fided to you. Do not lightly expel a child; this should not be done except in the last emergency; there is only one justifying cause the injury done to others. A teacher ought to bear with any thing rather than think of expulsion, unless there be this

cause.

We address ourselves, in all these arguments, to those who are leading a life of faith and prayer; whose desire it is to discharge this duty as unto the Lord, and not to please themselves. Should the thought pass across their minds for a moment, that such requirements tend to render the duty more difficult, painful, and laborious, then let them hear the encouragement to fulfil it, "Teachers shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever."

THE origin of the Thirty Nine Articles like that of the Creeds, composed at earlier periods, is to be traced to the prevalence of certain errors and heresies among the members of the Christian Church, which it was necessary to meet by some definite declarations of the true doctrine of the religion of Christ. Just as in the fourth century, when controversies were rife touching the Godhead of our Lord and Saviour, the Council of Nice was assembled under the Emperor Constantine, and issued in the publication of that form of sound words, which is still known among us as the Nicene Creed; so, in the sixteenth century, the discussions which attended the reformation of religion in England, rendered it indispensable that some agreement should be come to on the main points of Christian faith and practice, in opposition on the one hand to the corruptions of Rome, and on the other hand to divers extravagancies into which some of the Protestant sects were falling. Hence our Articles. The work was commenced in the reign of Edward the Sixth, when forty-two articles were prepared, principally by Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Ridley, Bishop of London; and being adopted in a convocation held in the year 1552, were published with the King's authority. These articles Queen Mary repealed. Her sister Elizabeth, on coming to the throne, directed a revision of them to be made, and thirty-nine articles were then agreed upon by the Archbishops, the Bishops, and the Clergy, assembled in convocation, in the year 1562.

They were afterwards reviewed, but no alterations of any material importance were made; and although the original manuscripts were destroyed in the great fire of London, other copies were preserved, and are still extant, which shew that the version of the articles, now printed in our Books of Common Prayer, corresponds almost entirely with that which was approved in the convocation of 1562. From that time to the present, they have constituted with the members of the Anglican Church, the criterion of their faith. To the Lay members of the Church, they serve as an exhibition of what she holds and teaches; and, consequently, of what they do themselves also receive, if they are intelligent and honest in their profession of attachment to her. With the Clergy these articles are a rule of doctrine, to which they bind themselves to adhere in all their teaching of the people committed to their charge. No one can enter into Holy Orders in our Church, nor take possession of any pastoral office, without first signing these articles, in token of his sincere concurrence with the statements which they contain. Whoever, therefore, would know what it is that the Church of England maintains, or would understand what her intentions are in all her other formularies,on matters of faith, of duty, and of discipline, must refer to the declarations which she has here deliberately made, and which she imposes most solemnly on all who have authority to teach in her communion.

As might be expected then, it will be found that these articles are arranged in systematic order. They fall under four divisions. In the first place, from the First Article to the Fifth, we have those great facts and doctrines affirmed, which are taught us in the Divine word concerning God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. In the second division, containing the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Articles, the rule of faith is declared. In the third division, from the Ninth to the Eighteenth Articles, the chief principles of the Christian religion are developed in relation to men individually. The fourth division which comprises the remaining twenty articles, treats of various matters having reference to the Church of Christ at large. Now the most anxious inquiry of every pious and reflecting person, who has been brought up in the communion of the Church of England, or who may wish to enter within her pale, will be this, Is the doctrine propounded in these articles the true doctrine of the word of God? And how much is it to be desired that every member of our Church, and especially those who are engaged in any way as teachers in connexion with her ministry, should have their minds well instructed, and thoroughly settled on this question! Sunday school teachers in the Church of England have to fill an important position in respect of the pastors of that church. They are the coadjutors, the fellowhelpers of the Clergy in the work of instruction. Upon them

devolves, to a great extent, the responsibility of training the children of the poorer members of the Church in Christian faith and duty. It is most essential therefore that they should have their views of the principles of their Church formed from a careful study of her own statements, and that their attachment to those principles, should be founded on a clear conviction of the full accordance of the teaching of the Church with the testimony of the word of God.

Under these impressions it is proposed to devote a portion of the pages of this Quarterly to a simple explanation of the Thirty Nine Articles in their order. It will be sought, in the treatment of each article, to show that the doctrine of the Church of England is the doctrine of Holy Scripture; because here is our strength. The Church of England stays her whole system on an appeal to the Law and to the Testimony. For the doctrines which she inculcates, for the duties which she enforces, and for the discipline which she maintains, her desire is altogether to abide by the result of that appeal.

God grant that her children may never take any other ground!

We enter now on the first division of our Articles, comprising the great facts and doctrines which we are taught in the Divine word concerning God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; the ONE JEHOVAH whom we adore,

ARTICLE I.

Of Faith in the Holy Trinity.

