nisters, presbyters or elders, and deacons, or subordinate officers, were appointed in the primitive church: but, as then no dioceses existed, each church or body of the faithful, assembling in a specified place for public worship and the administration of the sacraments, chose or appointed its own officers, who were invested with certain authority; yet a faint parallelism exists between the state of the primitive church and that of modern established churches. This seems to be allowed by the preacher, who says. Whether or not the form of our church be, in all points, precisely the same, as that which was instituted by the apostles, it will not be material to enquire,—the objection can, at the utmost, be made to apply only to the temporal power, which has been derived from its alliance with the civil government.' As matters are now settled in the Established Church, episcopacy is a necessary feature, and Dr. G. is eloquent in displaying its advantages. It must be admitted, setting all comparisons of primitive and modern times out of the question, that the ecclesiastical system established in this country is adapted by its politico-religious nature to answer a double purpose; and, from the satisfaction which it gives to the government, to the nobles, and to all the rich proprietors of the land, it is in no danger of being disturbed. The character of our bishops is respectable and dignified; and, while they stre nuously plead in favour of the church as by law established, they express themselves of Dissenters with mildness and liberality, freely conceding to every one the liberty of worshipping God agreeably to the dictates of his conscience. For the security of the national church, indeed, they would make a reservation of the offices of civil trust and power in favour of its members: but, as we have seen, Dr. Goddard regards this matter in the light of a regulation purely political. If this be the case, the Church can offer no objections to the repeal of the Test-laws, whenever Parliament may deem it expedient to expunge them from the Statute-book.

6

Dr. G. thus concludes :

In defending our ecclesiastical establishment, in asserting our church to be pure and apostolical, we fear not the misrepresentations of its enemies: we rest not our pretensions on the partiality of those, who are in communion with us; nor yet on the declarations (however favourable) of foreign divines. Let them be decided, not by abstruse reasonings, but by incontrovertible facts: by that portion of real good, which it has so long continued to produce: by its effects on piety, on morals, on learning, on the intellectual powers of men, and on their happiness, as individuals, as subjects, and as members of society; by the proud pre-eminence, which, through the peculiar blessings of Divine Providence, has so eminently distinguished that State, which has adopted our Church into a close and

lasting

lasting alliance. To expect a time, when institutions, laws, and government, shall be unnecessary, is to expect perfection in man: which can never be attained, "till this corruptible shall have put on incorruption." "

Several parts of this discourse are doubtless open to animadversion; and, in this age of controversy, some writers may be inclined to enter the lists with the preacher: but all must commend it as a neat and able composition, and allow it to be laudably free from that superciliousness and asperity which formerly were disgustingly prominent in disquisitions of this

kind.

ART. V. A popular Survey of the Reformation, and fundamental Doctrines of the Church of England. By George Custance, Author of "A concise View of the Constitution of England." 8vo. PP. 565. 128. Boards. Longman and Co. 1813.

WHAT

HAT is the precise meaning of the epithet popular in this title? Perhaps we are to understand by it such a survey as the good people of England ought to read, who should not look at the Reformation, and the doctrines which it introduced, except through glasses of a particular sort. The people, it has been said, have nothing to do with the doctrines of the State, but to believe them; nor with the laws of the State, but to obey them. Philosophic investigation, and cloud-dissipating inquiry, are mental luxuries which the multitude should never be invited to enjoy: but they should be exhorted to venerate all that is established, and to suspect every man of heresy and rebellion who has the audacity to think for himself. Mr. Custance's present treatise is written in the true spirit of this principle. His popular survey of the Reformation is happily contrived to render the idea of reform unpopular, and to convince Toλ that the reformers left them nothing to do but to adopt their system in its utmost extent. Of this we are very certain, that, if those who are contented to have others think for them do not relish Mr. C.'s book, they who are in the habit of thinking for themselves will never be pleased with it. As the Devil occupies a very conspicuous station in the creed of the common people, Mr. C. has not forgotten this illustrious personage in his popular survey; for he tells us, or rather John Bull, (p. 44.) that in the eighth century all the kingdoms of the world were bestowed on the Pope by the Devil, whom he worshiped.' The good Protestant money-getting shopkeeper will unquestionably be led by this information to hate the Pope who worshiped the Devil; unless, finding that his Satanic majesty

L 2

has

has all the kingdoms of the world at his command, he should himself consider it as no bad speculation to worship the Devil also. Thus it is with this popular mode of address; it is as likely to do harm as good; for it is impossible to compromise matters with error, superstition, and folly, without involving in ridicule our aukward patronage of truth and virtue.

By the word popular, we might suppose that the author meant pious; for he has interlarded his historical narrative with more texts of scripture than are to be found in the generality of modern sermons, and he preaches in almost every page. His zeal for orthodoxy displays itself incessantly; and he introduces points of doctrine before doctrinals become the avowed objects of discussion, though he professes to steer as wide as he possibly can from controversy. Desirous on all occasions of employing scripture-allusions, he informs his readers (p.79.) respecting William Sautrè, rector of St. Osyth, who in the reign of Henry IV. was condemned to the flames for his religious principles, that he was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire;' and speaking of John Badly, who in the following reign was executed in the same way, and for similar reasons, he tells us that he thus obtained a far more glorious victory than Henry did at the battle of Agincourt: a remark which may be considered as very popular, but which institutes a comparison between two objects that cannot be fairly compared. Proceeding in his sketch of the state of religion previously to the Reformation, or rather of the persecuting steps which were then taken by our catholic rulers and bishops to suppress heresy, Mr. C. remarks that we cannot wonder that such measures should have been taken by men, who laid the greatest stress imaginable on pilgrimages, processions, indulgencies, confessions, and absolutions by the priests. It is curious to observe the calculations that were made by them respecting venial sins. Neville, archbishop of York, specified thirty-seven kinds of sin, which none but the pope or a bishop could pardon. What these were is immaterial for us to ascertain, since we now know from our testaments that the blood of Christ alone cleanseth from all sin. The right application of this grand catholicon will give a peace to the wounded conscience, under all possible circumstances, which the absolution of popes and priests never could nor ever can bestow.' We give this passage as a specimen of the sort of preaching which is interwoven with the history; and with more of this kind the first chapter concludes. We hasten to the professed subject of the survey, and in the second chapter we are invited to a view of the commencement of the Reformation under the reign of Henry VIII. As an apology for re-writing this interesting portion of our history, Mr. C. stigmatizes

