ON THE PURITANS. To the Editor of the British Magazine. SIR,-The general tone adopted by the historians who write in favour of the Puritans is evidently assumed with an intention to induce us to understand that the breach between them and the church, which avowedly commenced on the subject of ecclesiastical habits, might have been easily made up in the first instance by a little moderation and concession (I speak as a churchman) on one part, and this appears to be the view which Lord Henley and his supporters take of the subject now, judging from the following paragraph in his letter to the King, prefixed to the later editions of his Plan of Church Reform:-"My heart's desire, therefore, and prayer to God for Israel is, that those stumbling blocks which now keep so large a body ofour countrymen out of the pale of the church, should be deeply, impartially, and patiently considered-considered by the fit and proper tribunal in the spirit of prayer, in the spirit of Christian love, of peace, of charity, and of conciliation. After such a consideration and revision, and without making one unrighteous or unscriptural concession, the church will no longer number as opponents, or as strangers, men like Howe, Owen, Baxter, Calamy, Doddridge, Watts, Henry, Hall.* Such men are the salt of the earth. No system can be entirely safe which excludes them from its bosom." Approving, as I do, most highly the temper with which this paragraph is written; believing the noble author of the " Plan of Church Reform" to be influenced by truly Christian motives, and deeming it most certainly unwise for the Church of England to persevere in keeping out of her fold any who might be brought within it if such could be effected" without making one unrighteous or unscriptural concession," I have of late been seriously considering what were originally the points of difference between ourselves and the puritans. To know what these were I have been reading their own historian, Neale, who if he be, as has been asserted, most prejudiced on the side of the seceders, may be at least supposed to speak faithfully their opinions on the subject. I find this account given of them in the commencement of the year 1567, the first year of their avowed non-conformity, which, with your permission, I will transcribe for the benefit of such of your readers as may not lately have been perusing this portion of our history. Having in one chaptert made this avowal, "Had the use of habits and a few ceremonies been left discretionary, both ministers and people had been easy, but it was compelling these things by law, as they told the archbishop, that made them separate," (a tolerable candid avowal, by the way, of the spirit of insubordination by which they In this list, at first, appeared the names of Lardner and Law; in later editions they have been omitted. Whatever credit we may give to Lord Henley for his good intentions, we cannot but deprecate the haste with which Lardner was admitted to be an evangelical Christian, and Law a dissenter. + Parson's Edition, vol. i. ch. 4. were actuated when they could not submit to things indifferent because they were enforced by law,) in the very next chapter he proceeds with a statement somewhat at variance with such an assertion :-"Though all the puritans of these times would have remained within the church might they have been indulged in the habits and a few ceremonies, yet they were far from being satisfied with the hierarchy. They had other objections besides those to which they were deprived, and which they laboured incessantly to remove. First, they complained of the bishops affecting to be thought a superior order, and claiming the sole right of ordination, and of ecclesiastical discipline. They disliked the temporal dignities annexed to their office, and their engaging in secular employments, as tending to exalt them too much above their brethren, and not so agreeable to their characters of ministers of Christ, nor consistent with the due discharge of their spiritual function. Secondly, they excepted to the titles and offices of archdeacons, deans, chapters, and other officials belonging to the cathedrals, as having no foundation in scripture. Thirdly, they complained of the exorbitant power and jurisdiction of the bishops and their chancellors in their spiritual courts, as derived from the canon law of the pope, and not from the word of God, or the statute law of the land. They complained of their fining, imprisoning, depriving, and putting men to excessive charges for small offences, and that the highest censures, such as excommunication and absolution, were in the hands of laymen, and not in the spiritual officers of the church. Fourthly, they lamented the want of a godly discipline, and were uneasy at the promiscuous and general access of all persons to the Lord's table. The church being described in her articles as a congregation of faithful persons, they thought it necessary that a power should be lodged somewhere to inquire into the qualifications of such as desired to be of her communion. Fifthly, though they did not dispute the lawfulness of set forms of prayer, provided a due liberty was allowed for prayers of their own, before and after sermon, yet they disliked some things in the public liturgy,-as the frequent repetition of the Lord's prayer, the interruption of the prayers by the frequent responses of the people, which, in some places, seem little better than vain repetitions, and are practised in no other protestant church in the world. They excepted to some passages in the offices of marriage and burial, &c., which they unwillingly complied with; as in the office of marriage," with my body I thee worship," and in the office of burial," in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life,” to be pronounced over the worst of men, unless in a very few excepted cases. Sixthly, they disliked the reading the apocryphal books in the church, and though they did not disapprove the homilies, they thought that no man ought to be ordained a minister in the church who was incapable of preaching. One of their greatest complaints, therefore, throughout the course of this reign, was, that there were so many dumb ministers, pluralists, and non-residents, and that the presentations to benefices were in the hands of the queen, bishops, or lay patrons, when they ought to arise from the election of the people. Seventhly, they disapproved of the observation of sundry of the church festivals and holidays. We have no example,' say they, 'in the Old or New Testament of any days appointed in commemoration of saints; and to observe the fast in Lent of Friday and Saturday, &c., is unlawful and superstitious. Eighthly, they disallowed of the cathedral mode of worship, of singing their prayers, and chanting the psalms, which the ecclesiastical commissioners, in Edward the Sixth's time, advised the laying aside; nor did they approve of musical instruments, which were not in use in the church for above 1200 years after Christ.