"dren. He procured the printing of eight thousand copies of the "Welsh Bible, distributed one thousand gratis among the poor, " and sent the remaining seven thousand to the chief towns, to be "sold at a reasonable price. Though Mr. Gouge had a license to "preach occasionally in Wales, he yet was often persecuted. And "though he went constantly to church, and sometimes received "the sacrament there, he was yet excommunicated, even while "engaged in doing all this good to the Welsh. But from love to "God and the souls of men, he endured all these things with great "patience, and ceased not to do good, until he finished his course "with joy and triumph. Tillotson, afterwards Archbishop of "Canterbury, preached his funeral sermon."-(pp. 28, 29.)

Now surely even Mr. Wilberforce himself must admit, that, viewed in this light, the divisions in the external Church present an aspect differing very widely from causeless schism. A faithful man, regularly educated at Oxford, and receiving ordination from the hands of men "in the apostolic succession," is thus set apart for the service of God. A zealot like Laud then comes, and commands him to commit sin;-commands him to do that (the reading of the Book of Sports) which not one of the Apostles would have done. He knows that he "must obey God rather than man." He suffers the loss of all things for conscience sake. He is cast, perhaps, like Vavasor Powel, "into thirteen prisons." (p. 27.) He takes joyfully the spoiling of his goods. But he cannot forget, amidst all this, that he has been separated unto the gospel of God,"-set apart, by episcopal hands, for the work of preaching the gospel. Patiently receiving tribulation, he cannot abandon his calling. He still continues to "preach the gospel," whenever, and wherever, he finds opportunity. Surely it is unjust to apply to such a man, the Apostle's words, "Mark them which cause divisions, and avoid them."

Injustice committed in the first instance, is very likely to perpetuate itself. Anger is felt by "high churchmen" against the Erburys and Cradocs and Powels and Gouges, at the first, because they will not submit to commands like those of Laud. A feud begins, and is handed down from father to son; and will never end, till at least confession is made, of the original injustice, and some amends tendered. "The wrath of man" on one side, excites the like "wrath" on the other, and thus men are kept in a wrong path by mere envy and strife. Thus we have often doubted whether, if there were no Episcopal Church in Scotland, the National Church of that country might not naturally lapse into Episcopacy in the course of a few years. The intrinsic excellence of the principle would then have had its free course, and the Chalmerses

and Gordons would have been raised, by general consent, to that station and function which would so well befit them. And in England, too, the true means of restoring unity would be found rather in the plan of Archbishop Sancroft than in that of Mr. Wilberforce. This meek-spirited primate, the first of the non-jurors, while his high-churchmanship has made him an oracle with the Tractarians, did not hesitate, in his last injunctions to his clergy, to mark out a course with reference to the dissenters, which is far removed from that suggested by Mr. Wilberforce. The Archbishop advises, "That they also walk in wisdom towards those that are not of our communion; and if there be in their parishes any such, that "they neglect not frequently to confer with them in the spirit of meekness, seeking by all good ways and means to gain and win "them over to our communion; more especially, that they have a "very tender regard to our brethren, the Protestant Dissenters; "that, upon occasion offered, they visit them at their houses, and "receive them kindly at their own, and treat them fairly wher"ever they meet them, discoursing calmly and civilly with them; persuading them (if it may be) to a full compliance with our "Church, or at least, that whereto we have already attained, we may all walk by the same rule, and mind the same thing.' And "in order hereunto, that they take all opportunities of assuring "and convincing them, that the bishops of this Church are really " and sincerely irreconcilable enemies to the errors, superstitions, "idolatries, and tyrannies of the Church of Rome, and that the very unkind jealousies which some have had of us to the contrary, were altogether groundless. And, in the last place, that "they warmly and most affectionately exhort them to join with us "in daily fervent prayer to the God of peace, for the universal "blessed union of all Reformed Churches both at home and "abroad against our common enemies; that all they who do con"fess the holy name of our dear Lord, and do agree in the truth "of his holy word, may also meet in one holy communion, and live "in perfect unity and godly love."

We have not the slightest doubt that,--supposing the object to be, the gradual eradication of dissent, and reunion of all true Christians, this plan of the Archbishop's would be found far more effectual than any system which commences by alienation, and strangely counts on gaining men by treating them as persons involved in "a great sin," in having "left the Church of God."

THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST; or, Hints to a Quaker, respecting the Principles, Constitution, and Ordinances of the Catholic Church. By FREDERIC DENISON MAURICE, M.A., &c. &c. In two volumes. Second Edition. London: Rivingtons. 1842.

THERE are epidemics in mental as well as corporal nosology; and the prominent or favourite errors of a given place or time may often be traced in minds, which have kept themselves independent of the parties and systems, in which such errors have been most distinctly embodied. It is true this alleged independence of a party or system, while its essential errors are adopted, is sometimes only an assumption, or half unconscious wile; which serves the more effectually to support the cause, by presenting a professedly unbiased and impartial witness in its favour. But there will be also instances of real independence of thought and character, and where there is no combination or identity of purpose; but where a similarity perhaps of views, or sympathies, or prejudices, under the epidemical influence of the prevailing delusion, works out in otherwise diverse and substantive minds, an evident similarity of error. The thoughts and reasonings of minds like these may well be highly interesting, and may exhibit much that is true and valuable mingling with their speculations, even when the conclusions in which they land us are unsound and pernicious.

