L I E) RA RY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N I VLRSITY 
 
 or ILLl NOIS
 
 CHARGE 
 
 PELIVERED TO 
 
 THE CLERGY 
 
 •5- 
 
 lOCESE OF LONDON 
 
 AT THE VISITATION 
 
 IN OCTOBER, MDCCCXLII. 
 
 CHARLES JAMES 
 LORD BISHOP OF LONDON. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 B. FELLOWES, LUDGATE STREET. 
 
 J. G. F. & J. RIVINGTON, WATERLOO PLACE; AND HATCHARD & SON, 
 PICCADILLY. 
 
 1842.
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED BY R. CLAY, BREAD STREET HILL.
 
 TO THE CLERGY 
 
 OF THE DIOCESE OF LONDON 
 
 THIS CHARGE 
 
 PRINTED AT THEIR REQUEST 
 
 IS INSCRIBED 
 
 WITH 
 
 SENTIMENTS OF THE TRUEST REGARD AND RESPECT 
 
 BY 
 
 THEIR FAITHFUL FRIEND AND BROTHER 
 
 C. J. LONDON. 
 
 :r 
 
 lY-

 
 CHARGE. 
 
 Reverend Brethren, 
 
 I have looked forward to meeting you on the 
 occasion of my fourth Visitation, with mingled 
 feelings of pleasure and anxiety ; of pleasure, as 
 being permitted by the goodness of God to 
 congratulate you upon the Church's increased 
 and increasing energy, and usefulness, and 
 power ; of anxiety, as being sensible that I 
 should be expected to speak, with the authority 
 belonging to my office, upon the most important 
 of the questions, respecting which the Clergy 
 are at this time divided in opinion. These 
 questions are, in fact, so much more urgent 
 than any others which present themselves as 
 suitable topics of an address upon this occasion, 
 that I make no apology for entering upon them 
 at once, without pausing to notice matters of 
 inferior moment. 
 
 The questions, to which I allude, relate partly 
 to the doctrines of our Church, and partly to
 
 6 
 
 its ritual. It will not be possible for me, in the 
 compass of a Charge, to do more than touch, in 
 a summary manner, upon the principal features 
 of the controversy now carrying on amongst us ; 
 and I must therefore abstain, as far as the nature 
 of the subjects will permit, from lengthened 
 argument and discussion : but you have a right 
 to know my opinions on these matters ; and 
 I shall proceed to state them as plainly and as 
 briefly as I can. This is the first opportunity 
 which I have had of doing so, in an official 
 address to the Clergy, since the controversy 
 assumed a definite and prominent shape; and 
 I acknowledge that I was not unwilling to pause, 
 and to be silent for a time, in the hope that 
 those, who have been engaged in that contro- 
 versy, would see the evils which must ensue to 
 the Church from its continuance, and be led to 
 modify, or at least to keep within their own 
 bosoms, what I considered to be extreme opinions. 
 That hope has unhappily passed away; and it 
 now remains for me to perform the duty of pro- 
 nouncing that deliberate judgment, which the 
 Clergy of my own diocese are entitled to look 
 for. In so doing, it will be my endeavour, in 
 humble reliance upon the guidance of the Holy 
 Spirit, not to enter into a polemical discussion 
 on the truth of the doctrines, or the propriety of 
 the rites and ceremonies, which will come under
 
 consideration ; but to act as an interpreter of 
 the Church's sense as to the one, and of her will 
 as to the other. If these can be clearly ascer- 
 tained, we can have no difficulty, looking to the 
 relation in which we stand to her, as to what we 
 are to teach, or how we are to minister : for we 
 have all solemnly promised, at our ordination, 
 to " give our faithful diligence always so to 
 " minister the doctrine, and sacraments, and the 
 *' discipline of Christ, as the Lord hath com- 
 " manded, and as this Church and realm hath 
 " received the same." 
 
 But before I enter upon these subjects, and 
 as introductory to them, I think it right to offer 
 a few remarks upon the most important of the 
 questions concerning Church government and 
 discipline, that which relates to the source and 
 validity of our mission, and to the extent of our 
 authority, as ambassadors of Christ, the inter- 
 preters of his Word, and the dispensers of his 
 Sacraments. I have so recently made a public 
 declaration of my opinions on the divine insti- 
 tution and authority of the Church, that I need 
 not repeat them on the present occasion. If 
 the view which I have taken of the subject be 
 correct, it follows, as a necessary inference, that 
 in this country the clergy of the national Church, 
 and they alone, are entitled to the respect and 
 obedience of the people, as their lawful guides
 
 8 
 
 and governors in spiritual things : that they 
 alone are duly commissioned to preach the Word 
 of God, and to minister his holy Sacraments. 
 But the extent and boundaries of their minis- 
 terial authority are points, which admit of a 
 considerable diversity of opinion, even amongst 
 those who do not question its origin or legiti- 
 macy. If it be an error, leading to, and partaking 
 of the nature of schism, to deny, or undervalue 
 that authority, it is, on the other hand, injurious 
 to the cause of truth and unity to exaggerate it, 
 and to stretch its prerogatives beyond that which 
 has the sure warrant of God's Word. Those 
 persons, who are driven, by the overstrained 
 pretensions of the clergy, to question their 
 authority, are almost sure to withhold from them 
 the respect to which they are justly entitled, 
 and to consider priesthood and priestcraft as 
 convertible terms. 
 
 There is so obvious an analogy, in the general 
 features of ecclesiastical polity, between the 
 appointment and offices of the hierarchy under 
 the Levitical law, and those of the Christian 
 ministry, that it is no wonder if some persons 
 have imagined, not merely an analogy, but a 
 typical relation between them ; the Jewish 
 priesthood bejng the type, and the Christian 
 ministry the antitype ; the high-priest, the 
 priests, and Levites of the one, answering to
 
 9 
 
 the bishops, priests, and deacons of the other ; 
 the latter inheriting the dignity, privileges, and 
 duties of the former. The Church of Rome, on 
 the other hand, teaches that our Saviour insti- 
 tuted a new and proper priesthood, after the 
 order of Melchizedek. Neither of these suppo- 
 sitions is consistent with the language of Holy 
 Scripture. The priesthood of Melchizedek, and 
 that of Aaron, were typical of that which was 
 borne by Jesus Christ Himself, the great high 
 priest of the world, who fulfilled, once for all, 
 in his own person, every type and shadow of the 
 older economy of God's Church, which bore 
 any relation to propitiatory sacrifice, and to 
 mediation between God and man. 
 
 It is apparent, from the whole train of argu- 
 ment pursued in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 that under the new dispensation Jesus Christ 
 was to be the only sacrificing priest ; his death 
 the only proper sacrifice ; Himself the only 
 victim. All the offices, authority, and efficacy 
 of the Jewish priesthood, as they pointed to 
 Jesus Christ, and drew all their efiflcacy from 
 his mediation, were finally centered and absorbed 
 in H'mi, beside whom, and after whom, there 
 is no victim, no sacrifice, no proper mediator 
 between God and man. Whatsoever spiritual 
 power, duties, or privileges, belong to the 
 Christian ministry, are derived to it solely from
 
 IG 
 
 Jesus Christ, as the Head of his Church, the 
 founder of a new spiritual economy, wherein 
 man, being placed in a new relation to God, 
 requires a different provision of outward means, 
 for the purpose of approaching Him, and obtain- 
 ing his favour. Our blessed Lord retains, in his 
 own person, the everlasting sacerdotal order of 
 Melchizedek ; and He has given to his Church, 
 not a new order of sacrificing priests ; but some, 
 apostles; and some, prophets ; and some, evangelists ; 
 and some, pastors and teachers ; for the perfecting 
 of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the 
 edifying of the body of Christ.^ 
 
 We hold, in opposition to the Church of 
 Rome, that the offering of a propitiatory sacri- 
 fice to God is not one of the functions and 
 privileges of the Christian ministry. Jesus 
 Christ by one offering hath perfected for ever 
 them that are sanctified ;^" and we derogate from 
 the absolute worthiness and sufficiency of that 
 offering, if we suppose that any supplementary 
 sacrifices are required for the purpose of pro- 
 pitiation. If God ze>as in Christ, reconciling the 
 xvorld unto Himself^ we need no other recon- 
 ciler. We have indeed our sacrifice, and oiir 
 altar, and our priesthood, to offer the one, and 
 to minister at the other. But the sacrifice is a 
 
 ^ Eph. iv. 11. ' Heb. X. 14. ^ 2 Cor. v. 19.
 
