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"Connection with the Bible Society communicates no aversion to the Prayer-book. Some of its most zealous members have formed themselves into a Society for the ⚫ distribution of the Common Prayer Book and Homilies.' It gives no countenance to the peculiar doctrines of the Presbytery, or of Socinus, or Fox, or Whitefield. The pure language of the Bible uninterpreted, uncommented, unglossed, is adverse to their peculiar doctrines. Their errors, as well as those of Popery, are founded on misconception, misinterpretation and false glosses, and by such aids they are propagated. The pure text of the Bible is the true Protestant standard of truth, and the Church-of-Englandman's authority. Papists know this to be the true Protestant principle, and the great instrument of our blessed reformation from Popery. They therefore maintain, and I think justly, that this principle is abandoned by those who condemn the Bible Society for not distributing the Common Prayer Book with the Bible.

"The union of Churchmen and Dissenters for the distribution of the Scriptures, is not more likely to render Churchinen favourable to sectarian principles than it is to reconcile Dissenters to the Church. The Dissenters from our Church, who join the Bible Society in this career of truth and charity, are, in this respect, more just to the cause of Protestantism than our objectors. For if evil communication corrupt good manners;' if the religious principles of either are likely to be affected by communication with the other, the principles of Dissenters are more likely to be affected by communication with the Church, than ours are by contact with the Presbytery or Conventicle; and we must have very little confidence in the truth or justice of our cause, if we do not see that we are likely to gain more than they are by this charitable co-operation. For we make no accommodation to the Dissenters, while they candidly and liberally consent to distribute no other English version of the Scriptures bat the one authorized by the Established Church.” p. 20-27.

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"Nothing but inattention to the great principle upon which the Bible Society is conducted, or ignorance of the Society's proceedings, or of the members, who compose it, could induce any one to suppose,

that a believer in Christ's atonement can lose any of his veneration for that evangelical doctrine, because Socinians and Quakers unite with him in distributing the pure text of the Gospel, from which it is derived. We may justly challenge our ob

jectors (let them be Papists or Protestants) to the comparison whether they or the defenders of the Bible Society, are most zealous in maintaining the doctrine of Christ's atonement; and whether connection with the Bible Society has, in any one instance, exhibited the slightest proof of diminished respect for the Christian Sacrainents. We may challenge them further to the comparison, whether they or the defenders of the Bible Society, on those public occasions, in which the safety of the Established Church has been endangered, have employed their time and faculties most anxiously in the defence of her doctrines, her discipline, and constitutional rights; whether, in laying the foundations of Christian knowledge and church fellowship, by the education of the poor or rich in the principles of the Established Church, they, or the calumniated church-members of the Bible Society, have taken most pains by their own assiduity and instruction to inculcate in the first lessons of ⚫ Christian Erudition' the true nature of Christ's Church, the true principles of our own Establishment, and to guard young minds against all temptations to dissent and schism. We say not this, as stretching ourselves beyond our measure, nor boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men's labours,' but in the pure simplicity of ingenuous expostulation, in reply to the unjust and unwarranted charges against the conduct and principles of the church members of the Bible Society "." pp. 29, 30.

The sentiments of the Bishop are strongly opposed to the Roman Catholic claims. In stating his objections, he gives a concise but forcible view of the reasons which lead him to consider it as incumbent upon the Ministers of the Church of England to resist them; and examines a few of the principal arguments, which have been advanced on the other side. The

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pose of the Christian Observer, to enter into this or any other topic of grave political discussion. Upon a question of such magnitude and importance as the Roman Catholic question, involving so many interests, and embracing so wide a field of argument, it was hardly to be expected that unanimity should prevail even among the wisest and the best of men. All that we can reasonably demand, is, that it be discussed with moderation and candour: and whatever may be thought of the conclusion to which the reasoning of the Bishop of St. David's directly points, to this praise at least he is eminently entitled.

Toward the close of the Charge, his Lordship impresses upon his Clergy the duty of upholding the Establishment to which they belong; and on this ground he inculates the necessity of" disseminating true principles of church government," of "maintaining an active spirit of church union," and "establishing right and appropriate means of church education."

"The true principles of church government derived from the Scriptures, and from the primitive history of the church, will provide a powerful`armoury against the unfounded pretences of Popery and Sectarianism. An active spirit of church union will serve to counterbalance the zeal of all who dissent from us; and will enable us, as far as in us lies, to excite and retain the good wili and affections of our own people. And the right means of church education will restore to education its true Christian character;

will connect and systematize the elements of religious instruction; and will give to the instructors of youth, that appropriate learning which is best calculated to vindicate the purity of evangelical truth, and to detect and refute the insidious arts of Socinian and infidel innovation." pp. 42, 43.