Burnet's

Burnet's Narrative as containing so many exceptionable passages as to render it unfit for juvenile reading.' We recollect the passages to which this remark refers, and must admit that the good bishop has employed some expressions which now would be called coarse and indelicate: but his account of the Reformation must be esteemed a valuable record, for he has endeavoured to narrate facts with fidelity. Allowance must be made for old writers. The mode in which he speaks of Anne Boleyn's pregnancy was not regarded as coarse in his time, though in a modern writer it would be deemed low and vulgar in the extreme. If, however, the bishop has not employed a style suited for the juvenile reader, he has kept closer to the province of the historian than Mr. C.; who, in his preachingmanner, illustrates the superintendance of Divine Providence at the era of the Reformation, by tracing the circumstance which led Cranmer to the notice of Henry VIII.: but, in the concatenation of causes and effects, the incidents which placed Anne Boleyn's beauty under the eye of the monarch are as much a part of the chain as Cranmer's visit to Waltham.

There is not, perhaps, in English history, a more striking instance upon record, than this visit of Dr. Cranmer's to Waltham, of the superintendance of Divine Providence in the government of human affairs; or, a clearer proof, that whatever are the designs of men, their actions do not interrupt the secret councils of God, but are so many means of effecting them. When Mr. Cressy sent his sons to Jesus College, it was solely for the purpose of placing them under the tuition of so learned a man as Cranmer. When the plague broke out in Cambridge, it was, doubtless, considered as one of the greatest calamities. But God had vast designs of mercy to the whole nation, in directing Mr. Cressy in his choice of a tutor for his children; and visiting Cambridge with one of his sore judgments. It was the combination of these two circumstances that sent Cranmer to Waltham ; that brought him acquainted with the king's confidential servants; that occasioned his giving an opinion which turned the whole current of the meditated divorce; that called him to the king's councils; that led to his pre-eminence in the state, and the Reformation of the church! We are too apt," says a pious and elegant writer, "to forget our actual dependance on Providence, for the circumstances of every instant. The most trivial events may determine our state in the world. Turning up one street instead of another, may bring us into company with a person whom we should not otherwise have met; and this may lead to a train of other events, which may determine the happiness or misery of our lives." This is not the chimera of a visionary; not the language of enthusiasm! but "the words of truth and soberness!" the voice of revelation! "+And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt: Now, therefore, be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye Cecil's Works, Vol. iv. p. 31. + Gen. xlv. 3, 4.' L3

sold

sold me hither: for God did send me before you, to preserve life." The conduct of Joseph's brethren was iniquitous; their motives base; yet they were instruments in the hands of him, "who worketh all things after the council of his own will," to bring about his gracious designs, not only towards their own family; not only towards the whole race of Israel; but also towards the Gentile world! And we must come to the same conclusion respecting the particular Providence of God, if we attentively consider the events recorded in the fourth chapter of St. John's Gospel. Here we read that when Jesus left Judea to depart again into Galilee, that "he must needs go through Samaria." But why not go some other way, as doubtless he might have done? Because, then he would not have met with the woman of Samaria, who came to draw water at Jacob's well, just as our Lord sat down to rest himself there! Because this woman would not probably have otherwise been brought to believe to the saving of her soul !'

We did not expect to meet the woman of Samaria in a professed history of the Reformation: but, if Mr. C. thus on every occasion travels out of the record, he may introduce us to Jack the Giant-killer, Sinbad the Sailor, and the Seven Champions of Christendom. The inference with which the above passage closes we have not copied, because it is not justified by the premises. Burnet does not tell us that Wolsey said that "he preferred the king's favour to that of Almighty God;" and this charge against him, which Mr. C. advances as true history, is a palpable misconception. With all his faults, Wolsey was a man of a great mind, and we cannot subscribe to Mr. C.'s condemnation of him that his ambition stifled every patriotic feeling in his mind. His noble institutions at Oxford must ever remain a monument of his zeal for the advancement of learning and the improvement of posterity.

Having mentioned the execution of Harding, who retired into a wood to read the scriptures, and in whose house some parts of the New Testament were found, Mr. C. introduces a reflection against complete liberty of conscience:

Do we now talk of persecution and emancipation? Are we obliged to secret ourselves in holes and corners to read the word of God? Are we afraid that scraps of the New Testament should peradventure be found in our houses? Or, are we not rather ashamed that any one should suppose that we are not possessed of the whole volume of Revelation; or, imagine that it is not meditated by us day and night, and more unto us than our necessary food? Surely a

*The words which he is said to have used to Sir Wm. Kingston were "This is the just reward of my pains and study, not regarding my service to God; but only to my prince." How different is this to the above. Wolsey reflects on himself for having served man more than God.