 11 
 
 spiritual sacrifice, and the altar is figuratively an 
 altar. We slay no victim, we offer no victim 
 slain : but we commemorate the one great and 
 final sacrifice, properly so called, in the manner 
 appointed by our Lord; and we continually 
 present unto God that memorial, with prayer, 
 and thanksgiving, and an offering of our sub- 
 stance, and of ourselves, both soul and body; 
 and so we apply to ourselves, through faith, the 
 results of the one propitiatory sacrifice; and 
 the whole is rightly, but figuratively termed 
 a eucharistic sacrifice, a sacrifice of praise and 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 As to our priesthood, let us beware of arro- 
 gating to ourselves the' character of mediators 
 between God and men, in any sense which im- 
 plies that we can stand between them and their 
 Judge, except with reference to that mysterious 
 efficacy which belongs to Christian intercession, 
 by whomsoever offered, if offered in faith, and 
 which it is our special duty to offer in behalf 
 of the people committed to our care. At the 
 same time let us be careful to impress both 
 ourselves and them with just notions of the 
 real objects and inherent worthiness of our 
 office. It is ours to realize, instrumentally, 
 to those for whom Christ died, the blessings 
 of which the Levitical priesthood administered 
 only the shadows. It is ours to graft them
 
 12 
 
 into the body of Christ's Church ; to initiate 
 them into the saving truths of the Gospel; 
 to turn their hearts to the wisdom of the just, 
 guiding them to Him who alone can deliver them 
 from the bondage of sin ; declaring, as his 
 ambassadors, the conditions and assurance of 
 pardon ; and dispensing to his household the 
 spiritual food of his body and blood ; to do all 
 this, and on that account to have the chief sta- 
 tions in that household, and to be entitled to the 
 attention and respect of all who belong to it. 
 
 Our blessed Saviour's charge to St. Peter, and 
 through him to all his ministers, was. Feed my 
 sheep. Whatsoever acts of kindness, or autho- 
 rity, are requisite for the due execution of that 
 charge, with respect to those to whom we stand 
 in the relation of pastors, it is ours to exercise, 
 and theirs to acknowledge and submit to : but 
 in our ministerial acts both of kindness and 
 authority, especially the latter, we are to have 
 respect to the Church's laws and ordinances ; 
 and beyond what the?/ require, we may not claim 
 obedience. And it is well that it is so : for a 
 spiritual authority, not so limited, in the hands 
 of fallible and imperfect men, would be perverted, 
 as in the example of Rome, to the ends of an 
 intolerable tyranny over the secret thoughts and 
 consciences, as well as the outward acts and ob- 
 servances of those who should be subject to it.
 
 13 
 
 This limitation of our ministerial autJiority, by 
 the laws of the Church to which we belong, 
 extends also to every part of our ministerial duty. 
 As the clergy of an integral and independent 
 national Church, we are bound and restricted in 
 the exercise of our functions not only by the 
 general and fundamental laws of the Church 
 Catholic, but by those of the particular branch 
 of it in which we hold office. We are to teach, 
 as our own Church teaches, in her Articles of 
 Religion, and to minister discipline according to 
 the laws by which she has prescribed and de- 
 fined it. 
 
 First as to our teaching ; " The Church of 
 '' England," says Bishop Hall, *' in whose mother- 
 " hood we have all just cause to pride ourselves, 
 '* hath in much wisdom and piety delivered her 
 ''judgment concerning all necessary points of 
 " religion, in so complete a body of divinity as 
 " all hearts may rest in. Those we read, those 
 " we write under, as professing not their truth 
 " only, but their sufficiency also. The voice of 
 " God our Father in his Scriptures, and (out of 
 " them) the voice of the Church our Mother in 
 " her Articles, is that which must both guide and 
 " settle our resolutions. Whatsoever is besides 
 *' these, is but private, or unnecessary and un- 
 " certain."* 
 
 * Epist. Dedicatory to " The Old Religion."
 
 14 
 
 If it be asked. In what sense are the Articles 
 themselves to be understood, for they are not all 
 so precisely worded as to shut out all possible 
 diversity of interpretation ? we answer, Where 
 the meaning of an Article may seem to be un- 
 certain, we have the Church for her own inter- 
 preter in her Liturgy and Homilies, especially the 
 former : and if in some few instances it should 
 happen, that even with that help we are unable 
 to determine, with perfect certainty, the truth 
 which an Article was intended to assert, or, 
 (which is more likely to be the case) the error 
 which it is intended to deny, we are surely to be 
 guided, in our interpretation of it, by the known, 
 or probable, intention of those who framed it ; 
 inasmuch as that will determine the sense in 
 which the Article was received at the first, and 
 that in which it ought still to be received, where 
 it has not been contradicted, or qualified, by any 
 later authoritative declaration of the Church's 
 opinion.^ It is possible, and I think barely pos- 
 sible, that the words of the 21st, 22d, and 31st 
 of our Articles may be so construed, as to bear 
 the sense which some have lately attempted to 
 put upon them ; but it is not the sense which 
 their authors intended ; it is not that in which 
 they have been understood by the English 
 
 * Sec Appendix, Note [A.]
 
 15 
 
 Church ; and therefore it is not that in which 
 they are to be subscribed or explained. 
 
 It has indeed been said, and not lately for the 
 first time, that the Articles of our Reformed 
 Church were drawn up in general terms, that 
 men of different judgments might accommodate 
 them to their own opinions ; and that all who, 
 though differing in the branches, meet together 
 in the root of the same religion, might be led to 
 agree in them. Such certainly was the device 
 of those who managed the Council of Trent ; 
 and such also was said to have been the mind of 
 those who drew up the Canons of the Synod of 
 Dort. But the composers of our Anglican Con- 
 fession of Faith, it has been well observed, " had 
 " not so little in them of the dove, or so much of 
 *' the serpent, as to make the Articles of the 
 ** Church like an upright shoe, to be worn on 
 " either foot" — " and therefore we may say of 
 " our first Reformers, in reference to the present 
 *' Book of Articles, as was affirmed of them by 
 " Dr. Bancroft, then Bishop of London, in rela- 
 " tion to the Rubric in Private Baptism, that is 
 " to say, that those reverend and learned men 
 " intended not to deceive any by ambiguous 
 " terms." — " The end they aimed at was, ad 
 " tollendam op'm'ionum dissensionem, et consensum 
 " in vera religione Jirmandum ; which end could 
 " never be effected, if men were left unto the
 
 16 
 
 " liberty of dissenting, or might have leave to 
 " put their own sense upon the Articles, as they 
 " list themselves."^ The King's Declaration pre- 
 fixed to the Articles, which was made with the 
 advice of the Bishops, enjoins, *' that no man 
 *' hereafter shall either print, or preach, to draw 
 " the Article aside any way ; but shall submit to 
 " it in the plain and full meaning thereof; and 
 " shall not put his own sense or comment to be 
 " the meaning of the Article, but shall take it in 
 " the literal and grammatical sense." 
 
 With respect to all attempts to give to the 
 Articles of Religion a greater latitude of sense 
 than the words upon the face of them will bear, 
 and, especially, all endeavours to make them 
 look towards the errors of the Church of Rome, 
 when they are unquestionably, as to the points 
 of difference between the two Churches, neither 
 more nor less than a solemn and emphatic pro- 
 testation against those errors, I will express 
 my own opinion in the words of Bishop Jeremy 
 Taylor. Speaking of the different methods, by 
 which wise and peaceable dissenters might be 
 drawn to subscribe, together with churchmen, 
 some common confession of faith, he concludes, 
 " And at last, in such cases, let the Articles be 
 " made with as great latitude of sense as they 
 " can ; and, so that subscriptions be made to 
 ' Note [B.]
 
 17 
 
 '* the form of words, let the suhscrihcrs iindcv- 
 " stand them in what sense they please, which 
 *' the truth of God will suffer, and the words 
 " can be capable of. This is the last remedy ; 
 " but it is the worst : it hath in it something of 
 " craft, but very little of ingenuity (ingenuous- 
 " ness) ; and if it can serve the ends of peace, or 
 ** of external charity, yet it cannot serve the 
 " ends of truth, and holiness, and Christian 
 " simplicity."'' 
 
