formation, being the first publickly used by royal authority, and free from the errors of Popery, which were not expunged from other works at the same period. This short treatise, and the Preface or Prologue to the Bible, which latter first appeared in 1540, have been quoted as curious specimens of the progress which had been made in the promulgation of the Protestant Faith, under Henry's wavering auspices.

"CRANMER'S CATECHISM, or A Shorte Introduction into Christian Religion, for the synguler Commoditie, and Profyte of Children and young People, set forth by the Mooste Reverende Father in God, Thomas, &c.' was printed in 1548, and though not acknowledged by any publick act of the legislature, claims every attention on account of its editor, its patron, and not less of its own merit. Plain and explanatory, it is not only calculated to convey the rudiments of Christianity to the young and uneducated, but to furnish much valuable information to the theological student. The custom which formerly obtained of uniting the two first Commandments, and dividing the last into two is preserved.

or

"EDWARD THE SIXTH'S CATECHISME,

Playne Instruction, conteynynge the Summe of Christian Learninge, sett fourth by the King's Maiesties Authoritie, for all Scholemaisters to teach,' received the sanction of Convocation, at the same time (in 1552) with the Fortytwo Articles, and in 1553, was published with them by the Royal Authority, and having been assented to by the Convocation, is carefully to be perused by the inquirer into the state of religious opinion at the termination of Edward's reign. It is brief, but clear and forcible in its expositions, and is therefore every way fitted for the use made of it in these volumes. "JEWELL'S APOLOGY, intitled in the original Latin, Apologia Ecclesiæ Anglicana, Authore Joanna Juello, Episcopo Sarisburiensi,' was published in 1562, by the Queen's authority, and with the sanction of the Convocation; and it

soon acquired such great celebrity as to be considered the national confession of

faith.

"ARCHBISHOP PARKER'S PREFACES, were prefixed to the Old and New Testaments in that famous edition, published in 1568, which is called the Bishop's Bible. This version of the Scriptures, and the treatises attached to it, cannot but be regarded with great interest, when it is recollected that about the time of its publication, there was a greater dissonance of

opinion in some most important questions, than perhaps at any other, and that there was a constant struggle to establish as the sense of the Church of England, tenets incompatible with the views of the first reformers.

"About the same time came forth, (1570) NOWELL'S CATECHISM, Dean of St. Paul's, written as he asserts in his address to the Archbishops and Bishops, with not less careful attention to the Latinity, than to the doctrine, in order that the youth might obtain an acquaintance with pure classical language, as well from books of Christian piety, as from the profane, fictitious, sometimes impious and impure fables of the poets.

"The last work referred to, is intitled REFORMATIA LEGUM ECCLESIASTICARUM, ex authoritate primum Regis Henrici 8. inchoata; Deinde per Regem Edvardum 6. provecta, aduactaque in hunc modum, atque nunc ad pleniorem ipsarum reformationem in lucem ædita, 1571.' Much presumptive authority, but no positive sanction, either of the Legislature, or of the Church, is to be ascribed to this important compilation, nor is it to be doubted, that the statutes of which it consists, would have passed into laws, if the life of the king (Edward) had been spared a little longer."

These are 52 in number, and embrace equally subjects of doctrine, ecclesiastical laws, and church discipline.

Dr. B. adds, as a consummation to his account of these works of the reformers, an English version of that great document from which it is easy to trace not only the substance, but the very words, of many of our Articles of Faith, the CONFESSION OF AUGSBURG; the first in point of date, and perhaps too the first in excellence, of all the Protestant Confessions that appeared between 1530, and 1586. Our own reformers never lost sight of the sound principles in which it was composed, while engaged in the arduous task of preparing a national Confession for the Church of England.

This work which is likewise denominated the Augustan Confession was presented to the Emperor Charles V. at the memorable Diet

of Augsburg, by the noble Protestants of Germany, in 1530. It consists of 21 articles, evidently the prototypes of those, and of the Canons, which were adopted for the Church of England.

The first of the three volumes before us, is divided into two parts; of which, the former consists of seven chapters: 1. Of Religion and the Scriptures; 2. Of the Nature and Attributes of God; 3. Of the Trinity; 4. Of God the Father; 5. Of Creation; 6. Of Providence; 7. Of the Fall of Man and Original Sin. The latter, of six; 1. Of the Covenant of Grace; 2. Of Jesus Christ the Son of God; 3. Of the Incarnation of Christ; 4. Of the Names and Offices of Christ; 5. Of the Humiliation of Christ; 6. Of the Exaltation of Christ.

