MR. GLADSTONE'S CHURCH PRINCIPLES.

THIS VOInIlle places us in a difficulty. The generic subject is one which is scarcely fit Ibr lay discussion ; but this branch of it involving an exposition, or rather an alleged exposition, of the prin- ciples of so peculiar a body as the Church, might seem presumption in unauthorized individuals to t•ctiture upon at all. On the other

hand, the Oxford schism is attracting attention from the world at

large, and receiving notice in quarters that seldom give public con- sideration to such topics. Air. GLADSTONE iiiiiiself is not only a

rather distinguished Member of Parliament, and a sort of second

hope of the religious party there, but he is also considered a rising mall who is pretty certain of office on the accession of the Tories

to the government : he is one, therefore, whose religious views have

a more than theological interest, and may possibly produce heats and divisions in his party, and inconvenience in the state itself, should his conscience impel him to act upon his belief when he has the power. Under these circumstances, we may stand excused if We enter into an examination of Mr. GLADSTONE'S church Princi- ples Considered in their Results, and at a length sufficient to give their general scope and to exhibit their practical tendencies. The principles of Mr. GLADSTONE'S book are essentially Romish. He holds that a supernatural power, by Divine commission,

is resident in every minister ordained under the Apostolical suc- cessioa ; and that standiug miracles of "gifts" and "grace" in- here in the stated services of the divinely-instituted churches,— that is, in the Anglican, Roman, and, we conclude, the Eastern. To the sacraments he attributes an "inward power," "especially and peculiarly imparting to us the participation of the Divine nature"; this inward power being only evocable by an episcopally-

ordained minister, and being quite independent of and above the natural* operation of' preparatory prayer, self-examination, re- pentance, and the influence of' the rite itself. To the sacra- ment of Baptism he assigns a peculiar influence, even when the recipient is a child " not conscious" of the rite : alt opinion which clearly contains the old Popish doctrine, that infants unbapti zed by a true- church minister will be damned ; which, indeed, Mr. G aansToN a implies. It is in his "church principles," however, that Mr. GLADSTONE is more clearly identified with Popery; maintaining precisely the same views which characterized the Romish clergy in the darkest ages, when they claimed immunity from the municipal law iii virtue of their sacred character, and demanded from laymen a blind belief in religious matters and a slavish submission in temporal affitirs, as to God's " viceregents" upon earth. A Divine authority in the church--an Apostolical succession in the ministry—a miraculous grace (i. e. a grace operating beyond our reason's conception and . by unknown means) in its ordinances, and a Divine commission or attest a:ion granted to the ministers, are the "Resalls" of Mr.

GLADs'it)rs ( 'AftiTh Principles. If we have not mistaken him, he denies the right of private judgment; as he certainly assigns to tradition a greater authority than to reason either italic idual or collective. These arc strange and startling dogmas to Protestant ears: so strange, baked, that we should scruple to state theta as simply as We have dine, could we not support our statements by -Mr. Gaateerosn's " The RA:Mamas.," he says, " founded upon earth a visible and permanent church." Tltis church "conveys the gifts of God to her members." " The dispensation of grace" is " given to indivi- duals through a eialc community, and ill virtue V me,mbership therein." And again--" The visibly-developed portion [of the church of Christ] is the catholic church on earth; which pos- sesses, and Fey her urdinaares courells,spirifaai " The ordained manner," he writes, " of perpetuating the apostolical office, [that is, the titinistrya] was by a ie mem/ withuri/g front die Apostles, as well as by a personal SLICU,'S,Ion to them" ; and " the offices of the ministry. are not to be exercised, with warrant from Scripture, ex- cept by Dirine eananiasion." "The whole power and efficacy of re- ligion are derived from Gad, and therefore a redid ministry must hare His attestation." The church, by its ministers, is " eat- powered to administer sacramental ordinances in which spiritual graces and gifts inhere." And the graces of the Holy Spirit are permancutly attached to the ininisterial office-

" The conversion of the human will and the salvation of the soul are net

within human competency ; and those graeis Holy Spirit r(hy they tilebranahrt ii hut UPC attach«1 and assured lu,, posilire eau rt. aaat ta the mi- nisterial 0, They were conveyed by our Saviour to his Apostles ; and as they are loll osTotal iii man, 1141 one has a right to prestune that they will be ordinarily passessed except by similar conveyance."

