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THE UNSATISFACTORY NATURE OF ORAL TRADITION.

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no less plain, and no less authoritative, than the works of Justin? would seem, indeed, that in this passage, by the use of a common metonymy, Justin calls the sign by the name of the thing signified, which, in those days of persecution, was seldom absent from the outward sign. But even if he did not, even if he really meant to teach the "opus operatum" system, surely the plain statements of inspired Scripture are not to give place to the human opinion of the uninspired Justin? Surely he may have erred in this point of doctrine, and, like many of the Fathers, have been led astray by a warm imagination, or a superstitious reverence for the outward sign, to false notions and exaggerated statements respecting the effects of the sacrament? These remarks will also apply to many other points of disputed doctrine, peculiar views of which, attempts have been made to palm off

changed, (See Rev. W. Goode's Effects of Infant Baptism, c. iii. pp. 122— 125.) For while the "Calvinistic " theology held the "orthodox" place during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, yet long before the Restoration of King Charles II. the "Arminian " school had almost entirely superseded it within the pale of the Church of England. (The secret means by which so momentous a change was silently and almost imperceptibly effected, may be seen in a most useful little volume, entitled," Hidden Works of Darkness; or, the Doings of the Jesuits," by W. Osburn, published for the Protestant Association, by W. H. Dalton, 1846.) We find too, on the point of baptism, that the bishops' answer at the Savoy Conference, respecting the unconditional grace of the sacrament, in the case of infants, because they present no bar by reason of actual sin, (see Cardwell, p. 356,)-proclaimed an adoption of a Romish tenet, which appears to have been unknown to the Reformers of the preceding century, (see Goode's "Effects,” c. vii. pp. 199—202.) If, then, it were possible (as we see it was) that changes so important on points of doctrine should thus pervade a Christian Church in one single century, surely the thing must be no less possible in the early ages? Particularly, too, as copies of the Holy Scriptures were then less accessible to the members of the Church, than they were at a later period after the invention of printing; and more especially as the false maxims of heathen philosophy, frequently exercised a deleterious influence upon the opinions Ordinal," Receive the Holy Ghost," into "Mayest

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of many of the early Christians, as
we conclude from the warnings given
by St. Paul, (Col. ii. 8; and 1 Tim.
vi. 20,) and also learn from subse-
quent facts. Now this being the case,
surely we cannot admit a certain well-
known passage in the writings of
Justin Martyr, in his " Apology,
c. 79, wherein he speaks of the "
generation " of himself and other
adults, by means of baptism, to be con-
clusive proof that the Spiritual rege-
neration of infants (or even of adults)
in baptism, is an apostolic doctrine?
Surely the Epistles of St. John are

re

as

"Catholic doctrine."* They may serve, possibly, to suggest a train of thought to the reader, which may tend to act as a caution against too readily admitting as true, any pseudo-catholic doctrines which are opposed to the written Word. And, in conclusion, the writer cannot do better than quote the remarks of a Christian Israelite, as they will forcibly illustrate the al

* An example of the reckless use of such terms as "Catholic doctrine," occurs in "the Oxford Herald," of 14th June, 1851, in a Review of the second edition of "Hints and Suggestions on a Revision of the Liturgy," by Rev. C. H. Davis, M.A. (J. H. Jackson, Paternoster Row and Islington Green.) The reviewer asserts that a proposal to alter the words in our thou receive," &c., is designed "to repudiate the Catholic doctrine of the apostolical succession." If the "apostolical succession" be "repudiated" by the disuse of these words, which were never used by the Christian Church in conferring orders till the twelfth century, and which have never yet been adopted in the Greek Church. what became of it for the first eleven centuries? Surely the use of these words is a very uncatholic portion of our formularies, utterly untenable by the catholic rule of "quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus," though (as I have shewn in the "Hints on Revision," p.67,) yet"fairly defensible," by the Puritan testimony of the celebrated "Westminster Confession," C. XXX. s. 2. And yet the Oxford Reviewer, speaking of this and such like changes proposed in this work, gravely asserts that "the tendency of it, as a whole, is to puritanize, and therefore to uncatholicize our Book of Common Prayer"!