 The endeavour to give a Tridentine colouring 
 to the Articles of Religion agreed upon by the 
 Council of London in 1562, and to extenuate the 
 essential differences between the two Churches, 
 is a ground of no unreasonable alarm to those, 
 whose bounden duty it is to " banish and drive 
 away all erroneous and strange doctrines," and 
 therefore to guard against the insinuation into 
 our Church of any one of those false opinions 
 which she has once solemnly repudiated. It is 
 one of the methods by which the court of Rome 
 has before sought to beguile the people of this 
 country of their common sense. Bishop Stilling- 
 fleet^ quotes a letter of advice given to a Romish 
 agent, as to the best way of managing the papal 
 interest in England upon the King's Restoration ; 
 the third head of which is, '' To make it appear 
 
 ' Ductor Dubit. B. iii. c. iv. Rule 23. 
 
 * Unreasonableness of Separation, Pref. p. xix. 
 
 B
 
 18 
 
 " underhand, how near the doctrine, worship, 
 *' and discipline of the Church of England comes 
 " to us (of Rome) : at how little distance her 
 ** Common Prayer is from our Mass ; and that 
 '* the wisest and ablest men of that way (the 
 " Anglican) are so moderate, that they would 
 " willingly come over to us, or at least meet us 
 " half way. Hereby the more staid men will 
 *' become more odious ; and others will run out 
 " of all religion for fear of popery."^ 
 
 What real good is to be effected by any 
 attempts to make our Reformed Church appear 
 to symbolize with that from which she has been 
 separated, in some of the very points which 
 formed the ground of that separation, I am at a 
 loss to imagine. Desirable as is the unity of the 
 CathoHc Church, lamentable as have been in 
 some directions the consequences of its inter- 
 ruption, earnestly as we ought to labour and 
 pray for its restoration, we can never consent to 
 reinstate it, by embracing any one of the errors 
 which we have renounced. 
 
 Yet there is no other method than that of 
 embracing all those errors, by which a recon- 
 cihation could be effected between our own 
 Church and that of Rome, which, when it 
 decreed its own infallibility, cut off the possi- 
 bility of its abandoning a single erroneous 
 ' Note [C].
 
 19 
 
 opinion which it has once formally sanctioned.'" 
 If therefore we are to seek for unity in a recon- 
 ciliation with Rome, we must be prepared to 
 traverse the entire space which lies between us 
 and the Vatican ; for not a hair's-breadth will 
 the rulers or doctors of that Church advance 
 to meet us/' Read the recently published Letter 
 of Dr. Wiseman on Catholic Unity ; and you will 
 see that he stands at the door, and holds it open 
 for those amongst us who profess, as he says, 
 to be conscious, " that reunion with the Holy 
 " See will give vigour and energy to a languid 
 '* and sickly existence, and who must be pre- 
 *' pared to go to the full extent of sacrifice of 
 " personal feelings, necessary to accomplish so 
 " sacred a purpose." He beckons them in with 
 gracious words of commendation, but not a step 
 does he advance beyond the threshold to meet 
 them ; not an error does he promise to renounce ; 
 not even a glimmering hope does he hold out of 
 any reformation. I believe that his expectations 
 will be disappointed ; that the number of those, 
 who are prepared to apostatize to an idolatrous 
 Church, is very inconsiderable. But a greater 
 evil than the apostasy of a few, or even of many, 
 would be the success of any attempt to establish 
 the fact, not indeed of a perfect identity, but 
 of something more than a sisterly resemblance 
 
 Note [D.] " Note [E.] 
 
 b2
 
 20 
 
 between the two Churches ; and to prove, that 
 a member of the Anglican Church can consis- 
 tently hold all the errors of the Roman, except 
 one or two of the most flagrant, and even them, 
 it may be, with certain qualifications. 
 
 The question, which concerns the right inter^- 
 pretation of the Articles, is intimately connected 
 with that which relates to the foundation upon 
 which they rest. If we desire to prove whether 
 the doctrine set forth in any Article be true, our 
 single ultimate reference is to the written Word 
 of God ; which we believe to contain all truths, 
 a knowledge whereof is necessary to salvation ; 
 and ,90 to contain them, that by the diligent 
 use of the ordinary means of instruction in the 
 Church, and with prayer for God's enlightening 
 grace, they may be certainly discovered therein. 
 This absolute completeness of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, as the source and proof of our faith, 
 I hold to be a vital doctrine of our Reformed 
 Church. It is our duty, in searching those 
 inspired records, to avail ourselves of all the 
 helps to a right understanding of them, placed 
 within our reach ; to ascertain, when it is pos- 
 sible, the sense in which they were understood 
 by the disciples and immediate successors of 
 the Apostles, and which was derived from them 
 to the early Church at large : to take the Creeds 
 received by the Church for our guides : but not
 
 HI 
 
 to look to them, nor to traditions of any kind, as 
 being so necessary, that Holy Scripture, without 
 them, would not have been sufficient to teach all 
 things requisite to salvation. 
 
 I think it a mistaken and dangerous position, 
 to maintain, that without the Creeds we could 
 not have discovered for ourselves some of the 
 great doctrines of our faith, that, for instance, of 
 the Holy and Undivided Trinity. To suppose 
 that the Spirit of God dictated the materials only 
 of saving truth to be written by his inspired 
 servants, while He communicated the right in- 
 terpretation of them, ?iot to be committed to 
 writing till after a considerable period of time, 
 is surely an hypothesis of the most unreason- 
 able and improbable kind : yet this is the position 
 which must ultimately be taken by those, who 
 maintain that the Bible could not have been fully 
 understood without the Creeds. The Creeds 
 have indeed, a priori, a claim to our attention, as 
 having been delivered to us by the Church : but 
 they are entitled to our assent no further than as 
 they are contained in Holy Scripture, or may be 
 proved thereby. This is the ground upon which 
 our own Church requires us to receive and beheve 
 the Creeds, " that they may be proved by most 
 certain warrants of Holy Scripture." ^^ I set a 
 very high value upon those ancient formularies 
 '' Art. VIII.
 
 22 
 
 of catholic belief: but I am firmly persuaded, 
 that if no such formularies had ever been drawn 
 out, all the essential doctrines of Christianity 
 would have been discoverable in the Bible. The 
 implement, with which the secrets of God are 
 to be dug out of the mine of his written Word, is 
 not tradition ; but a plain, and rightly informed 
 understanding, guided by an honest and good 
 heart, and aided by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 At the same time, tradition is of excellent use, 
 in establishing historical facts, as, for example, 
 the appointment of bishops to govern all the 
 Churches, and of the Lord's day, as the day of 
 public worship ; the general prevalence of infant 
 baptism, and some other points ; in teaching us 
 the practical inferences, drawn by the primitive 
 Church from the truths declared in Holy Scrip- 
 ture, and so guiding us to its interpretation of 
 Holy Scripture itself, such as the right of our 
 Saviour to divine worship, and the implied 
 assertion of a Trinity of Persons in the form of 
 baptism ; and in making us historically acquainted 
 with the belief of that Church in general ; with 
 which belief if our own be found to coincide, we 
 have, not an absolute proof, but a very strong 
 presumptive evidence, of its being indeed that 
 faith which was once delivered unto the saints.^^ 
 
 I have already observed, that in the inter- 
 '' Jude 3.
 
 23 
 
 pretation of the Articles which relate more im- 
 mediately to doctrine, our surest guide is the 
 Liturgy. It may safely be pronounced of any 
 explanation of an Article, which cannot be recon- 
 ciled with the plain language of the Offices for 
 public worship, that it is not the doctrine of the 
 Church. The opinion, for instance, which denies 
 baptismal regeneration, might possibly, though 
 not without great difficulty, be reconciled with 
 the language of the 27th Article : but by no 
 stretch of ingenuity, nor latitude of explanation, 
 can it be brought to agree with the plain, un- 
 qualified language of the Offices for Baptism and 
 Confirmation.^^ A question may properly be 
 raised as to the sense in which the term Regene- 
 ration was used in the early Church, and by our 
 own Reformers : but that regeneration does 
 actually take place in baptism, is most undoubt- 
 edly the doctrine of the EngHsh Church : and 
 I do not understand how any clergyman, who 
 uses the Office for Baptism, which he has bound 
 himself to use, and which he cannot alter nor 
 mutilate without a breach of good faith, can deny, 
 that, in some sense or other, baptism is indeed 
 the laver of regeneration. 
 