The modern doctrine of the more enlightened Romanists admits of salvation beyond the pale of the church, in the case Of a con- scientious schismatic; the ultimate judge of his sincerity being God. 'Mr. GLAosTosn holds sonic such doctrine. Ile expressly allows of salvation by individua/ " holiness," to persons with- . • Let us not be misunderstood in this use of the word " natural." We do not mean a self-produced power apart from Christian belief; but effects whole operation is comprehensible by natttral reason. out a church,—that is, Presbyterians, Dissenters, and perhaps Lu- therans :t but, other things being equal, salvation is with more difficulty attained by a schismatic than a churchman, for the former is deprived of the supernatural influences of the sacraments and other ministrations, and left to his mere individual efforts. Such arc Mr. GLADSTONE'S words; but, logically speaking, his principles would lead lihn to deny salvation to these church- denuded classes, except by particular miracle in each case. In fact, he seems to admit some such notion ; fbr he talks of " God's inscrutable means" applied to " men who are truly in Ills church, and yet not in it by virtue of belonging to such and such a society." On the other hand, he holds the Roman to be a safe church, whose " members are not abandoned to any merely sppentatine and hypothetical claim. on God's uncovenanted mercies, but are under Ills living covenant, are assured members of' the body of Christ, are habitually end certainly fed with the blessed sacraments." (Page 331.) He also puts It forth as matter of regret, that in con- sequence of political feelings, the Church of Enaland came to be considered " as a Protestant rather than a Reformed Catholic Church!"

Having thus endeavoured to present a condensed view of Mr. GLADSTONE's church principles, we will allow him to speak more at large on the Sacraments, and various points relating to church- religion and its ministers.

REASON USELESS IN ACQUIRING THE TuUTIIS OF EELIGION:

OrERATION liArriSm.

Did St. Paul, or did any of the Apostles in any recorded ease, attempt to pro- duce in the flu mile of those to whom they preached, a distinct intellectual per- ception of each of what we now term the fundamental doctrines of the gospel? or even of each of those contained in its first and simplest symbol, the Apos- tles' Creed ?

No: but, apparently-, having set forth Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the

awakened sinner, in the case of the gaoler at Philippi, &e. • * they allowed this call to take effect in producing (or not, as the case might be) each a measure of obedience as was answerable to the light already received ; but in- stead of first carry ing t brought this entire protass of inielleetual conviction! and then introducing the sacrament of baptism as its witness, sign, or seal merely, they appear, on the first movement of it determinate charart er—deter- initiate, that i-, iii the heart, though attenthd with very inromplete knowledge in the undersiaffiling,—to have brought the convert to a partieipation of those directly Divine ialloences which the sacrament conveyed. Thus they wrought by the understanding, as far as it would carry them by its natural light, or by grace already. Utilised, or fear awakened; but having done sr), they strove imme- diately to bring to bear the distinct anci effectual grave of the covenant upon Cite heart, proceeding upon the principle of training and moving the whole man by a parallel process, instead of working by one part of his nature exclusively, and of imposiag upcn that part a duty of which it was utterly incapable.

HINTS ron CONVERTING iNci,,ELS.

We fall then into error, and desert the way of God's appointment, if we at- tempt to carni:sli the understanding of it I kathen with a complete Christian. armoury beti.re operating upoil the heart hy those means which transcend it as well as by those whid. are akin to it : and Me error into which we fall is rationalis:ic—we assume the competency of tile understanding to do that which is bertmil its function ; or, more pmperly, we assume the fitness of the actual and 'fallen Intinan nature to do Ilia is eon; rary to its fixed bias and deliberate preference. We attempt to perform Cod's uork. but {VC make the attempt, tuking to our aid only a part of the resources whieh Ile has sup- plied for the purpose. We argue—it is will; we pray—it is well ; ‘‘e conjure him with whom we are concerned to pray, to read, to reason—all this is well; but the truth we have here to regard is tbis—thai when one: that disposition on his part has beam indicated which would lead him to pray, to read, and to reason, then lie is in a temper of obedience and submission ; he has the }were- qliueitu's tor 1.umrthmr spiritual grace ; and the way to ...liable him to pray, to read, and to taason with effect, is to induce hub cm to bevolue partaktocrhtitsf ctlaiseer.e- mining. the crowning means, namely, the sacrament appropriate If Mr. GaansTuaa's views are true, the Dissenters of England. the Prcsh■ terians of Scotland, and all the religious denomilattions of the United States, may save themselves the totuble and ex- pense of missions. The heathen cannot be converted in reason; and these classes of religionists cannot administer Laptisin, since their teachers have not been ordained by an Anglican or Roman Bishop.