The second volume is also divided into two parts, the former of which consists of eleven chapters: 1. Of the Holy Ghost; 2. Of Predestination, Election, and Reprobation; 3. Of Vocation; 4. Of the Gospel; 5. Of Faith; 6. Of Justification; 7. Of Adoption; 8. Of Sanctification; 9. Of Good Works; 10. Of Repentance; 11. Of Perse verance. The latter, of four; 1. Of the Church; 2. Of the Sacraments; 3. Of Baptism, Regeneration, and Renovation; 4. Of the Lord's Supper. The third volume is divided into three parts, the first of which consists of eleven chapters: 1. Of the Moral Law, and the remaining ten of the Commandments in succession; the second, of two; 1. Of Prayer; 2. Of the Form of Prayer; and the third, likewise of two; 1. Of the Resurrection and Last Judgment; 2. Of Eternal Life.

Each of these subjects is discussed at such considerable length, that if we were to admit one entire article, we must exclude all mention of the rest. We shall there. fore give an abbreviated extract from each volume, as a fair specimen of Dr. B.'s plan and its execution, selecting from the first, bis REMEMBRANCER, No. 42.

discourse on the Humiliation of Christ, and the subsequent proofs and corroborations.

"1. The state of humiliation in which it pleased the Eternal Son of the Most High to effect the redemption of the fallen race of Adam, commenced doubt. less with his Incarnation. All the cir cumstances of his life, some of which were most painful and distressing, exhibited the absolute submission which He had imformance of the mighty work he had unposed on himself, as necessary to the perdertaken; and it appears that from the Manger to the Cross, every incident of his life concurred, either directly or indi rectly, to fill up the measure of his afflic tions.

"As the ministry of our Lord drew towards its close, he went up for the last time to Jerusalem, at the Feast of the Passover. At his entry into the Holy City on this occasion, he allowed himself to be greeted as a sovereign. Still the humble style and unostentatious retinue of the meek and lowly Jesus, were sufficient world, and that it was the triumph of a evidence that his kingdom was not of this spiritual, and not a temporal potentate. The first act of authority which he exer cised, was to drive from the Court of the Temple those who had dared to dishonour and defile it.

"3. The first stage of his humiliation second, that of more intolerable suffering, may here be supposed to end; and the and far deeper degradation, to begin. Having celebrated the Passover with his disciples, he went into the Garden of Gethsemane, where the first scene of his Pussion was completed. His agony of soul was such as to produce the most violent effect on his corporeal frame, even so that the blood forcing itself through the distended veins, mingled with the sweat which fell in large drops from his throbbing brow. This Passion of our Redeemer, as it proved that he was subject to corporeal infirmities and pains, to affords us assurance that he is touched mental anguish, grief, and apprehensions, with the feeling of our infirmities.'

"4. Betrayed by Judas, he was conducted to the palace of the High Priest, and declared to be guilty of blasphemy, in asserting himself to be the Son of God. The Jews were not permitted, in consequence of their subjection to the Romans,

to put any man to death. Jesus was therefore sent to Pontius Pilate the Roman Procurator, who ordered him to be scourged, to be arrayed in the ensigns of

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mock majesty, and to be crucified. At length, he was led forth, bearing his cross, so long as his tender frame could sustain it, to the Hill of Calvary. There he underwent the most painful and ignominious death which even the Roman law permitted. So lingering and cruel was the death by crucifixion, that the Romans inflicted it only on the vilest malefactors. Having endured for six hours, from nine o'clock in the morning till three in the afternoon, the ineffable torments of mind and body, to so great an extreme was he depressed by submission to the penal wrath of his heavenly Father as to exclaim 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' His precious death was announced by supernatural phenomena, by the restoration to life of certain bodies of saints which slept,' and by the rending of the great veil of the temple.

5. In order that the body of Jesus might not remain on the cross during the ensuing sabbath, the Jews begged of Pilate that it might be taken down as soon as it was ascertained that he was dead. A soldier pierced the side of Jesus with a spear, and from the wound flowed blood and water, physically demonstrating that death had taken place. Joseph of Arimathea, with Nicodemus, having requested the body, wrapped it in fine linen and spices, according to the custom of the richer Jews, and laid it in his own sepulchre, newly hewn out of a rock. A great stone closed the entrance to the tomb, and the Jews set a watch to prevent the access of any person to the spot. The burial was not permitted, till Pilate had been convinced that he was really dead, and had thus afforded unquestionable evidence of this most important fact.

"6. The soul of Jesus Christ, thus separated from his mortal body, descended into hell, the invisible place of departed spirits."

Of these facts and all the circumstances attending them, follow first the proofs from Scripture, in sec-. tions numerically referring to the above, copiously and industriously collected from all parts of the Old and New Testament; secondly, extracts from the Book of Common Prayer, viz.

MORNING PRAYER. Te Deum. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

"We therefore pray thee, help thy ser

....

"LITANY. By thy Baptism, Fasting, and Temptation.

By thine Agony and bloody sweat; by thy Cross and Passion, by thy precious Death and Burial, &c."

