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Writ. And what is the wise remedy proposed for this evil? To require him to believe, in the teeth of reason and Scripture alike, the modest assertion, that the truth has been transmitted orally, without corruption, for near two thousand years!

Our Author next maintains it to be only a reasonable demand, that God's message, on which salvation depends, should be put in some definite form. This he thinks is to be found in the Apostles' creed, but not in the Bible. And since much of the Scripture, in his view, relates to non-essentials, the knowledge of what is really essential must be gained from some other source. The missionary can only count his fingers, turn over the leaves, and be silent.

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Now the error and confusion in these statements arises from a false conception of the true nature of saving faith. The argument supposes that this is an intellectual opinion or a verbal profession, the efficacy of which depends on the technical accuracy and completeness of the words by which it is expressed. Saul of Tarsus, for instance, was a good man, steady in his adherence to the national faith;" he repeated the Apostles' creed, and thus became a complete Christian. The inquiring Brahmin "loves God with all his heart," though ignorant of his real nature, and in fact a mere idolater. He too learns to repeat the same creed, and he also becomes forthwith a complete Christian. Such, as far as we can trace it, is the view which the treatise implies, though perhaps Mr. Sewell would shrink from its advocacy, when put, like the creed, into a definite form. On this principle, Christianity would doubtless be imperfect without an express formula like that of the Arabian impostor," There is one God, and Mahomet is the Apostle of God." But such is not the view of Scripture, nor the tone of the gospel. Saving faith is not a form of words, but a principle in the heart. Truth, in all its variety, is the soil in which it is planted, and the dew by which it is nourished into strength; but its own character is simple. Its root is a heartfelt conviction of sin; its nature, a simple reliance on a Divine promise of pardon. In this view, definite forms to express it may be found in every book of the New Testament; and when we adopt any other conception of its nature, mists and shadows involve us at every turn.

Let us examine, for instance, Mr. Sewell's hypothesis. The Apostles' creed is the "short, clear, and definite enumeration" which solves the problem, and contains the essentials of the faith. Now first, we ask, is Mr. Sewell himself content with this only? Is he not aware that Socinians would in general have no scruple in subscribing it? He is not content with it. More is still needed; for presently we have a fresh definition. "The Apostles' creed, interpreted by the Nicene and Athanasian, contain that which is fundamental; our Thirty-nine Articles contain that which

is less essential." (p. 161.) But even this addition is not enough. For "from the very nature of words, however carefully and explicitly they are put together, they may be made to bear on great variety of meanings." The 90th Tract was probably fresh in the Author's memory. "And one man will associate with a word one set of ideas, and another man another. And the more words are multiplied, the more easy it will be to involve the text and multiply interpretations." Therefore we must have also "a body of ministers who are bound by solemn engagements to teach the words, only in one, definite, fixed meaning."—(pp. 69, 70.) Thus, on our Author's principles, the Nicene and Athanasian Creed, even more than the Apostles', need an oral interpretation, without which they are useless, and which must be included among the essentials of Christian faith. And so the false principle leads us on step by step, till it lands us in a passive reception of whatever the living priest declares; faith in Christ exhales and is lost, and blind submission to the Church is the caput mortuum

that remains in its stead.

In contrast to these delusions, which, like the Indian cosmogony of the elephant and the tortoise, leave faith itself without any sure basis on which to rest, we maintain the two following maxims, as a safeguard alike against the bigotry of a barren orthodoxy, and the doubts and dreams of neological error. The essential truths of Christianity, and many more besides, may be derived with certainty and assurance from the Scriptures alone. Once let this anchor be fast rooted in the heart, and we may freely and profitably allow that the testimony of holy men, both in the first ages, and in later times, may come in as a valuable confirmation of many Scriptural truths. But once deny the sense of God's word to be ascertainable by its own light to a teachable spirit, and neither creeds on creeds, nor fathers upon fathers, can save us from sinking into the quagmire of universal doubt and incredulous blindness. The mocking demon of unbelief will reply, as of old, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but Catholic traditionists, who are ye?" On the other hand, saving faith does not consist in a correct form of words, but in a living principle, the simple reliance of a heart, convinced of sin, on the promise of pardon, grace and salvation. Full and explicit creeds and formularies are profitable; they furnish the soil in which true faith strikes root deeper and deeper as it grows; they are helps to the memory, incentives to meditation, and in many cases, tests of a child-like spirit; but they are not, of themselves, even when professed most fully, the substance of the blessing. The larger the degrees of light which have been vouchsafed, the more extensive becomes that explicit confession, which is generally necessary to salva

tion. But the reason is simply this, that its rejection or neglect, in such cases, is almost the sure proof of a perverse and lifeless heart. But to return to our Author: inconsistencies crowd upon us when we endeavour to grasp his precise meaning. We have seen that the Athanasian creed is reckoned by him a part of that "definite form," those essentials of salvation, which the Scriptures fail to supply. Yet we are surprised to find that he thinks it possible it may be partly erroneous. The following are his words:

"It is a human composition. It was drawn up for the purpose of stating, as accurately and distinctly as possible, the great mysteries of the Christian faith, so as to guard against the intrusion of those novel and heretical doctrines by which men's minds were then distracted. It has been accepted generally by the body of the Church as conformable to the true and traditional doctrines, as only an accurate developement of the other creeds, and as consonant to Scripture. And yet, observe, though we, the Catholic Church in England, do from our hearts believe it, we do not forget that it is a human expression of divine truth, and as a human expression it may err; and we have no apostolical authority to prescribe it as the terms of salvation. We regard it, therefore, more as a hymn than as a creed; we employ it only in occasional services, for great festivals."-(pp. 136, 137.)