Till: SACRAMENTS StrEIIiOR Tel stric.aents.

The miracles, as manifestations of power, addressed themselves to the under- standing of main acting itt combination with the most ordinary feelings of his

nature. Even as cxltil,i11,111S of benevolence. t!opt.t.it-cs todeed to Ins moral sense. But what could have been the etlect mit either when standing alone, without an independent and more its ward spiritual influence ? For the action of the understanding, whether impolled or not by apprehension, was common to mon drum with the them-jig; and what availed an appeal to the moral sense, when that sense was both essentially disease41 and cute...14A to the last degree * • * • There is still wanting- a my stical and sceaet !lids 4et 4, Cell the knowledge implanted—in which its spiriittal uses lie locked as in a homel- and the character of the Mali: that connexion. that capacity of intereommu- nicatiim lu tw cen the heart of the who is to know and the heart of the thing which is to be known—that pourer of rxtrdetin; the nutriment on the one side, Is hirli seconds and meets the capayIly 44f yI 141iiig it on the other— must be supplied by the inscrutable agency ml Ides tic

This gd'um], du-stilled for au earthly use, r....1d.rer. ci cosi:et: i hi- ca-ket a keeper.

The casket is found in the lady sacrauciculu cc the lee, per in appointed, hereditary, and perpetual guardians. By these lit o:z :1.1, li disj'eutsation of God made living in its external form, as it is in itS 1ui 41-41 dergy.

Will) nave Tna Powell Ti) ADMINISTER Till: SACRAMENTS.

The t.itit to administer sacraments, and to teach as an ambassador of Christ, Upon the validity of the ordination which has been received by the claimant of uheml right. IV hat, therefore. , tint. helm generally require in point of practice is, that they should receive the faith and its orelinanres from persons thus rightly commis.hmed; land mu tint is nece,,ary to us as inquirers in point of truth is, that w e should know, if the huou ledge flay be liad, who those per-

Sons are. The Church of England, in conformity with ancient doctrine, allows those orders, and those alone, which are received through the episcopal suc- cession.

PERPETUITY OF Bailors.

The Christianity of the private Christian terminates, strictly speaking, with his own natural life ; lie does not transmit it to others : however fruitful he may have been made of moral and spiritual good, he has no authority to admi- nister baptism. Next, the Presbyter [Mr. GLADSTONE holds the ancient order of Presbyters were priests inferior to Bishops,] indeed transmits, but that which he gives terminates with the individual to whom he gives it : in his order there is, therefore, some approximation to that which we are seeking; but the Bishop conveys the power of administering sacraments, whereby the church is con- tinually replenished with children ; of ordaining priests, by whom sacraments are administered ; and of consecrating Bishops, by whom, in their turn, these powers may be communicated anew to others, who may replace the actual holders, and hand them on from one generation to another. In this line, there- fore, alone it is, that the effective principle of continued propagation is carried down from the Apostles of Christ to the latest age; and surely, therefore, the succession of Bishops, by which the church is, in fact, made perpetual, is also, in idea, the fit representative of her perpetuity.

A ROMISII VIEW OF TILE SACRAMENTS.

That indiscernible transcendent energy which is the virtue and life of preach- ing, and the rest of the functions of the church, is yet more and far more re- markably illustrated by th6 manner in which it is known to lie and to work in the sacraments. Fur here it comes to us so entirely distinct from its own ma- chinery, that there should he less risk of confounding the two. Here the body, being sensible and not intellectual, is so manifestly distinct from the soul, that we can less easily sink and lose the perception of the latter in that of the former. Here, if we believe in the spiritual nature of the ordinance at all, we must see how different are the outward means which form the channel of grace, from the grace itself. If we believe that a spiritual gift of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is conveyed in the communion, it is manifest at once how naturally incompetent are the elements of bread and wine to confer such a gift, and bow the efliency of the ordinance is, not merely in its original deriva- tion given from God alone, but likewise specifically, incomprehensible and pre- ternatural in the method of its operation.

"DEEPER AND DEEPER STILL."

For all these reasons [arguments drawn from the utility or convenience of an established church] It is desirable and good ; but its paramount claim upon us is of a different kind, and is found in the fact that it is the ordinance of God— that in these hands we have every reasonable evidence to show that God designal to lodge the spiritual gifts, which are His to dispose of, and without which we cannot (because we have not the will to do it) become hearty recipients of Christianity.

