garded-if regarded at all-as but an incidental point, upon a level with some question about a gown or a surplice; the aspect of a "lectern," or the architecture of a pew; perhaps less important, as it excites less noisy controversy. So far Mr. Scobell's pamphlet falls in with the subject of our present review, though it is not devoted to Tractarian questions. We will, however, quote an excellent passage upon preaching, which is especially germane to our question; for to disparage preaching, under the pretext of exalting prayer and the sacraments, is one of the most characteristic and unscriptural efforts of Popery and Tractarianism. "Such is Christian Preaching is it a trifle? is it a means of grace inferior to any in visible importance, and in its own order? Shall men venture to undervalue it? Shall patriarchal prophesyings, or the Jewish messengers on the dark mountains, or the Baptist in the desert, or Christ in his whole ministry, or the apostles in all lands;shall the entire ancient Church, Polycarp and Justin in the Primitive, Chrysostom and his companions in the Greek, and Austin and the Brethren in the Latin, men who jeoparded their lives unto death,' and whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches,' with the great cloud of later and equally faithful witnesses, that have followed them here and elsewhere, all telling forth the truth as it is in Jesus, and the unsearchable riches of Christ!' shall they throw no authority, no sanctity, no glory, no inviolable dignity around the Christian pulpit? "But it may be said, "This is true : Preaching is a means, whereby the Gospel is to be known as by a herald proclaiming it to the nations sitting in darknesss; but having been proclaimed, then Christianity settles in; and then also commence Sacraments and Liturgies, and priestly ministrations; and, consequently, preaching is mainly, and in its former degree, superseded.' If this were really so, and if religion, when once planted, even in the heart, were sure to grow on of itself, first the blade, then the ear, to the full harvest, then truly the great effect being secured, the causal instrument were little or no more required. But all experience is against this. Sacraments may be certain sure witnesses and effectual signs of grace, and of God's good will towards us, by the which he may invisibly work, and quicken, and strengthen, and confirm ;' and this they will do, if rightly received, as Philip told the Ethiopian; 'See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?' And Philip said, 'If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest' and he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God!' Without this, baptism and justification could have been in no sense convertible terms. And what gave him this belief? As a means, Preaching gave it, and nothing but Preaching. We want the will; God's gift, given St. Peter's sermon, (Acts ii.) for it is a just as He chooses. Mark the course of case directly in point: Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter, What shall we do? And he said, Repent and be baptized, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost. And he exhorted them in many other words. Then they that gladly received his word, were baptized!' and Preaching made three thousand souls willing in the day of God's power! "God forbid, then, that this holy ordinance should decay. Preaching was before Liturgies, or Rubrics, and even Sacraments; and although they may all unite together in the holy cause, 'that we may by all means save some;' still let us take care, that the Lord 'may not have somewhat against us, because we have left our first love.' In proportion as the pure word of God is read and preached, will Sacraments be duly administered, and duly received, and God's glory advanced, and the Church flourish: preached, not only to proclaim, but to remind, to rouse, to draw forth, to train up, to confirm. These are properly the blowings of the trumpet in Zion!' this is the alarm sounding on the mountains! this is the making the inhabitants of the land to shake.' Is the Gospel only for the willing and the holy, to pray and praise at the spiritual banquet, and amid the polished corners of the Temple ? Did it not come to seek and to save that which was lost?' Are there no careless professors by the wayside, baptized as they may be, yet choked with the world, its thorns and cares? Are there no scoffing lips? no obdurate minds? none standing idle in the market-place, waiting to be hired? Is there no enmity? no falling off from Christ? no infidelity? none either unstable in all their ways, or else even ferocious in their profligate habits? And there are the dark chambers of the stony heart, for which God has made his ministering servants a flaming fire! and the rusty bars of which must be turned backward by violence. We need not travel to distant shores to preach, if dying sinners only are to be sought for! even in our own lands, where fresh churches, blessed be God, are starting forth, one after another, like stars in an evening sky, and their bell is heard from hill and valley, degrading principles are abroad, abandoned habits are rioting around us, and souls are drooping in ignorance and vice, as in a land where there is no water. There may be temples and ministers, as there should be; all the oxen and the fatlings are killed, and 'the doors are open:' but still there are multitudes to whom we must say, 'Come, for all things are ready,' or they will never come at all; we must convince them, that they are bidden to the supper. "And even among the holy, who value privileges, and appropriate ordinances, yet how often is there forgetfulness, coldness, sloth, infirmities, errors, and sorrows, which require at our hands counsel, warning, correction, godly consolation? There are brands, which Prayer-books alone do not, and cannot pluck from the burning? See that miserable Prodigal, far from his former home, forgetful of covenants, of the Church's parental sermons, torn from the place where manna filled his soul with sweetness, and now, amidst low and bitter destitution, lying down to die, like Hagar in the desert when the water was spent in the bottle? What can Liturgies do for him when he is not within their sound? he has eyes, but he sees not! he has ears, but like the deaf adder, he stops his ears, and refuses to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely! Shall not Preaching take him by the hand, and speak kindly to him, and say to him, What aileth thee? fear not : see here is water; use it for a well. Arise and go to thy Father. He will remember the covenant with thee. If my children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, I will visit their offences with the rod, and their sins with scourges. Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my truth to fail. My Covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips.' The next publication on our list is "A Protest against Tractarianism," by an Irish clergyman. We rejoice to learn that Tractarianism has not made much way in Ireland; which we in part account for by the circumstance that the Irish clergy, having had to contend with Popery, are fore-armed against its twin-sister. Mr. Scott of Balteagh's "Protest" is very good and seasonable; and we should gladly quote from it, had not most of the points adverted to been discussed to satiety in our pages. We have added to our catalogue a translation of Vitringa's work on the Synagogue and the Church; the object of which is to shew that the government, ministers, and services of the Christian Church were derived, not from the Jewish Temple, but from the Synagogue. It would take many pages to argue the question, and to shew where we think that Vitringa is right, and where he fails; but the subject is important in the debate with Tractarians and Romanists; for if the services of the Synagogue, rather than the ceremonials of the Temple, were the model followed by the Apostles, under Divine guidance, then the whole Theory of Popery and Tractarianism is undermined; as will appear from the following statements. "The Temple service was not at all adapted to Christian worship. The Temple was the house of Sacrifice, rather than the house of Prayer: it was the habitation of God, i. e. the place where alone he put his name, and dwelt ; rather than the place for the assembling of men. True, Jehovah has even now his Temple, but it is not a building of wood and stone: the Church, the Congregation of Believers, is now the house of God; Jesus Christ, its great and only High Priest, its foundation, and chief corner-stone and believers in him are the living stones of this Temple; 'built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood; to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.' "There is then but a very slight analogy between the ministers of the Christian Church, and the Jewish Priests as distinct from the Israelites; the Fathers, indeed, in many instances, draw it out to the utanost extent, but they have no warrant from Scripture; and we oppose the analogy, sanctioned though it be by Tradition, on account of the immense mischief that it has produced. Believers of primitive times (as was before mentioned,) each according to his ability, brought bread and wine to the holy table, that after the benediction of the minister they might be distributed in the Congregation, or else left for the support of the Presbyters and Deacons, and for the relief of the poor: this bringing of gifts to the Lord's table, in course of time, was called an oblation, the table itself an altar, the Bishops and Presbyters who pronounced the blessing were called Priests (Hiereis,) the Deacons who received the gifts were named Levites. Now, although there was not the slightest foundation for all this, from the writings of the Apostles, yet for a while no mischief followed; but in course of time the sacred symbols, hitherto merely called oblations, were looked upon as sacrifices offered up by the ministers of the Church, as Priests (Hiereis,) for the forgiveness of sins. Nothing now remained, but that these symbols should be said to be changed into the body and blood of Christ, and thus was consummated the whole mystery of the Romish Mass. In opposing then this absurdity, we oppose also the foundation upon which it is built; namely, that there are Priests in the Christian Church, in the same respect differing from the People, as the Jewish Priests from the Jewish People. We have seen that there is no ground for such a doctrine from Scripture, that it is contrary to the whole tenor of the New Testament: there we are told that Christ, by his death, has given to all believers an equal right and power of approaching to him, and to the Father through him as their only Priest (Hiereus ;) this is the prerogative, this the blessing conferred upon every Christian. The Minister of the Church, who offers up the prayers in the Congregation, is not at all (as a Priest) the Person by whom Believers approach to God; he has no greater right to address Jehovah in prayer, than any member of his congregation,-in one sense he, as well as they, are not Priests, but must approach the Father through Christ, their only Priest,-in another sense, he and they are equally Priests, offering the sacrifice of prayer and praise through Jesus Christ." "All things then duly considered, it appears, that although the moral worship of the New Testament can, in many instances, be referred to the typical worship of the Temple; yet that the Apostles, in ordering a form of Government and sacred rights for the Church, did not intend that they should be conformable to the Temple; but rather derived both names, and offices, and rites, from the Synagogue, which had a worship more suitable to the state of the Christian Church. We do not deny, but that after the times of Constantine, the Churches of Christians assumed a form approximating more to the Temple, than to the Synagogue; but this fact rather favours our position: we have reason indeed to grieve that the Primitive Church so soon departed from Christian simplicity, and may justly use, in this case, the words of our Blessed Lord; 'From the beginning it was not so.' So far from the pomps and ceremonies of later times being an argument, that the sacred forms of the Church were derived from the Temple; that, on the contrary, this conformity between the Temple and the Church is a most sure mark of a corrupt Church. It is for this reason that we so strongly oppose an opinion that to many may appear of very little consequence for if once the Doctors of the Church of Rome can get an acknowledgment, that the disposition of sacred things, in the New Church, in no respect differs from that in the Old; they can then defend, with all speciousness, their entire Ecclesiastical Polity, which agrees in every thing, in names, and offices, and ceremonies, with the Jewish." We strongly urge our clerical readers to weigh this argument. We should, however, remind them that Vitringa was not an Episcopalian; and that this must be kept in mind in considering his statements. We have been too busy with our authors to add some remarks which we had meditated; but these will keep till another opportunity;-and such opportunities, we fear, are but too likely to occur; for it is a very prolific as well as mournful subject. May He who is "the Wonderful Counsellor" direct and overruleas assuredly in the end he will— all these trials of his Church, to his own glory, and the ultimate building up of that church which he purchased with his own most precious blood. "A SHORT AND EASY CATECHISM." A Short and Easy Catechism, for the Use of Young Persons of the Church of England; compiled from authentic sources. 