (p. 91) Mr. O. writes thus: On all hands, therefore, does it thus unquestionably appear, how generally those (Calvinistic) sentiments were entertained by the founders of our church, which are now represented as a curious conceit,' a system of nonsense, &c.' The sentiments which in my writings were thus disgracefully characterized, related to the Calvinistic doctrine of absolute and unconditional decrees; which the learned Jortin described, as a religious system consisting of human creatures without liberty, doctrines without sense, faith without reason, and a God without mercy;' and which Dr. Balguy somewhere calls a system of nonsense,' because it endeavours, in contradiction to the most decided language, to reconcile the absolute decrees of the Deity with the ac countableness of a rational being. Such, then, according to Mr. O.'s own statement, were the sentiments entertained by the founders of our church; for to such sentJortin and Balgay apply; and the persons, ments alone did the observations of Drs. according to Mr. O., who entertained these sentiments relative to absolute and uncon ditional decrees, were the very men who framed and composed our articles." From which premises Mr. O.'s readers may be led to conclude, on his authority, that the articles of our church were meant to be decidedly Calvinistic. But in the page now before us we are told by Mr. O. that the precise theological system of J. Calvin was not meant to be established in our ar ticles.' This is such backward and forward writing, as renders the meaning of the writer to me incomprehensible. After having laboured through a whole chapter for the express purpose of proving that our reformers were decided Calvinists, and the articles O. turns short on his readers, and tells them, framed by them of course Calvinistic; Mr. by way of conclusion to this same chapter, that the precise system of J. Calvin was not intended to be established in the articles." It would, therefore, I believe, be satisfactory to Mr. O's readers, and would certainly cut short the argument in this case, if Mr. O. would tell them, in plain unequivocal language, what system of doctrine was meant to be established in our articles; without perplexing them with describing that doctrine under a title in itself unseriptural, and to which he himself does not annex any precise and determinate idea. Instead of saying then, as Mr. O. does, that, our established forms do not teach directly se veral doctrines contained in Calvin's institu tions, p. 93; from which ambiguous mode of writing his readers may conclude, that our established forms teach those doctrines indirectly, and thus come prepared to swallow Calvinism in disguise; it would have been to better purpose to have said plainly, what doctrines our established forms directly do teach. His readers then might have known, under what doctrines of our church the tenets of Calvinism were supposed to be comprehended; and, if intelligent readers, have been qualified to judge of the strength of the ground, on which such a supposition stood." Mr. Daubeny is engaged in the vo lume before us, not in vindicating the articles of the church from the charge of Calvinism, but his own work, entitled, «A Guide to the Church," from the rude attacks of Mr. Overton. To follow him through the long course of his ar gument, would needlessly occupy our pages, and be a wearisome and unpro fitable task to ourselves and our readers. He has, in general, gained his purpose, and disproved the positions of Mr. O., both as they respect the confessions of the established church, and the doctrine advanced in the Cuide." In perusing this work, such enquiries as the following repeatedly suggested themselves to our minds:-If the sense of these articles, framed for the express purpose of preserving uniformity of opinion, be so obscure as this controversy represents it: if they, who are teachers in Israel, are thus divided in their opirien upon the doctrines to which they have respectively subscribed their assent as the doctrines declared by the church to be those of scripture, what good purpose do these articles answer? If after subscribing them, every one is at liberty to decide for himself respecting the sense they bear, will not diversity of sentiment be likely to prevail as much as it could do, were the scriptures themselves proposed as the only formulary to which assent should be required? Are those articles of faith worth retaining, which demand such elaborate works of explanation, and now stand in need of some authoritative declaration to determine the sense in which they ought to be understood? Many of our readers also may have felt the same or similar difficulties upon this subject. If they wish for a satisfactory solution of them, we cannot recommend any other means more effectual than a diligent perusal of the Confessional, and the letters published upon the subject of subscription by the late Dr. Jebb. ART. LXV. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Lincoln, at the Triennial Visitation of that Diocese in May and June 1803. By GEORGE PRETYMAN, D.D. F.R. S. Lord Bishop of Lincoln. 