• SUBSTITUTE FOR EXTREME UNCTION, ADDRESSED TO DISSENTERS.

Now let us suppose such a mind tempted, for example, with rationalizing doubts, questioning whether there really be any thing of spiritual grace in the gospel, and seeking advice and counsel from a minister of God, it may be upon the bed of agony or in the very grasp of death. Grant that the consulted party may have the requisites of Christian character and virtue, as well as competent abilities ; grant that he may appear to speak so as we, in our human frailty, should judge suitable to the dispensations of our Heavenly Father still, when the moral being is rocked from its foundations, and a part of the incumbent trial is to satisfy time disquieted and turbulent questioner within that the matter spoken is such as befits the high origin it claims, then, I ask, is it nothing that the tempest.tossed understanding is not left merely to abstract speculation founded upon its own antecedent perceptions of the rules and laws of truth, but that he who has come to supply its need is able to say, in addition to the ostensible goodness and comfort of his assurances, " That which I say is said under an awful responsibility : I who speak have been commissioned to carry a message from God to man, the message of the gospel of Christ. His com- mission came to me by no mere fancy or conclusion of my own, but from the hands of those to whom He in the flesh, seen by their eyes, heard by their ears, handled by their hands, intrusted it, to be delivered down in perpetual descent : so not the wit or will of man, but Ile the Holy One, has given me time power and the charge to minister to your soul, at the most awful peril of my own." I ask, are there no more elements of probability in such an historical commission than in a supposed inward message, of which there is no example in Scriptuee, and to which it is not in the nature of things that any test adequate to prove its genuineness should be applied ?

Among the different arguments that have been raised at different times by theologians, wandering, as Bishop SUMNER expresses it,

after "fables and endless genealogies, and questions which are not of godly edifying," some have raised a point as to how far Bishops are capable of conveying the Divine commission who have them- selves been introduced into the church by irregular consecration, or by what amounts to no consecration at all—and it might be added, by simony, which we suppose would render a valid consecration

Void. MP. GLADSTONE, who was a "Student of Christ Church," enters into a mathematical calculation to satisfy his readers how small is he chance of valid transmission being extinct, or even of their meeting a minister whose Divine couunission is partially vitiated by this adulterate accident.

CALUFLATIO?S OF THE CHANCES.

A eenraimmg In She rules of the Church, from the Council of Nice, or even from an earlier period, a Bishop is to be consecrated by three Bishops ; a regulation itself evincing the extreme care and anxiety of the Church in this matter, inas• much as any one Bishop has, it seems, essentially the power required. But one of the useful effects of this wise precaution is to multiply to the third de- gree the chances in favour of continuity. If it be admitted that regular conse- cration was the general practice, but only insinuated that there may have been here and there an exception through neglect, say, for example, one in 500—for argument's sake let ns grant so much : upon this showing. tlte chances for the validity mml the consecratiMI of every one of the three officiating Bishops, in a given 1'ace, are :: 500: 1. For the validity of those of two out of the three, :500 X 500 25,000: 1. For the validity of some one out of the three, 500 X 25,000 =-= 12,500,000: I. If, however, this he not enough, let us pursue the numerical argument one step further, and instead of taking the original chances at one in 500, let its reduce them lower than perhaps any adversary would demand; let us place them at one in 20. On this cx- travammet allowance, the chances in favour of the validity of the consecration of a Bishop who receives his comniission from three of the order are only 20 X 20 X 20 =, 8,900: I. But his own invalid consecration only affects his own arts, amid not the general line of the succession,—unless, when he proceeds YO consecrate a new brother, both his coadjutors in the act are under time same Incapacity with himself ; and the chances, mathematically computed, against this contiegency, arc as the third power of 8,000, or as 512,000,000,000 are to

Grave burlesque can scarcely go beyond this: and though every

Bishop of Chester's Charge, 1838. one will readily admit that Mr. GrsinsrosE is well-meaning, we are

afraid he must be pronounced weak-judging in the publication of his Church Principles. The subject is one to which he had no special vocation—which, in fact, was beyond the calling of any single divine; and the practical results of his volume all tend to mis- chief, and will very probably produce it. It is liable to extend a schism already growing in the church ; it will give a triumph to

Romanists ; it will be far from conciliating the Presbyterians of Scotland and Ireland, or the Dissenters of England, with the Wesleyans at their head; and it will afford in its transcendentalism a topic of ridicule to sceptics.

