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CONTENTS.

THE

CHRISTIAN  RECORDER.

A CHARGE to the Clergy, is a species of composition which furnishes a fine field for discussion, for reproof, for encouragement, and for counsel: it enables the Bishop to call the attention of his Presbyters to subjects of the utmost importance and interest, as they come suggested by the circumstances, disputes and debates of the day. A system of Clerical remark and observation is established by the frequent publication of Charges—activity among the lower Clergy promoted, and the discipline of the Church enforced and extended. The Bishops have from time to time an opportunity of guarding their Clergy from the current errors of the times—of pointing out the great importance of rightly dividing the word of truth, and the necessity that they are under of making long and serious preparation before they can acquire a clear and comprehensive view of the great scheme of Christianity considered as a whole. There is no error more prevalent among many denominations of Christians at present than that the principles of our holy religion are a collection of independent truths. Now nothing can be further from the truth: for if we consider the various dispensations of revealed religion, we shall find that however different the form the end was always and ultimately the same.—that they were adapted to the social progress of man, and constitute so many parts of one great and comprehensive scheme for the improvement and happiness of the human race, which commenced with the fall of Adam, and will be completed when all they that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth—they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. This appears the more manifest, for the very technical language of the prior dispensations has been transferred to those by which they were succeeded. And it is from not attending to the relation of the several dispensations of religion to each other, and to the sense of the phrases which have been brought from the Synagogue into the Church, that we are now disturbed by useless if not pernicious controversies concerning original sin, regeneration, conversion, election, justification, and the perseverance of the Saints. And until the disputants shall agree to trace the great progressive scheme of revelation from its commencement to its completion, it will be impossible to put an end to these controversies.

Another error, equally pernicious, and no less prevalent, is that which gives to preaching a decisive and permanent pre-eminence over all the ordinances of the Gospel. Preaching has often been abused, is peculiarly liable to abuse, and would perhaps require more restraint than is consistent with what is called the liberal and independent spirit of the age. Preaching is much more liable to abuse than the ministration of any other ordinance of the Gospel in any regular communion. It is a means of influence and an object of vanity; and it frequently maintains the one and feeds the other when in fact it is most erroneous in itself, and most injurious to the interests of the people. How apposite so-ever the common opinion may now be, it is not by preaching generally or principally that men are to be instructed in the sound principles and salutary practice of the Christian Faith. The four, five, or six sermons which the common notion may lend many to hear in the course of a week, and it may be of almost every week, will not generally leave at the close of the year the certain note of one step’s progress in the perfection required in the Gospel. The same subject and the same sounds are heard in the commencement, in the progress, and in the close of this preaching; and while the hearer thinks himself full, he is really as empty and ignorant as when he commenced. Yet by his vacancy at prayer and by the little attention and value which he seems to bestow on all the public ordinances, it follows that preaching is, in his estimation, the one thing needful. Between the neglect of preaching and this undue and dangerous pre-eminence, there is surely some medium; and that medium may easily be found, by giving the sacraments and the liturgy and the elementary instruction of which the catechism is the ground work, their due weight and that importance which belongs to them in the original system of the Gospel. Then would the people be better prepared to hear and profit by sermons, and better able to judge of them than they are. Then would preachers not dare to present their hearers day after day with the same undeviating routine which neither informs the understanding nor regulates the heart. The pernicious effects of preaching without a liturgy, and giving it the pre-eminence above divine worship, is manifested in the conduct of those sectaries who have broken off from the established Church. They maintain that their former connection was materially erroneous, and essentially dangerous, and that their present system is exclusively true. You will see such sectaries pursue their object with all the zeal of proselytism, as if conversion to their present views, were indispensible to salvation. In a very little time you will see the very same persons change the views which they thought so essential, and pursue another system with the same exclusive zeal, not hesitating to declare that their former views were erroneous, nor to insinuate that salvation belongs only to their present system, which is equally liable to change.—Dr. Priestly passed through all the gradations of opinion, from high Calvinism to something only the next remove from pure Deism; and at each separate step, he was clearly right, and all the rest of the world, so far as they differed from him, clearly wrong.—Thus the Churchman became a Schismatic,—the Schismatic an Independent,—the Independent an Anabaptist, and the Anabaptist an Antenomian, carrying all the force of apparent conviction, and all the zeal of eager proselytism along with him at each step; the present being always essential, and exclusively essential, to salvation; while the last step, which was equally essential while it lasted, is now of no more value than the original point from which the Schismatic first commenced his progress.

It does not by any means follow from hence, that truth is variable, or that the discovery of it is unimportant, or that the certainty on which the most serious religious conviction ought to be founded, is unattainable. But it does follow from hence, from the nature of the thing, and, the condition of man as the judge of religious truth, that, however firmly convinced and zealously determined, we should be modest in enforcing our convictions on others, and charitable in our estimate of those who cannot consent to our conclusions.—The Sectaries of former times and of the present day, are astonished and indignant that our English reformers did not see the truth immediately as they see it now, and they lament they ultimately stopped short of the point which they have attained, and that they have retained any portion, however purified, of the ancient system. Now we consider the gradual progress of the reformation in England, as a fact of the utmost possible importance to the Church of Christ at large. Nothing was done rashly; not a step was taken without sufficient grounds, and the progress of change so natural to the human mind in such circumstances, and so unlimited and momentous in its possible consequences, was happily checked at that point which has rendered the Church of England the bulwark of the Reformation, as opposed to the superstitions of Rome on the one hand, and to the heresies of many reformed Churches and Sects on the other; a point so happily fixed, both as to faith and discipline, as to render it ultimately perhaps a rallying ground to those who now on either side most vigorously assail it.

These remarks have been suggested by an excellent Charge, which was lately delivered to the Episcopal Clergy of the State of New York, by their zealous, learned and indefatigable Bishop, Dr. Hobart. It is refreshing to follow this primitive Prelate in his annual progress through his vast Diocese, and to contemplate the great exertions which he is continually making to strengthen and further the prosperity of the Church over which he presides with so much piety and wisdom. Under his guidance, the Episcopal Church of New York State has increased three-fold, and is proceeding with accelerated steps; for his earnestness and sincerity beget confidence and win assistance. But although more has been done in this than in any other Diocese, yet the Church has increased through all the States far beyond other denominations; and from upwards of 330 congregations, scattered through this rising empire, the most pleasing anticipations may be reasonably entertained. The Presbyterians and Independents, who formed so great a proportion of the original settlers, have become a prey to the affected liberality of the age. They no longer impress upon the minds of their children, by catechisms and early instruction, the peculiar tenets by which they are distinguished; and now that their faith hath waxed cold, and the doctrines of the Gospel are no longer in repute, their congregations are falling into decay.

Happily, the Episcopal Church affords a very different prospect. In its original consolidation, much wisdom sincerity and piety were exhibited: it has been carefully revised from time to time; its members and general estimation are regularly on the increase, and the Bishops are qualified by their piety activity and good sense to accelerate its progress. The Church is well governed, and must soon become eminent upon earth.

Such a body of intelligent learned and judicious Clergymen, are able to effect much towards the encouragement of true religion and the extinction of infidelity. Their influence will gradually increase with their numbers and they will be able to enforce with more and more success, the interesting truth, that religion enters essentially into all the interests of individuals, of families, and of states; that it promotes public order and private morals, and is evidently given by the great Author of nature, for the government of the human mind. Such a body, united in one faith, convinced that the Church of which they are members is established on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, cannot fail of exciting a growing attention to Christianity. They teach its doctrines in truth and soberness; they administer the Sacraments in all their purity; offer Scriptural articles of Faith, and afford the most excellent formularies of public worship; it is therefore impossible that they should continue such labors and furnish such helps for sowing the seed of Gospel doctrine, without perceiving that, through the influence of the Holy Ghost, they were bearing fruits thirty sixty an hundred fold.

The particular object which Dr. Hobart proposes to himself, is to state the principles which distinguish the Churchman from the corruptions of the Church of Rome, and from the errors of certain Protestant Sects. After noticing that it is the momentous duty of every Presbyter, and still more of every Bishop, to “banish and drive away from the fold all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God’s word,” he remarks,

“The present is extolled as the AGE OF LIBERALITY. And so far as it guarantees to every individual the free exercise of his opinions, unawed by the sword of secular power, or the fires of ecclesiastical tyranny—so far as it renders homage to the sincerity and purity of the purposes of the heart, however the understanding may be subjected to the sway of erroneous opinions—so far as it denies no office of Christian kindness, no courtesy of social intercourse, no sentiment even of personal affection to the honest and the worthy, though bearing a different religious name, and unhappily deformed by heresy and schism—so far as the present age thus establishes the rights of conscience, and banishes that bigotry which, in denouncing errors, would persecute their abettors—it deserves the plaudit of an enlightened and Christian liberality.

“Yet even if circumstances did not establish the fact, the theory of human nature would justify the apprehension, that liberality to men would be extended to their opinions; and that from admitting the equal sincerity of the former, the acknowledgement would be made of the equal truth, or, to speak more properly, of the equal indifference of the latter; so that sincerity of intention would be considered as the only standard of truth, and the age of liberality become the AGE OF INDIFFERENCE.