4to. pp. 26. THE subject of this charge is similar to that of the preceding work. His Lordship first attempts to prove that Calvinism is not agreeable to scripture, and then that the church of England is not Calvinistic. We shall select what the right reverend author observes concerning the homilies: But the most extraordinary circumstance of a negative kind remains to be noticed with respect to the homilies; to which so confident an appeal has lately been made by certain writers, that I request your particular attention to the fact I am going to state. purpose of establishing their congregations in a sound faith and a right practice, without even mentioning in them any one of these points? And let it be remembered, that the subjects of many of the homilies are immediately connected with the Calvinistic system, such as Original Sin, the Salvation of Mankind, Faith, Good Works, declining from God, the Nativity, the Passion, the Resurrection, the Descent of the Holy Ghost, the Grace of God, and Repentance. "But though the homilies contain neither any discussion in support of the Calvinistic doctrines, nor any direct refutation of them, there is a great number of inciNot one of the peculiar doctrines of Cal- dental passages which plainly shew that the vinism is mentioned in either of the two authors were not Calvinists. The little nobooks of homilies. The word predestination tice taken of these points proves, that when does not occur from the beginning to the end the homilies were written and published, of the homilies. The word election occurs Calvinistic opinions had made very little proonly once, and then it is not used in the Calvinistic sense. gress in England. For, if they had been The word reprobation generally prevalent, or even if they had been does not occur at all. Nothing is said of embraced by any considerable number of Absolute Decrees, Partial Redemption, Per- persons, the framers of the homilies would severance, or Irresistible Grace. You all have thought it necessary for the times' know that the former of these books was to have entered more fully into these subpublished in the reign of Edward the Sixth, jects, and to have offered a confutation of and the latter in the beginning of queen what they manifestly considered as erroneous Elizabeth's reign, and that both are prodoctrines: they would have exposed the nounced by our thirty-fifth article to "connew errors of Calvinism in the same manner tain a godly and wholsome doctrine, and as they have exposed the old errors of popery. necessary for these times;" that is, for the The fact is, that the introduction of Cal times in which they were published. If our vinism, or rather, its prevalence in any con great reformers, the authors of these homi- siderable degree, was subsequent to the bees, Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, and Jewell, had themselves, as is sometimes pretended, held Calvinistic opinions, is it to be believed that they would have composed a set of sermons, to be used by the parochial clergy in their respective churches, for the avowed ginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, when all our public formularies, our articles, our liturgy, and our homilies, were settled as they now are, with the exception of a few alterations and additions to the liturgy, not in the least affecting its general spirit and character. Our reformers followed no human authority-they had recourse to the scriptures themselves as their sole guide. And the consequence has been what might have been expected, that our articles and liturgy do not exactly correspond with the sentiments of any of the eminent reformers upon the continent, or with the creeds of any of the protestant churches which are there estab lished. Our church is not Lutheran—it is not Calvinistic-it is not Arminian-It is Scriptural. It is built upon the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." ART. LXVI. A Dissertation on the Seventeenth Article of the Church of England: wherein the Sentiments of the Compilers, and other contemporary Reformers, on the subject of the Divine Decrees, are fully deduced from their own Writings. To which is subjoined, a short Tract, ascertaining the Reign and Time in which the Royal Declaration before the Thirty-Nine Articles was first published. By the Rev. T. WINCHESTER, D. D. late Rector of Appleton. A New Edition, with Emendations from the Author's corrected Copy, and the Addition of a Biographical Preface. 8vo. pp. 106. THIS little tract is reprinted as part of a larger miscellaneous work, entitled, "The Churchman's Remembrancer: being a collection of scarce and valuable treatises in defence of the truly primitive doctrines and discipline of the established church." The editors profess themselves "happy to introduce. to the public Dr. Winchester's admira ble treatise on the seventeenth article: a work now known to very few, and not procurable for money; the design of which is to prove, that our reformers were not Calvinists, by the same mode of argument as that by which Dr. Kipling has, very recently, demonstrated that our liturgy and articles are not Calvinistic: and such is its execution, that, excepting those "predestined never to be convinced," it will doubtless be considered by all its readers " as decisive" upon the point in question, "and as setting it at rest for ever." P. v. In prosecuting his enquiry, Dr. Win chester very wisely confined himself to the sense of our reformers in the reign of Edward VI. "The design of the ensuing dissertation is, to prove that the seventeenth article of the church of England, which treats of predestination, was not drawn up by the compilers of our articles, conformable to the doctrine of Calvin on this subject. In prosecuting this enquiry, it is intended to confine it to the sense of our reformers in the reign of Edward VI. To proceed further, into that of Elizabeth, would only be to discover that many of our divines, during their exile under Queen Mary, were strongly tinctured with Calvin's doctrines; which occasioned at length great disputes at Cambridge in the year 1595. They who maintain that the article is calvinistical, have generally chosen to fix upon this latter period; but the evidence drawn from those times, whatever it may amount the apparent sentiments and design of the to, cannot be equal to that which arises from compilers themselves, and their contemporaries." nion on the subject of the xviith article: He first states at large Calvin's opiarticle, and the sentiments of the princi then, from the design and history of the pal compiler of it, (Cranmer) he shews, trines of the Genevan reformer. To that it gives no countenance to the doc. confirm this, he next produces, from the Reformatio