It has temporal bearings unpromising at the least. If Mr. GLAD- STONE and his party hold that salvation is safest in their church, it is their duty, according to their church principles, to recover erring sheep ; which was the identical argument made use of by the Romanists to justify their persecutions. From the wish to persecute we are safe as regards Mr. GLADSTONE, but not in the

case of a man of fierce and bigoted temper, or of an unprincipled politician, with neither religion nor bigotry, but who would make a handle of one and a tool of the other. This danger is speculative ; but the meekest of the sect would demand our money if not our

life ; and it is not a trifle that would satisfy them, as we may see in the late demand of Sir ROBERT HARRY INGLIS for new churches. A word, too, on the barefaced hypocrisy which partisans

display on the subject of religion, making it ever subservient to place-hunting politics, and that without even a decent re- gard to consistency. Whilst many Tories wail over the act which admitted to an equality of civil rights the professors of " damnable and idolatrous" doctrines, one of their rising stars is telling us that the Romanists are " under God's living covenant," and " not aban- doned," like Dissenters and Presbyterians, to " merely speculative and hypothetical claim on God's uncovenanted mercies." Whilst

the Ultras are bawling out for " Protestant Ascendancy," Mr. GLAD- STONE tells them plumply they are not Protestants at all, but "re- formed Catholics." One of the most powerful Tory organs called

the Irish clergy " surpliced ruffians": our anther maintains that they hold a " Divine" commission to " convey spiritual life" to their flocks. Nor are these prevaricntions of religious opinion, as

it suits the object in view, confined to the Tory party, though doubtless they are the grossest offenders. Defending the Remanists against the assaults of the Opposition when it is the cue of those religious pretenders to make religion a stslking-horsc, the Liberals, as soon as a Tory broaches any doctrine that bears a resemblance to Popery, assail bins for his Papistical views. There are many other matters directly or incidentally discussed in Mr. GLADSTONE'S volume, besides those on which we have dwelt at

length. He contends for the Divine right of civil government ; but as his views, strictly speaking,resolve themselves into the necessity of

supporting some government without respect to its form, the theory is not of much consequence. Ile expatiates at length on the tem-

poral benefits and religious uses of a " church" ; all of which may be admitted without in the least proving its Divine institution, or its possession of supernatural powers. He gives a brief history of the deadly rational state to which religion had fallen during the last century ; he digresses to observe upon the confusion created by the Veto question in Scotland—which he traces to the want of Bishops; he indulges in a dreamy vision of a union of all the churches, Anglican, Roman, and Eastern ; and there are several other but subordinate topics touched upon, which it is unnecessary to enumerate.

The execution of the work displays both thought and pains, and is animated throughout by amiable and conscientious feelings. The style ssmetimes rises to a religious fervour looking like elo-

quence, and is sometimes rather misty ; Rut its general character

is that of a prolix clearness. Yet, though the writer's meaning is for the most part clearly expressed, the meaning itself might have

been shorter and better. He has not examined and pondered his subject till it was refined from all extraneous manlier, presenting the

subject, the whole subject, and nothing but the subject : so that the reader is obliged to peruse a good deal more than is necessary for an elucidation of the church principles.

Mr. GLADSTONE'S logic is not always of the soundest ; and somethnes the heat of' his zeal so biases his judgment as to lead him to draw conclusions the reverse of his premises. Thus he quotes the Articles of Religion, and the Preface "of the Office for Ortlinatiou," to show that ordained ministers only can lawfully administer the sacraments ; though the words quoted evidently reihr to the muni- cipal law, and not to any Divine institution. But, not satisfied, be goes on to print the Thirty-sixth Article, where the regu- lations of the Archbishops and Bishops are " confirmed by authority of Parliament." This quality of' zeal (for we will not impute any thing worse) renders him not always trustworthy n his references; nor should we advise any one to be satisfied with his conclusions without examining the authority, nor with his quotations without reading the context. We will give an example. One iunongst his various arguments thr establishing the Apostolical succession and the Divinity in the ministly, is that the gospel will not come to us, but must be sent, and 1.11(.1.014.e instrements of transmission must be chose!). To clinch this view, he quotes St. Paul-

" The authority of St. Paul is, indeed, express and absolute. ' How shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach except they he sent e t • The Cetholice were mint in words excluded from Parliament tind Dike, but by the necessity of taking two oaths, deelsrimig, amongst, other things, that the duetrine of the real presence was " damnahle and idolatrous." Rum. x.14.15.

