faculties of men to remain the same, each generation has all the knowledge of those which went before it, and all its own besides. Each man therefore starts in the race of knowledge, at a point much nearer to the goal than the men of a past generation and with the same diligence and speed, can also reach a further point than they did. The means too of acquiring knowledge, increase with civilization. Larger numbers are educated, books are more diffused, discussions multiply, errors are exploded, doctrines are established by common consent, and the boundaries of recognized truth are continually enlarged. Thus the astronomer and political economist of our day have more knowledge on these subjects than early philosophers had. Sir John Herschel knows more than Sir Isaac Newton, &c.

In all departments of knowledge, the world is affording proofs of a more masculine understanding, and more extended information, than belonged to earlier, less peaceful, and less cultivated ages. This seems to be equally true of Christians. The church and the world are alike advancing to their maturity; and as from age to age the world understands better the laws of nature and the principles of civil government; so does the church become better acquainted with the doctrines and the precepts of the word of God. The knowledge of God which our first parents possessed, was soon lost among their barbarized posterity, till the whole earth became utterly corrupt: the knowledge of the divine will possessed by Moses and Joshua, with their contemporaries, was speedily exchanged by their successors for ignorance and idolatry: and in like manner the more perfect knowledge of the divine will conveyed to the Church of Christ, by himself and by his apostles, was soon corrupted and obscured. The antediluvians soon forgot the revelation made to Adam, the Israelites that to Moses, and the Christians in a considerable degree that made to the apostles. The first churches were poor and widely scattered, with few means of education at the best times; and above two hundred years they were exposed to a persecution, which rendered education almost impossible. Placed at the same time in the midst of the profound ignorance, and inveterate superstitions of hea. thenism, it was impossible that they should escape the intellectual infirmities of the whole population by which they were surrounded. It is true that they possessed the Sacred Scriptures; but the manuscript copies were comparatively few; and they necessarily brought to the interpretation of them much of the credulity, and of the love of forms, which characterize the childhood of individuals and of nations. Religious knowledge thereJANUARY, 1840.

F

fore rapidly deteriorated, through the first four centuries; on which account it is unsafe for us to follow the precedents which we find in that remote antiquity, except with constant reference to Scripture. Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man to be believed as an article of the faith." Early doctrines and practices should therefore be brought to the test of Scripture no less than those of modern times; and we should endeavour to draw the church on to what is scriptural, rather than to bring it back to what is ancient. What is ancient may be good or bad; what is scriptural must be good. Ancient practice may be ancient folly but scriptural practice is the result of divine wisdom. The half-educated expositors of the Scriptures to an uneducated people in the second and third centuries may lead us wrong; the Scriptures themselves must lead us right. But because a disposition has grown up in the minds of some to idolise even the frailties of the early fathers, as the Hindoo drinks the water in which the Brahmin has washed his feet, I have thought it might be useful to mention some of the practices of the early church, under their guidance, which seem to prove that we must not too implicitly depend upon their wisdom or spiritual understanding.

Now though this reasoning is generally true, it is not absolutely to be depended on. The immediate subjects of revelation may fairly be presumed more fully acquainted with that revelation than their successors. Moses must be supposed to have had a more lively and correct view of the pattern shewn him in the mount, than Bezaleel or Aholiab or any of those who executed the work under his direction; and Peter and James and John, had more lively views of the glories of the mount of transfiguration than they could convey Polycarp or Ignatius or any of their companions. It must be presumed say some, that the early Fathers were more intimately acquainted with the terms used by the inspired writers, than we are, and that the farther we remove

to

from the source, the less pure will

be the stream.

But there is one important point

written that we might believe, and which are recorded as authoritative standards of appeal in all succeeding ages. It may therefore fairly be expected, that the diligent students of the sacred volume, comparing the results of their own observations, and the accumulated and collective discoveries of their predecessors, with the volume of revelation, will grow in religious knowledge, and that every generation of theologians may thus become wiser than their predecessors.