“It is in this view that it is the duty of Churchmen to guard against the popular liberality which claims for professions of respect and kindness which Churchmen may reciprocate, a return which, without treachery to their Church and to their Master, Churchmen cannot render—an indifference of a lukewarmness in professing and vindicating the distinctive principles of their Church.

“I say, my Brethren, Churchmen cannot adopt the phraseology of the day, and rank their distinctive principles among the non-essentials of religion, without treachery to their Church and to their Master. For their Church considers many of these principles as lying at the foundation of that sacred edifice, which, in clearing from the false ornaments and unhallowed appendages with which superstition and ambition had deformed it, she has sought to exhibit in the lustre with which, reared by apostles, martyrs, and confessors, it shone forth in the first ages of Christianity.

“In proportion to the purity and importance of the principles which distinguish any community, is it the duty of every individual who composes it, frequently to recur to them: in order to refresh his knowledge of them to animate his attachment to them, and to apply them with increased fidelity and firmness to the regulation of his conduct. The importance of a frequent recurrence to first and distinctive principles is increased, whenever from the spirit of the age, or from any other circumstances, the danger is increased of our accurate perceptions of them, our warm attachment to them, or our steadfast adherence to them, being obscured or diminished.

“The principles which form the character of the Churchman are not perhaps clearly understood, or sufficiently appreciated by all who bear the name. And undoubtedly in the spirit and circumstances of the present age, there are many obstacles both to a clear perception of their nature and a proper estimate of their importance. The greater then is the necessity of their being delineated and enforced.”

The learned Bishop proceeds to state, that the Churchman adheres,—in all essential points, to the Faith, ministry and worship, which distinguished the Apostolic and primitive Church, and to the constitution of the Christian Ministry, under its three orders of Bishops, Priests and Deacons: that the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States acknowledges with gratitude that to the Church of England she is indebted, under God, for her first foundation, and for a long continuance of nursing care and protection. In common with that Church, she holds her Articles of Faith and her inestimable Liturgy. The Apostolic succession of Bishops, which that Church and the Episcopal Church of Scotland received uninterrupted from the Apostolic age, was by those Churches transmitted to her. He then proceeds to give an able delineation of the sound member of the Protestant Episcopal Church. We are sorry that the space allowed for this article prevents us from following the good Bishop through this interesting subject, but we must find room for the conclusion.

“The great principle, into which all the other principles of the Churchman may be resolved, that we are saved from the guilt and dominion of sin by the merits and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ received, in the exercise of penitence and faith, in union with his Church, by the participation of its sacraments and ordinances from the hands of her authorized ministry, distinguished the Church in her first and purest state. It is the universal reception of this principle which alone can restore purity and unity to that Christian family, which is now deformed and distracted by heresies and schisms.

“To this principle then, my Brethren of the Clergy, let us, in the strength of our Master, consecrate our talents, our labours, our lives.

“Animated by this principle, my Brethren of the Laity as well as of the Clergy, we shall exhibit those holy graces and virtues which flow from a vital union with the Redeemer—and, finally, when he comes to translate his mystical body from the changes and trials of its militant state on earth to the glories of its triumphant state in heaven, we shall participate of its triumphs, and be saved with the Israel of God.”

In every thing that tends to promote the prosperity of the Church, Dr. Hobart is indefatigable, and with a disinterestedness and singleness of heart that command general admiration. He has been indeed accused by the Congregationalists and other denominations, of bigotry, for no other reason than that he labors to increase the members of the Church of which he is a ruler: but to him such censure is praise. How the good Bishop finds time for his frequent journies to consecrate Churches and confirm the youth, preside at School and Bible and Prayer Book Societies, and compose the Charges, Pastoral Letters, Addresses and Reports, is truly wonderful.

It appears from a Report of the Sunday Schools which he cherishes and patronises in the city of New York, that upwards of 1250 poor children are taught the principle of true religion, and are acquiring habits of punctuality, diligence and industry. To give a favorable bias to twelve hundred dispositions, and to confirm the principles of virtue in such a number of minds, is a work which the pious Bishop says heaven will approve and bless.

This excellent man is at present employed in establishing a religious Seminary, for the express purpose of educating young men for the Episcopal Ministry. No institution of this sort yet exists in the United States; so that the youth destined for the Altar, frequently are obliged to attend Seminaries where principles contrary to what they profess are enforced and recommended. When this institution is once established, and from a large legacy already left for its support and the indefatigable exertions of the Bishop, it soon will, we may then say that the Episcopal Church of the United States is indeed founded, and will in time, through the Divine blessing, regenerate the whole nation. She will possess a regular and learned Priesthood, well qualified to understand and taste themselves and to unfold to others, the more recondite excellencies of the Holy Scriptures, to illustrate what is obscure, to unravel what is apparently perplexed, and to shew to the uninformed the harmony, congruity and unity of the several parts of the Word of God. Thus will they guard the minds of their people against the false interpretations of enthusiasm, the wild perverseness of fanaticism, and the iniquitous artifices of wilful deluders who would designedly blind the eyes of the people that they may thereout reap no small advantage.

THE religion of Christ can never flourish among barbarous nations: it would produce among them little advantage, because its sublime doctrines and awful sanctions would be grossly abused and miserably perverted. Before the gift of Christianity can be attended with beneficial consequences, it must be preceded by some degree of knowledge and general improvement in those who receive it.—The mind must be accustomed to reflect and meditate, before it can contemplate with profit the grand mysteries of our Holy Faith. We shall be confirmed in this reasoning, if we look at the divine procedure with regard to the religious instruction of man, according as it is revealed and illustrated in the Holy Scriptures. In the infancy of society, mankind were treated by their Creator like children. They were led on step by step, from one stage of improvement to another; and much training was indeed necessary, before even the most favored of the human race were deemed qualified to receive the highly spiritual dispensation of the Gospel. In the history of the Jews, who were certainly the best informed on the face of the earth as to the character of God and the proper manner of celebrating his worship, we can mark their progress in knowledge and in the general attributes of a civilized nation, by observing the more refined nature of the communications which were from time to time vouchsafed them from heaven.

In the five books of Moses, we see a religious system composed chiefly of palpable rites and observances, and which do not seem to have been intended to carry the hopes and fears, even of the most pious and enlightened among the Israelites, into any state of existence beyond the present. Being almost exclusively confined to the body, and calculated secure ritual holiness rather than absolute mental purity, the Levitical economy is described by an Apostle, who was well acquainted with the full amount of its requisitions, as being carnal or corporeal. As we advance however towards the more perfect condition of their polity, we find the Israelites, under David and Solomon, invited to join in a worship which united with the sacrificial ordinances of the Mosaic law, the more exalted offerings of rational piety and enlightened devotion. The study of human nature, and the contemplation of God’s works in the material world, had already in some degree expanded and embellished the national character. King David seems to have delighted his imagination with the sublime facts of Astronomy: and his more polished son, who had studied the productions of nature, the cedar of Libanus to the hyssop on the wall, has bequeathed to future generations a record of wisdom, industry and observation, infinitely superior to the remains of heathen antiquity.

A people enjoying such advantages, were gradually prepared for those still loftier communications of the Divine will and purpose, delivered by the mouths of the holy Prophets. They were now in a state to listen to the predictions of Isaiah, which announced to them the advent, and described to them the character of the Messiahs, who had been promised to the most ancient of their fathers. The Jewish system became more and more spiritual, in proportion as the fulness of time drew near; the knowledge and belief of a future state were no longer denied to the chosen people; for although, when our Saviour actually appeared, there was a sect who believed not either in angel or spirit, a large proportion of his countrymen held the doctrines of immortality and of rewards and punishments hereafter. The law or Mosaical institution, which was intended to serve as a schoolmaster to bring the Jews to Christ, that is to prepare them for the higher views which he was about to unfold, had now done its work; the revelations of the Prophets had contributed to the same end: and thus after a lapse of four thousand years from its earliest commencement, the blessing of Christianity was conferred upon a small but enlightened portion of mankind.

What is meant by the emphatical phrase “the fulness of time,” if it do not imply that a certain preparation was necessary to pave the way for the introduction of the Gospel. It is remarked by divines and historians, that the period at which Christ appeared, was the most enlightened that had yet dawned upon the world; and this not only among the descendants of Abraham, but still more, particularly among the Greeks and Romans. Accordingly, we find that such of the Apostles as went to propagate Christianity among the Gentiles, chose for the scene of their exertions the civilized and best instructed parts of the Roman Empire. St. Paul directed his course, not to the Arabians and Ethiopians in the south, nor to the fierce barbarians who possessed the northern parts of Asia and of Europe, but to the most learned cities of Greece, where the public character had been strengthened by reflection and nurtured by philosophy,—When at Athens, he was moved at the sight of the superstitions which disgraced that celebrated seat of pagan wisdom; and being satisfied that the inhabitants were capable of feeling the force of reasoning, he addressed to them that eloquent argument for the existence, the unity, and spirituality of God, which is contained in the 17th chapter of the Acts. He found there a suitable field and a favorable occasion to call forth his zeal in the cause of the Gospel, and to recommend it to the attention of those who wanted nothing but candor to appreciate its many excellencies.

“Certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him: and they took him and brought him unto Areopagus, saying ‘may we know what this new doctrine whereof thou speakest is? for thou bringest certain strange things to our ears; we would therefore know what these things mean:’ ” The Apostle accepted their challenge; and his eloquence and reasoning were not altogether fruitless: “Dionysius the Areopagite, and Damaris and others with them, clave unto him and believed.”