There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

"The Title of the Article claims attention: Of Faith in the Holy Trinity. The Church is about to make her acknowledgment of the God whom she worships. What then is the view which she bids us take of the object of her adoration? It is that of a Holy, Blessed, and Glorious Trinity. The Church of England knows no God but a Triune Jehovah. Her warrant for this, or rather her obligation thus to contemplate the Deity, is sufficiently conveyed in the injunction of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, when giving directions as to the mode of admitting members into the Church, Matt. xxviii. 19. If Christian Baptism is an ordinance by which those who receive it are set apart and dedicated to the service of God, then these words do at once declare who that God is to whom they are then dedicated. Their devotion is pledged to the Father, the Son, and the Holy

Ghost. Consequently, it is in these three Divine Persons that the Christian beholds his God. He cannot profess faith in God, otherwise than as faith in the Holy Trinity.

We proceed then to the statements of the article. They are directed to two great points, viz., the Unity of the Godhead, and the Trinity in that Unity-certain other important facts being united also with these.

The Unity of the Godhead, together with other chief truths connected with it, is thus asserted.—There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. Almost every word expresses a distinct proposition. Let us notice each particular; and, although we shall attempt no elaborate discussion, let us aim to give the proof of each statement from the Page of Inspiration.

There is but one living and true God. The nations of the world have had their gods many, and lords many; but the light of Revelation has given us to know that there is none other God but one, 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6-1 Thes. i. 9. They who worship Jehovah at all, must worship Him alone, Exodus xx. 3-5; Deuteronomy vi. 4, 5; Isaiah xlv. 22. Our Lord therefore represents this great principle of the Unity of God as the basis of all right worship, and of all saving faith, Mark xii. 28-30; John xvii. 3.

Everlasting. The existence of God is without commencement and without termination; having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, Psalm xc. 2; 1 Timothy i. 17.

Without body, parts, or passions. Without body, for God is a Spirit, John iv. 24; and a spirit is incorporeal, Luke xxiv. 39. That the Divine nature is nothing material or corporeal, is also evident from such passages, as Jeremiah xxiii. 24; for how could a being possessed of material or corporeal existence, speak of himself in this way? We meet indeed with certain expressions in Scripture which, if taken literally, would seem to attribute to God a bodily form; such as the eye, the ear, the hand, the face of God But that these terms are only to be understood figuratively, even a child may see, and especially when it is borne in mind how the Scriptures deal with every attempt to embody the idea of God in a visible form; how the folly of such an attempt is exposed, Isaiah xiv. 18-25, and expressly prohibited, Deuteronomy iv. 15—18. God is also without parts, and unlike therefore all other beings with which we are conversant, and which have all a compound existence. All animal existence, for example, is an union of matter, and of a certain living principle, which gives to that matter its sensation. Man, again, is not only a compound of these, of matter from which his body is formed, and of a living principle

which animates that body in every part, but he possesses also an intellect, and affections; all in short that is usually designated the mind and soul. Now there are none of these parts in the Divine nature. That nature is all one Infinite Spirit. And this fact is most significantly expressed by the very name JEHOVAH, the name which God forbids to be given to any but Himself, and implying, as it does, such a nature as is pure, simple, uncompounded, self-existent. Moreover, the Divine nature is without passions. By passions we mean such emotions as are excited in any being by causes out of himself, but acting upon him. God is subject to no such emotions. There are no causes external to Himself, which have the power to awaken the impulses of the Divine mind. God is far above all such influences. If He were not so, the Divine mind would be liable to change, being affected now in one way, and now in another. But we are taught that no such fluctuations can ever occur, Num. xxiii. 19; Malachi iii. 6; James i. 17.

Consequently, when we read of the anger of God being aroused, or of repentance taking place in His dealings with men, we are not to think in the one case that God is excited as we are, or in the other that He is made to abandon the designs which He has formed; but the language is used for the purpose of indicating what is the character of the Divine acts. When, for example, God punishes sin, He acts as men are wont to do when they are angry, and so, anger is attributed to Him. Again, when He alters the course of His conduct, as men are wont to do when they change their minds, He is said to repent. Properly speaking, the punishments which God inflicts on sin, are the fruit, not of anger, but of holiness; and any alterations in the course of the Divine conduct, far from being the token of a repentance, are the execution of a settled plan and fixed determination, Acts xv. 18. Such emotions as we call passions, are altogether contradictory to the nature of an Infinite, Supreme, and Independent Spirit, which God is.

Of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. The attributes and excellencies of the Divine nature are boundless. The power of God is unlimited, Genesis xvii. 1, Luke i. 13. His wisdom is unsearchable, Psalm cxivii. 5, Romans xi. 33. His goodness is immeasureable, Psalm c. 5, ciii. 11, 12, 17.

The Maker and Preserver of all things, both visible and invisible. All other beings, whether seen or unseen by us, have derived their existence from God, and it is His providential care which holds them all in life, Nehemiah, ix. 6; Acts, xvii. 24-28; Revelations, iv. 11. The patriarch Job well expresses the same truth, Job, xii. 7—10.

Thus far then, the article has condensed in few words, the main facts of Revelation touching the unity of the Divine existence, the