 I will mention an instance, in which the lan- 
 guage of the Liturgy not only explains, but in 
 some sense corrects, that of an Article. The 
 " Note [F.]
 
 24 
 
 1 1th Article says that " we are accounted riglit- 
 " eoLis before God, only for the merits of our 
 " Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and 
 '* not for our own works and deservings : where- 
 " fore that we are justified by faith only, is a 
 *' most wholesome doctrine, and very full of 
 *' comfort." Now although we may be said to 
 be justified per Jidem^ it is not theologically 
 correct to say that we are justified by faith. We 
 are justified, that is, pardoned, and treated as 
 innocent, by God Himself, of his free mercy, on 
 account of the merits of Jesus Christ; and through 
 faith we apply that pardon to ourselves. This 
 is accurately expressed in the Post-Communion 
 Service ; " most humbly beseeching thee to grant, 
 " that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus 
 " Christ, and through faith in his blood, we, and 
 " all thy whole Church, may obtain remission of 
 " our sins, and all other benefits of his passion." 
 And lest we should fall into the error of sup- 
 posing that justification, (that is, the being 
 accounted and dealt with as innocent, or 
 acquitted, in the sight of God) purchased for all 
 by the blood of Christ, is applied to himself by 
 each individual believer, by a simple internal act 
 of faith, without the intervention of the Sacra- 
 ments ordained by Christ, and generally necessary 
 to salvation, the Church prays, in her baptismal 
 Ofiice, that the person baptized " may receive
 
 25 
 
 remission of his sins by spiritual regeneration ;" 
 that the water of baptism may be " sanctified, to 
 the mystical washing away of sin ;" and, in the 
 case of an infant, thanks God that he has regene- 
 rated it, when baptized, and " received it for his 
 own child by adoption." I cannot, therefore, 
 deny it to be the plain doctrine of our Church, 
 that baptism is instrumentally connected with 
 justification, as the Sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper undoubtedly is with sanctification, and the 
 renewal of our mystical union with Christ : nor do 
 I see that the assertion of this instrumental con- 
 nexion in any way derogates from the necessity or 
 eflScacy of faith in the process of justification.^^ 
 
 The doctrine of our Church, as to the Chris- 
 tian's spiritual life, has always appeared to me to 
 be this : Justification begins in baptism, when 
 the children of wrath are regenerated by water 
 and the Holy Ghost, and are made children of 
 God. Remission of sins is expressly declared to 
 be then given : and remission of sins implies jus- 
 tification, in the proper sense of the term. Grace 
 is also then given ; and by virtue of that grace 
 the person receiving it, and thenceforth using 
 and improving it, continues to believe in the 
 atonement made by Jesus Christ, and to seek for 
 and realize the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, 
 and to be renewed day by day in the inner man. 
 
 '* Note [G.]
 
 26 
 
 As long as he does this, he continues in a state 
 of justification : his sins, which cleave even to 
 the regenerate, are forgiven, as they are repented 
 of and forsaken ; and the work of sanctification 
 goes on. Righteousness, in a qualified sense, is 
 imparted by the same grace which justifies : but 
 this inherent righteousness does not constitute 
 justification either wholly or in part. Our 
 Article says, not that we are made righteous, but 
 that we are counted righteous before God. If 
 indeed we are made righteous, we must of course 
 be accounted righteous ; but it does not follow, 
 conversely, that if we are accounted righteous, 
 we must be made so. The notion that God 
 accounts us righteous, by reason, and for the 
 sake of any actual righteousness, wrought in 
 us by infused and inherent grace, seems to be 
 irreconcilable with the language of our Article, 
 " only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour 
 " Jesus Christ, and not for our own works 
 " and deservings :" ^' by faith only," or, as the 
 Homily expresses it, " by only faith," that is, 
 freely and gratuitously, without works^ accord- 
 ing to St. Paul's statement."' Not that we can be 
 saved without works ; but they are not the meri- 
 torious cause, nor a meritorious cause, of our 
 justification. " Faith alone saves us," as Chil- 
 lingworth says, "^ but not that faith which is 
 
 '^ Rom. iv. 6.
 
 27 
 
 alone." " Justification," says Barrow, ** cannot 
 *' be understood for a constituting a man intrin- 
 " sically righteous, or infusing worthy quahties 
 *' into him ; but rather for an act of God, ter- 
 *' minated upon a man, as altogether unworthy 
 " of God's love, as impious, as an enemy, as a 
 " pure object of mercy." ^'' 
 
 If there were any doubt as to the sense of our 
 Church, as expressed in the 11th Article, it 
 would be removed by the language of the 12th, 
 which declares that " good works are the fruits 
 ** of faith, and follow after justification ; and yet 
 " that they cannot put away men's sins, and 
 " endure the severity of God's judgments." In 
 other words, they cannot justify, wholly or in 
 part. Yet good works are, by the gracious ap- 
 pointment of God, objects of reward. Jesus 
 Christ died to procure the justification of sinners ; 
 but also to purchase for them the indwelling of 
 the Holy Spirit, whereby they are sanctified; 
 that finally they may be saved^ and admitted to 
 degrees of bliss and glory, proportioned to their 
 improvement of grace given. 
 
 Now if justification, or its results, be, as un- 
 doubtedly they are, inseparably connected with 
 faith in the atonement wrought by Jesus Christ, 
 I do not understand how it can be expedient, 
 or lawful, for us, who are to declare to our 
 
 '^ Serm. V. of Justification by Faith.
 
 28 
 
 people all the counsel of God, to practise any 
 thing of that reserve, which was practised by the 
 early teachers of Christianity; and to forbear 
 from pressing upon the less advanced of our 
 hearers the most sublime and mysterious doc- 
 trines of the Gospel. But in truth the reserve 
 of the early (not the primitive) Fathers of the 
 Church, was different, if not as to its subjects, 
 yet certainly as to its objects, from that which 
 appears to be now recommended : and supposing 
 it to have been prudent and commendable in them, 
 it by no means follows, that it is expedient, or 
 proper, in the present state of the Church. 
 
 The doctrine of the Atonement, and that of a 
 Trinity of Persons in the Unity of the Godhead, 
 mysteries, be it remembered, to the highest order 
 of intellect, as well as to the weakest under- 
 standing, and to be received by both with child- 
 like simplicity of faith, furnish, when properly 
 set forth, the most affecting and constraining 
 motives to humility, repentance, and holinesss 
 of life: and with respect to the former more 
 especially, I cannot conceive that any teach- 
 ing, in which it does not occupy a prominent and 
 conspicuous place, can be effectual in turning the 
 hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. 
 
 If indeed the reserve, which is recommended 
 to us, be nothing more than a cautious and reve- 
 rent abstaining from a too familiar mode of
 
 29 
 
 treating the sacred and sublime mysteries of our 
 religion ; or from such an inculcation of them, 
 as may tend to throw into the shade its practical 
 duties, and lead men so to contemplate the attri- 
 butes, or secret things of God, as to forget or 
 undervalue his commands, I readily admit the 
 necessity of such a reserve : but any thing of the 
 nature of a disciplina arcani I as promptly reject. 
 
 I now proceed to offer some observations 
 upon the duty of complying with the Church's 
 directions in the celebration of divine service. 
 Our proper rules in this respect are the Rubric 
 and Canons, as the Articles are, with regard to 
 doctrine ; and we are bound to observe the rule 
 in the one case, as in the other, although it must 
 be acknowledged, that a departure from the 
 truth is more injurious in its consequences, than 
 a deviation from the prescribed ritual. Now it 
 is impossible to deny, that a great degree of 
 laxity has crept over us in this matter ; and we 
 are much indebted to those learned and pious 
 men, who have forcibly recalled our attention to 
 a branch of duty, too long imperfectly per- 
 formed. In some instances indeed they have 
 gone beyond the hne of duty and of prudence, 
 in recommending, or practising, ceremonies and 
 forms, not authorized by their own Church ; and 
 in ascribing to others an importance which does 
 not properly belong to them : but there can be
 
 30 
 
 no doubt of their having mainly contributed 
 to the progress, which has been made during the 
 last few years, towards a full and exact observ- 
 ance of the Church's rubrical injunctions, as well 
 as to a better understanding of the foundations 
 and proportions of her polity, and the nature 
 and value of her discipline. We ought not to 
 overlook the real good, which they have effected 
 in one direction, while we contemplate with ap- 
 prehension the evil, which it is to be feared they 
 have wrought in another. 
 
