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the ry ago. The methods of dealing
re, with both have been long since pre-
scribed, and I repeat them not; but
intreat your attention to the move-
ments of each, especially the former,
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ishes. But I mean to speak of persons risen in our own times, and professing the strictest piety: who which vehemently charge us with departevent ing from the doctrines and slighting Ghost the precepts of our religion: but its the have indeed themselves advanced of the unjustifiable notions, as necessary on, and truths; giving good people groundLuthor of less fears, and bad ones groundless to fulfil hopes; disturbed the understandin such a ings of some, impaired the circumndeed, as stances of others; prejudiced multito him in tudes against their proper ministers, and prevented their edification by them; produced first disorders in our churches, then partial or total separations from them; and set up unauthorized teachers in their assemblies. Where these irregularities will end, God only knows: but it behoves us to be very careful, that they make no progress through our fault.

ating the

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bishop Secker's to the Clergy of nterbury.

unhappy, that yed on one side ospel, we are acof corrupting it. my view either e, or the protesIl from us a centu

35

Now it would not only be injurious, but prophane, to brand, with an opprobrious name, Christians remarkably serious, merely for being such and equally imprudent to disclaim them as not belonging to us, to let a sect gain the credit of them, and labour to drive them into it. Surely we should take, even were they wavering, or actually gone from us, the most respectful and persuasive means of recalling such, and fixing them with us. Nay, supposing any person irrecoverably gone, we should not be hasty to condemn, even in our thoughts, either them or their party, as enthusiasts or hypocrites: whatsoever they are, it maketh no maller to us*. And much less ought we to say of either worse than we are sure they deserve. When we are undoubtedly well informed of any extravagant things,

Gal ii 6.

After being thus" taught and admonished," we are very properly called upon to rehearse the Christian Creed, the design of which is, not to establish the doctrines of our religion, but to declare what they are, to bring together those truths which revelation teacheth, so as that they may be seen at one view, and professed in a public and solemn manner. This profession every Christian is required to make in his own name; and it serves as a bond of faith, and uniformity of doctrine, among all the Clergy and members of the Catholic Church. As such, I most cordially join in repeating it, 10 testify my continuance in the true faith and fear of God; being well convinced that on the truth of my creed depends the force of every command, by which I am bound to his service.

The remaining part of our public devotions consists of short prayers, or collects, and a "general thanksgiring," together with that admira ble form of supplication called the Litany, in which the part allotted to the people is most happily contrived to keep their attention alive, and carry their devotion to the highest pitch. And as it is supposed that every person in the congregation is furnished with a Book of Common Prayer, and attends to the Rubrics, or directions which it contains, the bodily gestures will therefore be all decent and uniform, expressive of that humility, reverence, and adoration, which the different parts of the service require.

This is doing all that can be done to ensure a proper behaviour, and make the service of the sanctuary both acceptable to God, and edify ing to ourselves. And for this purpose, the wisdom of the Church is no less conspicuous in the care she has taken to make all her members duly acquainted with the history of man's redemption, as exhibited by the annual return of those holy so

lemnities, which, with that view, are regularly presented for our devout celebration.

Thus the season of Advent, which is supposed to begin the ecclesiastical year, prepares us for contemplating the great mystery of God manifested in the flesh, and, at the same time. teaches us to look forward to the second coming of the incarnate God, to judge the world. The festival of Christmas represents this wonderful incarnation and auspicious birth of the Prince of Peace: that of the Circumcision, shows his humility in submitting to the law for man: the Epiphany commemorates, what may well be considered as cause of great joy to all people, the same Messiah becoming a light to lighten the Gentiles, as well as the glory of Israel: the Presentation of our Saviour in the temple shows, what he afterwards declared at his baptism, that he came to fulfil all righteousness: and, the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin commemorates the manner in which the heavenly herald announced this mercy to man: that solemn invitation to serious recollection which the Church delivers through the whole of the penitential season of Lent, and the sacred humiliation and public reading of the Holy Week, particularly of Good Friday, all pointing to the awful cause of our Lord's sufferings and crucifixion, cannot fail to have a good effect on the minds of all well disposed Christians, and to prepare them for solemnizing, and sharing in the blessings and benefits of the high and holy festival of Easter, observed as the great anniversary of our Saviour's glorious Resurrection. From that to the day of his Ascension, our faith is confirmed, and our hopes refreshed, by the various evidences of his mighty conquest over sin and death, and the consideration of those wise and gracious ends, for the accomplishment of which it was expedient that he should leave this world,

