happens that he speaks more plainly than any contemporary writer upon the threefold Order of the Ministry. It was of great importance therefore to have the genuineness of his writings proved conclusively.

The other great theologian of the Restoration was Bishop Bullwho between the years 1669-96 published several most valuable treatises, the principal of which were his " Apostolical Harmony," which defines the doctrine of Justification, and his "Defence of the Nicene Faith,” in which he shows beyond dispute that the Council of Nicæa in the Creed which bears its name, only taught the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as it had been all along held in the Church.

Lastly, as English Theology began about five years before the commencement of the seventeenth century, so can it scarcely be said to be complete without going about as many years beyond that century. The "History of Infant Baptism," by Dr. William Wall, was published in the year 1705, and thoroughly clears up the doctrine of Baptism, about which there was evidently some unwillingness to speak in earlier writers, lest it should induce a controversy with some from whom it was not desirable to differ unnecessarily. Thus while Hooker affirms that "we are not Christian men but by new birth in Baptism," he seems purposely to decline the use of the equivalent term of regeneration by Baptism. But after a time the evil result of this compromise became apparent, so that at last, as Wall says, while the ancients" never used the word regeneration but that they meant by it Baptism," it had come to pass in his time that many modern writers, who were not consciously unsound, "used the word regeneration for repentance and conversion, whether accompanied with Baptism at that time or not." So Wall was moved to indite his Treatise on the Baptism of Infants; for it is plain that in an age of weak faith, if Regeneration were to be had independently of Baptism, it could scarcely be expected that the practice of bringing Infants to Holy Baptism could be maintained against the objections, which the habit of judging by sensible results would be so easily able to allege. And in order to refute the arguments of scepticism and indifferentism, Wall appeals at great length to the doctrine and practice of the early Church.

In this enumeration of the Great Divines of the English Church it seems scarcely fair to omit the name of Lancelot Andrewes, who died Bishop of Winchester in the year 1626. Yet learned and orthodox as

he undoubtedly was, he does not properly come within the limits that we have prescribed for ourselves, and for these reasons

1. His directly theological works were in Latin.

2. A great part of his writings which have come down to us, are Sermons.

3. What he is most generally known by (like Bp. Jeremy Taylor) are Devotions, and so he only indirectly belongs to the building up of Theology.

4. Lastly, in the exact comprehension of the place occupied by the Church of England he was surpassed by Laud, who may in some sense be considered his follower or pupil.

Field's "Book of the Church" also, published in 1610, possesses considerable merit--but it does not seem to have had much influence in its day-though it was used as an authority by Bramhall and others. In this place also some other names should be recorded with honour, as belonging to the same period: (1) Bishop Ken, the author of the well-known Morning and Evening Hymns, the "Practice of Divine Love," and an "Exposition of the Church Catechism," to whom also the title of Confessor is justly due, is worthy of enumeration among our very best Divines, save that his works were only of an elementary kind. (2) Cosin, again, has left his mark very decidedly on our Theology, partly by his manual of " Private Devotion" after the ancient pattern, but chiefly by the active part which he took in the Final Revision of the Book of Common Prayer at the Restoration, 1661-2. (3) Bp. Beveridge likewise, as both a Greek and Oriental scholar, assisted materially in making known what were the real principles of early Christianity. All these works however were in Latin; while his English works were only a few, very good Sermons, Private Devotions of no very high character, and an incomplete Commentary on the XXXIX. Articles. (4) Mention should also be made of Sanderson, a great master in some branches of Scientific Theology. (5) Dean Comber was the author of several works of learning and orthodoxy, chiefly illustrative of the Book of Common Prayer. (6) Dean Hickes wrote learnedly on "the Christian Priesthood." (7) Neither must Peter Heylin, the Biographer of Laud, be forgotten. (8) Thomas Jackson also was a learned and thoughtful writer; but being converted from Calvinism he did not attain to any very consistent view of Theology. He wrote twelve long books on the Apostles' Creed, from which quotations are often made. (9) The century worthily concluded

with the saintly Bishop Wilson, the well-known author of the "Sacra Privata," and other works. Lastly, if we cross the Border into Scotland, the name of William Forbes, Bishop of Edinburgh, must not be omitted. He was a very learned man, and wrote a Treatise on the points mostly disputed between the Churches of England and Rome, in which he attempted to reconcile differences. It is entitled "Considerationes Modestæ et Pacificæ," and is published in the "Anglo-Catholic Library" with a translation into English.1

Thus it will be seen that the hundred years which included Hooker, Laud, Thorndike, Bramhall, Hammond, Pearson, Bull, and Wall, have given us a very complete Theology on all these most important points, -viz. the doctrine of the most Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the Church, the Sacraments, the Inspiration of Holy Scripture, Justification and the Rule of Faith. Hooker and Pearson and Bull's two Treatises are in the hands of every student of Theology; and if any properly qualified person would gather together from Wall and from the scattered controversial writings of the three great Divines of the era of the Rebellion who have been mentioned above, an epitome of the points which they have established, we believe that he would confer on the Church a benefit of infinite value, and then we should possess a series of works, to which friend and foe alike could be referred as containing, together with the Book of Common Prayer, the true doctrine of the Church of England in all essential points.

