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ried learning, united with the most judicious zeal in their holy cause, would have done honour to any age of the Christian Church. There are others of the Episcopal College, who, though little known perhaps to the English reader, stand no less distinguished in their own country both as Christians and scholars; and of the inferior clergy there are many whose talents and attainments want only the opportunity to be displayed in their proper power. To such men we could heartily wish that the legislature would extend its bounty as worthy objects of its care. To the constitution and the government of their country they are attached, from the high principles of Christian obedience; they require no grants to bribe them into loyalty. Of the low state of those funds, which were formed by private munificence for their support, Mr. Park gives the following

account:

"Notwithstanding all the exertions of the Committees in both countries, and notwithstanding the liberal donations of many of the dignified Clergy in England, and a vast body of the laity, yet the funds have only enabled the Managers to allot £100 per annum to the Bishop residing in Edinburgh, £60 to the Primus, and £50 to each of the other Bishops, £15 to a very few, and £10. to also a very few of the inferior Clergy. But the Committees, both in London and Edinburgh, do not remit their zeal and ardour: they attribute much of the backwardness to subscribe, which they discover, to the situation of the Scottish Episcopal Clergy not being known, and if known, not understood; and to the very quiet and unobtrusive manner in which the subscription has been, and must be, carried on. They still trust, and earnestly hope, that the great, the rich, and the virtuous part of the community will enable them to do much more for those who stand in so near a relation to the Founder of our Holy Faith; and they rely confidently at least, that all those who stand in the same relation to him in the Church of England, and who have the means, will recollect that though the outward splendour and territorial possessions of Scottish Episcopacy are no more, yet in soundness of doctrine, in solidity of learning, and in innocency of life, her Clergy are still a burning and shining light amidst a crooked and perverse generation; and although by the sure word of prophecy, the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church of God, yet in the inscrutable dispensations of Providence it may hereafter be asked, where is the Church of England? As we now say, where is the Episcopal Church of Scotland? Let them consider these things and act accordingly." P.150.

"See a Sermon of Bishop Horsley."

Let these things be considered well by the dignified Clergy of our Establishment, and by all those who feel a sacred attachment to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of Christ. We trust that for every reason this volume will have an exten

sive circulation, and particularly because the whole receipts derived from its sale are applied to so excellent a purpose by its generous author, from whose exertions and munificence the Episcopal Church of Scotland has already experienced such extensive advantages.

ART. VII. Some Remarks on the Unitarian Method of Interpreting the Scriptures, as lately exhibited in a Publication, under the assumed Title of an improved Version of the New Testament; to which are added, Considerations on the Manner in which the Gospel should be preached, to be rendered effectual to its intended Purpose. Partly delivered in a Charge, in June, 1815. And the whole, with the Notes, respectfully addressed to the younger Clergy. By the Rev. Charles Daubeny, Archdeacon of Sarum. 8vo. 65 pp.

Rivingtons. 1815.

THERE are few divines of the present day, whose zeal and activity in the cause of our Church has been more conspicuous than Archdeacon Daubeny. We are happy therefore to pay that early attention to his labours which they so justly deserve. The Charge before us was delivered at his last Visitation, and embraces many important points, which demand the attention of the Clergy at large. The first question which the Archdeacon' discusses is that of the well known Curates' Bill, upon which he speaks with equal moderation and justice.

"Since I last had the honour of meeting you, my Brethren, an occurence has taken place, in which the Clergy are particularly interested. This occurrence, to which it is incumbent on me to direct your notice, respects the Bill which has lately passed into a law, for the more effectually securing the residence of Parochial Ministers. To some of the provisions of this Bill strong objections have been made. And admitting the respectable character of the framer of the Bill in question, his good intention, together with his regard for the welfare and prosperity of the Church and it's Clergy, of which no possible doubt can be entertained; still it is the opinion of many, that a Layman was not the best qualified to frame the Bill in question: because it was not to be expected that he should see the complicated subject before him in all it's bearings; not being, from his station in life, sufficiently acquainted with all the different circumstances under which the Clergy may be placed, to render a Bill, in itself well-designed, the most unexceptionable to the parties, on whom it was to operate..

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"With this opinion the public mind appears at length, in a great degree at least, to have coincided; if we may judge from the circumstance which I am authorized to communicate; that a Committee of Bishops has been appointed, with the approbation of Government, to consolidate in one Act all the statutes relative to the residence of the Clergy. And when to this circumstance I have added the further information, that the Committee in question consists of the Bishops of London, Lincoln, and Peterborough, I feel persuaded in my mind, that had the Clergy been left to have. chosen for themselves on this occasion, they could not possibly have selected advocates, from whose soundness of principles, judgment, and professional regard they could have more to expect. When then it is considered, as in this case it ought to be, that every regulation of discipline for the Church has in view the more effectual promotion of that great object for which the Church was originally instituted; together with the most probable means of counteracting, as far as may be, that growing separation from our Establishment, which every true friend to the Constitution of his Country cannot but most earnestly deprecate; there is every reason to conclude from the respectable character which the Clergy, as a body, bear in society, that they will at all times cheerfully comply with those dispositions of order, which on mature reflection shall have received the sanction of those governors, in whose hands the exercise of ecclesiastical discipline has been placed; and to whose paternal authority they are in consequence professionally bound to submit." P.2.

