tence, the Church has an unquestionable right to expect that they will be upheld by the cordial co-operation of her ministers and friends. The other Institutions which the Right Reverend Prelate mentions as highly deserving of patronage, are-the Charity for the Widows and Orphans of Deceased Clergymen, and that admirable establishment the Clergy Orphan School. Towards the conclusion of this Charge, we find the following passage, any commendation of which, we are sure, our readers will consider superfluous. "As it is my heart's desire, and prayer to God for you, that you may strive together with one mind for the faith of the Gospel, so it shall be my endeavour to maintain, and set forward among you quietness, peace, and love, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, a wise and seasonable moderation, a regard for your own professional character, and for the reputation of those who are workers together with you, and a just sense of the weight and dignity of your ministry, as feeders of Christ's flock, as messengers, stewards, and watchmen of the Lord." Keep that which is committed to your trust, avoiding vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so called, which some professing have erred concerning the faith." Catholic Principles of Union in the Church of England compared with the Principles of Union maintained in the Church of Rome; in a Charge delivered to the Archdeaconry of London, May 10, 1825. By JOSEPH HOLDEN POTT, A.M. Archdeacon of London, and Vicar of Kensington. 8vo. pp. 36. London. Rivingtons. THE plea of unity being the most popular and prevailing argument on which the Church of Rome justifies herself in limiting the hopes of salvation to the pale of her communion, Archdeacon Pott proposes in the Charge before us to try the merits of these pretensions. Having betrayed some apprehensions lest our cause should suffer from our own weariness of spirit, he observes, that Christian churches act wisely in using reciprocal forbearance, where fundamentals are not concerned. But there must be no compromise of principles, no sacrifice of truth. In short, the Roman philosopher seems to have fully expressed the venerable Archdeacon's wishes and meaning: "Mea quidem sententia, pace quæ nihil habitura sit insidiarum, semper est consulendum." Overtures for peace can safely be made, but we cannot accept them so long as the Romanists expect that deference to be paid to their inventions, which we can alone bestow on the written word of God. There can be " no other ground of unity in all the world than that which God hath laid." It is argued, on the part of the Romanists, that there cannot be one faith except there be some infallible authority to determine what that faith must be. To which our answer is a short one, "that they who advance this claim may as well make the rule of faith itself, as presume to place their own decisions on a level with it." Perhaps, as may appear to us, some infallible authority might be desirable to resolve our doubts, and direct our judgment; but this would limit man's probation, and contradict the analogy of the divine dispensations in other cases. In matters of practice we must be content with God's commandments; and if a doubt occur here we have no infallible oracle to direct us, but we must trust to reason and conscience. The same observations apply to matters of faith :-the Church need not necessarily be exempt from all error, so long as she does not require her members to build their faith upon her authority, but is perpetually referring them to the fountain head of divine truth. Our notion of union is, to use the Archdeacon's words, "The union of the Church universal with its ever-living head: it is the bond of faith, fellowship, and order, established in the word of God. We deem it every where sufficient for the purpose of this concord to give the Church its own place, as the pillar fixed upon the ground of truth, and bearing on its own branches, and its golden sockets, the never-dying light of that word which came by the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit, and contains in it all things needful to salvation, with the sanction for every salutary power and ministry, except such as would controul its own authority." P. 12. Let it be remembered at the same time that the question is to be decided, not by the letter, but by the sense of Scripture. This sense is to be discovered by the use of the fittest means; among which the testimony of the Church in all ages has its place, the judgment of the fathers is to be respected, and the soundest proofs are to be sought. But' still we acknowledge only one source of infallible authority, and on this ground we make our proposal of peace: but so long as the Romanists acknowledge two, they cannot accept them. But does not this plea to infallibility seem unwarrantable when we direct our attention to the first ages of the Christian Church, when we recollect the disputes in the matter of the Gentiles, and with what difficulty they were suppressed even by an Apostle? If the divines of Trent condemned the practice of the Church in the matter of infant communion, are we to be excluded from the Church for "restoring to the lips of all the cup which Christ so plainly blessed for all?" Keeping our station on the same ground, that is, referring to the Scripture as the only infallible authority, and assigning to the testimony of the Church its due place, we can set aside all pretensions urged in favour of Papal authority. St. Peter possessed no supreme authority; therefore he could not transmit it down to others. The Church of Rome has no right to consider herself as the Mother Church; because she is not first in order of existence. The Nicene Council settled the order, and the precedence of the patriarchal churches in early times, but says not one word of the sole prerogative of the Roman Church. No claims of universal authority were advanced by Gregory the Great; and when an Eastern Bishop urged these claims in behalf of himself, this eminent patriarch of Rome condemned his pretensions, and the whole practice, with the utmost indignation. We can agree then to no