The Church of England:

IS IT NOT WELL TO BELONG TO HER?

To this question, (and it is an important one,) we answer, yes; and our reason is, because that the Church of England is a Reformed Branch of the Universal Church of Christ.

They, who expect perfection in any institutions which are under the direction of fallible and sinful man, will be disappointed. For there is so much of weakness in the human mind as to render it impossible for it to be invariably free from error; and so much of depravity, as to make it certain that the right path will not be pursued without deviation. Hence, as even the Church of Christ (upon earth) has always been a mixture of the evil and the good; the mind of the Holy Spirit expressed in the Scriptures, has been more or less fully brought forward in her teaching, according to the piety of her ministers. The pure doctrines taught in the times of the Apostles and their immediate successors, were corrupted in the lapse of ages; and it was not until more enlarged confessions of faith were adopted at the Reformation, that they were freed from the pollution which had been cast upon them.

It may be useful to notice some of the points in which the doctrine of Christ had been perverted, in order to see more clearly the superior privileges which we enjoy, when compared with our forefathers who lived in earlier days. That which paved the way for many errors was, a denial of the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures to make wise unto salvation; or, if it were granted that they did contain the whole counsel of God, an assertion that that counsel was so obscurely expressed as to be beyond the reach of common minds, and that therefore in the interpretation of the written Word, an infallible Judge, the Church, was required.

Our Church, however by the

mercy of God returned to the true and uncorrupted view. She considered the miracles wrought by the apostles, the sufferings of them and the first Christians, the testimony of Jews and Heathens, to be a sufficient outward proof of God's having inspired the writers of the New Testament. She believed the Scripture's testimony to its own sufficiency. She took St. Paul's commendation of the religious training of Timothy, as her guide in educating her own children. She declared that "whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of Faith, or to be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." (see Article vi. of the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, printed at the end of the Prayer Book.) And that "though the Church hath power to decree Rites or Ceremonies, and authority in Controversies of Faith, yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's Word written." (Article xx.) She gives this general rule in her "Homily on the Holy Scriptures" that we must search the Records of God's will in a spirit of humility and prayer, and with a sincere wish to frame our lives thereby; and that we may then rest assured that we shall not be left ignorant of the way of salvation: we shall possess His word and His ministers; and if we have through necessity less of human instruction, a greater measure of the Holy Spirit's guidance will be afforded us.

Again, the important doctrine of repentance had been mis-stated, previous to the Reformation. It had been taught, that the remorse which proceeds from a dread of punishment is sufficient; that it is enough to repent once a year, or in the last extremities of sickness. But our Church now teaches the doctrine once delivered to the Saints, viz. that we must have that "repentance whereby we forsake sin ;" (see the Church Catechism,) that the remembrance of our sins must be grievous unto us, the bur

den of them intolerable, and that we must desire to serve and please God in newness of life." (see the Confession of sin in the Communion Service.) In a word, she inculcates that godly sorrow which wrought in the Corinthians such carefulness, such clearing of themselves, such indignation, such fear, such vehement desire, such zeal, such revenge. (2 Cor. vii.)

The doctrine of the forgiveness of sins had been equally corrupted with that of repentance, men had been taught to believe that they could merit salvation at God's hands; or that, if not by themselves, yet by means of others, the debt they owed the divine justice might be paid. Our Church, when purified, declared, that "we are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works and deservings;" and that "it is arrogancy and impiety for men to declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for His sake than of bounden duty is required."

But the space would fail me to tell of the period of man's probation being lengthened beyond the limits which God has assigned to it, in Purgatory; of worship offered to images; of prayers to departed Saints; of speaking in the congregation in a tongue not understood by the people;all which have been tried by the unerring standard of God's word, and found deficient and rejected.

What has been advanced, however, will be sufficient to shew, how happy is our lot in being delivered from this fearful darkness. Doubtless many in those gloomy days. longed for the heavenly light which we possess. They were deeply interested about their eternal welfare, yet they were debarred from God's word; it was neither read in a language they could understand, nor sincerely preached. And if some few did see a ray of divine truth; it was like a passing gleam of sunshine, which breaks from the clouded sky, and lights here and there upon a favoured

spot, but is quickly gone, and all is dreary as before. Blessed are the eyes which see the things that we see; for many humble, earnest, enquirers after the way to heaven have desired in vain to see the will of God plainly made known, as it is (through God's mercy) embodied in the prayers and Articles of our Reformed Church.

M. T. [All the points mentioned in this paper are largely discussed in Jeremy Taylor's Dissuasive from Popery. And that work might be referred to as an authority.]

A Word or two about the Prayer Book.

ARE NOT THE PSALMS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE SERVICE ?

They are not ignorant what difference there is between other parts of Scripture and the Psalms. The choice and flower of all things profitable in other books, the Psalms do both more briefly contain, and more movingly also express, by reason of that poetical form wherewith they are written. The ancients, when they speak of the Book of Psalms, use to fall into large discourses, shewing how this part above the rest doth of purpose set forth and celebrate all the considerations and operations which belong to God; it magnifieth the holy meditations and and actions of divine men; it is of things heavenly an universal declaration, working in them whose hearts God inspireth with the due consideration thereof, an habit or disposition of mind whereby they are made fit vessels both for receipt and for delivery of whatsoever spiritual perfection. What is there necessary for man to know, which the Psalms are not able to teach? They are to beginners an easy and familiar introduction, a mighty augmentation of all virtue and knowledge in such as are entered before, a strong confirmation to the most perfect among others. Heroical magnanimity, exquisite justice, grave moderation, exact wisdom, repentance unfeigned.

unwearied patience, the mysteries of God, the sufferings of Christ, the terrors of wrath, the comforts of grace, the works of Providence over this world, and the promised joys of the world which is to come, all good necessarily to be either known or done or had, this one celestial fountain yieldeth. Let there be any grief or disease incident unto the soul of man, any wound or sickness named, for which there is not in this treasure-house a present comfortable remedy at all times ready to be found. Hereof it is that we covet to make the Psalıns especially familiar to all. This is the very cause why we iterate the Psalms oftener than any other part of Scripture besides ; the cause wherefore we inure the people together with their minister, and not the minister alone to read them as other parts of Scripture he doth.-Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, Book V. ch. 37, § 2.

[Hooker, one of the best Divines of our Church, flourished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, afterwards Master of the Temple; afterwards he held the living of Boscum in Wiltshire, and finally that of Bishops Borne in Kent, where he died about the year 1600.]

The Village Church.

The day will come again, I firmly believe it, when the parish church shall once more bear its witness to village piety; when its old hoar walls shall tell by many a token the religious care of the pastor and flock for their Father's house; and the seemly decorations within shall bespeak the diligent attendance and grateful offerings of devout and thankful hands. There can be no brighter vision of a glad and peaceful life, than an English village lying around its church-yard pale, where the affections of a hundred homes lie buried side by side. What a mystery