But how shall this increase of wisdom be ascertained and determined. Obviously by comparing different periods with the inspired standard. Here in this short pamphlet, Mr. Noel states the views of the early Christians as to the titles, the orders, the character, and the writings of their clergy; as to their ceremonies, their lamps, incense, pictures and images, washings, relics, miracles; as to their catechumens; as to baptism, funerals, heresies, and schisms, &c. • Now let any man of plain common sense take up this brief outline, which would not altogether occupy more than six or eight pages of our small print; let him compare it on the one hand with the ORACLES OF GOD, on the other with the rituals of our own church, and the conclusion must inevitably follow, that as to all matters of doctrine, and the general course of conduct and of discipline, the Church of England is incomparably nearer the apostolic standard, than the very

earliest churches recorded by uninspired authors. That Cranmer, and Ridley, and Parker, and Jewell, and the other remodellers of our Liturgy, and reformers of our holy church, are far more to be depended on as interpreters of apostolical doctrine and practice, than Ignatius, or Iræneus, Tertullian or Cyprian, however estimable these may be, or however valuable their writings.

The following are Mr. N.'s concluding remarks.

It appears from these few extracts, how far these early Christians had departed from the simplicity of the primitive church; thereby laying the foundation for all the subsequent superstitions of the Church of Rome. Their servility to the clergy, their multiplied orders, their ascetics and monks, their lamps and incense, their bowings and crossings, their attachment to relics, their credulity respecting miracles, their pictures of saints, their washing at the church door, their kissing of altars, doors and pillars, their value for the apocrypha, their holy unctions and touching of ears, their consecrated salt and honey, their misconception of the sacraments, and their prayers for the dead, very naturally grew into the more gigantic corruptions of the middle ages, when the Bible was more forgotten, the people were still less instructed, and the clergy established over the consciences of men an unchecked dominion. Let their errors make us wiser. By slow degrees we have been throwing off our superstitions, and have been growing towards a right understanding of the gospel. Consulting therefore now, with great reserve, the opinions of the early fathers, let us keep close to the doctrine and practice of the apostles. In the days of Ignatius and Tertullian, the church was in its childhood; and may now say with St. Paul, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." We have seen that the unscriptural exaltation of the clergy laid the foundation for all the other abuses which crept into the church; almost all the false doctrines and senseless ceremonies which then disfigured it being introduced by them. Christian men ought to learn by these facts to maintain their independence of thought, and keep close to the word of God as their guide. Under its guidance we shall no more wish to enrol among the orders of our clergy, sub-deacons and acolythists, exorcists and door-keepers, psalmistæ and fossarii. We shall not again become an

chorites or cœnobites, saraibites or stylites, "watchers" or "grazers;" we shall not return to the exorcisms and humicubations, the candles and chrisms, the ephphathas and the concealment of mysteries which distinguished those early ages; we shall continue to dispense with the pictures of saints, and the pictorial histories of the apocrypha in our churches; and we shall still be satisfied with simple water in baptism, without the aid of that oil, "possessed of spiritual grace which could make a sinner partaker of Christ," without those "insufflations of saints" which "like a vehement flame, could burn the devils and put them to flight," or that sanctified water which, "by the descent of the Holy Spirit, imbibed the power of sanctifying."

If any persons would persuade us to come back as much as possible to the practice of those early times, let us tell them that the church is not yet old enough for its second childhood; and that we hope through the grace of God, that there is before it a long course of improvement, in which it will advance towards the light and love of the inspired apostles of Christ. Some progress we have already made towards this desirable consummation. There is evidently less ignorance, less credulity, and less superstition among Christians in general. The scriptures are generally circulated and much read. The ministers of Christ, when faithful and exemplary, are much respected, but have no dominion over the faith of the church. Few serious persons now believe in baptismal regeneration, approve of prayers for the dead, or advocate the concealment of any of the great doctrines of the gospel. The administration of the Lord's Supper to infants is

happily discontinued; and there is not now quite so fierce a spirit as that which raged throughout the fourth century, between the friends of Cæcilian and the supporters of Majorinus. Having advanced so far, let us endeavour after further improvement. We ought to bring every church practice, and every prevailing opinion to the test of scripture; and, where that is silent, to the test of usefulness and of common sense. We should simplify whatever is complicated, remove whatever is mischievous, and accommodate all the institutions of the church, which are not of divine appointment, to the wants of a highly civilized and intelligent community. It is greatly to be lamented that there is no General Assembly of the Church of England, to examine into abuses, and originate needful reforms. The voice of truth would be heard in such an assembly; and it would be to the church what parliament is to the nation, the protector of our liberties and the source of much improvement. But above all, let all the members of the universal church, seek by earnest prayer, such a knowledge of Christ, and such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit as may inspire us with all the zeal and piety of the primitive Christians, and make us say from our hearts with an apostle," Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again."