From the Collects for the first Sunday in Advent, and in Lent, &c. the Nicene Creed, and sundry other parts of the Communion Service, from the PUBLICK BAPTISM OF INFANTS, the CATECHISM, aud VISITATION OF THE SICK: 3dly, from the Thirty-nine Articles, II. and III.; 4thly, from three of the Homilies which treat of the Misery of Mankind, their Salvation, and of the Passion; 5thly, from the SUM AND CONTENT OF HOLY SCRIPTURE, viz.

"In the New Testament therefore it is most evidently declared that Jesus Christ, the true Lamb and Host is come, to reconcile us to the Father, &c."

Sixthly, from Cranmer's Catechism, viz.

"For seeing that Christ was that most innocent lamb, that never was blotted with any spot of sin, and yet he suffered for us as a sinner, it is evident hereby that he died not for himself, but took upon him our sins, and bore for us the burthen which we should have borne."

Seventhly, from King Edward the Sixth's Catechism, from which we find it more difficult to extract a specimen than any other part of the work, so quaint and obsolete are the forms of expression between the Master and the Scholar, thongh doubtless the doctrine be sound and blameless.

"Master. All these foundations that thou hast said are most true. Now, therefore, let us go forward to those his doings,

wherein lieth our salvation and conquest, against that old serpent.

"Scholar. It shall be done, good master. After that Christ Jesus had delivered in charge to his apostles, that most joyful, and in all points heavenly doctrine, the Gospel, which in Greek is called Fuangelion, in English, good tidings, at length was he sore scourged, mocked with pointing, scorning, and spitting in his face: last of all, his hands and feet bored through with nails, and he fastened to a cross, &c."

Eighthly, from JEWELL'S APOLOGY FOR THE CHURCH, viz.

"We say that man is born and does live in sin, and that no man can truly say his heart is clean, that no mortal can be justified in the sight of God by his own deserts, and therefore our only refuge and safety is in the mercy of God the Father by Jesus Christ, and in the assuring ourselves, that he has pacified all things by the blood of his cross. Now, if there be any who think that this sacrifice is not sufficient, let us go and find out a better. But as for us, because we know this is the

only sacrifice, we are contented with it alone, nor do we expect any other; and because it was only once to be offered, we do not enjoin the repetition of it; and because it was full, and in all its members and parts perfect, we do not substitute to it the perpetual successions of our own sacrifices."

It is impossible to read this last sentence, without observing its direct denial of the perpetual sacrifice in the mass.

Ninthly, from NOWELL'S CATECHISM, which likewise consists of a Dialogue between a Master and Student; and lastly, from the REFORMATIO LEGUM, in which occurs a chapter of the Death or Sleep of Souls, and of the Resurrection, thus commented on.

"Some impiously philosophize, that the souls of men departing this life, when once they have left the body, are either immersed in sleep, or return to nothing, till the day of the last judgment, and they will be aroused from sleep, or rise from death with their own bodies....For in like manner as Jesus Christ was recalled to life in an entire, true, and perfect body, nor did his soul perish or fall asleep; so we who are members of Christ live in the

son after death, but following our bread shall rise again with souls and bodies at the last judgment.”

The next specimen we shall offer is from the second volume. But we must considerably abbreviate it, presenting only the leading subjects of the seval sections. It is intitled, On the Sacraments.

"1. The word Sacrament, meaning originally an oath of allegiance, is now restricted to certain consecrated matter or

dained by our Saviour to be an outward visible sign of an inward and spiritual seals of grace. grace. 2. Sacraments are the signs and

3. They are the signs and seals of the New Covenant, and memorials both to God and man, by which each signifies his adherence to his part of the covenant established; a mutual act, by which, God binds himself to impart the terms on which it is conferred. Thus salutary grace, and man promises to fulfil are God and man united by a mutual pledge! 4. Sacraments are outward guished from all who are not members of marks, by which Christians are distin Christ's body. 5. It is necessary to a Christian Sucrament that it should be ordained by Christ himself.

6. Christ

has also appointed the persons by whom the Sacraments are to be administered, to those who are duly ordained to preach the word, the ministers of the Gospel. 7. The first of the two parts of which a Sacrament consists, is the outward visible sign. 8. The second part is the spiritual thing signified is not inherent in the sign: grace, or the thing signified. 9. The it is only relative and sacramental, the sign being the object of the senses, and the thing signified, of faith. 10. The outward sign is accompanied by the inward grace, but is not the efficient cause of it. 11. The dispositions necessary to Faith and Repentance. the due reception of the Sacraments are do not rightly use them, the Sacraments

To those who

are vain and fruitless. 12. The Church of England acknowledges only two Sacraments, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper."

"Confirinatory Texts from Scripture." "A portion of the Catechism." "The 25th and 26th of the Thirty-nine Articles."

"The Ninth Homily."

"KING EDWARD THE SIXTH'S CATEcпISм, in which the Sacraments are defined to be certain customary, reverent doings and ceremonies ordained by Christ