 Every clergyman is bound, by the plainest 
 obligations of duty, to obey the directions of the 
 Rubric.'^ For conforming to them, in every par- 
 ticular, he needs no other authority than that of 
 the Rubric itself. We ought not to be deterred 
 from a scrupulous observance of the rites and 
 customs, prescribed or sanctioned by our Church, 
 by a dread of being thought too careful about 
 the externals of religion. If we are not to go 
 beyond her ritual, at least we ought not to fall 
 short of it ; nor to make her public services less 
 frequent, nor more naked and inexpressive, than 
 she intends them to be. In saying this, I am not 
 holding any new language. In my Charge to 
 the Clergy of the Diocese of Chester in 1825, 
 I used these words. "A strict and punctual 
 '* conformity with the Liturgy and Articles of 
 ■* Note [H].
 
 31 
 
 " our Church is a duty, to which we have bound 
 " ourselves by a solemn promise, and which, 
 *' while we continue in its ministry, we must 
 " scrupulously fulfil. Conformity to the Liturgy 
 *' implies, of course, an exact observance of the 
 " Rubric. We are no more at liberty to vary 
 " the mode of performing any part of public 
 " worship, than we are, to preach doctrines at 
 " variance with the Articles of Rehgion. If there 
 " be any direction for the public service of the 
 " Church, with which a Clergyman cannot con- 
 " scientiously comply, he is at liberty to with- 
 " draw from her ministry ; but not to violate 
 " the solemn compact which he has made with 
 " her." 
 
 An honest endeavour to carry out the Church's 
 intentions, in every part of public worship, ought 
 not to be stigmatized as popish, or superstitious. 
 If it be singular, it is such a singularity as should 
 be cured, not by ojie person's desisting from it, 
 but by all taking it up. When I have been 
 asked, whether I approved of certain changes in 
 the mode of celebrating divine service, which 
 were spoken of as novelties, but which were in 
 fact nothing more than a return to the anciently 
 established order of the Church, my answer 
 has been. Far from questioning the right of the 
 clergy to observe the Rubric in every particular, 
 I know it to be their duty ; and the only doubt
 
 32 
 
 is, how far are we justified, in not efiforcing such 
 observance in every instance ? 
 
 It may indeed call for the exercise of a sound 
 discretion, in certain cases, as to the time and 
 mode of bringing about an entire conformity of 
 your practice, in this respect, with the letter of 
 the law : but I cannot, as it appears to me, con- 
 sistently with my duty, interpose any obstacles, 
 nor offer any objection, to its being done. I wish 
 this observation to be understood, as applicable, 
 not only to the administration of public bap- 
 tism at the time prescribed by the Rubric ; to 
 the reading of the Offertory Sentences, and the 
 Prayer for the Church Militant; but to the 
 observance of the days, which the Church ap- 
 points to be kept holy. I desire more particu- 
 larly to call your attention to the duty incumbent 
 upon you, of celebrating divine service upon each 
 of the days, on which we commemorate the 
 leading events in the history of our blessed Lord; 
 not only his Nativity, Crucifixion, and Resurrec- 
 tion ; but his Circumcision, his Manifestation to 
 the Gentiles, and his glorious Ascension. It is 
 my wish, that in obedience to the Church's direc- 
 tions, you should celebrate public worship on all 
 the anniversaries of those events ; on every day 
 in Passion Week, upon the Mondays and Tues- 
 days after Easter day and Whitsunday, and upon 
 Ash Wednesday. By specifying these particular
 
 33 
 
 days I do not mean to insinuate, that the other 
 festivals and the fasts of our Church are not also 
 to be duly kept : but if any distinction is made, 
 those observances, which are appointed in honour 
 of our blessed Lord Himself, and the solemn 
 commencement of our great penitential fast, are 
 entitled to peculiar respect. The reason, which 
 is commonly assigned for the non-observance of 
 some of these holy days, namely, that the people 
 will not go to church even if we celebrate divine 
 service, I consider not to be of such weight as to 
 preponderate against the plain requirements of 
 the law. The people's neglect in this particular, 
 which began in an age when the Church's disci- 
 pline was sadly relaxed, was perhaps suffered to 
 grow into a confirmed and almost universal habit, 
 by the too great easiness of the clergy in giving 
 way to it ; in not pressing upon their hearers the 
 duty of frequently attending church, and giving 
 them opportunities of doing so. It must needs 
 take some time to overcome that habit ; but the 
 clergy must be the first to attempt it, and they 
 are not to be blamed for making the attempt. 
 Let them do their part in carrying out the 
 Church's intentions, and then none of the laity 
 will have cause to complain of being deprived, by 
 their means, of any one of the opportunities an,d 
 privileges to which all her children are entitled. 
 *' The life and welfare " (says Dr. Thomas Jack- 
 
 c
 
 34 
 
 sod), " as well of Church as of Commonweal, 
 " depend, next under God, on the frequent and 
 " fervent prayer of the Church ; and to neglect 
 " such laws and canons, though made by men, 
 " as enjoin us to the frequent and decent per- 
 " formance of such duties, is to transgress all 
 *•' those branches of God's law, which command 
 " us to seek the peace and welfare of the Church 
 " and Commonweal, wherein the safety of the 
 " King and State under whom we live, and 
 " (which is above all) the advancement of God's 
 *' glory, is concerned." 
 
 With respect to daily service, the Rubric directs, 
 that "the curate or minister in every parish church 
 " or chapel, being at home, and not being other- 
 *' v\dse reasonably hindered, shall say morning and 
 ** evening prayer in the parish church or chapel 
 *' where he ministers." Of the reasonableness of 
 the hindrance, which may excuse a clergyman 
 from the daily celebration of divine service, he 
 must himself be the judge, subject always to the 
 authority of the Bishop, in case he shall see fit 
 to interpose it, and to require such celebration. 
 In many cases it may be difficult for one clergy- 
 man to perform all the services appointed by the 
 Church ; and that the framers of the Rubric did 
 not intend to insist upon an uninterrupted daily 
 performance of divine service, appears, I think, 
 from the direction given to the curate, that when it
 
 35 
 
 is performed, lie shall cause a bell to be tolled a 
 convenient time before, to give the people notice. 
 But it is quite clear, that any clergyman who 
 thinks fit to comply with the Rubric in this 
 respect, and has daily prayers in his church, is 
 justified, and more than justified, in doing so. 
 " As we are not excused by," says Dean Comber, 
 " so we ought not to be discouraged at, peo- 
 " pie's slowness in coming to daily prayers ; for 
 " their presence is indeed a comfort to us, and 
 " an advantage to themselves : but their absence 
 " does not hinder the success, nor should it ob- 
 " struct the performance of our prayers." — " Let 
 " our congregation be great or small, it is our 
 " duty to read these prayers daily." 
 
 In my primary charge to the clergy of this 
 diocese, in speaking of matins, I expressed a 
 wish that the experiment should be tried, not on 
 Wednesdays or Fridays only, on which days the 
 Litany might still be used at eleven o'clock, but 
 on every day except Sunday, agreeably to the 
 practice of the early Church and of our own in 
 its better ages. In expressing that wish I had 
 in view the parish churches in towns : and where 
 it has been carried into effect, I believe that a 
 considerable number of persons have been found 
 to profit by the opportunities so afforded. 
 I know of no reason why the same practice 
 should not be resorted to in country parishe.% 
 
 c 2
 
 36 
 
 where the resident, clergymen are desirous of 
 giving full effect to the Church's intentions ; 
 although the employments and habits of our 
 rural population may prevent it, for a time at 
 least, from producing much effect. The truth 
 is, reverend brethren, that until the Church's 
 intentions are completely fulfilled, as to her 
 ritual, we do not know what the Church really 
 is, nor what she is capable of effecting. It 
 is the instrument by which she seeks to realize 
 and apply her doctrines ; and the integrity and 
 purity of the one may, as to their effect, be 
 marred and hindered, in what degree we know 
 not, by a defective observance of the other. 
 