How different his conduct at the island of Melita, where he was cast ashore among a barbarous people! he made no attempt to convert them to the Christian faith. The circumstances of this case were no doubt completely different from those of his encounter at Athens with the taunting Epicureans and the haughty Stoics. With the latter he could reason, and had some chance of producing conviction; whilst upon the former every appeal to the understanding would have been lost, every reference to first principles or established authority, would have been empty sounds.—He left them therefore as he found them; grateful for their kindness, but without having made any effort to add them to the disciples of Christ.

The truth of these remarks, which have been chiefly adopted from a recent publication, when applied to the many attempts made of late years to convert barbarous nations to the Christian faith, are strongly corroborated. The missionaries at Otaheite made no progress till the arts of civilization had paved the way, and it is only within two or three years that any well founded hopes could be entertained of the conversion of the South Sea Islanders. Even in India, where civilization has made some progress, the success of the various missionaries has been insignificant. Insomuch so, that a very intelligent clergyman belonging to the Presbyterian Kirk of Scotland, Dr. Bryce, who is settled at Calcutta, with a fearless regard to truth declares in his sermon preached at opening the Church of St Andrew, in Calcutta, March, 1818, that though “zeal the most active and disinterested; diligence the most arduous, have not been spared by the Christian missionary, in his pious attempts to convert the nations of India, yet, alas! it may be doubted if at this day he boasts a single proselyte to his creed over whom he is warranted to rejoice. We have seen him exult over those whom a base apostacy has afterwards disgraced. We have beheld him snatch a few of the more ignorant and indigent from the tyranny of castes; but has he not himself acknowledged with sorrow that hitherto he has failed in imposing on his converts the salutary restraints of the Gospel? and may not I appeal to every one that hears me, if the Christianized Hindoo is not a term of reproach alike with the Native and European population of the country? These are melancholy facts, which a regard to truth and the cause of genuine Christianity, imperiously calls upon us to acknowledge with sorrow and regret, that there may not issue from the chair of verity itself a voice saying peace! peace! when there is no peace.”

The Dr. proceeds to mention the causes which have prevented the success of Christianity in India; of which the two most important are, the mischievous conduct of the Methodists and the dissolute lives of Europeans. Without following this eloquent preacher in his illustration of these two causes, we may add two more, which we consider much more effectual,—the want of information among the people and of unity among the missionaries. This unity never can exist among the latter, not only from the discordance of their opinions, but from their having no liturgy and disclaiming all Church government: yet unity of doctrine, as well as discipline and order, are essential to the progress of Christianity; and it is only from clergymen bound together by these principles, that any success in diffusing the light of the Gospel in India can be expected. Such being the case, it is pleasing to know that the Church of England, which has done more towards the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen than all the Protestant Churches together, hath at length turned her attention to the East. A scion of this pure, primitive and Apostolic Church, is now planted in those distant regions, which, under the blessing of Divine Providence, may spread its branches over the whole land. There will now be unity of action for the care of this newly planted establishment is intrusted to one in whose mind is to be found the rare combination of those talents and qualifications which are so peculiarly necessary for the successful discharge of the difficult and important duties of his high calling. In June, 1814, Bishop Middleton left England, and in December arrived at Calcutta.—On Christmas Day, 1814, he delivered his first sermon. During the first year, his Lordship preached early in the morning and gave lectures every alternate afternoon, between June and November, on the Liturgy of the Church. He founded in this year a Diocesan Committee of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge. His Lordship likewise dedicated much of his time to the Schools, well knowing that unless the minds of children be impressed early with religious truths, Christianity can make no solid advances. In July, 1815, the Bishop confirmed 600 persons; and on the 7th of December, he delivered his first Charge at his primary visitation at Calcutta. In January, 1816, his Lordship set out for Madrass; and on the 8th of that month consecrated a Church, which for splendor and beauty, is surpassed by none even in London; and on the 11th, confirmed upwards of 300 persons. Near this place, he received an almost Apostlic greeting from a band of Armenians, headed by a Nuncio from their Patriarch. At Madrass, also, his Lordship established a Diocesan Committee, and proceeded to Tranquebar, where he was enabled to give a very seasonable aid to the Danish Mission at that place, by dispensing to them the bounty of our excellent Society of Bartlett’s Buildings. At Tanjore, he was received by the Rajah with all the respect due to his rank and station. This was the same Rajah who did not disdain to call the venerable Schwartz his friend, and even to shed tears over his tomb; so beautiful even in the eyes of the heathen “are the feet of them that bring glad tidings.” From Tanjore the Bishop went to Cochin and Tritchinopoly; at the latter place he consecrated a Church and confirmed. Early in June, 1816, he arrived at Bombay, where he consecrated a Church, confirmed the youth, and established a Diocesan Committee, which, as at Calcutta and Madrass, was put into immediate correspondence with the Parent Society. On the 14th of June, his Lordship held a visitation and repeated his Charge. Such is the outline of the operations of his Lordship within a space of not quite two years. The Charge is what might have been expected from Bishop Middleton; it deals in no high flown words; it holds forth no delusive hopes; it recounts no prodigies; it promises no wonders.—Clear, earnest, and practical, it is the result of no ordinary thought—it points to no common views. The following portion we extract as well worth the serious attention of every sincere Christian.

“The age in which we live, is not generally chargeable with any want of zeal in behalf of religion. The value of Christianity is felt and acknowledged by the great mass of Christians; and praise-worthy efforts are made for its diffusion. Much, however, of the zeal is destitute of regulation, or is directed only by the private views and notions of those, by whom it is cherished; and while those notions are so discordant, and are sometimes inculcated with so little regard to any recognized authority, it is to be expected, that the obligation to order in religious proceedings should be little attended to, and in consequence not generally understood: there seems even a prejudice against it, as if it were injurious to zeal, by having a tendency to cramp its exertions, and to narrow the range of piety. It may be supposed, that an order of men, who have voluntarily adopted the sober views of the Church of England, and who know the grounds on which her discipline is established, and have had experience of its use and necessity, will be little liable, on such a subject, to be affected by the fluctuating opinions of the day; and yet, perhaps, it is too much to hope, that any of us, especially in such circumstances, should be wholly exempt from the influence of prevailing sentiment: human nature is too weak to adhere invariably and inflexibly to principles, which, however solemnly adopted and powerfully established, are yet disparaged in the public estimation, and not always observed in practice. I would remind you, then, that the order and discipline of our Church are an integral part of its constitution, considering it as an instrument in the hands of God for the maintenance and diffusion of truth. The inculcation of sound doctrine is perceived by the most superficial, to be the highest object and aim of religious instruction; but it is not always remembered, that sound teaching can be maintained only by salutary discipline; and that the unity of truth must be preserved by a reference to some particular interpretation of Scripture. Neither can provision be generally made for the maintenance of religion, but through the aid of an Ecclesiastical Polity; not necessarily, indeed, enjoying the sanction and protection of the state, but sufficiently strong to maintain and enforce its regulations against opposition: which, however, in the present condition of society, is scarcely supposable to any great extent, without the assistance of the temporal power. And such appears to be the actual constitution of the Church of England. Its government and discipline originally emanate from higher authority than any human enactments, or the power of Princes; even from the Word of God, and the promises of Christ, and the practice of his Apostles: its Liturgy and its Articles, though of human composition, are yet interpretations of Scripture by persons, to whom was committed the ministry of the word: and the Rubric, which it has framed to preserve a decency and propriety of worship, and the Canons, by which it has provided for its Government, are the results of piety and experience applied to these particular subjects: the part which the state has taken in these proceedings, has been only to adopt and to sanction them, and to secure to the Clergy, who teach in conformity with such principles, the emoluments, which a Christian state will appropriate to the maintenance of the Gospel, together with certain immunities and honors to uphold them in the eyes of the world.”

After a very able and judicious recommendation of that discipline which the Scriptures, the example of the primitive Church, and the laws of good government enforce, the Bishop is naturally led to consider the probable consequences of its establishment, in the more ready propagation of the Gospel. The good Prelate admits, that as the means must be gentle, the progress must be slow, and the end too distant to suit the fancies of fanaticism. But for this very reason they will command the attention of the wise, and engage the hearts of the good. We are notwithstanding in great doubt whether the longest lives of the present generation will witness the glorious effects which shall be wrought by the establishment of the Church in the East. And we doubt whether this excellent and learned Prelate will see the superstructure rising from the level of the earth; but it will surely rise, and rise more surely, from the deliberate, cautious, yet indefatigable toil, with which its foundations have been cemented and secured.

To the coldest Christian, the following views of the Bishop upon these important points, cannot appear intemperate; to the most ardent, they will not appear lukewarm.

