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THE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES.

MR. G. B. PARSONS, late missionary to India, having been whilst in his native land, more benefited usually by connected expositions of scripture, than by sermons on detached passages, commenced, chiefly for the benefit of the people to whom he ministered, the preparation of an expository course on the epistle to the Colossians. In this em

ployment he spent a portion of every day, while his bodily health was declining. The exercise, says his biographer, had the most delightful effect on his own mind. Often would he exclaim, "If I am never to deliver these discourses to others, I am abundantly blessed in the light and joy which are daily poured into my own bosom."

A HINT TO THE READERS OF USEFUL BOOKS.

I WILL here mention, says the biogra- | God; and while he was upon his knees, pher of the Rev. Henry Venn, a striking instance of the wonderful manner in which God will sometimes supply the wants of his servants when they duly trust in him. At a period of very pressing difficulty, when a tradesman was importunate for the payment of his bill, Mr. Venn had no resource left but with earnest supplication to make his wants known unto

a letter was brought enclosing a bank note of £50, with an anonymous address, saying, "Having received great benefit from your 'Complete Duty of Man,' (which was just then published), I beg you to accept this small acknowledgment." Mr. Venn could never discover to whom he was indebted for this seasonable benefaction.

TIME AND ETERNITY.

Hast thou number'd the drops of pearly dew
That shine in the morning's roseate hue?
Hast thou number'd the stars that nightly glow,
Or counted the leaves of the forest that blow ?
Hast thou number'd the flowers of earthly bloom
That lade the breeze with their sweet perfume?
Hast thou gazed on the sun's departing beams,
And thought on thy childhood's golden dreams?
Hast thou walk'd 'mid the autumn leaves sear and dry,
Emblem of all that must fade and die?

Hast thou reckon'd the days of the years gone by,
Or number'd the dead that silent lie,

Wherever the foot of man hath trod,

In their graves underneath the verdant sod?
Hast thou gone far adown to those gloomy caves,
Where dead men sleep in their ocean graves?

Hast thou roam'd through the deep sea's wide domain,
And counted the links in the victor's chain?

Hast thou number'd the sighs that sad hearts have heaved,
Or the garlands of cyprus that grief hath weaved?
Hast thou counted the drops of the deep, deep sea,
Or number'd the billows, how many they be?
Hast thou reckoned the living and called them o'er,
Of every nation, and tribe, and shore?

Hast thou counted the sands that have yet to run,
Ere earth shall see her last rising sun?
Now add together the mighty sum

Of things past, present, and yet to come.
But fast as the gathering numbers swell,

There are numbers yet that no tongue can tell.

No, not by earth, or air, or sea,

Can ye measure the days of eternity;
The time of all that hath ever been,

Which the ear hath heard, or the eye hath seen;
Not a seraph's eye with its piercing sight,
Can glance to the verge of that realm of light;
No wing can that region wide explore ;
No tongue count its mighty wonders o'er ;
Its circumference compasses all things round,
But in God alone is its centre found;
No arm its length or its breadth can span,
Its measureless height no eye can scan;
No line its fathomless depth can sound,
Nor measure its mighty circle round.
Go ask its age of the years gone by,
"From eternity past," is the stern reply;
Go ask what its future age shall be,
And the voice re-echoes" Eternity."

This, this is the chorus deep, loud, and strong,
Of Heaven's high and majestic song,

While the regions of darkness from shore to shore,
Unceasingly echo, "for evermore !"

It comes, it comes, for in yonder sky
Are signs that proclaim its coming nigh;
And the silent years as they onward glide,
Bear us along on their rapid tide,

And soon the waters of Time will be

Lost 'mid the waves of Eternity.

Where is the year just now pass'd away,

Whose funeral knell seems yet to say,

"We shall meet again at the trumpet's call,

When the rocks shall flee and the mountains fall ?"

At that great dread hour of destiny

We yet shall meet, when from land and sea

The dead shall arise and together stand
With the living of every tribe and land,

A countless host, near the great white throne,
And be judged by Him who sits thereon;
We there shall meet-the hour is nigh,

For perchance "this" may be thy year to die!

W.

REVIEW S.

Anglo-Catholicism not Apostolical. Being an Inquiry into the Scriptural Authority of the leading Doctrines advocated in the Tracts for the Times, and other Publications of the Anglo-Catholic School. By WILLIAM LINDSAY ALEXANDER, M. A. Edinburgh: 8vo. pp. 445. Price 8s.