If our limits could admit so copious an extract, we should be glad to place before our readers some of the following pages: they well deserve the attention of all the Clergy in the land; and we are quite certain that a general adoption of the principles and plan which are here recomCHRIST. OBSERV. No. 149.

mended, and in the spirit with which they are recommended, would do more to build up the cause of religion and to secure the great sanctuary of our national faith, than all the harsh language and uncharitable suspicions and controversial misdemeanours, which this prolific age has scattered through the world. If we select a brief extract from this part of the work, it is not because we think it more important than the rest, but because it seems peculiarly appropriate to the present season, at least in the vicinity of the metropolis; and it will not be unprofitable, wherever it is read.

"Confirmation, by a public profession of faith, is one of the most interesting and useful examples of the decency and order by which the episcopal form is distinguished. Its connection with the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, gives it great value as an act of voluntary admission into the Church of God. The use of Confirmation, as

"1. Fulfilling the intention of Baptism; as

"2. A public profession of Christianity; "3. A voluntary act of covenant with God;

"4. An act of confessing Christ before men;

"3. An act of conformity to the esta blished Church;

"6. A preparation for the Lord's Supper; "ought frequently to be inculcated, explained, and enforced, to parents, to chil

dren, and their instructors. Without Confirmation intant-baptism is indefensible. Sponsors make a profession of Christianity in the infant's name, of which he is unconscious, and which he never makes an act of his own but by a declaration of the same faith before the Church. Without this public profession of his faith, he is a member of Christ's Church only by proxy. The Church is a society; and no one can be come a member of any well-ordered society without covenants and conditions, to which he engages himself in his own name. Scripture lays great stress on the open de

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claration of our faith. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession 2 $

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"Parents and children should also be taught that confirmation is indispensable, as an act of conformity to the Church estabJished by law, which it concerns us to fulfil not only as good Christians, but as good subjects; that it is a duty, which we owe to the Church, and to the laws of the land.

Christ earnestly prayed for the unity of his disciples. By conformity to the Church we promote such unity. By neglecting her rules and discipline we become practical dissenters from the Church.

"Every thing should be done by personal inquiry and exhortation to bring children to this duty. And great pains should be taken with those who are of age to be admitted to the class of catechumens, to give solemnity to the duty by much previous instruction, and by a certificate of their fitness, which, in fulness of attestation and decency of form, may aptly correspond with the duty.

"Children should be constantly cateehized throughout the year, with a view to Confirmation. And for this purpose they should be carefully and distinctly informed, that they are taught the Church Catechism in compliance with their Sponsors' promise, that they should be brought up in the know ledge of the Christian faith, and of God's commandment; and to enable them to fulfil their duty of publicly professing their faith." pp. 44-47.

The Postscript contains an account of the establishment of a Proclamation Society in the diocese of St. David's, for the encouragement of Piety and Virtue, and for the preventing and punishing of Vice, Profaneness, and Immorality." The purpose is highly laudable; and we sincerely wish that its success may correspond with the views of those who promote it. Institutions of this sort, when conducted with attention and judgment, must certainly be productive of good, and we wish they were universal.

The Appendix referred to in the Charge, is reserved for a separate publication. We anticipate much, both of instruction and pleasure, from the perusal of it.

Among the minor subjects of comTM mendation which occur to us on the perusal of this pamphlet, we shall beg leave to mention its style. We have frequently been offended at the loose and slovenly manner in which some authors of name condescend to give their opinions through the medium of the press: we have met with compositions which would disgrace a school-boy. The style of the Bishop of St. David's is simple and perspicuous: it is without preten-. sion, and has no need of apology: it exhibits manly sentiments in a metaphor, no confusion of images, manly way. Here is no ambition of no halting of detached half-sentences. We never stop to inquire of a feeble and ill-sorted period, for what purpose it was introduced, or how it came there: we see that all the clauses of a paragraph are in their proper places; that they have a mu tual connection and dependence; that they say just what they mean to say, and the reasoning proceeds without effort and without intermission. The style itself seems forcibly to remind us of that independence of character and simplicity of purpose which distinguish the Right Reverend Author; and it is possible that this association of ideas may render it still more pleasing. It is refreshing to turn from a race of low and abject spirits--and they frequently cross our way to a mind of high feeling and generous enterprize. Io is by men of this class that great objects are effected: while others are calculating possibilities, they are performing the work: while others are doubting whether a parishschool can be established, and a country village be reduced to order, they are founding colleges and enlightening a diocese. Whether the example, which this excellent prelate has set on so many occasions, will have its just influence in exciting other persons" to love and to good works," we presume not to say. His reward is independent of such considerations: it is to be found in the blessings of those, who derive

benefit from his pious and charitable labours, in the testimony of a good conscience, and in the approbation of Heaven.

