enquired, by whom? Tertullian can answer, "Constituted in the episcopal office by the Apostles;" Epiphanius," By the Apostles;" Eusebius +, "By the servants of the Lord;" Jerome ‡, "Ordained by the Apostles;" Ambrose §, "Constituted by the Apostles." Will, then, any one deny that James, Mark, Titus, or Clement, were Bishops by Apostolic right? Was any Apostolic act done by a right not Apostolic? But Apostolic right I consider to be divine: for nothing was done by the Apostles which was not dictated to them by the Holy and Divine Spirit. At least, if appointed by the Apostles, they were appointed by the same right as were those seven, whose appointment even yourself will grant to be of divine right. Deacons they are no where called in Holy Scripture, that title being merely adopted by the Church.

I presume that what was done by the Apostles was done by divine right; and that it cannot be denied that their acts, (supposing them well authenticated,) and not their discourses or writings alone, were of divine right; and that not only St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians ||, but those things which he set in order when he came, however little we know of them, were of equal right, that is, both by divine right, both proceeding from the Holy Spirit. Nor yet are they therefore to be reckoned articles of faith; for they regard things which are to be done in the Church, and cannot properly be reckoned among things to be believed, or articles of faith.

I wonder to find you saying, that your countrymen complain of you without reserve; first, for pleading the cause of Episcopacy; which seems as if your countrymen were adverse to Bishops, unwilling to hear them defended, and desirous that they should be cast in their cause ;and secondly, for condemning Aërius, whom Epiphanius ** condemned long ago in Asia, Philastrius in Europe, and Augustin in Africa; whose name stands in the black book of heretics throughout the world; and stands there deservedly, for his daring, as you yourself acknowledge, to oppose himself to the consent of the universal Church. They then are the most to be complained of, who complain of you on such grounds as these.

As for the keenness of criticism which you deprecate no one intends it otherwise the very title of your work is objectionable +t, in both the words Pastor and Vocation. Both of these, as you apply them,

*Tertullian de Præsc. Hær. 32. "Edant ergo origines Ecclesiarum suarum, evolvant ordinem Episcoporum suorum ita per successiones ab initio decurrentem ut primus ille episcopus aliquem ex Apostolis vel Apostolicis viris qui tamen cum Apostolis perseveraverit habuerit auctorem et antecessorem. Hoc enim modo Ecclesiæ Apostolicæ census suos deferunt sicut Smyrnæorum Ecclesia Polycarpum ab Joanne collocatum refert: sicut Romanorum Clementem a Petro ordinatum itidem. Perinde utique et cæteræ exhibent quos ab Apostolis in episcopatum constitutos Apostolici seminis traduces habeant.” + Euseb. iii. 36. Hieron. de Scrip. 2. 1 Cor. xi. 34.

§ Ambr. in Gal. i. 19.

** Eph. Hær. 75.-Aug. de Hær. 53. Philast. in Bibliotheca Patrum.-See also Bishop Hall, Episcopacy by Divine Right, part ii. sect. 19.

++ De la Vocation des Pasteurs. Par Pierre Du Moulin, Ministre de la Parole de Dieu en l'Eglise de Paris. Sedan, 1618.

are innovations, known to none but this present century, and only to a part of this. Who among the ancients ever applied them in such' a sense? The title Pastor, you will find, is scarcely ever used by them, excepting when they speak of Bishops; which use of the word St. Peter taught them, when he connected the titles Pastor and Bishop in speaking of our Saviour. And you will not meet with any instance in which they have used this word to designate those who, either in the cities or in the country, had the cure of certain portions of the people, divided by parishes: but that Presbyters (urban or rural) were deputed by the Bishops for this office. For, in the primitive age, Presbyters formed a part of the Bishop's family, and received their daily subsistence from the Bishop's household, before the modern distinction of parishes.

The word Vocation, too, in the sense adopted by you, is equally. foreign to the language of the Fathers, who use instead of it ordaining, or constituting.

