outward and visible institution of Christ, in which those only may lawfully rule, who are set apart by men who have received due authority from him. According to this more catholic spirit, the two sacraments which are generally necessary to salvation, are regarded as the great essential means of grace; baptism being the true laver of regeneration, and the supper of the Lord, containing in it Christ really present, though spiritually and in a mystery. According to this more catholic spirit, the voice of the church, as heard in the decrees of general councils, the writings of the ancient fathers, and the works of ecclesiastical historians, forming, together, a mass of traditionary evidence, is to be regarded as of immense importance in reconciling difficulties of scripture, and in explaining deep and mysterious doctrines. This spirit, be it observed, is one of marked contrast to the selfsufficiency, which would explain away every difficulty by its shallow reason, and bring down every high mystery to the level of its puny comprehension, and to be tested by its erring judgment.

It may well be supposed that the Romanists, who hitherto have found their security in the approximation of our views to those of conti

nental Protestantism, have been alarmed at this unwelcome change in our line of thought and argument. They feel that they are now assailed on the ecclesiastical ground on which they had fancied themselves impregnably entrenched, and on which they might indeed feel secure, against any attack from an Erastian church or a Puritanical conventicle. But it may not be so easy for Romanists to find satisfactory arguments to meet those of their adversaries, on the ancient ground to which they have thus of late returned; and therefore, in the meantime, they have adopted the expedient of fomenting dissension in their enemies' camp. They pretend to hail their most dangerous opponents as secret friends, and while they tremble at the spirit which is thus so widely spreading, they affect to greet it with joy, as the first step towards a return to their communion; knowing well that such demonstrations from them, will give a colour to the enmity and jealousy of the old dominant religious parties in this country. For, during the last twenty years, secular carelessness and cold formality had been rapidly giving way to the zeal of Puritanism, or at least, had been gradually, and perhaps superficially learning its tone. And after And after years of

strife and enmity, these two parties were beginning to lead together a life of peace, on the footing of mutual compromise, the old church and state partizans adopting somewhat of Puritanical doctrine or language, and the Puritans, on the other hand, somewhat accommodating their practice, in order to suit their new allies. When suddenly, both parties were unpleasantly roused from the quiescent state into which they were gradually settling down, by the demand which has arisen on all sides, for a return to the old paths of churchmanship; for the direct acknowledgment of an apostolical origin to our ministry, for the elevation of the sacraments to their due place in the christian system, and for proper respect to the voice of the church, as the interpreter of the word of God. These ancient truths appeared, from long disuse, to be so many novelties. And their supporters were met with little favour by the mere state establishment men and the Puritans, whose views they so signally confuted. And these have accordingly received, with alacrity, the impression which has been so industriously propagated by Papists, that such views must, as a necessary consequence, lead to Rome; and that all who hold them are either already Romanists

in disguise, or at least, that their inquiries, if consistently followed out, must immediately bring them to the feet of the Pope.

We must sorrowfully admit that certain individuals, who have for a time, held these catholic views and preached catholic doctrines, have apostatized from our Church, and joined the communion of Rome. We will, moreover, unwillingly admit, that there may be reason to fear, lest others are ready to follow this evil example. But does it militate against the truth, that that truth is, by the weakness or perverseness of man, exaggerated into error? Is the doctrine of justification by faith in the Son of God untrue, because some men have, with frightful impiety, perverted it to Antinomianism? Was the Reformation in this country founded on error, because some, even many, who set out from it, ran into lamentable excess of licentious doctrine and want of discipline, than which even the errors of Rome, and the thraldom of Popery were scarcely more intolerable? Among the supporters of all systems, there will be found enthusiastic, visionary, narrow-minded men, men with one idea, and incapable of enlarged views, who are sure to exaggerate that which is right into that which is wrong, and to dis

tort beauty into deformity. Such visionary men of slender judgment have existed before now, in the Church of England, among the so-called evangelical party, whose morbid consciences forbad a longer stay within our pale, and who accordingly, swelled the party-coloured ranks of Protestant schism. Such visionary men of slenderjudgment, have very lately existed in the Church of England, who, to the discomfiture of those who had followed their guidance in many a past doctrinal metamorphosis, have suddenly migrated to the communion of Rome.* There

* I have just perused the statement in which the Rev. R. W. Sibthorp has imparted to the public, the grounds which induced him to embrace the Romish schism; and my previous expectation has been fulfilled, that his reasons, if they should ever be known, would turn out, not the most cogent that could have been adduced. In looking for the antitype of the external ritual of the Hebrews, his eye has been attracted by the elaborate ceremonial of the Romish worship; and he has not considered that these things, if they are ever to have a literal fulfilment, will be fulfilled, not under the present dispensation, but under one that is to come; when our great High-Priest returns from the sanctuary of the heavenly holy of holies, which now contains him, arrayed in robes of glory and of beauty. In his search after the antitype of the oneness of the Hebrew church, and the supremacy of the Jewish high-priest, his attention has rested on the vain boast of unity and universality, to which the Church of Rome lays claim, and on the usurping pretensions of her bishop. If he had for one moment cast his eye over a map, he would have seen that her claim to universality is contradicted by the existence of the Greek, the