and go to his Father. One of the great and good ends of his departure, was the sending of the Holy Ghost, who, as the Spirit of Truth, was to lead and guide the Apostles into all truth; and, as the Comforter of Christians, was to abide with the Church, in that gracious character, to the end of the world. The feast of Whitsunday, therefore, which commemorates this wonderful event the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles-exhibits the most complete confirmation of the truth of the Christian religion, and shows that he, the blessed Author of that religion, who was able to fulfil "his most true promise," in such a miraculous manner, had indeed, as he said, "all power given to him in heaven and in earth."

After thus contemplating the whole mysterious plan of man's salvation, and the several parts of that stupendous scheme, as accomplished by the adorable "Three who bear record in heaven to it," we are very properly called upon, by the appointment of a particular solemnity for. that purpose, "to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and, in the power of the Divine Majesty, to worship the Unity;" beseeching also our Triune God, to "keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities," which may threaten to wrest it from us, or deprive us of the comforts of

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ry ago. The methods of dealing with both have been long since prescribed, and I repeat them uot; but intreat your attention to the movements of each, especially the former, if you have any of them in your parishes. But I mean to speak of persons risen up in our own times, and professing the strictest piety: who vehemently charge us with departing from the doctrines and slighting the precepts of our religion: but have indeed themselves advanced unjustifiable notions, as necessary truths; giving good people groundless fears, and bad ones groundless hopes; disturbed the understandings of some, impaired the circumstances of others; prejudiced multitudes against their proper ministers, and prevented their edification by them; produced first disorders in our churches, then partial or total separations from them; and set up unauthorized teachers in their assemblies. Where these irregularities will end, God only knows: but it behoves us to be very careful, that they make no progress through our fault.

Now it would not only be injurious, but prophane, to brand, with an opprobrious name, Christians remarkably serious, merely for being such and equally imprudent to disclaim them as not belonging to us, to let a sect gain the credit of them, and labour to drive them into it. Surely we should take, even were they wavering, or actually gone from us, the most respectful and persuasive means of recalling such, and fixing them with us. Nay, supposing any person irrecoverably gone, we should not be hasty to condemn, even in our thoughts, either them or their party, as enthusiasts or hypocrites: whatsoever they are, it maketh no maller_to_us*. much less ought we to say of either worse than we are sure they deserve. When we are undoubtedly well informed of any extravagant things,

Gal. ii. 6.

And

*

:

which they have asserted or done, it may be useful to speak strongly of them but not with anger and exaggeration; which will only give them a handle to censure our uncharitableness, and confute us: but with deep concern, that when so few persons express any zeal for the Gospel, so many of those, who do, run into extremes, that hurt its interests. Nor will ridicule become our character, or serve our cause better than invective. It may please those very highly, who are in no danger of being proselyted by them. But what shall we get by that? Persons negligent of religion will at the same time be confirmed in their negligence; and think, that all they need to avoid is being righteous overmuch. Tender minds will be grieved and wounded by such illplaced levity and crafty declaimers will rail at us with success, as scoffers,t denying the power of Godli ness. But if we let fall any light expressions, that can be wrested into a seeming disrespect of any Scripture doctrine or phrase, we shall give our adversaries unspeakable advantages and they have shewn, that they will use them without mercy or equity. Therefore we must guard every word, that we utter, against misrepresentations; be sure to express, in public and private, our firm belief of whatever evangelical truths border upon their mistakes; and certainly be as vigilant over our behaviour, as our teaching: encourage no violence, no rudeness towards them; but recommend ourselves to them by our mildness, our seriousness, our diligence: honour those, who are truly devout and virtuous amongst them, much more on that account, than we blame them for being injudicious, and hard to please; and be full as ready to acknowledge the good they have done, as to complain of the harm: yet beware, and counsel others to beware, of being

Eccl. vii. 16. 12 Pet. iii. 3. 2 Tim. i 15.

drawn, by esteem of their piety, into relishing their singularities, and patronizing their schism.

