THE DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S ON THE CHURCH.
[To TIM EDITOR Or THE •• SPECTATOR."]
read with great interest your article on this subject on July 23rd, expecting to find a calm and courteous vindication of the Churchman's preference for his own body, and of his atti- tude of opposition to the later religions societies which, in a man of Dean Church's enlightenment and charity, always puzzles me. The tone of your references to us Dissenters is all that we can desire ; yet permit me to say why the argument fails to convince me of the greater advantages of "the Church."
I grant all you say about the value of the testimony borne by the Christian life and thought of the first century as a com- mentary and illustration of Christ's teaching, recorded and traditional. But have not Dissenting teachers as ready access
to that source of information or inspiration as Churchmen, and may we not as truly reproduce its spirit? Wesley believed be was restoring primitive Christianity, and, in fall accord with the Fathers, leading a movement (to use your own words) to recover some principles of the original revelation which appeared to be lost, practically, at least, in his time. Some of the peculiar institutions of his societies illustrate his high estimate of early Christian life,—e g., the Agapae, the fellowship, and the watch- nights.
We cannot claim continuous historical relation with the first organisation which spoke in Christ's name ? Pray, why ? Does the continuity of Christianity depend on apostolical succession, or on the maintenance of Christian doctrine and discipline, and the possession of Christian life and the spiritual enjoyment of its holy influences, as set forth in the records of the first Christian Church P If, as I hope the Spectator would say, on the latter, why may not I reap the undoubted advantages of that historical relation as well as the Dean or Cardinal Manning P—I am,
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