99

and schismatics.

were not either massacred or ex- | solemnly excommunicated, as heretics 1 from their habitations, were re1 to the most abject slavery." The xon pagans "burned all the ches, stained the altars with the I of the clergy, and massacred all whom they found professing christy." "From this time British and an customs entirely ceased in the d; the language, which had been r Latin or Celtic, was discontinued, the Saxon only was spoken." here is now the "English Church," h, for the sake of argument, we had osed to exist? It has disappeared, ing not a vestige behind; and island is re-peopled by foreigners, king a strange language-by fierce idolatrous Scots, Picts, Angles, and ons. If a state church had ever ted in England, it certainly had no

tence now.

mongst these warlike and Pagan le, in the year 597, Pope Gregory Great sent out Augustine, a Roman k, with forty associates, to preach gospel. They opened their mission Kent. Numbers were baptized; elbert, the king of that principality, immersed. Churches were formed. gustine was consecrated archbishop Canterbury by the pope, and was owed with authority over all the ish churches."—Hume and Smollett. hus a new church was formed from ew and idolatrous race of people; hed by monks, who had been sent as sionaries from Rome, by the pope. was not only a new church in land, but it was a popish church, or anch of the popish church, filled with the superstitions and corruptions ch belonged to the popish community chat age. "And England was soon amous for its superstitions, as it had e been for its averseness to christiy.”—Pinnock's Goldsmith's History England.

This new church, or English branch the papal community, soon spread If over the island, and continued down the middle of the 16th century, as ry person acquainted with English tory must know.

About this period, Henry VIII. had quarrel with the Roman pontiff; ted his authority with contempt, and arated himself from the "mother of lots." For "his disobedience to the

99 42 Li- and his anhinato WOWO

These schismatics formed themselves into a new and separate community, under the denomination of "the Church of England and Ireland." They declared, by act of parliament, the king to be "on earth the supreme head of the Church of England and Ireland;" and as such, "that archbishops, bishops, and other ecclesiastical persons, have no manner of jurisdiction but by his royal mandate,” --Hume and Smollett. This new sect, which Mr. F. pompously styles "The Church," and "The English Church," dates its origin from the middle of the 16th century, and no earlier. Before that period, it had no shadow of existence, as I have shewn to a demonstration. To speak of its maintaining its "primitive purity for at least five hundred years before "the idolatrous Saxons invaded Britain; to speak of its existing "before the corruptions which were purged away by the reformers;" and, of its "primitive purity becoming corrupted by its intercourse with Rome," is, what Mr. F., in his own emphatic language, would call " nonsense."

Mr. F. finally informs us that the "origin" of the baptists, or "anabaptists," "dates from about 1520 on the Continent, and about 1640 in England," after which revelation he bursts into a strain of triumphant eloquence: "to attempt to trace them further back would be as vain as the search for the philosopher's stone." But the following fact, of which he seems to be ignorant, will quash his oratory:-There existed a baptist church in Southwark, Deadman's Lane, in 1621, only nineteen years earlier than the date at which he fixes the origin of the baptists in England.

In reply to the question which he proposes, "Did the Anabaptists exist before the reformation?" He answers with the emphatic monosyllable, to which a note of admiration is appended

-"no!" For this denial, I know not whether Mr. F. is more to be pitied for his ignorance, than to be censured for his rashness. Either he is unacquainted with some of the plainest facts of history, or, for the sake of maintaining a bad cause, he is determined, at all hazards, to reject them. But one of his own friends (Dr. Mosheim) and one of the bitterest

onoming the bentists over had shall ha

Reviews.

Going Home. By_Octavius Winslow,
D.D. London: J. F. Shaw.

ANOTHER precious little pocket com-
panion from the pen of Dr. Winslow.
Lon-Travellers by land can scent the sea air
ere they reach its shores. So here: we
seem to breathe the air of heaven before
we reach our "Father's house." We
are told that in three months this year,
as many as 3000 copies were sold at a
less price than two-pence.

re Living: a discourse in proof of
doctrine, that the soul, while sepa-
ed from the body, is consciously
e. By William Arthur, A.M.
thor of Missions to Mysore.
: Hamilton, Adams, & Co.
discourse was delivered on the
on of the decease of Anne, wife of
ev. Dr. Beecham, Wesley an Minis-
We have read it with much satis-
n. The plan is well laid out; the
gements are powerful; and, we need
ely add, the doctrine is evangelical.
e who have lost a friend they loved
I who has not-will find rich con-
on in their bereavement from the
al of this excellent discourse.

r from the Well-spring, for the
bbath Hours of Afflicted Believers.
ing a complete course of Morning
Evening Meditations_for_every
bbath in the year.
By E. H.
ckersteth, M.A. Rel. Tract Society.

Jubilee Tracts of the British and Foreign
Bible Society.