most imperceptible introduction and spread of divers traditions among mankind, which, from want of observation or of investigation, are rashly received as primitive truths :-"I just venture to throw out a hint concerning tradition; the uncertainty of which, as a means of transmitting truth, has frequently struck me, when conversing with members of the Church of England. It is often argued, that if we find any custom in the Christian Church-say, in the second century, it may fairly be inferred that it has been handed down from the Apostles; because its first introduction would have been resisted as an innovation; and we should have some record of the opposition it met with, as we have in regard to many heresies. This argument has a fair show of truth; but experience contradicts it. When the conversation has happened to turn on the mode of baptism, I have often been amused at the decided negative that has been given to the assertion, that immersion is the prescribed form in the Church of England. A reference to the Prayer-Book of course decided the matter. And then naming it after them (if they shall certify him that the child may well endure it,) he shall dip it in the water discreetly and warily. But if they certify that the child is weak, it shall suffice to pour water upon it,' (Public Baptism of Infants.) Here is a case in which, in less than two centuries, the exception has become the universal rule. And so natural is it for men to be impressed by what they daily see, rather than by the recollection of what they once knew to be true, that while every

Prayer-book in the kingdom contains evidence to the contrary, the popular feeling certainly is, that sprinkling is the mode most approved by the Church of England. If this be the case at a time when printed evidence abounds, how easily, in a time when books were scarce, and the power of reading them equally rare, might customs be introduced by the few, that the many might come to believe, even in the next generation, had subsisted from time immemorial.” (R. H. Herschell's "Reasons why I a Jew have become a Catholic, and not a Roman Catholic." pp. 18, 19, J. Unwin, 1843.) This view may be illustrated by other examples, such as the general disuse of the prayer for the Church militant after the sermon in the morning service, notwithstanding the plain direction of the Rubric, &c. &c. And it may well remind us not to be too ready to follow ancient customs— such, for example, as prayers for the dead, or to regard them as of apostolic origin, merely because we cannot point out the precise period of their commencement; nor yet to consider the ancient Fathers as infallible expositors of apostolic doctrine.*

Nailsworth, Aug. 1851.

C. H. D.

To the foregoing remarks, the writer must just add that only three of the Fathers, Clement, Polycarp, and Ignatius, could have possibly had personal communication with any of the Apos tles; and their writings, though valuable, are scanty, and mutilated, and not decisive on many of the disputed points. Besides, whatever intercourse they may have had with any of the Apostles, how can we be sure that they had every point caught the Apostles' mind, and in no point had misapprehended their meaning?

on

THE PRIVATE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES:

HINTS TO THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE CALENDAR IN THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. By the REV. C. H. DAVIS, M.A.

IT is a well known fact that many Christians in the private study of the Scriptures, or in family worship, find it very convenient to follow the calendar of our Prayer-book, as their rule for reading. Upon certain Saints' days, however, and also from the 27th

of September to the 23rd of November, inclusive, such persons are not unfrequently perplexed by the occurrence in the calendar of certain lessons from the Apocrypha, by which they are driven to the selection of some other portions of Scripture. For

THE PRIVATE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

the use of such persons, the following Table of Lessons,-which places in a regular order and arrangement certain chapters of Holy Scripture, which do not at present occur in our calendar,-may be found very useful, and not unsuitable at this season of the year.

Table of proper First Lessons for private reading on certain Saints' days, in lieu of the Apocryphal Lessons.*

Morning.