“We are aware, indeed, that this is a topic, from the mere mention of which some persons shrink with alarm; and unquestionably, if we could be supposed to cherish the thought of propagating Religion by force, not only ought the subject to be proscribed by common consent, but the idea should be rejected with horror. We bless God, however, that persecution on account of Religion is alike abhorrent from the Faith of Protestants and the temper of the times: the only armour of an offensive kind in the Christian panoply is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” But if, in the general dissemination of knowledge, the excellence of Christianity should be more fully displayed;—if a faithful and affectionate exhibition of the truth, as it is in Christ Jesus, should impress the minds of some, who cannot discover either the grounds of their present Faith, or the reasonableness of their Worship;—or if a strict attention to divine ordinances and to Christian duties among ourselves should produce the effects, which so abundantly followed it in the early stages of the Gospel, and should bring in willing converts to Christ, I know not that ‘any man can forbid water, that these should not be baptized.’ And the prophetic Word enjoins us to look to such an event, though it has not defined the precise mode or the time of its accomplishment. In this view, then, the Church in India may be only in its infant state: it may be destined to receive gradual yet continual accessions of strength; and it may ultimately, in the unseen methods of Providence, be made the means of dispensing knowledge and consolation to the descendants of millions, who are yet without its pale: ‘the kingdom of God,’ as we are assured, ‘cometh not with observation’ or ‘outward show.’ With reference, therefore, to such a consummation, however remote, the attention will be naturally directed to the Church Establishment, as the centre from which the whole body of Converts must derive its unity and consistency. In every supposable state of society, except in a temporary coalition of adverse and discordant prejudices, where the object is political power, the Religion which is established by authority, will maintain its just preponderance: and that preponderance, in the present case, while it will be seen to be in favor of a Discipline derived from the primitive ages, and having therefore the sanction of antiquity, would also be found to be most congenial with the habits and the character of the people. It may, therefore, be reasonably expected, that the Government of the future Church, whatever be its extent, should be that which was in force at the time of its foundation; or in other words, should be Episcopal: that the decent and dignified order of our establishment should be the model which Christian congregations would adopt; and that from whatever quarter the tidings of the Gospel may first have come, and however imperfectly or partially conveyed, all diversity of practice or opinion should gradually subside in the doctrine and the discipline of the Church. A small Society of Christians may, indeed, be formed upon almost any of the schemes, which caprice may suggest; and such societies may be preserved from dissolution, so long as an Establishment diverts the jealousy of rival sects; but nothing which has any resemblance to Independency is adapted to the maintenance of Religion amongst a numerous people, and least of all perhaps, when we consider their peculiar character, amongst the nations of the East. Abstract theories of Religious Liberty would be hardly intelligible, where no real or supposed right was felt to be infringed; and the unbiased judgment would declare for Christianity in that form, in which the fullest provision should be made for Piety, and Order, and Peace.”

In 1819, we again find the Lord Bishop of Calcutta making a progress through his vast Diocese: not satisfied with stopping at the principal factories, he finds his way wherever there are Christians. Accordingly, we see him at Prince of Wales Island, where he preached an admirable sermon a few days after a confirmation, from which we make the following beautiful and interesting extracts. The Bishop takes his text from Philippians, i. 27. “Only let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ; that whether I come and see you, or else be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel,” and having adverted to the situation of the primitive Church, he contrasts it with what is now seen, in the following terms:

“Different as are the circumstances of the Christian world in modern times, especially in countries where our Religion is fully established, it is yet difficult for us to read such passages as my text, and many others in the writings of the Apostles, without some application of them to the condition of the Church in India. We are here, for the most part, small Societies dispersed through a territory of vast extent: the Christian Churches already existing in the lifetime of St. Paul probably did not occupy so wide a field, as do our English Churches in this quarter of the Globe: there is, indeed, one point of difference, which is sufficiently obvious; the former arose and subsisted under every discouragement, and were exposed to hostility and persecution; while we, on the contrary, have nothing to dread from the Heathen around us, but are ourselves the Ruling Power. This difference, however, though in other points of view it carries with it important considerations, affects not the application of my text; to you at this moment, as it was then to the Philippians, every clause of it may be suitably addressed: prosperity and independence have their trials, as well as adversity and depression: and I may fitly exhort you to ‘let your conversation be as it becometh the Gospel of Christ,’ that so I may hear of your ‘standing fast in one spirit, and with one mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel.’

“There are, however, circumstances in this Christian Settlement, which impart to it, if things always infinitely important admit degrees, a more than ordinary interest. What was this island only a few years since but a blank in the Moral Creation? Its hills and its forests served only to exhibit to the mariner a scene of wild and cheerless grandeur, as he passed the inhospitable shore; no associations dear to the mind were awakened at the approach; the charities and the arts of civilized life were here unknown; here man, even in his rudest state, had as yet no fixed abode. How altered is now the scene! a numerous and increasing population;—an active and benificient government;—streets resounding with the occupations of industry;—cultivated fields and thriving plantations;—residences bespeaking comfort and opulence;—our arts, our language, and our laws introduced into this remote corner of the East;—these surprising changes invite reflexion, and cannot be contemplated with indifference. But, what it is even more to my purpose to remark, and without which all else were unsubstantial, our Holy Faith is here established, to guide those, who know the truth, in the way of salvation, and to be a light to lighten the Gentiles around if happily they may be turned from their vanities to the Living God: and you have here an edifice fully adequate to your Christian population, and in point of decency, and even of elegance, worthy of the flourishing Body, by whom it was erected: it is now dedicated unto God; and some of the most solemn ordinances of religion have already been administered within its walls.

“In a state of things, then, in which the dispensations of Providence are so remarkable, I cannot forbear to press upon you the counsel, which the blessed Apostle offered to his Philippians; and you will best be able to comprehend and apply it, by considering it in its separate clauses: his exhortation is generally, ‘Let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ;’ but this he subsequently explains to refer more particularly to their ‘standing fast in one spirit, and with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel:’ in other words, he makes a conversation worthy of the Gospel to shew itself more especially in Christian unity and Christian zeal.”

In the month of March, 1818, the Society for propagating the Gospel in foreign parts, placed at the disposal of the Lord Bishop of Calcutta the sum of £5000, at the same time inviting his more particular suggestions as to the most prudent and practicable methods of promoting Christianity in India. His Lordship, in complying with the wishes of the venerable Society, remarks, that in reference to the safety of the measure, he feels no embarrassment; the danger, generally speaking, of attempting to propagate Christianity in the East, is not the difficulty with which Missionaries have to contend; ordinary discretion is all that is required.

“The question,” continues his Lordship, “what may be practicable, so as most effectually to further the Society’s views, is much more comprehensive. Experience does not hold out much encouragement to efforts which rely for success entirely on the effect to be produced by preaching; they seem rarely to have excited any interest beyond that of a transient curiosity: the minds of the people are not generally in a state to be impressed by the force of argument, and still less to be awakened to reflection by appeals to their feelings and their fears; and yet preaching must form a part, a prominent part, I apprehend, to any scheme for the conversion of these people: what is further required, seems to be a preparation of the native mind to comprehend the importance and truth of the doctrines proposed to them; and this must be the effect of education. The Scriptures must also be translated and other writings condusive to the end in view.”

To embrace and combine these objects, the Bishop recommends that a Missionary College be established in the neighborhood of Calcutta, to be subservient to the several purposes,

1st—Of instructing Native and other Christian youth in the doctrines and discipline of the Church, in order to their becoming Preachers, Catechists, and Schoolmasters. 2d—For teaching the elements of useful knowledge and the English language to Musselmans or Hindoos, having no object in such attainments beyond secular advantage. 3d—For translating the Scriptures, the Liturgy, and moral and religious tracts. 4th—For the reception of English Missionaries to be sent out by the Society, on their first arrival in India.

The Bishop proceeds to give a most luminous exposition of these several particulars, from the whole of which the wisdom of the plan is demonstrated; and as it is now coming into operation under the Bishop’s superintendance, the happiest results may be anticipated. For the Missionaries sent from this College, will combine unity with zeal; directed by the same order and discipline, they will go forth with the Liturgy in their hands and affectionate fervor in their hearts—that Liturgy which breathes in its devotions the spirit of the Gospel—holding fast to this summary of the great and saving truths of our religion, they will be in no danger of becoming lukewarm as to the doctrines of redemption and grace, or of being exposed to division. The heathen will know and revere them as the Disciples of Christ, by their love to one another: and when they behold them cultivating the spirit of forbearance, of courtesy, and of mutual kindness—not only among themselves, as members of the same family, but extending the same to all around them, and treating all with gentleness, tenderness, and affection, they will learn a lesson of practical religion, which may through the Divine blessing lead to their speedy conversion.

It is usual for those, who see in the rudiments of Christianity grounds for depreciating the human character, to appeal to arguments seemingly arising from the authority of Scripture; in order to shew that we are essentially depraved; and all in consequence of our descent from Adam: sinful ourselves, because he sinned.—Thus having described the race of mankind as radically corrupt, * * *, by the very nature which God gives us; after stating that the “seeds of vicious principle are implanted in every bosom,” “that mankind is totally depraved in consequence of the fall of the first man; a mere mass of corruption extending over the whole soul, and exposing it to God’s righteous displeasure, both in this world and in that which is to come”—they usually have recourse to passages in the Scriptures to confirm their assertions; without regarding the per contra evidences which may be drawn from the same authority.