We have been highly gratified at meeting our old friend John Bunyan in a new dress. The present edition of this valuable and standard work is highly creditable to the spirit of the publishers, and the skill of the several artists. It is printed in a commodious form. The typography is of the first order, and the plates and vignettes are admirably designed and executed. In short, we are not aware of any edition of the Pilgrim's Progress so adapted to the draw

ing-room table as the present; and we cannot but hope that it will meet with extensive patronage. Any commendation of the Pilgrim's Progress itself is obviously unnecessary, but it may not be amiss to observe, that the Life and Notes by the Rev. Mr. Scott are most valuable; they have indeed been frequently reprinted, yet are still by no means so extensively known, as their intrinsic merits deserve.

AUSTRALIA.

Ar the last meeting of this Society a letter was read from the Bishop of Australia, of which the following is an

extract:

'I have availed myself of an hour's leisure, during a journey in which I am now engaged for the inspection of churches and schools, to convey to the Society a brief minute of recent proceedings. Before I notice occurrences nearer home, I am anxious to have an opportunity of stating the satisfaction and thankfulness which I experienced during a visit in the month of January last, to the penal settlements of Norfolk Island, to find even in that dreary abode of wrath and punishment, a striking practical testimony afforded to the value of the Society's exertions. Even among the outcast offenders who inhabit that insulated spot, your Bibles and Prayer-Books, and Manuals of Devotion, are among the chief sources of comfort enjoyed by the otherwise all but hopeless prisoner. I never before had so strongly conveyed to my mind a sense of the diffusiveness of that benevolence which you, my dear Sir, on behalf of the venerable society, are so active an agent in extending, as when I beheld the eagerness with which those books are sought, and the thankfulness with which they are received among more than 700 criminals, who are there under the spiritual charge of the Rev. Thomas Sharpe. So extensive, indeed, have been the fruits of his attention, that, under the Divine blessing, and with thankfulness to the Society which has so aided his exertions, I may express a confident expectation of many hundred men receiving the light of the truth, and being recovered to a reverence for it, to which, during the previous portion of their lives, they had been practically strangers. Indeed, so far as it is granted me to judge of the sincerity of men's intentions, I felt so confident, as to a considerable number presented and recommended to me by Mr. Sharpe, that, at their humble and earnest desire, I admitted them to the rite of confirmation, the nature and design of which had been carefully explained to them; and afterwards received such of them, as were desirous, at the administration of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

During the past year the operations of our Committee have been gratifying and successful in a very

high degree. The exertions of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts have continued to augment the number of our clergy; and by the successive arrival of the additional labourers whom they authorize me to expect, I have hope of filling up during the present year most of those stations, within what are called the limits of location, where the most painful deficiency of religious instruction has heretofore prevailed, and the presence of a clergyman was most needed. Of course it would be vain to expect at present to supply fully the existing and growing wants of this vast country, even within the aforesaid limits; far less, when the almost unlimited range beyond them is regarded, which in all directions is being occupied to the extent of many hundred miles by sheep and cattle stations, and the numerous though widely-scattered attendants who have the charge of them. My present journey has been undertaken chiefly to inspect the progress of several churches in this part of the country, which are now fast approaching their completion; and the times for consecrating which I hope to be now able to fix. I am also engaged in establishing two or three new schools, perhaps more, towards which object the assistance which the Society enables me to offer will very materially contribute. We have perseveringly devoted, and are still devoting, our anxiety and attention to the great object of erecting school-houses. During the past year those at Hunter's Hill, &c. have been completed; at Bathurst and Narrellan good substantial buildings of the same class are advancing; and at Windsor I expect, in the course of this week, to visit one which will cost 500%. provided by the joint contributions of the inhabitants, the Diocesan Committee, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and the Government.

