ERRATA There are two errors entirely due to the author. On p. 177, line 8 from the bottom, it is said of a passage from Cartwright that Hooker quotes it to refute it. Legh Richmond had quoted it as Hooker's, and Bishop Wilberforce or his biographer multiplied passage into passages. On looking again at Hooker it is found that he quotes not to refute but partially to endorse. Cartwright's words are that baptism is 'a seal of the grace of God before received.' Hooker's words are 'a seal perhaps of the grace of election before received.' On p. 189, line 6, Archdeacon Hare is made to draw a contrast between sober men and the air-blown phantoms of the Oxford Tractarians. The contrast is between the baptismal gift as taught by divines of the school of Hammond and the air-blown phantoms. The proper reading should be instead of they were' it was that,' for 'them' in the next line read 'these.' Page 3, Note, for 1773 read 1737. 23, line 5, for 'Cullottisme' read 'Culottisme.' 142, Note, for F. G. read 7, 8. 174, If 'awoke' is not right it ought to be. It sounds better than 'awaked.' 184, Note, for 'Totness' read 'Totnes.' 194, line 37, for 'shipusing' read 'ship using.' 14, dele comma after 'Ambrose.' 207, I, dele the period after 'play.' CHAPTER I PALEY, WATSON, HORSLEY, TOMLINE, PORTEUS, RANDOLPH, CLEAVER, PARR, GISBORNE, FELLOWES, VICESIMUS KNOX THE beginning of a century does not of necessity make a new era in religious thought. The break in the division of time is arbitrary, and so would be any similar break in the continuity of development. The most prominent theological writers at the dawn of the century were Paley, Watson, Horsley, Tomline and Porteus. They really belonged to the previous age, but must be noticed here not merely because they lived partly in this century, but to gather up the threads which connect the past with the present. William Paley1 entered Cambridge in 1768. The religious atmosphere of the University was at this time what is called liberal, or Latitudinarian. The great subject in agitation was subscription to the Articles of Religion. Paley's friend and early patron, Edmund Law, afterwards Bishop of Carlisle, had written against it. The Bishop's argument was that the Christian religion is in itself very simple and suited to all capacities, but it had been overlaid by dogmatic creeds and metaphysical subtleties. The terms of Church Communion in the early ages were very simple, such as 'Jesus Christ is the Son of God.' In later times there grew up a 1 Born 1743, d. 1805. 2 Considerations on the Principle of requiring Subscription to Articles of Faith.' |