I shall not here bring forward the clear statement which might be given of much seemingly innate good principle even in very young children, so as to prove, at least, some early good in them, if others would from hence contend sometimes for early evil:—nor the acknowledged fact, that, so far from the human heart being “naturally hostile to God, and adverse to religion,” hardly any nation in all the world, at any period of time, has been discovered, which has not made some advance towards religion, and shewn some reference to a God, however feeble and imperfect:—nor the consideration that in whatever degree such a preponderance toward evil were natural, we may well assure ourselves it would receive an adequate allowance from the Almighty, when his equitable sentence shall be finally pronounced: but in reply to those who found their Christianity in these degrading assertions concerning the state of man, and for their authority appeal to texts of Scripture, I would observe, first,

That there is either ignorance or some apparent disingenuousness very frequently observable in the arguings of those persons respecting the native history of man, and the words “image of God,” as referred to him, (Gen. i. 27.) And it is by no means uncommon with such to represent the case as follows:—that Adam was indeed made in the “image of God,” (whatever high excellence may be imagined to be thus implied) but that Adam begat a son “in his own image;” whereby a supposed jingle of antithesis, “image of God,” and “Adam’s own image,” it is inferred, (not merely that all mankind are to be deduced from Adam, but) that the race of men was so made to lose sight of its high original, as to be no longer entitled to that estimation which the words “image of God” seem to imply:—whereas a continuance of this very same high quality and character was preserved, and is repeated by God himself in his command to Noah against murder: (Gen. ix. 6.) “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he him:”—the continuance of this very “image of God” in man, being that which should constitute the crime of killing him, and make the difference of offence between destroying a man and any other animal. And the very same high attribute, or character in man, is preserved still later in the holy writings; St. James, (iii. 9.) speaking of the tongue, and saying “therewith bless we God; and therewith curse we men who are made after the (image or) similitude of God.”

A late writer on this subject appealing to scriptural authorities, to prove the radical depravity of man, brings forward the following instances: Gen. vi. 4. “the wickedness of man was great upon the earth: and every imagination of men’s hearts was only evil continually.” Spoken no doubt with inclusive reference to the state of the world before the Flood: and if true then, and in whatever degree true still, yet implying nothing as to the origin of such depravity; nor what Adam had to do with it; nor as if the aversion from God and righteousness, here stated, implied any incapacity to be otherwise, and any necessity to be sinful; which in such a case would not produce sin. Again, he instances in Rom. iii. 9. “there is none that doeth good no not one.” Certainly, as a general expression, very allowable; not absolute good, unmixed with any alloy of evil. But how is this to be traced as from a necessary cause in Adam? So, in Rom. viii. 7. “The carnal mind is enmity against God,” or more properly “A carnal mind is enmity against God,” that is, a mind or thought influenced by carnal propensities; which is very true; but carries nothing of necessity in it, nor any thing more than a general moral assertion. So in 1 Cor. ii. 14. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; neither can he know them; because they are spiritually discerned.” A truth indisputable. The things of God which are attainable only by revelation, cannot be thoroughly received, known, or entered into, by merely natural perception: if the word natural is the proper rendering of the original, * * *, animalis homo; qui humanæ, tantum ratione lucis ducitur. And if we add his other references, “By nature children of wrath,” and “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing; these and other like passages, whatever of actual depravity they may imply, yet have no connecting cause in them from Adam, so as to make it a necessary intimation that we are totally corrupt, wholly evil by descent from him.” (See Simeon’s Appeal, &c. p. 25.)

On the contrary, some strong inferences and declarations are to be met with in the Scripture, of original goodness, as ascribed to man by his very nature, however often checquered with appearances of a worse kind. And goodness, even very real goodness, is frequently ascribed to individuals who are pronounced “holy” and “righteous.” And if “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,” we still read of the spirit’s acting against those fleshly propensities. (Matt. xxvi. 41.) Though the flesh may be weak, the spirit of man is said to be willing to follow duty, (Rom. vii. 22.) St. Paul says he “delighteth in the law of God after the inward man;” and if the law of the members opposes the good principle of the mind, nothing is said to imply this law to be irresistible.

These and all the common expressions of video, meliora, proboque, though accompanied with the deteriora sequor, and the * * * * * *, though counterbalanced by the * * * * * &c. &c. only point out the undoubted fact, that man has much variety and contradiction in his character. But the assertion of a complete debasement would be to ascribe such a degree of imperfection (I had almost said of error and mis-construction) to God’s works, as would imply neither praise, nor wisdom, nor goodness in him, and would authorise such an ever-increasing progress in corruption, as would make the world too bad either for mankind to live in it, or for God himself to suffer its existence.

If any other passages in Scripture are adduced in proof of this necessary depravity in human nature, I conceive it will be found upon a candid examination of them, that they are either general, strong, comprehensive expressions, denoting what may be true, in the main, without noticing exceptions; or that they partake of the peculiarities of Eastern figurative phraseology; or that so far as they are true at all, they are only the result of men’s own blameable departure from better knowledge; the effects of evil habits arising from propensities unduly indulged; dispositions early corrupted; bad education; prejudices injudiciously directed; all which may be well admitted, without supposing either a total ruin, or an irresistible dominion of evil, or any necessity to sin by the very frame and constitution of our nature: always keeping in mind the ordinary assistance of God’s grace; and that superintending Providence, by which goodness and virtue upon the whole, even in the Heathen world, have been in general ever sustained, but which among Christians are more highly favored in those who pray for God’s assistance to keep them in all goodness, and to guard them from the extreme of evil.

It is lamentable that in the nineteenth century of Christianity, these elementary principles should not be universally acknowledged, and that the investigation of such plain truths should be at this time necessary. The only things which are natural to mankind, are such as hunger, thirst, impressions upon the senses, liability to disease, pain, and the like. Let but the reader keep in mind this distinction, and he will easily perceive that if “sin” be said to be natural to us, it must be only in some assumed and interior sense, and that the arguing from it in any other, causes much inaccuracy of Christian sentiment.

Perhaps what leads most to error upon this subject, is the expression in our Catechism, stating that by “nature we are born in sin.” Yet surely this by no means necessarily must be so explained as to imply any thing contrary to what is here affirmed. Our present state of being is doubtless the effect and consequence of sin; namely, Adam’s sin: and if, by a very allowable mode of speech, substituting the cause for the effect, we say that we are born in sin, that is in a state the consequence of sin, and as a race of beings, collectively considered, under God’s comparative displeasure, theologically and judicially now called “children of wrath,” from which we are removed by baptism into a state of “grace,” or favor, by a quasi regeneration,—every fair construction is secured to the expressions used, and neither truth, or fact, or critical exposition becomes intruded on. St. Paul (Gal. iii. 22.) says, “the Scripture hath concluded all under sin,” * * * * * (very remarkable!) all things, universa, omnia, * * * *,—under the charge of sin; the same * * *, which were made by Him, or Christ, (John i. 3.) “hath included the whole creation under the general charge or comprehension of diminished favor in his sight, or sin,” brought on by Adam. Whereby, scripturally speaking, the whole universe becomes divided between that charge from Adam, and the removal or exculpation of that charge by Christ. In this sense also we may intelligibly be said to be born * * * * under sin, or in sin. But this by no means implies sin by “nature,” as God creates us, or a natural necessity of sinning. Sin in such a case would not be sin. The word nature also has various senses and modes of application.—Let us hope that due consideration will better explain the subject, together with some others relating to the early history of man, his sentence, death, and fall, which by many are not sufficiently contemplated, and are spoken of in unwarranted extremes.

N. R.

Feb. 1821.

To the Editor of the Remembrancer.

   Sir,

In the controversy upon Regeneration, it was attempted to throw a doubt upon the sense in which the Jews understood the words regenerate and regeneration, and to make it a questionable point, whether the truth of their opinions could be satisfactorily proved and ascertained. The assertion of Waterland, and the authorities to which he refers in the Discourse upon Regeneration, and the incidental notices of Wall in the Introduction to the History of Infant Baptism, left no room for those doubts in the mind of any sober and accomplished divine. The writings of Selden, whose authority in matters of Hebrew philology and philosophy will not be disputed, are from the singular perplexity and obscurity of his Latin style, less known than from the treasures of learning which they contain they deserve to be: and as I have recently had occasion to look into them, you will perhaps allow me to lay before the reader the substance of some few passages, accompanied with the texts of Scripture, which they appear to illustrate and explain. If it should be thought that there is an unnecessary repetition of the same matter in these brief extracts, I will only remark, that it is from that repetition that I wish to infer the undoubting and settled conviction of the author’s mind, whose opinions and language were the same, notwithstanding the difference of the subjects of which he treated, and in which he had no theory to establish concerning regeneration.