Surely it is a relief to turn from these strange and misty theories, these essentials of salvation which may be partly untrue, and these definite forms which may possibly need reforming, to the good old ways, in which the great body of simple and pious Churchmen were walking, before this new school of traditionists arose. The Apostles' creed was then repeated as a summary of facts clearly revealed in God's word; a help to our faith, rich in the memories of divine love, and bright with the hopes of immortality; and not perverted into an ecclesiastical barrier, from behind which the puny shafts of sceptical cavilling, might be aimed against the doctrinal sufficiency and plainness of the word of God. When the Most High has spoken to the Church through two thousand years, by the mouths of inspired Prophets and Apostles, and by the lips of His own eternal Son, how petty and miserable must all this trifling appear! What intolerable presumption, to make the perverseness of the fallen heart, an impeachment of those living oracles, which are able to make us wise unto salvation, to build us up in the faith, to make us perfect in every good work, and prepare us for an inheritance among the people of God.

The extract which we have been endeavouring to analyze may be viewed as the germ of the whole treatise. The principles which it contains re-appear in every part, with varied illustrations, and even a tedious repetition, which the form of dialogues makes still more wearisome. Even the talents of Mr. Sewell-and they are of a high order—must fail to make such a work attractive; and the notice we have given to it is rather from respect to his name, the prominent station which he occupies, and the character of his

previous writings, than from any fear of its popular influence. There are several other parts which we had marked for examination. But in the present day, when loose theology abounds, and statements entwined with a little truth and much error are threatening everywhere the faith of the Church, it seems far more useful to discuss thoroughly one single passage, where great principles are involved, than to run lightly, like butterflies, from page to page. Young Christians of thoughtful and impressible minds, need at this time, more than ever, to have the duty enforced, by example as well as precept, of proving all things, and exercising their spiritual senses to discern between good and evil.

And now we ask again, in what corner of the subject does the great discovery lie, to which the "revivers of Church-principles" are just "opening their eyes ;" and though confessedly but half awake themselves, look around with an air of pity on the total blindness of old-fashioned Protestant Christians; of those Churchmen who can love and honour their Church, without hating or maligning the true people of Christ in other communions, and who can join in the Liturgy with a glad and grateful heart, without finding it needful to torture the Articles and to revile the Reformers? Is it the power and fulness of God's word which they have brought out in glowing colours of light? On the contrary, they have sought to cover it with an impenetrable mist, and perplexed its native clearness with metaphysical dreams. Is it the need of a humble, diligent, prayerful spirit in the search after truth, and the assurance of its success? On this, which is the real hinge of the whole question, they are silent. Is it the relative importance of oral teaching and of the written word, as distinct means of instruction? They have here fought with a spectre of their own creation; but they have cleared nothing, they have established nothing. Where then does this discovery lie? Is it not really the invention of a mist, the discovery of a shadow? Their new and high-sounding scheme of implicit faith and Catholic tradition bears handling no better than the shade of Anchises :

Ter conatus ibi collo dare brachia circum,
Ter frustra comprensa manus effudit imago,
Par levibus ventis, volucrique simillima somno.

Perhaps the resemblance might even be traced a step further. The shadow is nothing in itself; yet to a thoughtful observer it has a voice and an utterance, and serves as an ominous prophet of future triumphs, however short-lived and transitory, of Papal Rome. May the good providence of God avert from us the danger, and unite the true sons of the Church, in their double office of witnesses and intercessors, to resist the plague, and restore, in the spirit of meekness, those who are now tainted by the subtle and perilous delusion.

1. THE NATIONAL EDUCATION QUESTION PRACTICALLY CONSIDERED; in a Letter to the Right Hon. Sir James Graham, Bart., Secretary of State for the Home Department, and one of the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education. By the Rev. RICHARD BURGESS, B.D., Rector of Upper Chelsea. London: Hatchards. 1843. 2. A LETTER TO THE RIGHT HON. SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART., ON NATIONAL EDUCATION AND CHURCH EXTENSION. By the Rev. HUGH STOWELL, M.A., of Manchester. London: Hatchards. 1843.

3. A LETTER TO LORD ASHLEY, ON THE DEFECTIVE STATE OF NATIONAL EDUCATION. By the Rev. THOMAS PAGE, A.M., Incumbent of Christ Church, Egham. London: Seeleys and Burnside. 1843.

IN the course of a quarter of century (during which the question of popular education has been agitated in the Senate, and in the public journals,) the clergy of the Established Church have come in for a considerable share of vituperation. They have not unfrequently been represented as the great obstacle to the intellectual improvement of the millions, on the ground that sacerdotal influence can only prevail amidst popular ignorance, and that to enlighten the minds of the multitude is to undermine the dominion of the hierarchy. Opinions and sentiments like these, however, (which a few years ago were entertained and put forth by persons of name and notoriety,) begin now to be felt to be vulgar; and except in some "halls of science" and socialist clubs, the words priesthood and priestcraft are not now "considered convertible terms." Since the Church has been stirred up to an energy and activity, which have astonished both her adversaries and her friends, the accusation has assumed a milder, but not a less malignant form. It is alleged that this educational movement on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities, is created by an alarm for the safety of the Church revenues; and it has been imputed to those who base education on religion, "with the most perfect charity!" that they have only the intention of drawing the young men into their own sects. 1 "There are too many lucrative incumbencies and exclusive privileges dependent upon the continual reign of the defective education, which at present cheats both the 1 Mr. Simpson's evidence before the committee on education in 1833, question 3171. Simpson's Philosophy of Education, p. 189. 1836. Q

FEB. 1843.

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