An independent thinker seems to have a natural claim upon our admiration and regard; and if he introduces us to any truths before unnoticed by us, or which he has placed in a new or more striking light, or has cleared up any difficulties which we had felt and knew not how readily to solve, he perhaps wins our gratitude also, and bespeaks our indulgence for his faults. Hence the productions of learned or gifted men, belonging to the class here mentioned, are, in one point of view, more dangerous than many an inferior and less reputable book. For the admixture of what is sound and good, especially when it comes recommended by thought and learning, too often carries the reader off his guard into the very midst of the errors which they adorn.

After having given more than usual attention to the perusal of Mr. Maurice's book, now lying before us, we cannot help classing it among works of this respectable but dangerous character. Mr. Maurice has evidently not attached himself to the now popular party of the Oxford Tract Divines; yet he has imbibed a great

portion of their delusions on the important subject which he discusses. He exhibits some depth and originality, as well as independence of thought; displays some variety and extent of learning; and brings before us some valuable truths; yet we cannot but regard the conclusions to which he would lead us, as very unsound, and his view of the whole matter as wrong and mischievous as a speculation, and such as in practice must necessarily lead to results still more pernicious, than the errors which the theory itself actually evolves.

It will be only doing our author justice, if we give a brief outline of the plan which he has adopted for setting forth what he considers to be "the principles, constitution, and ordinances of the Catholic Church." Mr. Maurice's whole argument is supposed to be addressed to a Quaker, who, being dissatisfied with his own religious position, has applied in vain for a solution of his doubts and difficulties to a variety of persons, holding the most opposite tenets, and who have only succeeded in shaking his confidence in his old system and principles, without giving him any firm footing elsewhere. Our author, who meets with him in this perplexed and almost despairing state of mind, undertakes to deal with his difficulties, in a manner very different from the way in which they had been encountered before. He lays it down as a fundamental position, that the great principles of Quakerism, and so also the principles of all the most prominent religious divisions of Christendom, (Lutheran, Calvinistic, Papal, Unitarian,) are right and good, and ought not to be abandoned; while the error of the Quakers, and of the other religious bodies, which he mentions, consists in this-that the systems, which they have devised for embodying and carrying out these principles, have failed to exhibit and preserve them; and have, on the contrary, tended to shut out from the sight of man those very truths for which they profess to be witnesses. The consideration of this inconsistency, between the principles and the systems of different denominations, leads him to enquire whether there is not an inclusive and universal body, which embraces all the separate truths, that the principles of different sects proclaim, and which is furnished with an organisation for giving those truths their due practical effect, instead of obscuring or destroying them by an ill-devised system. The existence of such a body is also, he thinks, plainly indicated by the aspirations of men (now, it is said, so strongly felt) for some Catholic bond of union-some universal society to join them to all their fellows as Christians and as men.

This Catholic body, then, is the kingdom of Christ or the visible Church; which, according to Mr. Maurice, is known and distin

guished by certain external but "indispensable, essential signs" of its existence. The essential signs being,

1. Baptism; the necessary admission into the kingdom.

2. The Creeds; i.e. especially the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds; the necessary confession of the Church's faith.

3. The Liturgy; the same form now as at the first; sary mode of worship for the Church.

the neces

4. The Eucharist; a sacrifice, or sacrificial feast, requiring a sacrificing Priest; the necessary mode of partaking in Christ, who is present in the sacrament.

5. Episcopacy; which is essentially the Ministry, Priests and Deacons being only the Bishop's deputies; the Ministers being the necessary officers of the universal society, and as such to perform the part of mediators, absolvers, sacrificers, and interpreters of Scripture.

6. The Scriptures; placed last, being rather an exposition of the other signs, than signs themselves; they are addressed to men in a Church, and must be interpreted by the Ministers.

Marked by these signs, the spiritual society grew up as a universal constitution, and afterwards developed itself in the form of national societies. It not being intended that the visible Church should have a separate or independent existence, i.e. that it should be extra-national. But while, as a universal spiritual kingdom, it is the great counterpart and opponent of the world; it is also, as existing in national institutions, the counterpart and friend of the state. The national Church and the state being intended to be neither commingled nor at variance with each other; but while the former rules over the spiritual and internal part of man, the other is to regulate his visible and external nature; and the two united are thus to foster and preserve the whole human being in the sacred existence of national life.

In thus giving, within the compass of a couple of pages, an account of a book which extends through two thick volumes, it is obvious that nothing more than the merest outline of its form and plan can be presented. Yet from this outline our readers may obtain a tolerably correct idea of its general character and contents; and it will at any rate enable them the more readily to follow us in the remarks which we have to make upon its plan and execution.

The views which Mr. Maurice takes of the early state of the Christian Church; of the purposes which, as a society, it was intended to accomplish, and of the connection of the Church Catholic with particular or national Churches, seem to us to be for the most part sound and valuable. We cannot do them justice by a quotation; yet we cannot refrain from giving one :