But this has no self-evident application except to the most general form of the principle. It utterly condemns every commission derived simply from the in- dividual who holds it : it determines that every lawful minister must be sent."

If the reader turn to the Epistle to the Romans, he will see that the Apostle is discussing the question of sending the gospel to the Gentiles as well as the Jews; and, like a practical man treating a practical matter, he rationally decides that if they arc to have it, it must be sent to them. Here is text and context.

"12. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. " 13. For whosoevo shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. " 14. how then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed ? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard ? And how shall they hear without a preacher ? " 15. And how shall they preach except they be cent?"

Mr. GLADSTONE, like most semi-Romauists, appeals to the

Fathers and to antiquity. As pictures of the manners of the time, and as evidence of its opinions, the Fathers are unquestionable authorities. Beyond this, many of them are of little utility, seeing that they cannot always be trusted to report upon matters within the cognizance of their senses. Two of Mr.

GrAnsToNE'S favourites are laENA:us and IONATIrs—men of whose sincerity there can be no doubt, liar they sealed their fitith with their blood ; but whose fltith was befouled by heresies and super- stitions. However, we will not put our theological learning in com- petition with Mr. CitAnsTosu's' but produce an authority which, however heterodox it may be held in matters of church-discipline, will scarcely be disputed in questions of literature and criticism. This is part of MILTON ON IELN-TUS.

Now, if Iran a' was so rash as to take 1u:examine:A ophdons from an author of so small capacity when he was a man, we should be more rash ourselves to rely upon those observations which he made when he was a boy. And this may be a sufficient reason to us why we need no longer muse at the spreading of many idle traditions so soon after the Apostles, while such as this Papias [a person who had heard St. John ] had the throning them about, and the incon- siderate va. al of the tnxt oge, riiat heeded more the person than the doctrine, bad the gathering them up. Wherever a man, who had been any way conver- sant with the AposzleS, Was to he found, thither dew all the inquisctive ears, although the I xi.reise of right instructing was chaugor hito the callosity of impertinent Ilthlienj: where the 'idiot was to be edified with solid doctrine, there the fancy was sool:e d with solemn stories: with less fervency was studied what St. Paul or s4t. .1olen bad cc ritt en, than was listened to one that could say, “Illere he taindtt, her.• lee siood, this was ltis stature, and thus he went Itabiled;" and "0 happy iii. hetes that harboured Lim, and that cold stone whervon he rested, this Villa;ze cchet.rie he wrought such a miracle, anil that pavement be- dewed with tl:c warm alinsion of his last blood, that sprouted up into eternal roses to (TOW:11 his 111iletyrtio:11." While all their thoughts were poured out upon circumstances, and the gazing after such men as had bat at table with the Apostles (lwitty of Which Christ lath professed, yea, though they had cast out devilsin hismutely:, he will not know at the Est day,) by. this means they lost their tune', and 'minted in the fundainental grounds of saving knowledge, as wits seen shortly hy their writings. Lastly, bar heinous, we have cause to think him less .1110,4..1011S lit lii. reports from lucid to halal of what the Apostles did, when We lind him so negligent in keeping the ftith which they wrote, as to say in his third honk against Inlc,,ics, that " the obe.11, oce of 31arv was the cause of salvation to loa:self and all mankind ;” and it: his fifth book, that " as Eve was seduced to lly (;i,d, so the -Virgin Mary was persuaded to obey God, that the Virgin Mary might he made the advocate of the Virgin Eve."—Of Prelatical Epise■pacy.

IGNATius, or as Mr. GLADSTONE prefers to style him, Saint IG- NATIUS, IS rather a favourite ; upon whose beauties he writes thus- (11%.11,S.TONI: ON SAINT lc:eyries.

Nowhere Hie idea ()I' the Episeop.II anti Presbyterial functions more ele- vated than in the, EpiAles 1 St. Ignatius : it is with some a cause of reproach against tic,ccc; vat utica its cc, an the °tint- hand, is there, I believe, a more beautiful cone, ption or ti,:a id ,aasapplivd to its lay inc athers (the highest form nailer t7, hide 21IV 1,111 Or the eloirea cciii is renarded,) inonely, the idea oft, priesthood toratfrig tip the perpcthal sacrifice of themselves, io body, soul, and spirit, h rough the lie deemer, to God. Such is ever the harmony of truth; such was the harmony c:l. the church at die days qf her r;ryin lore.