* "Finally, they scrupled conformity to certain rites and ceremonies which were enjoined by the rubric, or the Queen's injunctions." These he enumerates as-First, the sign of the cross in baptism. Secondly, the use of godfathers and godmothers, other than the parents of the children, and to their answering in the name of the child, and not in their own. Thirdly, to confirming children, and to a part of the office. Fourthly, to the kneeling at the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Fifthly, to the bowing at the name of Jesus. Sixthly, to the ring in marriage; and Seventhly, to the wearing the surplice. "There was no difference," he proceeds to say, "in points of doctrine between the puritans and conformists." Thus, then, it appears that while the dissenters are endeavouring to throw blame on the church for being the cause, by her want of timely concession respecting some few things which they themselves admit to have been trifling, of their secession from her, there were, after the first demand had been conceded to them, no less than eight other questions, subdivided into many parts, to be settled, and when these had been yielded there would have been, and still is, another, by the confession of their own historian; and all the while "there was no difference in points of doctrine," for thus he continues:-"So that if we had [add] but one article more, we have the chief heads of the controversy between the church of England and the protestant dissenters, at this day, and that is, the natural right that every man has to judge for himself, and make profession of that religion he apprehends most agreeable to the truth, as far as it does not affect the peace and safety of the government he lives under, without being determined by the prejudices of education, the laws of the civil magistrate, or the decrees of churches, councils, or synods," or, in other words, the entire abolition of a church establishment; and whatever Lord Henley, and other conscientious reformers, may think, with nothing else will the dissenters be satisfied, which they, by their concessions, will only the better enable them to effect. For the spirit of alteration is a very progressive one, and from the conduct of our state-radicals, who, having obtained all they asked for, are still clamouring for more, those who are wise may easily perceive what will be the conduct of the church radicals. I remain, Sir, Your faithful servant, OBSERVATOR. * Is this the history of the sixteenth or of the nineteenth century? CLERICAL SUBSCRIBERS TO CHARITIES. To the Editor of the British Magazine. REV. SIR, The numbers of lay and clerical subscribers to our various religious Societies, connected with the church of England, may suggest matter of serious reflection. The subject has been alluded to in some previous numbers of your Magazine, and I am anxious to contribute a small addition to the facts, which may be made useful, perhaps by you and others, in subsequent discussions. I have looked through the Reports, 1st, of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1832; 2ndly, of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1831; 3rdly, the twentieth of the National Society; 4thly, of the Incorporated Clergy Orphan Society, for 1830; and 5thly, of the Incorporated Society for Promoting the Enlargement, Building, &c., of Churches, for 1830. I have not any later Reports of these two last mentioned societies. As I have not in every case proved the amounts, there may possibly be a chance error; but there can be none which will be of any moment, or can in any way affect the proportion of members. They may, however, be quite correct. 1. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The list of Subscribers, from p. 1 to 80 inclusive, contains It is stated in the Report, that the present number of members is about 15,000. The preceding analysis does not include remittances from Collections, and Sale of Books, p. 90; nor Donations, pp. 92, 93; nor Parochial Collections, nor Legacies, nor additional Subscribers to specific funds. As a matter of curiosity, I send you an alphabetical abstract of the Subscribers. As the wives, daughters, and sisters of the clergy, constitute a great part of the female subscribers, it might be nearly correct to divide 2726 into two portions bearing to each other the same proportion as the lay and clerical numbers. Thus So that, on the whole, the clerical subscribers to this Society would exceed in number those of the laity, by 1908. Including Royal Family, &c. 2. In the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, I have experienced a little more difficulty. I have gone through the District and Diocesan Societies, and have reckoned the numbers of separate subscriptions and donations, and not always according to individual persons. A subscriber, therefore, to more than one Society or Association may be reckoned in each; but this I conceive to be right. All who have not a Revd. before their names, all " Anonymous," or from a "Friend," &c., have been included among the laity. "Donations and Collections," as printed under this head (pp. *38 and *39), and Collections when noticed among the Subscriptions, have not, however, been taken into the account. DIOCESES OF Deduct Lay Majority of Clergy Cler. Lay. Females. Total. ... ... Lincoln......229+ 145+ 62= 436 Cashel Cler. Lay. Fem. Total. 25+ 7+1= 33 26+ 7+3= 36 Deduct Lay 2520 Clerical Maj. 1384 If the proportion of Clerical Females were added, this majority would be greatly increased. |