In the treatise “De Successionibus in bona Defuncti ad Leges Hebraeorum,” he assigns the reasons for which a deceased proselyte had no heir: “Proselytes of justice were usually admitted by circumcision, ablution or baptism, and sacrifice, and a man who had been thus initiated and made a proselyte, was always held regenerate or born anew (regeneratus et renatus:) all respect to his former kindred was entirely superseded, and in virtue of this sacred privilege, he was held to have no kindred afterwards, either in respect of succession or of marriage, except the issue which followed after his baptism or initiation. A Gentile, from the moment that he became a proselyte, was accounted to be born anew, and of a new mother, as was feigned in the Hebrew law. His father, mother, sons, and daughters, previously born, and his brothers, ceased, according to the Jewish notion, to bear these relations. The reason which they assign for thus superseding the former kindred is, that a proselyte, as soon as he becomes a proselyte, is esteemed an infant born as it were of a new mother: so that a proselyte of this kind is divested of self, of former lineage, and of all consanguinity, derived from it; and the effect of this regeneration is that no kindred with the Gentiles, or existing in his Gentile state, remains to him, as by the Roman law no servile kindred remains after manumission. When Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and chief of the Jews, wondered at the words of our Saviour, concerning regeneration, and asked, “How can a man be born again, when he is old? How can these things be?” Our Saviour answered, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?” To masters of Israel, acquainted with the received opinions, the notion of regeneration by water or baptism was sufficiently clear. This is the meaning of Tacitus: Circumcidere genitalia instituere Judæi, ut divertsitale noscantur. Transgressi in morem eorum idem usurpant. Nec quidquam prius imbuunter, quam contemnere Deos, exuere patriam, parentes, liberos, fratres vitia habere.” Proselytes who in their own person first obtained that title by profession, retained no notion of their country or kindred, they were esteemed to be born anew, and from another stock; in other words they were regenerated. Hence it followed, that they held their former kindred with which they were connected by blood, to be vile: they considered themselves to be free and disengaged from all former bonds of affection, piety, and duty, whether to relations by blood, or to countrymen by local habitation; and they considered that those relations were to be despised, on the ground of their being gentiles. It is a singular notion, arising from the law of regeneration, and a renewed lineage, that proselytes divested themselves of their country. In regeneration they assumed another country, Judea, even although they were born again (renati) out of Judea: and afterwards they were called Jews, and truly held to be Jews, although the name of Proselytes distinguished them and their posterity from the Israelites who bore that name by descent and originally.” De Succ. c. 26.

St. Paul probably alludes to opinions of this kind, in the effects and results of regeneration, when he says, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more: therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” 2 Cor. v. 16, 17.

A further illustration of the same text will be found in the following passage, in which the attentive reader will not fail to trace the language of St. Peter upon the same subjects. “Being born again or regenerated” . . . “as new born babes:” * * * *. Both are Jewish expressions addressed to Jewish converts: what would be the interpretation of a Jew?

“A new lineage,” says Selden, “was assigned to the proselyte, in the same manner as a new name, and as soon as any person was initiated he was called regenerate.”

It is the common saying of the Talmudists, ‘the proselyte, from the time that he becomes a proselyte, is esteemed as it were, an infant newly born,’ even as if he had been born of a new mother. Hence it followed, that he did not retain his ancient kindred or relation by blood, nor include among his kinsmen either brother, sister, father, mother, or children previously born. These relations, as they were by nature, were at an end. Even if his father, mother, son, or brother, should become a proselyte at the same time with him, the kindred or consanguinity between them nevertheless was determined. It was a received rule, ‘Whoever was the kinsman of a proselyte in his Gentile state, is not his kinsman now,’ or in his proselyted state. As if he had now been first created, or had fallen from heaven; he was altogether a new man, divested of all former consanguinity not less than of Gentilism. No one could, therefore, succeed him as his heir, on the ground or pretext of former consanguinity. The proselyte of justice was regenerated in such sense as to be taken for a new man, who previously had not been born. When, therefore, Nicodemus wondered at the saying of our Lord, ‘Ye must be born again;’ and pressed the question, ‘How can this be?’ our Lord answered, ‘Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?’ For the notion of regeneration (although our Lord was speaking of that which is by the Spirit, and not by water only,) was a prominent feature in the discipline and manners of the Hebrews, in initiating the proselytes of justice.

“The regeneration which has been mentioned, is so consistent with the doctrine which is found in their more abstruse philosophy, concerning the souls of proselytes, as to lead to a suspicion, that the one is derived from the other. The cabalists say, that there are always existing innumerable souls, either singular and separate, or hereafter to be drawn from what they call the ideal mass, and that men are made as these souls are sent in to human bodies. They call the human body the matter, and the soul the form of man. And they say, that as the soul of which man is made passes from heaven into the human body, so does a new soul enter into every proselyte of justice, at the very instant in which he is made a proselyte; and that the soul which occupied the body in its gentile state vanishes and disappears. Passing these trifles, we may observe, that they maintained the creation of souls in heaven, before their admission into the human body; and that a new soul, and therefore a new form, was given from heaven to every proselyte, as soon as he was made a proselyte. He was altogether to be called a new man; and was reckoned to have put off his former kindred, as an infant conceived and born again in the womb of a new mother.” De Jure, N. and G. Lib. ii. c. 4.

“It was their doctrine, that all former kindred vanishes in regeneration; and it is the saying of Maimonides, ‘When a gentile or a redeemed slave becomes a proselyte, he is like a child newly born: all consanguinity existing in his former state ceases and is determined; he is not guilty of incest, if he should marry with the nearest of his relations,’ by nature; and this acquittal of incest was grounded on the principle, that where there is no consanguinity there can be no incestuous marriage.” Ibid. lib. v. c. 18. This rule was afterwards modified, that the Gentiles might not be offended; and a proselyte was not suffered to marry his mother, or his mother’s daughter.

A distinction was also made in respect of children born in sanctity or out of sanctity: to which St. Paul may be supposed to allude, 1 Cor. vii. 14.

“They say that if a woman in a state of pregnancy becomes a proselyte, and is baptized, it is not necessary to baptize the offspring; because as it is born in the mother’s sanctity or Judaism, as they say, it bears the condition of a proselyte, i. e. of the mother. It must be further observed, that although they would have the condition of a proselyte acquired only by descent, they nevertheless will not admit the relation of consanguinity or fraternity, between the two sons, for instance, of a proselyted mother; unless they were both conceived, as well as born in sanctity, or after the mother had been initiated by baptism. In discoursing concerning the right of fraternity, under which the widow of a brother deceased without issue was to be married, the Talmudists maintain: Even when the one brother was born, but not conceived in sanctity, and the other was both born and conceived in sanctity; they are, as it were, strangers, there is no fraternity, between them, unless both were conceived and born in sanctity.” De Jure, N. and G. lib. iii. c. 4. lib. v. c. 19.

It is necessary to add some few words on the form of initiation.

“Baptism was necessary in the case of women, and of proselytes, who had been circumcised, but not baptized; for without baptism they were not placed under the wings of the divine majesty, or made partakers of the privilege of an Israelite. The form of baptism was this; the proselyte in his own person if he was of full age, i. e. of the age of thirteen years, if a male, or twelve years, if a female, made profession before the court or triumvirate which presided over baptism, of his intention to keep the law of Moses. The court made the profession in the name of a minor, (as do the sponsors in the Christian church), unless the parents were present to answer for him. They called every one who was thus made a proselyte, regenerate and new born (regeneratum et renatum,) as an infant new born, and they considered that his ancient kindred vanished and ceased in baptism. It is the comment of the Gemara of Babylon, on Numbers xv. 15. ‘The words AS TO YOU, have the same meaning as the words AS TO YOUR FATHERS, or ancestors. What then was the state of your fathers or ancestors? They certainly did not enter into covenant without circumcision, baptism, and the sprinkling of blood, and therefore neither can proselytes enter into covenant, without circumcision, baptism, and sprinkling of blood.’ Again,—‘A man wants the perpetual privilege of a proselyte, unless he is baptized as well as circumcised, and unless he is baptized he remains a heathen or a gentile.’ Again, in the same Gemara, ‘The wise have rightly determined, that if any man hath been baptized, but not circumcised, or circumcised, but not baptized, he is not a proselyte, until he is baptized as well as circumcised.’ De Synedriis, lib, i. c. 2.

“The Hebrews were wont to add to circumcision and baptism, a third sacrament, namely, the offering or sprinkling of the blood of sacrifices, which they regarded as a testimony of confirmation, and plenary initiation. They deduce this sacrament from the words immediately following the delivery of the law, when the people had been previously and duly initiated by circumcision and baptism. (See Exodus xxiv. 3. &c.) They understood that the sacrifice was offered and the blood sprinkled, in the name of every one, and that the initiation of proselytes, and of Jews by descent, was thus fully and plenarily confirmed.” Ibid.

Hence we may learn, that the Apostles in speaking of the blood of sprinkling, (Hebrews x. 22. xii. 24. 1 Peter i. 2.) spoke of an initiatory rite with which the Jews whom they addressed were well acquainted.

R. N.

To the Editor of the Christian Remembrancer.

SIR,

Some years ago, my father, who with all his ancestors had been strict members of the Established Church, removed with his wife and children into a commercial district where he took a house then newly erected, which, in common with many others of the same date, had no pews belonging to it in the parish church. As his family was large, he could not trespass upon the kindness of his neighbors by sitting in their pews: and besides, the vast population rendered it impossible for the old inhabitants to accommodate us. One dissenting chapel was erected after another in quick succession, and were soon filled. My father was very reluctantly compelled to take a pew in one of them, and so he and all his household became, through necessity, dissenters. My worthy parents in due time paid the debt of nature, and I had the honor to succeed my father in his business. From the same cause I continued a sectarist. Many times were additional churches talked of, but none were erected. At last, however, a few gentlemen in our town ventured upon the arduous work of building a chapel of ease, which, as I understood, after considerable difficulties, they accomplished. The church was consecrated in due form by the bishop of the diocese, and public notice was given to the inhabitants that many of the seats would be free for the poor, and that others would be let to those who chose to take them.