Innocents'day, Dec.28 Jer. 31 tov 18

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Leviticus ⚫ 1

Evening. 35 2 Chron. Leviticus

36

2

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Evening. Exodus

4

Ezekiel +

1 Ezekiel

4

1

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12

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St. Paul, Jan. 25 .2Chr.33 tov21 Jeremiah 1
Purification, Feb. 2. Exodus 13 Leviticus 12
St. Matthias, Feb. 24 Numbers 17 1 Sam. 2, v 27
Annunciation, Mar. 25 Micah 5 Hag.2 tov 10
St. Mark, April 25. Deut. 31 Joshua 1
St. Phil.&St-Jas.May1 Numbers 14 Joshua 14
St. Barnabas, June 11 Nahum 1 Habakkuk 3
St. Peter, June 29 . Ezekiel 33 Ezekiel 34
St. James, July 25. Gen.12 to v10 Judges 6, vll
St. Bartholom.Aug.24 Isaiah 52 Isaiah 62
St. Matthew, Sept. 21 Amos 7 Haggai
St. Luke, Oct. 18. Daniel 1 Job
All Saints, Nov. 1 . Daniel 7, v9 Daniel
Table of First Lessons for private read-
ing, from 27th September till 23rd No-
vember, inclusive, in lieu of the Apocryphal
Lessons.

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In the regular course (in the month of February) only four chapters of Leviticus are read, viz., 18, 19, 20, and 26; which chapters are, therefore, among those which are here omitted. For public reading, perhaps chapters 21 and 22 would have been preferable to 18 and 20.

+ In regular course (in the month of August) only nine chapters of Ezekiel are read, viz., 2, 3, 6, 7, 13, 14, 18, 33, and 34, which chapters are, therefore, here omitted. Of these nine, four are read among the proper Sunday lessons, viz., 2, 13, 14, and 18; and two have been suggested above for St. Peter's day, viz., 33 and 34.

CHURCH REFORM.

THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION OF 1851.

To the Editor of the Christian Guardian.

"The Church must be daily becoming more sensible that some thorough and systematic plan of Church Reform must be promulgated by its friends, or it will inevitably be taken in hand by parties hostile to its best interests. Our wisdom, as men who are bent upon the maintenance of the Established Church, in all its integrity of pure Christian and Protestant doctrine, will be to head a movement in favour of absolutely needed reform, and not to wait until unsafe minds and hands shall proceed to frame and carry measures either grievously detrimental or entirely destructive."-Vide Christian Guardian, for July, 1851, p. 330.

SIR,-The preceding remarks made by you, as you yourself express it, in your "editorial capacity," are so entirely in unison with my own convictions, and have aroused within me such strong feelings, that I must beg you to allow me to give utterance to the echoes that I would respond to your very faithful and appropriate observations. In doing so, I desire to refer to what has passed in the legislature during the recent session of parliament; and then to develope some views of my own on the great subject so ably, fully, and frequently discussed in your pages.

I. There is a mode of dealing with the sick, well-known to medical men as that of "treating symptoms," which is adopted when the malady itself is not well understood, or the nature and precise character of it can not be determined, and which consists in dealing with such symptoms as are evident, and endeavouring, by the regulation and subdual of these, to allay the suffering of the patient, and to rescue him from impending peril. Now this sort of treatment, as it appears to me, is all that as yet the public men, who have assumed the office of Church Reformers, have attained to. The consequence is, that no right understanding of the state of the Established Church prevails; attempts are made to deal with certain palpable evils, some of the deformities of our ecclesiastical system are exhibited, but these are only partially dealt with, and no effective scheme of amendment and development of the Church is proposed or aimed at.

Again, too many have their own private objects to gain, and are hoping to benefit themselves by certain changes, and they are so blinded by their own interests, and actuated by motives so entirely unsuited to those that ought to animate the true Church Reformer, that it is no wonder to see them unscrupulously striving to accomplish their own objects, while they profess to desire and intend the improvement and benefit of the Church.