Legum, the chapter de Pradestinatione. The testimonies of Bishops Hooper and Latimer, against the rigid doctrine of the Calvinists, are then produced, and are strong in favour of the anti-calvinistic interpretation; lastly, the difference in opinion, on this subject, between those who were imprisoned by Queen Mary, is considered. markable: "Christ shed as much blood A passage from Latimer is very refor Judas as he did for Peter; Peter be lieved it, and therefore he was saved; Judas would not believe it, and therefore he was condemned, the fault being in him only, and in nobody else." This is certainly not calvinism; and Mr. Overton, in attempting to get rid of the dif ficulty it occasions, has resorted to the strange and useless measure, of proving the sentiment not just. The declaration prefixed to the articles is, in the short tract subjoined, proved to have been published in the reign of Charles the First. * Dr. Waterland, in the Supplement to the Case of Arian Subscription, has considered. in a masterly way, the disputes on this subject, which happened in the reigns of Elizabeth, James I. and Charles I. ART. LXVII. A Reply to the Anguis in Herba of the Rev. James Hook, M. A. & F.S.A. containing a Refutation of bis Defence of Pluralities, Non-residence, and the Employment of Substitutes by the Beneficed Clergy. By ▲ MEMBER OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 8vo. pp. 87. THIS is a strenuous and well written defence, of a very important work noticed in our last volume, and entitled "the Necessity of the Abolition of Pluralities, Non-residence, &c." against which the Rev. James Hook, credens se aliquem, had entered the lists, and taken up the gauntlet in favour of his plura list and non-resident brethren. We suspect that the author of that work is here again before us; if not, he is one who, by many strong marks of likeness, discovers a near affinity. It is not necessary to enter into a detail of this transaction, it contains little that is not to be found in the larger work to which we have just alluded. The following passage deserves the attention of Mr. Hook, who has argued in support of pluralities, from the small income arising from the greater part of livings: "It is singular, that this gentleman takes no notice of the number of superior benefices, which form a competent maintenance for a resident incumbent; and one might suppose, that in his opinion there were no single livings sufficient for that purpose. I m convinced however, from my own obserration, and the information of others, that the number of benefices in England, above Sool. a year, cannot be less than 2000, and these best livings are held in plurality equally with the inferior! Is a plurality of these to be defended on the plea of poverty? Or rather, is not the insufficiency of son.e churches made use of as a pretext to hide and support the plurality of others that are sufficient?" If the plan of universal residence cannot be reduced to practice, as near an approximation to it as possible should be adopted; and a law should be passed to prevent benefices above 3001. or 4001. per annum, to be held ia plurality by any clergyman." It is indeed high time that some re-, formation should be adopted, if the esta blishment is to possess the esteem of the great body of the people; who not being liable to be misled by interest, feel the force of such truths as these: "Every one admitted into the christian authority of scripture, to employ his time ministry is equally bound, by the express and exert his talents in the faithful and conscientious discharge of its duties, and to make full proof of his ministry. The clergy being under an indispensable obligation to perform it in their own persons, it becomes, by necessary consequence, impossible that they can neglect it, or discharge it by the agency of a delegate. Every character, title, and designation, attributed in the gospel to its ministers, demonstrate this truth. An ambassador is not at liberty to delegate the commission which he has received from his sovereign to a substitute of his own appointment. A watchinan or sentinel is not al lowed to neglect or desert his post, or place another in his stead at his own pleasure. A shepherd is not permitted to forsake the flock entrusted to him, and commit them to the care of a hireling. A steward is not suffered to absent himself from the family of his lord, and assign the care and management of his household to a deputy. And therefore those, who are commissioned to go and preach the gospel, are not at liberty to refuse to go and discharge their important mission, or to send others in their room; much less, if they neglect to serve at the altar, ought they to live by the altar. Every clergyman must give an account of his personal diligence and fidelity in the work of his Lord, and receive his reward according to his own work, and not according to the labour of his substitute. "On these equitable principles were the ministers of the gospel first established, and by these just principles did they regulate their conduct for ages; nor is a single instance to be found in the history of the church, for near a thousand years, of any minister, in any order and rank of the priesthood, performing his duty by the help of a substitute, much less of any minister receiving the rewards earned by the services of his deputy." ART. LXVIII. A Word of Advice to all Church Reformation-mongers: containing Strictures on two recent Publications. 8vo. pp. 32. THE two recent publications are"the Necessity of the Abolition of Pluralities, &c." and "a Plea for Religion and the Sacred Writings," both noticed in our former volume. This Word of Advice is, not inaptly, styled by the author a squib; and as we have no fondness for gun-powder, we shall not venture to touch it. Our readers, we can assure them, will suffer no loss; and they will keep themselves out of danger, if they follow our example. |