Acting thus, we shall not only cut off occasion from those who desire occasion to speak evil of us, and be able to remonstrate with authority and effect against their excesses and wildnesses; but, which is the chief point, we shall become better ministers of Christ for their harsh treatment of us. And we should always labour, that every thing may have this influence upon us: think with ourselves, if others go too far, whether we do not fall short; ask our consciences, whether we really do all that is in our power to reform and improve our people; whether the small success of our endeavours be, in truth, as it ought, a heavy grief to us; whether we have carefully searched out, and try incessantly to overcome the difficulties that lie in our way to making them better. These things, if we are in earnest, we shall chiefly have at heart: and if we are not in earnest, we are of all men the most guilty, and the most miserable.†

ཕྱིར་་་

For the Churchman's Magazine.

Remarks on Mr. Ward's Letters.

In looking over the Letters of Mr. Ward of Serampore, who, it will be recollected, has lately travelled through this country, we met with a passage or two which excited some unpleasant feelings in our bosoms as Churchmen. He remarks, "divine service seemed well attended in the states I visited; and I should think that, amongst the Presbyterians, the Congregationalists, and the Baptists, there are but few instances of a dry formal ministry, though there remains much of it still amongst the Episcopalians."-Now

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it is far from being agreeable to see ones religious society so dishonorably distinguished from the rest; and whether the writer has judged right or wrong, it is very natural to enquire what opportunities he had for forming any opinion at all. It does not appear, from a cursory glance at his pages, that he was ever in an Episcopal Church during the whole of his stay in this country, or that he became much acquainted with more than half a dozen of our clergy. He must have formed his judgment then on the testimony of others; and we are far too well acquainted with the popular cry of "no religion in the Church," to be surprized, if it left an unfavorable impression on his mind. When we read the passage inserted above, we were afraid our brethren of other denominations had done us some ill offices to the venerable missionary of Serampore, and we would charitably hope "that through ignorance they did it." If by a dry formal ministry" we are to understand him to say, that our clergy mingle, in their pulpit instructions, the duties of the Christian life with the doctrines of Grace, we hope there are few who do not plead guilty to the charge. But if he means that their discourses are generally nothing more than dry moral harangues, which are neither calculated to awaken the sinner nor to perfect the Christian, we can assure him that he has been deceived by false information. But if the imputation of not preaching the Gospel is in any case true-or if it is even true in many instances, although we might not relish the unceremonious manner in which it is cast upon us, we would not be slow to listen, and profit by the caution. We hold the propriety of the adage, “fas est ab hosle doceri ;" and would not reject a friendly hint, because it had its origin in wrong information.

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A page or two farther on the writer observes, "I found much genu

ine piety among the presbyterians, the congregationalists, the evangel ical episcopalians," &c. Why this odious distinction, as though some preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and others something else? That shades of difference are observable in the mode of stating and enforcing christian truths, we are not disposed to deny that some clergymen insist with greater stress than others on the doctrines of human depravity, justification by faith alone, and the agency of the Holy Spirit, we also freely acknowledge; at the same time, we believe there is no material difference in the faith of Churchmen on these fundamental points. What we decidedly object to, is the use of the term Evangelical as a party name ; and we hold him to be no judicious friend to the Church, who will sanction such a perversion of the term with his approbation. We are very partial to the word understood in its theological sense, and should be very sorry to see its meaning perverted to designate a class of our ministers from the brethren at large. Did we think it expedient, we could find no difficulty in tracing the origin of its abused application to an individual, whose misfortune it was to fall from his high estate, and shame the priesthood by his crimes. By him, we believe, it was first assumed in this country as a badge, by which he and his party wished to be distinguished from the rest of the clergy. This then we regret-not that religion is reviving amongst us, and the doctrines of grace more frequently and strenuously inculcated; but that those who think it their duty to labour with greater zeal, should assume the exclusive title of preachers of the Gospel-thus casting on all others by implication, the odium of not preaching the Gospel. Sure we are, that a course like this will neither promote 66 peace within our walls," nor reform those whom we wish to see more active in ministerial

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