Now, Mr. Editor, as I had often heard my dear father speaking in the highest terms of the service of the Church of England, and lamenting that we were debarred from enjoying its privileges, I resolved to take a pew. I did so, and attended the following Sunday. I must honestly confess to you that I felt rather awkward in the use of a Prayer-book which a good natured friend in an adjoining pew handed me. I waited for the sermon, which, in due time was admirably delivered with much affection, solemnity, and earnestness. As I had received a good English education I could perceive that the style and composition were excellent; and as I had read my Bible through every year from my childhood, I was glad to find that its sentiments were purely Scriptural. I could not tell whether the clergyman preached as the dissenting ministers did, without book or whether he did as I had understood churchmen used to do, from a written book, because he had all the animation of the dissenter without his mistakes. However, I liked every thing upon the whole very well. I attended the next Sunday, and was still better pleased.

In a few Sundays Advent arrived. Our minister told us in the introduction of his sermon as Jhuoa did in your last number, that the Church of England presented to her members “a system of regular edification” in her Lessons, Epistles, Gospels, &c. As a charge had gone forth that some of the clergy did not preach the Gospel he for this reason (as I was afterwards informed) preached every Sunday one or two sermons from the Gospel for the day. In the afternoon he preached a regular course of plain familiar sermons to the poor people, on the doctrines and duties, the privileges and consolations of the word of God. In the evenings (for this indefatigable minister preached as well as prayed three times on the Sabbath day) he expounded, in a connected order, the Gospel by St. Matthew. As these subjects were discussed on each succeeding Sunday, I was more and more convinced of the excellence of the Liturgy. Thus a whole year was spent, during which, I am happy to say, that I and many others who had never before attended church, became truly attached to the establishment from the purest motives.

The second year our minister began with the Epistles, for the day, and continued his course from Advent Sunday to the last Sunday after Trinity. In the afternoons he gave us another course on the Catechism of the Church of England, which proved of very essential service both to parents and children, especially as in the summer of this year the Bishop came round his diocese to visit and to confirm.

The third year we had every Sunday morning a sermon founded upon the Collect; and in the afternoon we had a lecture on the Morning and Evening Prayers, the Litany, &c. In the evenings of the second and third years he expounded to us a great part of the Psalms. This exposition we considered of great utility as it taught us to apply them to Christ and his Church under the Gospel.

The last Advent Sunday in 1819, he entered upon the first Lessons for morning and afternoon. In the evenings he expounded in regular order St. Paul’s Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, &c. &c.; and thus we are nearly completing another ecclesiastical year. What course he will take next Advent Sunday 1820, we cannot divine, but judging from his former taste and judgment, we anticipate much pleasure and profit. Perhaps I may, if this letter should prove acceptable, give you a more particular account of his courses of sermons. I think that such a method, were it more generally adopted, would do infinite service to many as it has done, Sir, to your constant reader.

A CHURCHMAN.

Nov. 23d, 1820.

This Number has been so long delayed, that it gives us an opportunity of inserting the Minutes of the last meeting of the Committee of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge.

York, 12th May, 1821.

AT a meeting of the Committee in correspondence with the Quebec Diocesan Committee of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge,

His Excellency Sir Peregrine Maitland, K. C. B. Lieutenant Governor, in the Chair:

After prayers, Dr. Strachan addressed the Committee as follows:

The present meeting of this Society, or District Committee, is called to enable the Treasurer to transmit the money in his hands together with one year’s subscription which is now due, to the Diocesan Committee at Quebec; allowing one third of the whole to be remitted to the Parent Society, for the general purposes of the Institution.

In the former Report, it was stated, that His Majesty’s Government had sent a large number of Bibles and Prayer-books and Testaments, which were placed at the disposal of the Clergy of the Established Church in Upper and Lower Canada, with instructions that some little acknowledgement should be demanded for them. Upwards of four hundred Prayer-books and New Testaments and fifty eight Bibles, so presented, have been distributed at this place; but it was found frequently impossible to enforce payment of even a trifle, as the generality of claimants were persons with large families, going on their lands, widows, and orphans. The larger number, therefore, have been given away gratis, and only £11 11 3 actually received; seldom amounting to more than a quarter of a dollar for each book.

Till within a few weeks, no supply could be procured from the Diocesan Committee at Quebec; but now, one hundred and fifty Bibles, three hundred Prayer-books and New Testaments, and a few Prayer-books of a large size, have been received, and are ready for distribution.

The great increase of population, is followed by an increased demand for Bibles and Prayer-books; and it is for the consideration of this meeting, how far it may be prudent to persevere in requiring some part of the price, or leave it to the discretion of the members who recommend.

Another matter of importance, connected with the distribution, requires to be decided on. Many Sunday Schools are rising up around us, which are much impeded in their progress, from want of books. Shall small donations of Prayer-books be presented to those that are within the District, and shall a right of purchase be allowed at a reduced price?

In this country, religious principles are evidently gaining ground, and many reasons ought to induce us to promote most strenuously that form of Christian worship which we profess; a form distinguished both in doctrine and discipline before any other, and approaching nearest to the Primitive Model.

To those who conscientiously differ from us, the utmost charity is due; but in disseminating Christianity among the young, or in reclaiming the careless, we ought most assuredly to inculcate the form prescribed by our own establishment; for if we do not, our sincerity may be justly called in question. Every true member of the Church of England, while seconding the exertions of the Government in disseminating the Christian religion, gratifies the wishes of his own heart; for he is destroying the influence of error, and establishing a rational and Scriptural acquaintance with that Gospel which our blessed Saviour brought down from heaven.

It is pleasing, to revert to the amazing exertions of the Parent Society, as detailed in the last Report:

The total number of Bibles, &c. distributed on the terms of the Society and gratuitously, is

“It remains only to recommend the designs of the Society at large, and the Branch established in this community, to the cordial encouragement, the zealous co-operation, the mindful and earnest prayers of all who wish the kingdom of God to come—of all who believe that the promotion of Christian knowledge and religious education of the poor, are matters intimately connected with the temporal and eternal welfare of mankind—of all who feel incumbent on them to be instrumental within their sphere to such a work.

“And it will never be found an impediment to the true interests of religion, that, while it is made the primary object to disperse and familiarize the word of God, it is also laid down as a radical and characteristic rule of the Society, to disseminate it in connexion with those said and corrected authorised human aids of which the necessity is too apparent from the annals of Ecclesiastical history, and which, as there is all reason to believe are united with the Church of Christ, essentially aid in its original constitution.”

The following Resolutions were then put and unanimously adopted:

1.—That the Treasurer remit, through the Diocesan Committee at Quebec, to the office of the Parent Society in London, one third of the amount of all contributions, and that the remaining two thirds be remitted in payment of such books as may be procured from the Diocesan Committee.

2.—That the Secretary do transmit, at least once every year, the minutes of the proceedings of the Committee to the Diocesan Committee at Quebec.

3.—That the Sunday Schools established and which shall be established within this District, be considered under the protection of this Society.

4.—That the Central School be presented with a donation of books.

The following letter is inserted as it was received from an unknown correspondent. The object he has in view, the formation of Parochial Libraries of religious books selected from the Society’s Catalogue, would be of great use, and the intention of it does him honor.

YORK, 12th July, 1821.

Rev. Sir,

It is with great regret I have learned that owing to the number of Subscribers to the Christian Recorder being so few as not to be even sufficient to pay the expenses of printing, you are compelled to decline publishing it any longer: this is the more to be regretted as you had declared that any profits resulting from it, would be expended among the different Charities.

Your zeal in religion, evinced in the publication of this work, as also in other matters in which you lose considerable time and expend much money, induces me to trespass on you to beg you will take this opportunity of turning the attention of those persons who subscribed to the Christian Recorder, to lay out their money in purchasing those books and tracts offered for sale at cheap rates by the Branch Society at York for promoting Christian knowledge; this might be adopted in a farewell address in the Recorder or public papers, wherein might be set forth the advantages of this society, and the good attending the purchasing of these cheap books and tracts, and distributing them amongst their neighbors unable to buy them; great benefits have resulted from this practice in England where instances are on record of many sinners being converted by the perusal of a single tract, and indeed when we consider what excellent works are published by the parent Society, by able authors, I have no hesitation in saying that many of the Subscribers would be benefited by their perusal, and they would have this opportunity of forming by degrees either a private library or a circulating library of the best writers on religion at a cheap rate—The latter library would be of great advantage in most townships when those unable to buy the work could pay a weekly sum for the perusal, and thus for a trifle, a valuable book conveying the best religious instruction might be read by great numbers which would disseminate religious instruction, purely orthodox. To set forth the numbers and value of these works it would be very desirable to publish a Catalogue of them in the Recorder, as the last numbers of it are not delivered yet.

I am convinced Sir but a slight hint is sufficient to turn your attention to those matters, and I am sure if the publication of the Recorder has but created a desire for religion in a few, it will be a great consolation to you, and your good intentions in a measure answered.

A Subscriber to the Christian Recorder.

From the Christian Remembrancer.