Of all these men it may be said that they were really learned, that they are consistent with themselves and with one another, consistent also with the Prayer Book, and with "the Old Fathers" to whom the Prayer Book refers as its authority.

Alongside of them of course were many other writers of fair repute, but not quite so exact in their Theology (as Jewel and Usher, and Patrick, Hall, and Thomas Fuller,) as well as others in all degrees of unsoundness on this or that point. But there are none who can be said to have built up a rival school of Theology-much less is there any school that can pretend to an historical continuity-none others that can pretend to be the doctrinal representatives of the Church of England.

1 We must relegate to a note the authors of several smaller Treatises-as Bp. Nicholson on the Catechism, Gunning on the Lenten Fast, Marshall on Penitential Discipline, and Frank's Sermons on Festivals,—all of which works are included in the "Anglo-Catholic Library."

On the other hand, in close accord with this century of Divines, was a goodly company of men, both lay and cleric, who laboured for the Church in various ways, and by great personal devotion and saintliness testified that it was not a barren theology in which they had been instructed. These were, Sir Henry Wotton, Sir Henry Spelman, George Herbert, Antony Horneck, Nicolas Ferrar, Robert Boyle, Robert Nelson, Lake (the author of the Officium Eucharisticum,) John Evelyn, Hamon L'Estrange, Isaac Walton, the author of "The Whole Duty of Man," and last, though not the least worthy, King Charles the First, the author of "Eikon Basilike."

MARY GREEN:

A TALE OF BOARDING OUT.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE LITTLE MARY.

"Come Thou to souls once hardened,
Who now their foulness hate;
Tell them their sins are pardoned
Though man may cry, 'Too late!'
LORD JESU, come."

A WEEK had elapsed since the day Mr. Wood first visited poor Mary Green in the workhouse, when he told her she was dying, and she had given him some of her history. He had been to see her every day, and read to her, and had talked to her and taught her in his simple way, explaining everything as he went on, and she, poor woman, had been much benefited, much comforted, by his teaching.

"Then as in days of yore,

On souls like these the Church doth pour,

But with intenser power,

Rich consolations, streams of bliss;
To solace paths of weariness

And charm each fleeting hour."

He explained to her the true meaning of that parable which had struck her so much when Mrs. Dobson had read it to her, and brought it home to her. At first the poor woman had thought herself so irretrievably lost, that she did not seem able to believe that words so full of comfort could be meant for her, but the good priest had brought it all

before her so gradually and simply, and had prayed so earnestly that faith and true repentance might be vouchsafed to her, that by degrees light shone into the dark recesses of her soul, and it was awakened, like an opening flower.

When Mr. Wood was explaining to her the true meaning of the parable of the Lost Sheep he told her that "as the shepherd counts his sheep before he puts them into their fold and he knows each sheep so well that he misses one in an instant, so the Great Shepherd knows all His sheep, those that have erred and gone astray, and it is after those stray ones that he sends His messengers. The sheep that are in the fold are safe, but those that are wandering may be devoured by wolves. As a good shepherd carries his lambs, so does the Shepherd of our souls gather the lambs into His bosom in Holy Baptism, places them in the Fold of His Church, and with His Holy sign on their brow, He marks them for His own. Does not the shepherd also put a mark on his lambs? When the lambs grow into sheep and are able to walk alone, there is more danger of their straying, so the shepherd keeps a dog to drive the sheep, but not to do them any harm, only to remind them when they are inclined to stray from the right path, and if they listen to the faithful dog's warning bark they cannot stray, as he leads them to their fold.

So the Good Shepherd gives each of His sheep a faithful watch-dog, a conscience, and if they listen to its warning voice they will not stray, but it is when they shut their ears to that call that they do go astray from the right way. As the shepherd rejoices over a sheep that was lost and is found, so the Good Shepherd not only forgives the erring sheep who has not listened to the warning bark, and gone astray from the fold, but He rejoices over the lost sheep now found and brought back into the fold by one of His own messengers whose duty it is to gather these in safety, and to bring to them the message to come and put on the Wedding Garment for the Feast now ready.

"And other rites there are for love and prayer,

That Holy Church doth with her children share,
Scattered, like blossoms, on the world's wild waste,
For calm, not hindrance, placed,
Such absolution's sacred power,
When, like the drooping flower

That rises into life 'neath summer's rain,

The contrite heart revives, and throbs again!"

"Those Wedding Garments being put on in token of the sins being