 I would urge this consideration upon you, 
 with an especial reference to the more frequent 
 celebration of the Holy Communion, the most 
 appropriate and distinguishing act of Christian 
 worship. I am persuaded that much of the back- 
 wardness and unwillingness to communicate, 
 which the clergy have so much cause to lament 
 in country parishes, has arisen from the practice of 
 having only quarterly Communions, The people 
 are brought to consider the Lord's Supper, not 
 only as the most solemn office of devotion, but 
 as something so mysterious and awful, that the 
 Church can venture to celebrate it only upon 
 rare occasions ; and they are naturally led to 
 question their own fitness to receive it. They
 
 37 
 
 are reminded of the duty only once in three 
 months ; and while they are doubting, and perhaps 
 all but resolved to communicate, the opportunity 
 passes away, and they think no more of it for 
 another quarter of a year. A more frequent 
 celebration of those holy mysteries, with proper 
 instruction on the part of the clergy, would keep 
 the duty of communicating more constantly before 
 the eyes of the people : the disobedience and neg- 
 lect, which they practise once a quarter, they will 
 be less likely to practise every month, or every 
 week ; and I believe that in few instances have the 
 clergy multiphed the opportunities of parochial 
 Communion, without increasing the number of 
 communicants. I am sorry to find that the 
 number of parishes in this diocese (principally in 
 the country) in which the Holy Sacrament is 
 administered only four times in the year, is much 
 gi'eater than I had imagined. I trust that when 
 I renew my inquiries, if I should be spared to 
 do so, I shall not find a single instance of the 
 kind. The rule laid down in the Rubric and 
 Canon, that every parishioner should communi- 
 cate at least thrice in the year, seems to have 
 been mistaken by some of the clergy for a direc- 
 tion as to the number of times at which they are 
 to minister the Holy Communion ; whereas it is 
 obvious, that if every parishioner is to communi- 
 cate thrice, there ought to be at least six ad-
 
 38 
 
 ministrations; for it is difficult for a poor man and 
 his wife, having a family, both to attend church 
 at the same time. I think that in every parish 
 there ought to be a monthly Communion.^^ 
 
 The reasoning of Bishop Butler on the fre- 
 quent and decorous celebration of divine worship 
 is so just in a philosophical as well as religious 
 point of view, that I cannot forbear from adducing 
 it, even at the risk of wearying your patience. 
 The times are so peculiar, and the subject engages 
 at the present moment so much of public atten- 
 tion, that I may be excused if on this occasion 
 I exceed the usual limits of a Charge. " Nor 
 *' does the want of religion," he observes, " in 
 *' the generality of the common people, appear 
 " owing to a speculative disbelief, or denial of it, 
 " but chiefly to thoughtlessness, and the com- 
 *' mon temptations of life. Your chief business, 
 " therefore, is, to endeavour to beget a practical 
 " sense of it upon their hearts, as what they 
 " acknowledge their belief of, and profess that 
 " they ought to conform themselves to it. And 
 " this is to be done by keeping up, as well as we 
 " are able, the form and face of religion with 
 *' decency and reverence, and in such a degree 
 " as to bring the thoughts of religion often into 
 " their minds; and then endeavouring to make 
 " this form more and more subservient to pro- 
 " Note [I].
 
 39 
 
 " mote the reality and power of religion. The 
 " form of religion may indeed be where there is 
 " little of the thing itself; but the thing itself 
 " cannot be preserved among mankind without 
 *' the form. And this form, frequently occurring 
 " in some instance or other of it, will be a fre- 
 " quent admonition to bad men to repent, and 
 " to good men to grow better, and also to be the 
 " means of their doing so. 
 
 *' In Roman Cathohc countries, people cannot 
 " pass a day without having religion recalled to 
 *' their thoughts by some or other memorial of 
 " it, some ceremony or public religious form 
 " occurring in their way, besides their frequent 
 " holy days, the short prayers they are daily 
 *' called to, and the occasional devotions enjoined 
 " by their confessors. By these means their super- 
 " stition sinks deep into the minds of the people, 
 " and their religion also into the minds of such 
 *' among them as are serious and well disposed. 
 
 " Our Reformers, considering that some of 
 " these observances were in themselves wrong 
 " and superstitious, and others of them made 
 " subservient to the purposes of superstition, 
 " abolished them, reduced the form of religion 
 " to great simplicity, and enjoined no more par- 
 *' ticular rites, nor left any thing more of what 
 " was external in religion, than was in a manner 
 " necessary to preserve the sense of religion
 
 40 
 
 " itself upon the minds of the people. But a 
 " great part of this is neglected by the gene- 
 " rality amongst us : for instance, the service of 
 " the Church, not only upon common days, but 
 " also upon Saints' days ; and several other things 
 " might be mentioned. Thus they have no 
 " customary admonition, no public call to recol- 
 " lect the thoughts of God and religion from 
 " one Sunday to another." And then, ha\dng 
 spoken of the care which ought to be taken to 
 repair and adorn churches, he adds, " But if 
 " these appendages of the divine service ought 
 *' to be regarded, doubtless the divine service 
 " itself is to be more regarded ; and the con- 
 " scientious attendance upon it ought often to 
 " be inculcated upon the people, as a plain 
 " precept of the Gospel, as the means of grace, 
 " and what has peculiar promises annexed to it. 
 " But external acts of piety and devotion, and 
 '* the frequent returns of them, are moreover 
 " necessary, to keep up that sense of religion, 
 " which the affairs of the world will otherwise 
 *' wear out of men's hearts ; and the frequent 
 " return, whether of public devotions, or of any- 
 *' thing else, to introduce religion into men's 
 " serious thoughts, will have an influence upon 
 " them, in proportion as they are susceptible of 
 " religion, and not given over to a reprobate 
 '* mind. For this reason, besides others, the
 
 41 
 
 " service of the Church ought to be celebrated 
 " as often as you have a congregation to 
 *^ attend it."'" 
 
 I have cited these passages at length, as ex- 
 pressing the sentiments of a profound thinker 
 and a wise man ; not as deeming it necessary to 
 offer any arguments in justification of those 
 clergymen, who are desirous of obeying all 
 the directions of the Rubric, and of exhibiting 
 to the people what is really the established, 
 though long neglected order of the Church. 
 
 The principle, involved in the reasoning of 
 Bishop Butler, is applicable also to the observ- 
 ance of those ceremonies which are enjoined 
 by the Church, whether in the Rubric or the 
 Canons. Upon those which rest on Rubrical 
 authority, I need not enlarge ; our obhgation to 
 practise them is clearly and unanswerably set forth 
 in the Preface to the Book of Common Prayer. 
 With respect to the Canons, as we, who are 
 clergymen, cannot question their synodical autho- 
 rity, so we must believe, upon the strength of the 
 highest legal decision, that they are binding as part 
 of the law of the land on the whole clergy of the 
 realm; and although they do not propria vigore 
 bind the laity, there are many provisions therein, 
 declaratory of the ancient usage and laws of the 
 
 ^° Charge to the Clergy of Durham, 1751. Republished 
 by Bishop Halifax in 1786, p. 17.
 
 42 
 
 Church of England, which in that respect, and 
 by virtue of that authority, do bind the laity 
 also. Much has been loosely written about the 
 difference, in point of obligation, between the 
 Rubric and the Canons ; the real distinction 
 seems to be, that the Canons may, in certain 
 cases, by competent authority be lawfully dis- 
 pensed with, but not the Rubric, except where 
 it is specially so provided. In some cases, it 
 may happen, with respect to both Rubrics and 
 Canons, that a literal compliance with them 
 is impracticable ; and to such cases the maxim 
 of necessitas non hahet legem obviously applies. 
 