In the autumn of 1833 a penny tract was published, entitled, "Thoughts on the Ministerial Commission, respectfully addressed to the Clergy." This was the first appearance of that bubbling fountain of theology, which has since sent forth its streams so copiously as to overspread the land. There had, however, been some preparation made for this harbinger of the new movement; the cry had been sounded loudly in ecclesiastical ears, "The church is in danger." A few enterprising, energetic, and influential individuals, belonging to the university of Oxford, had frequently met, and deliberated, and determined to make an effort to awaken the whole "church as by law established," to a united and mighty effort in resistance of all the innovations which, it was feared, might ultimately divest the church of its few millions of annual income, deprive the successors of the apostles of their peerages and their palaces, abolish all clerical braminism, open the universities to the nation at large, and place that church on its own resources, like other communities of Christians. Missives were sent throughout the kingdom, meetings of clergy were held, addresses were presented to episcopal authorities to bring them forward as leaders of the host; and it was resolved that so powerful an agent as the press should not be neglected The first tract was widely distributed; its contents fell like seed into ground prepared for it, and it was soon followed by others, till more than six volumes had been produced, and No. 90 crowned the whole.

Gradually the theological system of the tracts and their authors was unfolded. The bishops were flattered by the extensive powers and the profound obedience which were claimed for them; the clergy

could scarcely look with indifference on a system one great object of which was to exalt the priesthood, as the only dispensers of God's grace; all the members of the Church of England were assured that they and they only, as far as these realms are concerned, constitute the church of Christ; sacraments which could be duly administered only in the Church of England, were declared to be the source of all grace; from the neglected folios of patristic lore authorities were produced for doctrines and practices which had long been rejected as popish, and tradition was placed by the side of scripture as its necessary expositor and a joint rule of faith. And as the development of the system proceeded, fasts, and penances, and ritual observances, and the honour of saints' days, were strongly urged; the Roman catholic church was recognised as a sister or mother, and though blamed for carrying some things too far, was extolled as possessing advantages of which the Reformation had deprived the English church, while protestantism was denounced in umeasured terms, and fierce anathemas were poured upon it.

In the rubric, the church services, and the catechism, a great many of the elements of this system were found; but other principles were drawn from the Nicene church, and it was an avowed object, not to bring back the English church to the standard of the reformation, but to modify and alter the reformed church till it should resemble the church of the fourth or fifth century.

But all this while the new, or the revived system, was without an appropriate name. It was not high churchism, nor low churchism, nor Erastianism, nor evangelicalism, nor popery. Some called it "church principles;" but this was not sufficiently specific; it was "tractarianism," as being the theology of the Oxford Tracts, but this was rejected by many of its advocates and leaders; it was "Puseyism," and perhaps it has been more generally known by this appellation than any other. But though Dr. Pusey has appeared prominently among its defenders, he was neither one

of the originators of the movement in its favour, nor has he been at any time the master spirit by which it is animated and guided. Mr. Alexander has adopted a term perhaps as unobjectionable as any, that of "ANGLO-CATHOLICISM," which, though some objections may be against it, has this advantage, that it may be used by an opponent without offence. It is intended to specify a system, which assumes as its basis the existence of a visibly organized society, within which only grace is dispensed, and the blessings of salvation are enjoyed, of which great confederation the English church forms an integral part.

But whatever be the name by which this ecclesiastical system is to go down to posterity, its appearance on the great theatre of human affairs, what it has already done, and what it promises yet to accomplish, is an event which may justly be considered among "the signs of the times." Within the course of ten years it has produced a change in the spirit and working of the established church, unequalled in its importance and probable results by any ecclesiastical movement of modern times. Its influence is not confined to England; it extends to our most distant colonies, and in every part of the world where British residents are found or our language is known, its effects are seen and felt. Across the Atlantic, throughout the United States, in Canada, and the islands of the west; beyond the Pacific, in Hin- | dostan, and in the Asiatic isles; in the highest latitude of the north occupied by British colonists, and in the most distant portions of the southern hemisphere to which our population has emigrated, its working is apparent. The attention of all Christendom is excited by it, from the triple-crowned dignitary of Rome to the humblest village pastor. Protestants of all denominations and all countries regard it with amazement as a fearful portent, and Roman catholics, hailing it as the morning star of a bright and glorious day of papal splendour, in which, as in times of yore, England yet shall shine, take new courage, and redouble their efforts and their prayers for the recovery and restoration of this longlost province to the dominion of the pope.

We perfectly agree, therefore, with Mr. Alexander in the importance which he attaches to this great controversy.