1843. WE have frequently warned our readers against Tractarian poison speciously conveyed in small not, however, always small-doses for children. Even " Little Goody Twoshoes" has been tractarianized; and tales, old and new, "for the use of young persons of the Church of England," are being poured forth with unexampled rapidity, of which not a few are expressly designed to pre-occupy tender and unsuspecting minds with the essential principles of Popery, under the guise of Anglican Catholicism. It would be a wearisome and vain task to endeavour to enumerate and classify these mischievous productions; but it is of great importance that parents and teachers should be aware of the danger, and carefully examine the books which they place within the reach of children and young persons. We have spoken chiefly of tales; but we propose to shew, by the aid of the "Short and Easy Catechism" in our hands, how graver books for children are being supplied to follow up didactically the impression made by artfully contrived narrations. are "recommended as a companion to the present manual" (the Catechism); --and, thirdly, "Prayers for a Blessing on the Work of Building a new Church; the proceeds arising from the sale of this work to be given towards the building of the intended new Church of St. Mary, Margaret Street." We may conjecture, therefore, that the clergymen at Margaret Street Chapel could afford us some information from "authentic sources" respecting this Catechism, and the accompanying Questions for self-examination, which we may presume are used for the religious instruction and training of children at Mr. Oakeley's chapel, and form the staple of the doctrines there inculcated from the pulpit; and set forth as much as possible by visible ceremonials in the whole administration of Divine Service; for Mr. Oakeley and his curates, it will be remembered, have been panegyrised, as having contrived, contrived, in these degenerate days, to bring out, more fully perhaps than any where else, (Middlemore not excepted,) "the capabilities of the Anglican ritual;" so much so, that what with "intoning" almost the whole service, and introducing suitable bowings, crossings, prostrations to the East, studied attitudes in reference to the "altar," and other devices more significant than describable, a stranger, it is said, would scarcely suspect that he was in a Protestant chapel. There is no name prefixed to this Catechism as author or editor; nor are the "authentic sources from which it is derived, mentioned but at the end there is a leaf of announcements, which is not an ordinary bookseller's catalogue, but contains merely three works "just published;" namely, first, "Laudes Diurnæ, set to the Gregorian tones according to Mr. Novello's [a Roman Catholic's] arrangement; by the Rev. F. Oakeley, Prebendary of Lichfield, and Minister of Margaret Chapel, Marylebone;"-secondly, "QuesThe positiveness with which it tion for Self-examination," which is asserted that the days upon Our readers shall now have some samples of the "milk for babes' provided in this "short and easy" Catechism. The "authentic sources" from which the obnoxious matters in it are derived, are Popish writers. which certain events are commemorated in the Church, are the real days upon which those events happened, is thoroughly Popish. For example: 66 Q. On what day was He made Man? "A. On the day of the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin Mary, the 25th of March. "Q. When was He born? "A. On Christmas-day. "Q. What day of the year is Christmas-day? "A. The twenty-fifth of December." This may not be important, except as misleading a child to suppose that infallible "tradition" has kept up the true anniversaries of the events of our Lord's life; but we will proceed to more deleterious matter. The following is the instruction given to children respecting the nature of sin. tempt for God and his law. If we offend in one point, we are guilty of all. The command of God is, "My son, give me thy heart." The classification of sins and virtues shews that the compilers have taken their chief materials from Popish sources. For example : "Q. How many principal virtues are there? "A. Seven; three theological, and four cardinal. "Q. What is meant by theological virtues? "A. Virtues that relate immediately to God. 66 Q. Which are they? "A. Faith, Hope, and Charity, 1 Cor. xiii. "Q. What is Faith? "A. Faith is a gift of God infused into our souls, by which we firmly believe all those things which God has in any way revealed to us." The manner in which the use of symbols is spoken of, is Popish. For instance : "Q. What puts us in mind that Christ became Man, and suffered on a Cross? "A. The very making the Sign of the Cross, or reverently beholding that sacred emblem. "Q. Are pictures and holy symbols allowable in Church? "A. Yes; for they movingly represent to us the life and passion of our blessed Lord, and other doctrines of our most holy Faith." The whole texture of the ecclesiastical language employed is Popish; as in calling the mother of our Lord, "Our Lady." There is nothing said of adoration as due to her, or of her interceding for us; but of all departed saints we are told that "We communicate with them as our fellow-members under the same Head, Jesus Christ; they feeling for us and assisting us in all holy and kind offices, and we giving thanks to God for their good examples, honouring them for their virtues, and holding spiritual communion with them." 66 "By the third Commandment we are commanded to speak with reverence of God and His Saints, and all holy things |