 There are others, in which a Canon has been 
 long and generally neglected, in a matter not of 
 vital importance to the Church, and where such 
 neglect has been sanctioned by those, whose 
 duty it was to require its observance, if they 
 thought it necessary. Such, for instance, is the 
 74th Canon, on wearing gowns with standing 
 collars, and cloaks with sleeves. " The general 
 reason," observes Bishop Stillingfleet, speaking 
 of that Canon, " continues in force, namely, that 
 " there should be a decent and comely habit for 
 *^ the clergy, whereby they should be known and 
 " distinguished from the people :" an object, of 
 the importance of which I have on more than 
 one occasion expressed a strong opinion; but 
 which I fear will not be attained, except by
 
 43 
 
 some authoritative regulation, to which the 
 clergy, not of this or that diocese, but in general, 
 shall be required to conform. I am, however, of 
 opinion, that the distinction between them and 
 the laity, as to their ordinary dress, should be 
 of a very simple kind, and not such as would be 
 likely to expose them to the ridicule of those 
 whose respect they wish to retain. 
 
 As to those forms and ceremonies which are 
 expressly enjoined in the Rubric or Canons, and 
 which, as is said in the 18th Canon, are intended 
 to " testify the people's humility. Christian re- 
 " solution, and due acknowledgment that the 
 " Lord Jesus Christ, the true eternal Son of God, 
 " is the only Saviour of the world," I think that 
 upon the principle asserted by Bishop Butler 
 they are clearly reasonable, and that, being 
 enjoined by the Church, they are obligatory 
 upon its members. Such are the various devo- 
 tional postures prescribed in the Book of Common 
 Prayer, and the doing lowly reverence when in 
 time of divine service the Lord Jesus is men- 
 tioned, as directed by the same Canon; which 
 custom, says Hooker, " showeth a reverent 
 " regard to the Son of God, above other mes- 
 " sengers, though speaking as from God also ; 
 " and against Infidels, Jews, and Arians, who 
 " derogate from the person of Jesus Christ, such 
 " ceremonies are most profitable."
 
 44 
 
 Again, although I do not consider the Canons 
 of 1640 to be binding upon the Clergy, I see 
 no very serious objection to the custom therein 
 commended, as having been the ancient custom 
 of the primitive Church, and of this also for 
 many years in the reign of Queen Ehzabeth, of 
 doing obeisance on entering and leaving churches 
 and chancels ; not, as the Canon expressly 
 declares, " with any intention to exhibit any 
 " religious worship to the Communion-table, the 
 " east, or church, or any thing therein contained, 
 " in so doing, or to perform the said gesture in 
 " the celebration of the holy Eucharist from any 
 " opinion of the corporal presence of the body of 
 " Christ upon the Holy Table, or in the mystical 
 " elements, but only for the advancement of God's 
 " glory, to give Him alone that honour and glory 
 " which are due unto Him, and no otherwise." 
 
 But that the clergy, although they are at 
 Uherty to use this custom, are not obliged to do 
 so, even if that Canon be in force, is clear from 
 the words of the Canon itself, which heartily 
 commends, but does not enjoin it. " In the 
 " practice or omission of this rite " (it says), 
 " we desire that the rule of charity prescribed 
 " by the apostle may be observed, which is, that 
 " they who use this rite despise not them who 
 " use it not, and that they who use it not con- 
 " demn not those that use it." If those persons.
 
 45 
 
 who practise these obeisances towards the Holy 
 Table, do so under the notion of a bodily pre- 
 sence of Christ in the consecrated elements, or 
 if the people are led to suppose them to do so, 
 then I consider the custom to be objectionable, 
 and at variance with the spirit of our Reformed 
 Church. If otherwise, the clergy, who observe 
 it, are bound to explain it to the people, in the 
 sense in which it is explained by the Canon. 
 
 The same Canons of 1640, declare that the 
 situation of the Holy Table at the east end of 
 the church, being in its own nature indifferent, 
 and that wherein no religion is to be placed, or 
 scruple made thereon, " doth not imply that it 
 " is, or ought to be accounted, a true and proper 
 " altar, whereon Christ is again really sacrificed : 
 " but it is, and may be called an altar, in that 
 *' sense in which the primitive Church called it an 
 " altar, and in no other." Those persons who 
 hold not simply a re«/, but a bodily presence of 
 Christ in the consecrated elements, can scarcely 
 avoid holding also the notion of a propitiatory 
 sacrifice ; and to this notion of a bodily pre- 
 sence is to be traced a superstitious reverence 
 for the external circumstances of the Eucharist. 
 Our own Church, admitting the doctrine of a 
 real, though spiritual presence, utterly rejects 
 that of a corporal presence, which, however it 
 may be veiled under obscure or unintelligible
 
 46 
 
 terms, is virtually one with the error of transub- 
 stantiation. It is expressly declared at the end 
 of the Communion Service, that by the custom 
 of kneeling to receive the elements, " no adora- 
 " tion is intended, or ought to be done, either 
 " unto the sacramental bread or wine then bodily 
 " received, or unto any corporal presence of 
 '* Christ's natural flesh and blood." 
 
 " The ceremonies" (says Bishop Fleetwood) 
 *' allowed in practice in the Church, though 
 *' not enjoined by the Rubric, are such as were 
 " used in the Church before and when the 
 *' Rubrics were made ; and being reasonable, and 
 " easy, and becoming, were not enforced by any 
 '' new law, but were left in possession of what 
 " force they had obtained by custom. He that 
 " complies not with these ceremonies, offends 
 '* against no law, but only against custom : which 
 " yet a prudent man will not lightly do, when 
 " once it has obtained in general."-' 
 
 With regard to worshipping towards the east, 
 there can be no doubt of its having been a very 
 ancient practice of the Church ; for it is men- 
 tioned by Clement of Alexandria, and by Ter- 
 tulhan. Bishop Stilhngfleet, one of the most 
 learned of our divines, considers it to be one of 
 those customs derived from primitive times, and 
 continuing to our own, which there is no reason 
 
 ' ^^ Works, p. 723.
 
 47 
 
 to oppose, but rather to comply with. " And of 
 "■ all customs," he observes, " that of contention 
 " and singularity, where there is no plain reason 
 '' against them, doth the least become the Church 
 " of God."'' 
 
 I do not, however, consider it to be the inten- 
 tion of our Church, that the officiating minister, 
 when reading prayers, should turn to the east with 
 his back to the congregation. Bishop Sparrow 
 thinks, that anciently the reading-desk was so 
 placed, that the minister looked to the east, away 
 from the people, to whom he is directed to turn 
 in reading the lessons. But the reading-desk 
 was not known in the early years of the Prefor- 
 mation. It is not mentioned in the Injunctions 
 of King Edward VI., nor in those of Queen 
 Elizabeth, nor in any Canons or Visitation 
 Articles before the Canon of 1603. The first 
 Rubric in King Edward's Common Prayer-book, 
 orders, that the minister so turn him in reading 
 prayers as that the people may best hear him ; 
 and as the customary place for reading the 
 prayers was then the chancel, at the Communion- 
 table, it is clear that he could not have faced the 
 east."^ It appears, however, from the proceedings 
 of the Savoy Conference, that it zvas customary 
 at that time for the minister to turn to the people 
 only when he spoke to them, as in the lessons, 
 
 " Note [K.] ^ Hamon L'Estrange, Alliance, p. 328.
 
 48 
 
 absolution, and benedictions ; *' when he speaks 
 "/or them to God," it was argued by the Bishops, 
 " it is fit that they should all turn another way, 
 " as the ancient Church ever did, the reasons of 
 " which you may see in August, lib. 2, de Ser. 
 " Dom. in Monte"'* 
 
 I myself approve of, as convenient, though not 
 necessary, the arrangement lately adopted in 
 several churches, where the reading-desk is near 
 the east end of the church, by which the clergy- 
 man looks towards the south while reading prayers, 
 and towards the west while reading the lessons. 
 
 With respect to those ornaments of the 
 Church, about which there is a difference of 
 opinion, where the Rubric and Canons are not 
 clear, the judgment of the Bishop should be 
 sought for. A question has arisen about placing 
 lights upon the Communion-table. Some doubt 
 may be entertained as to the law in this par- 
 ticular. They were forbidden by the Injunctions 
 of King Edward VI. in 1549 ; but they were in 
 use when the first Liturgy of that monarch re- 
 ceived the authority of Parliament, and therefore 
 seem to be sanctioned by the Rubric in our 
 present Common Prayer-book. But whether it 
 be so or not, they have always been retained in 
 the chapels royal, in cathedrals, and in college 
 chapels; and I see no objection to them, pro- 
 ^* Dr. Cardwell's History of Conferences, p. 353.
 