'The Society will also rejoice to hear, that, during the year just concluded, the issues of books from our depository have exceeded, in a nearly three-fold proportion, those of the previous year, which itself had doubled the issues of the year foregoing. I entertain sanguine hopes of a constant, steady augmentation; and am convinced that we are, and shall be, doing good in a like proportion.'

This letter having been read, The Hon. Mr. Justice Burton, of

New South Wales, addressed the Board on the subject of the religious destitution of Australia. He began by thanking the Society for the repeated grants which it had made in behalf of religion in the colony. After acknowledging similar services rendered by the Society for the_Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, he paid a just tribute to the zeal, judgment, and perseverance of Bishop Broughton, and stated that on his lordship's arrival in the diocese, the Church was in a very depressed and degraded condition; whereas now, in consequence of his exertions, aided by the benevolence of the two Societies at home, and the efforts of many pious and charitable persons on the spot, circumstances had arisen of a hopeful and promising kind. The paucity of clergy employed in ministerial duties in New South Wales had long been a serious evil. This reproach seemed likely gradually to be removed, the number of clergymen having been recently increased. But though much had been done of late in promoting the increase and efficiency of the clergy, churches and schools in the colony, much more yet remained to be done for the spiritual interests of the Australian population, a large number of whom, though bearing the Christian name and profession, were totally destitute of religious instruction, and debarred the privilege of the Christian ordinances. This he stated to be the case with too many of the free settlers, and descendants of the original colonists, who being, by the lamentable neglect of the mother country, left to themselves, and to the impulses of their own bad passions, appeared to have totally forgotten God, and had fallen into a fearful depth of wickedness. An instance of dreadful cruelty and ignorance had occurred shortly before Mr. Burton quitted the colony, in the murder of several unoffending natives, by certain convict servants, and, unhappily, some free men, who looked upon the coloured people as beasts, and considered themselves unjustly dealt with when sentenced to punishment for such crimes. The knowledge of Christianity, through the medium of churches and schools, and the superintendence of the clergy, must be diffused in these remote regions towards effecting real moral and religious good.

He also alluded to the situation of those prisoners of the crown, who, for offences committed either in this country or in the colonies themselves, are under sentence to labour, generally in irons, upon the public roads and works. The supply of the means of religious

improvement for these iron gangs' is vastly disproportionate to the want which is felt.

He then adverted to the pious munificence of an individual in the colony, who had already made great sacrifices in behalf of the church, and was prepared to manifest yet greater liberality in its cause; and to the successful efforts made by a clergyman in this country, (the Rev. E. Coleridge, M. A. of Eton College) in procuring, through his own charity and that of his friends, the sum of 3,000l. besides a library of theological works, as a contribution in aid of the designs of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and especially for the purposes of Australia.

The judge concluded by appealing to the Board for means towards building additional churches, erecting and endowing a college for the education of native clergy, and aiding the schools, the expenses attendant upon which now fall very heavily on the friends of the Church in the colony.

NEWFOUNDLAND AND CANADA.

A letter was read from the new Bishop of Newfoundland (Dr. Aubrey G. Spencer) stating that the spiritual affairs of the diocese are in a perplexed condition, and applying for a grant from the Society. He stated that the Protestants on the coasts of Newfoundland were most miserably destitute of all religious instruction. He expressed a wish to spend a small part of the grant in Bermuda, which was endeared to him, amongst other things, by the growth of an ecclesiastical establishment, with which he had been long connected. In conclusion, he prayed that the Lord would bless the Society with his holy keeping.

The Secretary stated that it was customary to make a grant to colonial Bishops on their new appointment, and the Standing Committee recommend on this occasion a grant of 3007. This grant was objected to on account of its smallness, to which it was replied, that the grant was only made for books, and the Board were not called on to go beyond that at present, The feeling manifested with respect to Upper Canada had not been so great as that with regard to Australia. It was however, hoped that what was doing by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, would excite a warmer interest. That Society had authorized the Bishop of Toronto to appoint twenty clergymen, and the Bishop of Montreal was authorized to appoint the same number. Therefore, looking at these two things together,