The very name, too, of Minister, by which you designate yourself, is a word of the same character: the Fathers would not have understood it, unless when used to denote a Deacon; as corresponding with the Greek diakovos. But you must be pardoned: you are forced to speak in the idiom of your own Church, which has no Bishops, and has different Presbyters, different Deacons, and, I may add, a different vocation, from those which the ancient Church acknowledged.

To

For my part, I, most sincerely, and particularly desire, both for yourselves and all the reformed Churches, that all points of faith may continue to you established as they now are, but that in matters of discipline God may grant to you a Church Polity not differing from that with which he has blessed us; namely, the spiritual government of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, such as we find in the History of the Church, in the Synods, and in the ancient Fathers. these, unless self-love greatly deceives me, our's are as nearly as possible, conformed-conformed, I mean, in constitution, not in merit; though I would that they resembled them in this also. Nor do I think that the constitution of any Church on earth accords better with the intent of Scripture, or with the practice and order of the primitive Church, than that which flourishes in our country.

I send you what I have here written, that if you please you may keep it by you. Be assured, moreover, that I have always been a lover of peace, both from temper and from principle. This disposition is also required by my time of life, which warns me to prepare for my departure;-and is especially required in the subject of a King who takes for his motto those words of our Saviour" Blessed are the peacemakers." I engage, too, that I will never side with the severe, and never consent to measures which are not moderate. And I will, as far as I can, put favourable constructions on your words. For it is with us, as it was with Augustin, whose sentiment it is: "It is one thing that we inculcate, and another that we experience."

(To be continued.)

SIR,

To the Editor of the Christian Remembrancer.

I HAVE just read the letter of your Correspondent "J. H.," in reply to mine signed "Criticus," on the words of Scripture ou λeyes and σu TAS, and my thanks are due to him for the temperate and gentlemanly style, in which he has treated the subject. În many points we perfectly agree. In the first place, I never questioned the sense of these words, as indeed he admits. They are clearly affirmations. Negations they cannot be, and the idea of their being equivocal cannot for a moment be entertained. The sense of them is, therefore, rightly given, by supplying the Ellipsis, as he proposes, by the adverbs iv, naλws, ogdas.

Still, I cannot help thinking, that such reference to Greek idiom is not the most proper and direct way of explaining the expressions in question.

66

I admit that the meaning of them is thus rightly given. I admit also, that in the passages, which J. H. has adduced from the Dramatic writers (passages certainly much more to the purpose, than those which are commonly referred to on this point) the Ellipsis after Ayes is nifestly affirmative." But there is a peculiarity in the use and force of these expressions in the New Testament, that is to say, in Jewish or Hebrew Greek, which to my mind savours strongly of Hebrew origin.

ma

The opinion of Michaelis I stated before. He thinks that our Saviour answered л7 12, which he considers an affirmation, and thence deduces the affirmative force of ειρηκας, συ είπας, συ λέγεις, &c. in Jewish Greek.

Perhaps I have gone too far in asserting, in my former letter, that no light can be thrown upon the passages under consideration, by reference to Greek idiom, or to Greek Classic Writers. I ought to have said, by reference to such passages, as are commonly adduced in illustration of theme. g. εφη ὁ Ορούλης *φημ' εγω συ δε ταυία λέγεις, ουκ εγω tall of which are irrelevant, some, not only indecisive, but implying dissent," as J. H. admits.

66

The passages which he adduces, do, I readily own, throw light on the Scripture expressions, and serve to illustrate them. They did not occur to me, while the impertinency of the others was often in my mind. In the first, however, from Sophocles, the T is emphatic after λeyw,“ λεγω τι;”—and this gives the force λεγεις τι, which is equivalent to Asyaç sv, or ra andn, to Creon's answer, λεγεις.”

1

66

But without entering into any critical examination of these places, I repeat that I agree with your correspondent J. H. in the meaning of these, as well as in the meaning of the Scripture phrases, σv uñas, and συ λέγεις. agree

I

*

with him also in his remarks on the style of the Writers of the By Wetstein and Parkhurst,

By Marsh.

+ By Schleusner.

New Testament, and on the manner of interpreting it, and ascertaining its sense.