IT is a common remark, that the pleasures of hope belong peculiarly to youth, and the pleasures of memory to old age; and it is usual to found on this remark, the further observation, that the happiness of the former condition is far livelier, more exquisite, and more unfailing, than that of the latter. I do not mean to be so hardy as to deny the truth of either of these observations. At the same time, I cannot contemplate the case of an aged Christian, without seeming to have discovered a striking exception to the general rule, which observations like these serve to establish. The man, who is drawing near the close of a long life spent in the service of God, and in the cultivation of Christian virtue, has indeed the pleasure of memory in abundant store. For him, as for ordinary men, recollection has the power of gilding the past, and of investing the indifferent, and even the painful, transactions and events of years that are gone, with an interest which turns them into so many sources of delight: but moreover, for him memory has a peculiar power, which she derives from his religious character. He is able to look back with a calm satisfaction and a sober cheerfulness, because every portion of his life is marked by some aim at improvement, by some resistance of evil, by some struggle (if unhappily the struggle has not always been entirely successful) against the spiritual enemies, internal and external, that have been joined in a league of opposition to his true welfare. He can look back and behold, with joy and thankfulness, in his temporal circumstances, in the situations wherein he has been placed, in the friends and associates amongst whom he has been thrown, in the course of events that have befallen himself and his connections, numerous tokens of providential guidance, and numerous significations of the kind and gracious superintendence of that Omniscient eye, which has accompanied him through all the wanderings and amidst all the chequered varieties of life. But he has also the pleasures of hope in perfection; and this is what I wish chiefly to observe. Christianity has made his, in the season of old age, what belonged naturally to him in the flower of his youth. The advantages, delights, and glories of the world, those objects of hope, which fill the soul and nerve the energies of the youthful adventurer on the ocean of life, have indeed lost their charm for him; they have already begun to fade, and as they now appear, have nothing powerfully fascinating or exciting in them. Even if they retained their splendour, they could hardly any longer be the objects of his hope: for he feels every day that he is leaving them behind, and that, without having any power to delay his course, he is moving gradually towards that region, whither the good things of the present world will not follow him. Undeniably true as all this is, must we therefore conclude that the aged Christian has no enjoyment from hope? Are there indeed no objects, on which hope can fix itself, but the unsubstantial and transitory pleasures of the present scene? Every thing truly worthy of the hope of an immortal being still remains. “The things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” It is on these unseen and eternal things, that religious hope is firmly fixed. As the Christian approaches nearer to the verge of eternity, he gains a more frequent glimpse of that which still continues unseen: as he presses on the confines of this lower world, the mists of earth recede, and leave his field of vision more unclouded: as he escapes from “the din and smoke of the dim spot called earth,” his eye loses the film, which the habit of contemplating terrestrial objects had produced: thus purged, and no longer dazzled by the glare of sublunary glories, it is able to view more clearly and more steadily the shadow of heavenly things disclosed in Holy Scripture. The nearer he believes to be the consummation of his happiness, the more ardent do his desires become; the more wakeful his energies in reaching after the prize of his high calling: in proportion as “the outward man perishes, is the inward man renewed day by day:” and with growing ardour of desire——with improving wakefulness of energy, hope is at once increased and elevated. Nor has this glorious hope such characters of imperfection as belong to the best hopes of him whose affections are centered in the world. It is not liable to fail—it is not exposed to disappointment. The aged Christian’s hope is not liable to fail him: he has too long and too habitually cherished it, to admit the probability that it should now forsake him; and although there would occur intervals of comparative gloom, as long as he remains encompassed with the infirmities of flesh, yet these are but the occasional exceptions to the general tenour of his feelings: the sustaining principle ever lives within him: its activity may be for a while suspended, its power may be, by the overwhelming force of untoward circumstances, or by reason of the weakness of human nature, somewhat diminished: but it will ever and anon revive with undecaying vigour, and will diffuse over the whole course of life one general complexion of peace and cheerfulness. Nor is the christian’s hope exposed to disappointment: he, who during a long life “has walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless,”—who according to his best ability, and as far as altered circumstances of the church and of the world allow, has imitated the example of that ancient piety, which “departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day,”—this venerable man, as he sinks under the burden of years, gratefully acknowledges that he is by perceptible and rapid steps advancing towards the objects of his desires, and is inspirited by the full assurance that these objects will not elude his grasp—that, when once attained, they cannot fall short of, but must infinitely exceed in value any estimate which he has been led to form of them. He has learned from an infallible Oracle that “eye hath not seen, that ear hath not heard, that it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive those good things, which God has reserved in Heaven for them that love Him,”—he is confident therefore that his largest expectations will be more than answered—that his loftiest hopes will be more than fulfilled. Nor has the certainty he feels that himself shall attain these objects any affinity with a bold and presumptuous confidence; it is a certainty perfectly compatible with the pious and lowly confession that whatever is good in him—whatever is virtuous in intention or upright in action—has been the fruit of divine grace “preventing him that he might have a good will, and working with him when he had that good will,”—It is a certainty perfectly compatible with continued and uninterrupted dependence on the same grace, “without which the frailty of man’s nature cannot always stand upright:” but still it is a certainty, the natural result and the first reward of confirmed habits of virtue, which have by this time rendered indefinitely small the probability of lapse into sin, and which have thus commenced on earth that change which is soon to be perfected in heaven, of the hope into the full fruition of blessedness. O.

Notwithstanding the repeated solicitations of several valued friends, the Editor finds himself under the necessity of announcing to his Readers, that the Christian Recorder terminates with this Number. The reasons which have concurred in producing this determination, will, he trusts, convince the supporters of the work, of the propriety of the measure.

1.—The arrangements necessary for conducting a periodical publication in a colony like this, were found more difficult than had been anticipated; and although the number of Subscribers during the first year, was much greater than could have been expected, yet the expence was by no means covered.

2.—Having established a correspondence which ensured the most early religious intelligence, as well as a regular supply of the most able religious journals, the Editor felt reluctant to close the Christian Recorder with the first year, and flattered himself that a Publisher would be disposed to take the whole risque of publication, and thus relieve him from the fiscal concerns, which had been found more vexatious and burthensome than his Editorial duties; but the great depression that prevails throughout the Province, has prevented any such arrangement from being made.

3.—On commencing the Christian Recorder, the Editor was promised assistance from many of his friends, and although not ignorant of the great labor which he had undertaken, he was led to believe that contributions would be so numerous, as to leave little more for him to do than to make selections, when proper, from other publications, and to correct the press. During the first year, very few of his correspondents remembered their promises, and during the second, still fewer; and he has found from experience, that in relying upon such promises, he must lay his account with many disappointments, and be always at leisure to supply the deficiencies which they occasion. By this, he does not mean to insinuate the slightest reflection upon those who promised articles and failed in sending them, as they may have all excuses to plead: the Journal was not perhaps conducted to their liking—or composition was irksome—or they were fastidious; and perhaps few of them were sufficiently aware of the necessity of regular communications.

Left almost entirely to himself in preparing and selecting his matter, and taken up at the same time with various and indispensible engagements, it would be presumptuous in the Editor to affirm or to think that he has fully performed his promises to the public, or acquitted himself to the satisfaction of all his readers. But he owes it in justice to himself to say, that he has endeavored to keep in his eye the original design of the work, and to fill up the outlines to the best of his power according to the time he could command.

The Christian Recorder has treated with kindness and respect all denominations of Christians; but in doing this, the Editor has neither compromised nor concealed his own opinions upon any subject he was called upon to discuss; and if he has occasionally indulged in encomiums on that Church to which he belongs and to which he is firmly attached by reason and affection, it arises from a deep conviction that she is the only Church which unites in herself the true requisites for propagating the Gospel, and retaining it pure when once established.

The Editor takes leave of his Readers with much regret, while he fondly hopes that his labors have not been altogether in vain. He has indeed the satisfaction to know that instances of good have resulted from his work. Many persons who entertained prejudices against the established Church and her composed forms of prayer, have had their prejudices removed by reading the Christian Recorder.—Wherever any feeling prevails against the Church of England, it proceeds from ignorance; for were the most violent of her opponents to examine with impartiality her articles of Faith, her order and discipline, and to read with candor her admirable Liturgy, if he did not feel himself constrained to join her Communion, he would be at least convinced that she possesses all the marks of a true Church, and that to be conscientiously united with her, is to be in the way of salvation. In most places of worship, out of this Church, the congregation are hearers only: the members of them, properly speaking, cannot be said to offer up any religious worship for themselves. The one mind and the one mouth with which Christians are directed by the Apostle to glorify God, being in this case, generally speaking, the mind and mouth of the officiating Minister, not, as it ought to be, the one mind and one mouth of the congregation assembled.

The Editor, deeply sensible of the great utility of a Religious Journal in connection with the established Church, in a country where so few Clergymen are yet stationed, reserves to himself the right of reviving the Christian Recorder when the times shall be more propitious; and if his Journal during the two years which it has continued, has been in any degree conducive to advance the knowledge and practice of Christianity—if it has counteracted the influence of one error—corrected one false notion in religion—strengthened one weak Christian—comforted one down-cast believer—or confirmed one doubting disciple, he will regard it as an abundant recompense for any toil or expence to which he may have been subjected.

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.

Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors occur.

A cover was created for this eBook and is placed in the public domain.

The article “On the state of man “by nature”.” is produced in its entirety in this issue for the reader versus ending mid-sentence in Issue 11 and continuing mid-sentence in Issue 12.

[The end of The Christian Recorder Vol. 2, Issue 12 (1821-February) by Various]