terms of union which have for their basis the acknowledgment of Papal supremacy, though we dispute not the honour due to the Apostle St. Peter; and we deny not that the ministerial function contributes to preserve the bond of union in the Church. There is an assent due to the proposals of the Church and the teaching of its pastors, who by virtue of their commission are to lead and govern, to admonish and instruct those of whom also they shall give account. We follow those who are given for our guides with just confidence but not blindly, for there is a reservation always to that Word which is addressed to all. But what will be said when we hear that the Church of Rome is not at unity with herself, on this grand point of infallibility? In one age this pretended privilege was vested in the Papal chair: another gave it to the Councils. The Council of Constance promised better things when it declared that the unity of the Church was to be taken from the respect it bore to Christ;-but this self same Council spoiled all this by taking the cup of the eucharist from the laity. On a view then of the whole subject-our separation from the Church of Rome was a step in no wise to be avoided: but still we should show a disposition to return to her communion, when she does to correct her errors. We have endeavoured to give our readers an abstract of Archdeacon Pott's Charge, without interspersing any observations of our own, though here and there we have ventured to transplant. It abounds with satisfactory arguments, and close, though perhaps not altogether perspicuous reasoning. There is a peculiarity in the style;-but whatever defects the composition before us may have, we are quite sure that want of matter is not one. It is evidently the result of much thought; it embraces a great deal in a little space, and will not only bear, but require a second perusal. A Sermon preached at the consecration of Christ Church, in the Parish of North Bradley, on the 2d of September, 1825. By the Reverend C. DAUBENY, LL.D., Archdeacon of Sarum, and Vicar of North Bradley. 8vo. pp. 32. 2s. London. Rivingtons. 1825. PSALM CXXxii. 14. "This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have a delight therein." From this text the Archdeacon takes occasion to consider the omnipresence of the Deity, and to enquire into the nature of that "more immediate presence" which was manifested in the Ark, and in the Temple at Jerusalem, and which the Christian worshipper trusts to experience in the house of God. The subject is treated of historically, and it is argued that such an especial_connection between the divine presence and places set apart for worship has existed in all states and ages of the world. Every part of our first parents' residence in Paradise, we may reasonably suppose to have been in some way benefited by the divine favour. But there was doubtless some particular place distinguished by a more visible display of the divine presence in glory, to which the inhabitants of that seat of original innocence occasionally resorted for the purpose of offering up supplications and thanksgivings to their great benefactor. At the same time we read that Cain, after having committed the first crying sin in the murder of his brother, went out from the presence of the Lord;' an expression which was afterwards made use of to denote the manifestation which God made of himself in the Temple. By this expression, therefore, it may be understood that Cain turned his back on that place, in which the divine presence was more immediately manifested; refusing, it may be, to join any longer, in the services appropriated to it; and thereby made himself the first infidel upon record." P. 12. 66 There is, however, considerable difficulty in defining accurately the real nature of what the author calls the more immediate" presence of God; nor are we sure that this is completely, if it be at all, surmounted in the Archdeacon's discourse. The difficulty is in some degree expressed by these classical lines of our countryman Gray, in his ode at the Chartreuse : "Presentiorem conspicimus Deum, The solution is to be found in the words of Revelation,-in the express promise that prayers offered in community of worship shall be more readily heard, more graciously accepted. The following passages give Dr. Daubeny's view of the subject: "We are well aware, had not St. Stephen assisted it, that, literally speaking, The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands:" and that consecration of places set apart for religious worship is not indispensably necessary to render the supplications of faithful people acceptable to the throne of grace. It may be said, that God has been served, and served acceptably in any Church, and without a Church. But that association of ideas which is inseparable from our nature, leads us to transfer to the place, where the services of religion are performed, a portion of that reverence which the services themselves demand. On this account it becomes both reasonable and proper that the dedication of places to the administration of religious ordinances, should be accompanied by certain appropriate religious forms. It is true we do not, at the consecration of churches, behold the great Jehovah taking visible possession of them, by filling them with the cloud of his glory, as He did the temple of Solomon; but are we from that circumstance justified in concluding that God is less present with Christians than He was with His people Israel? or that the Christian Church is less honoured than was the Jewish temple?" P. 17. "Should a doubt possibly exist, we have the word of the great Founder of the Church for our satisfaction on this point, where speaking to his Disciples He expressly said, ' Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.' The glory of the Lord is indeed as invisible to the eye of sense as the operations of the Holy Spirit are incomprehensible to the human mind. But Christians, who profess to live by faith and not by sight, may be enabled by the effect produced by the ordinances administered, to realize to themselves the presence of God in this Christian temple." P. 19. |