Let us turn to

MILTON ON I0NATD:5.

Now come the Epistles of 1;matilts, to show its, first, that Oncsimus was Bishop of Ephesus; to 11,2 l't the llifferellee or Bishop and l'restlyter wherein I wonder that mon. teachers of the Protestant religion, make no more difficulty or imposing upon our Is lief a Flippo...it itious mitispiing of some dozen epistles, Whereof live tire la jected as spurioic,. containing in them heresies and trillt.s, %thief cannot ;mgr.: ill chronology with Ignatius, entitling him Arclebishop of Antioch 'flieopolis—which name of Theopolis that city had not till Justi- nian's time, long:111er.ScCedrentis mentions ; Which argues both the barbarous time and tile unskilful fraud of him that foisted this epistle upon Ignatius. In the epistle to 1110,e of Tnrstis, he condemns themIcrIiiillisterS Of Satan that say, " Christ is Cod ainve all, ''To the Philippians, then; that I.;ept their Easter as the Asian churehes.iii Polycarpus did, and them that fisted upon any Saturday or Siinda■• except oleo. be counts 2S thilie that had slain the Lord. * * * As to t he Tr.iliieens, he writes, that •• a Bishop hath power over all, beyond all gine Foment steel authority whatsoever." * in the

other epistle to Stn .% n herein is written. that " they should follow their

Bishop as t'llrist did hi.s Fat her, and the Preslt■ tery as the Apostles ill' not to speak of the insulse and ill-laid comparison, this cited place lies upon the very brio, or .c i.otoa 'iticu nice ci, Whiell, had they that yitae this pa,age ventured to let its read, all men in cold hate readily seen what grain the testimony had been or, nhcre it is said, that it is not lawful without a Bishop to baptize, nor toon-r, nor to do t.;o•vItiet..... Wl..0 can our l'llorelt 111.11;t7 of these phrases but scandalous ;Atiel but a little bother he planily falls to vontradiet the Sprit of I oil in Solonion..itidged by the words theinselves-" :11■• son,- saith Ile, " honour God and the !Xing ; but say, honour God and the Bishop, as high priest, hearing the image of God according to his ruling. and of t'llrist arcoriling to hi, priest cc.mill lifter bini honour the King." Excellent Igna- titts!-qf l're/e/tieel/ Episceep.tieg.

" The obtalience of Mary was the cause of salvation to herself and an ratthltind ! " "Fear i;od and honour the I■ishop!"--are these the " principles" of the l'isited l'hurch of' England and Irelantl, or licts out' " late Student of ( 'twist Church " been " in a haste to teach what he has not learned ?

One of the boldest of recorded modern sceptics was the " Gets-

tleman of Gray's Inn" whose speech to a Parliament of HENRY the Eighth has been preserved by Lord HERBERT ; and his leading topic was the number of religions, and the still greater number of sects, and the utter impossibility that any man could ever examine, much less master, the endless and inextricable controversies. A reason so specious has not been without frequent repeaters; and it may save plain people much needless anxiety if they reflect that the salvation of souls is the single end of the Christian dis- pensation, and of all its stupendous mysteries. Thus narrowed, the principal point they need trouble themselves about, is the means to be saved ; and it is consolatory to be able to turn front the big book before us, and the thousands and myriads of still bigger books, by which writers, pious but indiscreet, have overlaid Christianity, to the simple directions of CHRIST himself. When the lawyer asked, him, " What shall I do to inherit eternal life ? Juses an- swered him, not with "fables and endless genealogies" ; he said nothing of churches by Divine institution, or of consecration by Bishops, or of standing miracles in stated services : but he corn- mantled him to love God and to love his neighbour. And when the lawyer, after the quibbling fitshion of' his craft, asked, " Who is my neighbour ?" CHRIST gave bitn, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, a definition which embraced every human being who stood in need of services he could render. Nay, so indifferent was the Redeemer to any thing in the shape of "'succession " of any kind, that he selected as examples of people not going the way to be saved, a priest and a Levite ; persons who really were divinely constituted authorities, not resting their claims by dubious text and strained arguments, but holding them by express appoint- tnent and lineal inheritance.

* Luke, x. 25, et seq.