No price or name of publisher appears
on these valuable tracts, and we mention
them here just for the purpose of
advising all our friends to secure copies
of them, bind them up and preserve them
know what was done during the first
in their families, that their children may
fifty years of this noble Institution. We
presume they may be obtained from the
the secretary of any auxiliary society.
Venice: Past and Present.
The Greek and Eastern Churches:
their History, Faith, and Worship.
The Inquisition in Spain, and other
Countries. Religious Tract Society.
THREE more of the cheap "Monthly
series," full of valuable information.
Happy land, in which the sons of toil
can thus be furnished, at a price within
their reach, with such carefully-prepared

1.

2.

I of these Meditations is but about
e in length, and is prefaced by a
iptive title, and a passage from
Writ. The afflicted christian may
without weariness, draw water for 3.
elf from the wells of salvation. We
that the kind motives which in-
ced the writer of these consoling
ghts will meet with a rich reward.
lar Tracts. By the Rev. J. H.
inton, M.A., Nos. 1, 2, 3. London:

oulston and Stoneman.

who wish to see how effectually the icles, which such men as G. J. oake have attempted to place in the of the enquirer after truth, can be ved out of the way, should obtain read carefully these very valuable treatises. The writer has, in his done many good things, but he r, in our opinion, concentrated his ctical skill to bear with greater › against error than in these pages. graphs of Freedom. London: Cassell. › cheap volume is another contributo the cause of human freedom from teeming press of this spirited pubr; consisting of select pieces in prose poetry by distinguished characters, a fac-simile of their signatures. book must be popular.

historical facts!

G. J. Holyoake refuted in his own words.
By Sanders J. Chew. London: Houl-
ston and Stoneman.

Mr.

WHEN men do wrong or say wrong, only
let them go on doing and saying wrong,
and they will soon be detected.
Chew set himself this task with regard
to the sayings and doings of Holyoake,
whose contradictions he here exposes.
No. 6 of his penny tracts is now before us.
The True Light, or Heaven's Best Gift.

By Rowland Elliott. London: Ward.
THE more such neat little books as these,
setting forth the Saviour's excellencies,
are published, the better. Mr. Elliott
seems to be impressed with the idea in
that couplet of Watts:-

"Sure if the world his worth did know,
Then the whole world would love him too."

!

Christian Activity.

THE OPEN-AIR PREACHING SEASON.

Tuis season has again returned. Whether
it will find the ministers of Christ in this
land of freedom disposed to avail them-
selves of the facilities which the season
may offer for preaching his holy Gospel
publicly we cannot tell. But we are
anxious, very anxious, on the subject.

To our view it stands before us as the
most important question of the day. For
it will not do in days like these, when
papists and infidels may be found in the
open-air propagating their pernicious
errors, for ministers of the glorious Gos-
pel to be content with ordinary services
to a select few, beneath the shelter of a
roof. We must turn out and seek the
lost sheep; and whither should we go
but to the open places where we know
they are wandering. We may invite
them into our folds, and set the doors
wide open to receive them, but they will
not come. We must go out ourselves
and fetch them in, and not leave them
to be the prey of prowling wolves and
bears. How much has been written
about the masses of the people neglect-
ing Divine worship, and what lamenta-
tions have been indulged over them!
But what have these availed?
paratively little, and almost nothing.
The fact is, we must now do more than
write and weep.
We must arise and
work.

Com

We had scarc desultory remarks from a friend in circular, of a r character, on this Suffolk Congrega pears that on Ap to thirty-six Cong note, with a list of Suffolk, on the s vision for open-air the county this s replies, not one of able, were receive replies are given, s valuable facts ar select a few.

have one regular at "I have great fa worship who was whatever. Besides, last year, but befor design of the Gos carried to every man

"I need scarcely prove of the object is one to which I h thirty years of my summer engaged in preaching, and am many engagements cannot undertake oth

"Field and O judicious persons, I beneficial. It was teaching. Doubtles who follow his exa ployed in any efforts shall be most happ "I believe open-ai

friends, are exceedin

"The dead state oppresses me so m

We know too well how many will yet hold back, either from unwillingness in themselves, or from reluctance to offend the fastidious taste of their respectable friends. Just let such imagine Paul tenanced by the pres unwilling, or squeamish about offending respectable conventional taste! But whilst some hold back, others will advance, and we believe that the number of those who are willing to engage in this work is increasing. The Primitives we may always calculate upon: they will go on doing good in their own way. Some of their plans, without condemning them, we could not recommend or adopt. We prefer a more dignified and serious course. And, from long experience, we are persuaded, that known ministers of reputation would not only be heard with respect and pleasure by the people, but they could command a weighty influence

often think they need views of spiritual life and so many words vivid appreciation that it is impossible much living power-o therefore venture to be taken to evangeliz the world. Open-ai very good means to humble opinion - if given in the modern in the ancient Mess conversation, removi

the least idee of off