If we differ, it is on this point, (and after all I may be in error)—that the expressions in question, have, in the language of the New Testament, a peculiar force and character, and that most probably, by derivation from Hebrew expressions, of assent and affirmation, which they nearly resembled. In a word, were I asked how our Saviour, evidently meaning to give a direct and solemn affirmation, came to use (according to the rendering of the Evangelists) the expressions ou Ayes-00 Tas, I should not say in reply, such expressions are direct affirmations in the Greek language; but they are Hebraisms, having the force of an affirmation, and to be explained most directly as Hebraisms; although expressions somewhat similar are to be met with in the Greek writers, serving to illustrate them.

January 8, 1825.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.

H. R. M.

NONJURING CLERGY.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Christian Remembrancer.

It has long been a subject of regret, that we have no good history of the Nonjuring Clergy. However mistaken their principles might be, yet the manner in which they abandoned their preferment to preserve their consciences, at least deserves applause. I therefore hope, that some of your correspondents may be induced to turn their attention to the subject, and to collect whatever can be now gleaned relative to the Nonjurors. If a general enquiry was instituted, sufficient materials might be collected to form a complete history, which would most probably fill a volume. The number of Nonjuring Clergy, exclusive of the dignitaries, did not much exceed two hundred, and if their names could be recovered, and likewise the livings they possessed, the necessary particulars could be easily transmitted to any person desirous of undertaking the work. The time when the Nonjurors flourished is not so distant, but that private memorials respecting them may yet be obtained, and a diligent search of parish registers, as well as the registers of the respective dioceses, would supply whatever might be necessary as to the dates of institution and deprivation. The life of Archbishop Sancroft, by Dr. D'Oyly, may be considered as the commencement of the history now recommended. In the hope that this notice may attract the attention of some of your readers, I remain, yours, &c.

A. B.

York, December, 1824.

AMERICAN EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

RECENT accounts from America represent the General Theological Seminary as increasing in the number of its students, and receiving

daily accession to its funds. The Board of Managers pursuing their own high principled course, have been making appeals in its behalf to the Members of their own communion, throughout the several Dioceses of the United States, and a better criterion of the feeling of Episcopalians towards that Institution cannot be put forth than the fact, that from three or four towns of Maryland alone, throughout the whole of which State those, who are upon the divide et impera policy, had prognosticated that "not a dollar would be collected," upwards of six thousand dollars have been received.

In close alliance with the Theological Seminary are the Protestant Episcopal Missionary Societies, formed in several of the Dioceses, not for the purpose of spreading the Gospel in foreign parts (an indispensable duty when the religious wants at home have been provided for), but for the discharge of that primary obligation, the enlightening more and more the dark places of their own land; and as population advances, affording to the several masses of it, all the benefits of those legitimate and orderly ministrations which the Church only can supply. In the Diocese of New York alone, twenty-one Clergymen are now promoting this truly Christian object, under the auspices of its Diocesan Society; and such has been the success of this wise course of proceeding, that the furthest limits of the State of New York (five hundred miles from the Capital), have now been brought under Episcopal superintendence, and parishes are gradually forming throughout the whole of the intervening country.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Christian Remembrancer.

I SHALL feel particularly obliged by your insertion of the following circumstances relative to my beloved brother, late Vicar of Polesworth, in the county of Warwick, as being alike creditable to him, and highly honourable to the feelings of his Parishioners, amongst whom he had resided little more than four years at the time of his premature decease

In the first instance, they voluntarily incurred the whole expense of covering the desk and pulpit, and the Vicar's pew, with superfine black cloth; and shortly afterwards they entered into a subscription for the purpose of erecting a handsome Mural Tablet to the memory of their dear deceased Vicar, within the walls of their Church! Such is the result of their liberal and warm feelings, in token of respect and regard for the memory of my brother; and such is the very rare and honourable example which they hold out to all other members of the Church of Christ, in proof of that affectionate attachment which ought always to subsist between Minister and people, from the happy influence of pastoral exertions on the well-disposed minds of a Christian congregation! I am, Sir, your obedient servant,

Close, Lichfield, Jun. 17, 1825.

SPENCER MADAN.