The last session of parliament has been more prolific than any recent one, in efforts to deal with the faults of our system, and to redress a variety of grievances that may justly be complained of, but yet are chiefly to be regarded as symptoms of disease in the body ecclesiastical, and indicative only of a malady that demands steady and systematic treatment to remedy it. Thus Sir B. Hall has brought to light the very inefficient and unjustifiable method, according to which episcopal incomes were placed in such a position by the first Ecclesiastical Commission, then consisting chiefly of a few diocesans, that while a parade was made of nominal reductions, and new distributions of incomes, matters were left really so much in the state they had hitherto been, that there was every reason to believe that the present condition of things would certainly result. I can write thus with confidence, because from the very time that this arrangement was first made, I took occasion to point out what its working must inevitably be; and all my worst expectations, I may say, have been fully and grievously realized. As an able coadjutor of Sir B. Hall, Mr. Horsman, backed by the influence of the Times, has concentrated his energies upon one glaring case, and has shewn to what an extent Church property may be so dealt with as to be misappropriated and diverted from its strictly legitimate uses. These, indeed, are terrible symptoms, but they have been so far

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CHURCH REFORM.

remedied that they can not occur again in the same form they have hitherto assumed; but then they are not the malady that requires to be dealt with, and the dealing with them at all has been but a 66 treating of symptoms without attacking the disease itself. Again, the Marquis of Blandford, in an amiable and most laudable spirit, brought forward the subject of Church extension, exposing the spiritual wants of the land, laying bare the fearful defects of our parochial system, and proposing that something should be done to assist in rendering it more efficient. But even the noble Marquis has done no more than treat these symptoms of sickness, without probing the cause of our weakness or shewing the true sources of its remedy. Another instance of flagrant abuse of endowments and dereliction of duty in their management, has been brought forward by Mr. Mowatt, at the instance of Mr. Whiston, the Master of the Rochester Grammar School, who, in a most able pamphlet, entitled "Cathedral Trusts and their Fulfilment," has developed some of the worst symptoms yet treated of, but yet has not reached the seat of the disorder in the capitular bodies he has examined into, although he deserves the thanks of every true Church Reformer, for the gallant stand and defence he has made. In the House of Peers, Lord Redesdale has brought forward the subject of a revival of the Synodical action of the Church, but yet in such a manner as to prove, that while it is a felt want, and while the abeyance of convocation is an evil symptom in our Church; the symptom is regarded more than the malady itself, and the true corrective, a properly modified and graduated system of deliberative action, is little understood or desired.

The only measure that has been carried through Parliament, and that with most indiscreet and unbecoming haste in the last few days of a long and wearisome session, is a Bill for helping to alienate Church property, and to give to the lessees privileges which will benefit them rather than the Church. It is remarkable to observe how all the partizans of this

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bill pleaded for their friends, the holders of Church Leases, who were to be benefited by it; and how feeble was the defence made for the Church, whose property was to be dealt with. Thus have we seen through the course of the session, these various matters, telling too sadly the state of the Church, indicating its weaknesses and treating its symptoms, but in no single instance proposing any scheme or plan for a full and decisive reform. Next session we are promised other similar efforts. Mr. Horsman has given notice of a more general measure, the Marquis of Blandford proposes to bring forward the question of parochial subdivisions, and the Earl of Shaftesbury has given notice of a motion for additional bishops and the extension of the parochial system. What will be the result time and the session must unfold.

II. What ought, however, to be the efforts of Church Reformers, we have no doubt whatever about; and, in the hope of leading to systematic rather than to symptomatic treatment of the subject, we will endeavour to indicate something of a scheme such as is needed for the Church.

The first act ought to be one of simple straight-forward honesty. The Church, as at present regulated, presents two great anomalies. On the one hand are a comparatively small number of great prize-holders, consisting of bishops, deans, and canons; and, on the other hand, a very large number of very ill-paid incumbents of parishes, that is in fact, of the hardworking clergy, amounting to at least four thousand. These latter are always put forward as the stalking-horse for redress of grievances and correction of abuses; and well indeed they may be, since nearly all the wealth, if not the whole of it, is derived from the impoverishment of these ill-paid clergy. Take a single fact in proof, that stated by the Episcopal and Capitular Commissioners themselves, that they have to deal with funds arising from tithes and rent charges amounting to at least £650,000 per annum. Now

whence do such funds arise but from the pauperized incumbencies, which have been deprived of their great

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