Church of England Missions. By J. W. CUNNINGHAM, M.A. Vicar of Harrow on the Hill. London: Hatchard. 1814. price 2s. THE object of this able and well written pamphlet, which is addressed to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, is to recommend to the adoption of our civil and ecclesiastical rulers, a plan for increasing the missionary energies of the Church of England. It has hitherto been matter of just reproach to that Church, that she has done so little in this important field of Christian exertion. Missions, indeed, have been supported at different times by individuals or associations within

her pale. In this respect, the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge deserves much praise; for although her missionary efforts have been very limited in their extent, yet, for near a century, she stood almost alone, as far at least as England was concerned, in her evangelic labours among the heathen. Another society (the Church Missionary) has recently entered on the same honourable service, with a zeal which promises, under the blessing of God, to produce important results. But still the reproach has not ceased. The Church of England has to this day furnished few or no missionaries to the hea then. With the exception of a solitary individual in the island of Antigua, we do not believe that there is at this moment, a single minister, or even a single member, of the Church of England employed, under the designation or in the character of a Missionary, in extending the knowledge of Jesus Christ among Pagans or Mohammedans in any part of the world. Is not this a most opprobrious fact, especially when we take into the account the vast extent of our extra-marine possessions? And is it not of the last

importance to ascertain the cause, and to apply a remedy?

Mr. Cunningham has justly remarked, that in Englishmen there is no indisposition to exchange their own for a foreign climate. Not a year passes in which there are not numerous emigrations from this country to all the quarters of the globe. Neither the distance of the place, nor the difficulty of communication; neither the cold of the frozen, nor the heat of the torrid, zone; neither the unhealthiness of the situation, nor the privation of comfort which attends a residence in it, seems to present any decisive obstacle to the acceptance of office, or the pursuit of commercial enterprize. Nor is this readiness to encounter the hazards of emigration confined to those among us who are stimulated by secular motives to expatriate themselves. We find among our Dissenters and Methodists no invincible reluctance to embark on foreign missions. The missions of the Methodists in the Antilles, and more recently to the East; those of the Baptists in Bengal; and those of the London Missionary Society in various parts of the world, sufficiently attest this fact. How then shall we account for it, that, within the pale of the Church of England, so few should have been found disposed to offer themselves for the work of missionaries to the heathen? The fault we conceive to be chiefly, if not exclusively, attributable to the rulers of our church. They have neither endeavoured to excite a zeal for missions in those under their charge, nor have they provided the necessary facilities for engaging in them; on the contrary, they have rather discountenanced and discouraged all such undertakings. If it be asked, What could they have done? We reply, without hesitation, They might at least have called the public attention to the subject: they might have pressed, and might have urged the Clergy generally to press, the solemn and imperious duty of endeavouring to diffuse the know

ledge of the Gospel throughout the world, on the consciences of all committed to their spiritual rule and direction: they might have invoken their earnest prayers for the conversion" of all Jews, Turks, infidels, and heretics;" and they might have called upon them to contribute liberally, as God had prospered them, to this good work. That it was their bounden duty to have done this, no one can deny; and yet so lamentably has this duty been neglected, that if we were called upon to specify the circumstance which, above all others, bas clouded the glory of the Church of England, we should name her apparent indifference to the eternal interests of a world lying in darkness-her apparent want of that true evangelic zeal, and of that love to souls which animated the primitive churches in their missionary labours, which have so honourably distinguished the Church of the United Brethren in modern times, and which have begun to impel to exertions of no mean character our fellow-Christians of other denominations. Until the Church Missionary Society arose, no voice was heard in any corner of our vineyard, either from the pulpit or the press, calling upon the members of the Establishment to extend their Christian regards to other lands. And to this day, little disposition has been evinced by those who bear the chief rule in the Church, to repair the past neglect of which we have been guilty. We know not of a single effort which bas been made by our bishops, nor yet by our clergy generally, to influence the public mind on this subject, and to excite a missionary spirit in those over whom God has given them the oversight. The only effort of this kind which has been made, has been confined to a small but, we trust, a growing number of the Clergy, who, for

It is with no slight emotions, that we are reminded, by this allusion to the Church Missionary Society that the person who

about fourteen years, have laboured with zeal and assiduity in kindling and fanning the missionary flame. But even that effort, limited as it has been, would have produced, we are persuaded, much larger results, had it not been for the positive and peculiar discouragements with which the Church-of-England Missionary has to conflict. He must regard himself as destined to meet not the smile, but the frown of his superiors. He must expect not to receive their applause for his ardour in this best of causes; but rather to encounter on that very account the suspicion of enthusiasm, and to be classed with the Dissenters and Methodists whose missionary zeal he emulates. Above all, he will find that there is no provision made for his ordination as a missionary; and that however well he may be qualified for the office by his piety, intelligence, and discernment; by his intimate knowledge of Scripture; by his facility in acquiring and speaking foreign languages; and by the competency of his literary attainments; he cannot indulge the hope of being allowed to gratify the wish nearest his heart, that of "preaching to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ," until, at an expense which he may be wholly unable to meet, he shall have passed three years at an university, and obtained a designation to a particular cure in this country; on which, also, it will be necessary for him to labour for several years; as on no other terms could such a designation be obtained. To these unfavourable circumstances chiefly, are we disposed to attribute it, that while the Church Missionary Society has been able to procure a large supply of Lutheran Missionaries,

dear friend and fellow-labourer the Rev. projected and formed that Society, was our John Venn. We doubt not it is one of

those works which have followed him into the realms of light; and the recollection of which, as he marks its growing importance, will heighten the fulness of his joy.

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