"The influence of the struggle does not terminate with the church of England; it touches every sect and party in the empire; it affects the substance of our religion, and the dearest of our civil rights. Divested of circumstantials, the great question at issue is simply this: Does Christianity depend upon the church as a visible body, or does the church depend upon Christianity? In other words, is it the church— existing by the preserving care of God, endowed with mysterious and supernatural power over the destinies of men, and whose ever-vital nucleus is found in the clerical order, by the members of which her order is preserved, her unity manifested, and her power dispensed-Is it the church thus constituted, which conveys salvation to man? Or do men, by obtaining salvation, each of mercy through Christ, constitute, by their one for himself, by the reception of God's offer spiritual union with Christ, the church of God, which is holy, catholic, and invisible, and by their outward fellowship with each other, such churches as Christ has appointed to exist visibly on the earth? This is the great question at issue, which must be justly apprehended, and fairly dealt with, before this controversy can even approximate to a close. Now a question like this goes obviously to the very bottom of our religious and ethical systems. Upon the decision of it rests the entire complexion of our Christianity, as well as of our views of society and life. The questions, How may I know religious truths? How may I be saved from guilt? How may I serve God? What are my duties as a man, as a relation, as a subject? What should be the main object of my thoughts and pursuits here? These and other questions, no less important, will all receive different answers, according as we adopt the one or the other of the two views of the church as above indi

cated. Where such questions are involved there is no party, there is no individual who is not interested in the discussion.”—Preface, pp. iv.,v.

We were very much surprised at the singular want of his usual sagacity and discrimination, in the author of Ancient Christianity, in a remark made by him respecting the opponents who might effectively attack the errors of tractarian theology. It is not merely that he supposes that but few of the nonconformists have any direct acquaintance with the Greek and Latin divines," but there is, he states, an "unfitness of any class of dissenters to engage in controversy with the writers of the Tracts for the Times," inasmuch as their own system is so assailable that they are "more likely to get

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he expects that his future fame will principally rest. And equally in vain do we look for any disadvantages which Mr. Alexander sustains in this controversy in consequence of his nonconformity; it deprives him of no lawful weapon, it does not in the least unnerve his arm in wielding "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," nor does it disturb the free exercise of his logic.

Mr. Alexander is, in many respects, just such a man as should enter this arena; his temper is candid, his spirit truly Christian, his acquaintance with the fathers and with ecclesiastical antiquity considerable, his style clear, and his logic close and searching. Unlike some who declaim strongly against "Puseyism," he well knows what it is, not from report, but from a personal and extensive examination of the writings of its leaders. It is not the design of our author to notice all the minor peculiarities of this system, his attention is directed to its great fundamental points, which he thus announces.

credit by standing off from the fray, than to reap advantage by taking a part in it." If it were a question which merely affected the interests of the establishment, dissenters might with propriety stand aloof, but if the most sacred interests of truth, and the spiritual welfare of their fellow-creatures, are deeply involved in the controversy, is it not an imperative duty on all who possess the requisite learning and talent to stand forth for "the defence of the gospel?" If any persons are disqualified from grappling with this heresy, it is surely those who are bound down to those creeds, and services, and rubrics, and to that catechism, on which in a great measure the Anglo-Catholics rest their defence, and which, in the judgment of most impartial persons, give them an advantage over their opponents in the same church. What has the conscientious dissenter to fear in any conflict of this kind? Why, forsooth, that the "unchecked democracy" of his "church government" will suffer! Not that he is likely to lose a snug rectory, or comfortable fellowship, or the prospect of a second living, or the hope of a deanery, or a prebendal stall, or, as seen in the distance, a mitre and a palace, but that some part of his church polity will be found to be unscriptural. If this can be proved, the sooner the better; if the Oxford divines can show that those principles which place us in an inferior caste, expose us to perpetual annoyances from a haughty priesthood, shut out our children from the advantages of Oxford and Cambridge, and compel us, in addition to all the burdens of a state church, to support our own minis--Page 17. ters and religious institutions of every kind-if they can show us that these principles are incorrect, and all our scruples about religious establishments needless, and if this is to be the issue of entering into controversy with the errors of tractarianism, then there is the strongest inducement at once to commence the conflict, as gain,-temporal and spiritual gain,-will be the result. We should like to know what advantage the author of " Ancient Christianity" has gained in this controversy by having quitted the ranks of dissent to enter the precincts of a state church; we look for it in vain in that work for which we sin-ably discussed. Mr. Alexander sets out cerely thank him, and on which probably with discriminating between "a church" and "the church ;" and proceeds to show that there is no visible church in the

* Ancient Christianity, p. 10. VOL. VII.-FOURTH SERIES.

"The questions which will fall to be discussed respect the following points :-The rule of religious faith and practice; the catholic church; the functions and claims of the clergy; the means by which men become Christians, and especially the ground of a sinner's acceptance with God; the end of the Christian life, and the means best adapted for securing that end. On all these vital points, errors of a most pernicious kind seem to me to be entertained by the advocates of Anglo-catholicism, as I hope to be able to show in the course of the present inquiry."

tice Mr. Alexander enters at large; to On the rule of religious faith and practhis portion of his work upwards of one hundred pages are devoted; and in it he and success, that in the apostolic church proves, we think, with great clearness there was no creed or formula by which the scriptures were interpreted, and that the early Christian fathers are entitled

to no such deference as that which is claimed for them. The authority of tradition is also ably disposed of, and the right of private judgment fully esta

blished.

The nature of "the church" is then

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