In a subsequent part of the Charge, the Archdeacon calls the attention of his Clergy to a subject of the utmost importance to the Christian Church, the right interpretation of the Scriptures. The principal objects of his animadversion are the bold and unjustifiable methods to which the Unitarians have lately had recourse, of perverting the meaning and corrupting the text of the New Testament in a publication, termed " an Improved Version." The arbitrary interpolations and omissions, the ungrammatical and irrational constructions which appear in every page of that work, have already been opposed with so much success, that little more need be written upon such a subject. We are of opinion, however, that the Archdeacon bas with much seasonable caution directed the minds of his Clergy to a review of the controversy, and to a serious attention to what has already been written, and written so well. No exertion on the part of the Unitarians is spared to disseminate their destructive principles, by appealing to the pride of half-instructed ignorance, and to the perversity of self-important conceit. It becomes the duty, therefore, of the Clergy at large, particularly in the more remote and populous districts of the country, to meet the enemy with activity and power, to arm themselves with those approved

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approved publications which most successfully develope the arts, and overthrow the fallacies of this dangerous and increasing sect. We trust, therefore, that the exhortations of the Archdeacon will have their desired effect, and awaken in the minds of his Clergy that active attention to this important question, which its importance so justly demands.

The latter part of this Charge is dedicated to the consideration of the method in which the Gospel should be preached to render it effectual to its intended purpose. The whole of this is well worthy the attention of the reader, as it will guard him with much precision and justice against the opposite extremes of Unitarian self-sufficiency and fanatical delusion. Both of these parties have mutilated the Gospel, preaching only those parts which, taken by themselves, may be forced into unison with their preconceived opinions. The following passage appears to place the whole question in a clear and a convincing point of view.

"Hence it follows, that the mode of preaching the Gospel, now, it is to be feared, growing upon us; which lays down the principles of the doctrine of Christ, without going on to perfection;" which is continually employed in securing the foundation, whilst the superstructure, in which man is principally concerned, remains comparatively unattended to; is certainly not calculated to raise that perfect building of Christianity, which will endure unto the, end. And when we reflect on that perversion of the understanding which took place at the fall, and consider at the same time that the imagination, when employed on spiritual subjects, opens a wider field to the exercise of human corruption, than the sober strictness of established forms; we cannot but think that the partial mode of preaching the Gospel, to which we are here alluding, wherever it prevails, is more calculated to serve the cause of enthusiasm and error, than to promote the advancement of that well principled system of religion, to which alone we can reasonably look for the regular production of those spiritual fruits, the legitimate offspring of true faith, the distinguishing characteristic of genuine Christianity. And should those lamentable effects which the perversion of the understanding in religious matters heretofore produced in this country, cease to retain their due impression on our minds; it must be, because that experience is seldom sufficiently valued, for which the parties concerned have not been obliged to pay the cost.

"But whilst urging this necessary point, with a view to the effect intended to be produced by the Gospel on Christian practice; we are well aware, that at all times, and in none more than the present, when a religion professedly founded on reason, to the exclusion of the fundamental principles of Christianity is boldly, I may, I trust, as a Christian Minister, be allowed to say, offen

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sively pushing itself into notice; every the least encroachment on
those all-sufficient merits, on which the humble Christian builds
his hope, must be watchfully provided against. For whe-
ther man depends upon Christ in such a sense as to render every
exertion of his own in the work of salvation unnecessary, or
so depends on himself, as to consider himself sufficient for the at-
tainment of his own salvation, independant of divine grace, and
the satisfaction for sin by the blood of atonement; in either
case the essentials of Christianity are abrogated, and the plan laid
down in the divine councils on this subject eventually defeated.
Against both these extremes, to which human corruption has at
different times subjected the Christian Religion, whether against
the enthusiasm of the imaginary, and too often, it is feared, carnal
Christian on the one hand, or against the proud self-sufficiency of
the rational one on the other, the Minister of Christ must be equally
guarded.

"Whilst then he uniformly reprobates all title to salvation
raised on the ground of human merit, as the extreme of presump-
tion; he will at the same time take care not so to undervalue good
works, as to deprive them of their proper importance in the
Christian system; considering that works performed under the in-
fluence of divine grace being acceptable to God in Christ; must,
on that account, have their proportionate weight in the Christian
scale.

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On the other hand, whilst pressing the necessity of those
works of righteousness, which under the Evangelical dispensation
are expected from man, for the purpose of qualifying him for the
salvation which has been freely provided for him, he will, of course,
as a master in Israel, in conformity with the doctrine of our
Church, completely shut them out from the office of justifying
In this view of the subject, the whole salvation of fallen man,
from justification on his admission into a state of grace at baptism,
through his successive sanctification by the Holy Spirit, to his
final perfection in glory, will be uniformly represented as having
its beginning, its continuation, and its ending in Jesus Christ:
In whom, as we read, all the promises of God are yea and
amen.'

"Should we indeed admit that the works of righteousness re-
quired under the Gospel Dispensation had been performed; for the
performer of them to build his hope of salvation on the ground of
his own personal merit, instead of placing it on the ground of that
divine philanthropy, from which alone his title to it can be safely
derived; is to tear up the foundation on which the Christian build-
ing stands. Whereas,' to use the words of the judicious Hooker,
the little fruit we have in holiness, it is, God knoweth, corrupt
and unsound; we put no confidence at all in it; we challenge

"See Homily on Salvation."

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