 49 
 
 vided that the candles are not burning except 
 when the church is lighted up for evening 
 service. 
 
 I strongly disapprove of the practice, which, 
 as I am informed, has been adopted by a few of 
 the clergy, of decorating the Communion-table 
 with flowers ; and especially when that decora- 
 tion is varied from day to day, so as to have 
 some fanciful analogy to the history of the saint 
 who is commemorated. This appears to me to 
 be something worse than frivolous, and to ap- 
 proach very nearly to the honours paid by the 
 Church of Rome to deified shiners. Such prac- 
 tices as these, which are neither prescribed, nor 
 recommended, nor even noticed by our Church, 
 nor sanctioned by general custom, throw discredit 
 upon those decent ceremonies, and expressive 
 forms, which are intended to enliven the devotion 
 of those who are engaged in the service of God, 
 and to do honour to his holy name. It is well 
 observed by Bishop Halifax, that " there may be 
 " too much of form in religion, as well as too 
 " little. The one leads to enthusiasm, the other 
 " degenerates into superstition ; the one is Pu- 
 " ritanism, the other is Popery ; whereas the 
 " rational worship of God, is equally removed 
 " from either extreme." 
 
 In resisting an exaggerated spiritualism, we 
 nmst be careful not to incur the charge of 
 
 D
 
 50 
 
 materializing religion ; and, above all, we must 
 beware of arbitrarily connecting the gifts of God 
 with ordinances of merely human appointment, 
 and of teaching our people to place the cere- 
 monies which the Church has ordained, however 
 significant and laudable, on the same footing as 
 the Sacraments which have been ordained by the 
 Lord Jesus Himself.^^ It is very well to speak of 
 them as precious fragments of an ancient, or 
 perhaps a primitive ritual ; but we deny that 
 they are to be cherished as anything more than 
 decent and venerable usages ; or that we have 
 the slightest evidence of their being divinely 
 authorized portions of the Church's perpetual 
 spiritual sacrifice. 
 
 Ordinances and ceremonies, which cannot be 
 shown to have been instituted by the apostles, 
 with a direction for their continuance, are not of 
 perpetual obhgation upon the whole Church ; 
 as, for example, the appointment of an order of 
 deaconesses, or widows ; the anointing of the sick 
 with oil ; and some other instances ; although if 
 we can prove them to have been used by the 
 apostles, or make it appear highly probable that 
 they were so, they may not be lightly laid aside, 
 nor changed, even by Churches, and not at all 
 by individual members of a Church. This is 
 the doctrine of our own Church, in the preface 
 '' Note [L].
 
 51 
 
 to her Book of Common Prayer; and in this 
 respect every one, at least every clergyman, is 
 bound by the laws of his own Church. What 
 they enjoin he is to practise ; what they forbid 
 he is to abstain from ; what they purposely omit 
 he is not to introduce. 
 
 Prayers for the dead, trine immersion in bap- 
 tism, the kiss of peace in the Eucharist, the 
 mixing of water with wine in the chalice — all 
 these were undoubtedly ancient customs, if not 
 all of primitive antiquity ; but they are not recog- 
 nized by our own Church, and they are, there- 
 fore, not to be practised by its ministers. '' Let 
 '' no minister of a parish," says Bishop Jeremy 
 Taylor, " introduce any ceremonies, rites, or ges- 
 " tures, though with some seeming piety or de- 
 " votion, which are not commanded by the 
 *' Church and established by law ; and let these 
 " also be wisely and usefully explicated to the 
 " people, that they may understand the reasons 
 " of obedience ; but let there be no more intro- 
 " duced, lest the people be burdened unneces- 
 *' sarily, and tempted, or divided."-'' 
 
 You are not to take as your rule and model 
 in this respect the early Church, nor the primitive 
 Church ; but the Church of England, as she 
 speaks in plain and obvious cases by her Rubric 
 and Canons, in doubtful and undecided ones by 
 ■^ Instructions to the Clergy of Down and Connor. 
 D 2
 
 52 
 
 her Bishops. This is the language of comonm 
 sense, as it is also of the canon law, laid down by 
 its able interpreter Van Espen : " S'mgidar'mm 
 '' Ecclesiarum ritiis atque ccBremonialia, sive ritu- 
 '' alia, servanda sunt ; neque preshyteris, aliisve 
 ^' ecclesice min'istris, ritum prcescriptum immutare 
 " licet, eo etiam prcetextu, quod contrarius ritus 
 " pristince ecclesiw disciplina^ conformior esset, vide- 
 " returque ad excitandam popidi deootionem, necnon 
 " ad explicandamysteria, aptior et convenientior."-^ 
 I earnestly wish that this rule were kept in 
 view by all clergymen. We should not then 
 have to complain of unwarrantable omissions and 
 alterations of the Church's service on the one 
 hand, nor of unauthorized additions to her ritual 
 on the other. I confess that I view the former 
 fault with less complacency than the latter. 
 I think that a clergyman, who presumes to 
 omit any part of the offices, which he has 
 solemnly pledged himself to use whole and 
 entire, either through haste, or negligence, or, 
 which is still worse, from a dislike of the doctrine 
 which they assert, offends more grievously 
 against the order of the Church than he who, 
 from a mistaken zeal for antiquity, revives obso- 
 lete practices, or is minutely scrupulous in his 
 attention to the externals of religion. It is my 
 earnest wish that you should omit no part of the 
 
 "^ P. 11, Sect. 1. Tit. V. c. i. § 24. See Note [M].
 
 53 
 
 solemn services which the Church has appointed 
 to be used, whether in the administration of the 
 Sacraments, or in what are commonly termed 
 the Occasional Offices. 
 
 With respect to the habits proper to be worn 
 by the Clergy, when ministering in divine ser- 
 vice, no question is made, as far as the prayers 
 are concerned ; but it is doubted, whether a 
 clergyman, when preaching, should wear a sur- 
 plice or a gown. I apprehend, that for some 
 time after the Reformation, when sermons were 
 preached only in the morning as part of the 
 Communion service, the preacher always wore a 
 surplice,^^ a custom which has been retained in 
 cathedral churches, and college chapels. The 
 Injunction at the end of King Edward's first 
 Service-book requires the surplice to be used 
 in all churches and chapels in the saying or 
 singing of matins, and evensong, baptizing, and 
 burying. And the present Rubric enacts, that 
 all the ornaments of ministers, at all times of 
 their ministration, be the same as they were 
 by authority of Parliament in the second year 
 of King Edward VI. The gown was pro- 
 bably first worn in the pulpit by the licensed 
 preachers,^^ and by the lecturers, who preached 
 when no part of the Communion service was 
 
 '* Or possibly an albc, or close-sleeved surplice. 
 '' Note [N].
 
 54 
 
 read. In the King's Injunctions of 1633, to 
 the Archbishop, a direction is given, that " where 
 " a lecture is set up in a market-town, it may 
 " be read by a company of grave and ortho- 
 " dox divines, and that they ever preach in such 
 " seemly habits as belong to their degrees, and 
 " not in cloaks." When there is only one offi- 
 ciating clergyman, and the prayer for the Church 
 Militant is read, which must be read in a surplice, 
 it seems better that he should preach in the sur- 
 plice, than quit the church after the sermon, for 
 the purpose of changing his habit. It would 
 perhaps be most consonant with the intention of 
 the Church, if the preacher wore a surplice when 
 preaching after the morning Service, and a gown 
 when the sermon is in the evening. Upon the 
 whole, I am hardly prepared to give any positive 
 direction on this point for this particular diocese, 
 although it is certainly desirable that uniformity 
 of practice should prevail in the Church at large. 
 A more important point than that of the dress 
 of the officiating clergyman, is the manner in 
 which he reads the Common Prayer. No person 
 objects more strongly than I do to a declama- 
 tory, or dramatic mode of reading ; but I do not 
 understand why those clergymen, who seek to 
 avoid that fault, should pass to the opposite 
 extreme of rapid and monotonous recitation, 
 which they describe as reading piano cantu.
 
 I am aware, that in the old Rubric even the 
 Lessons were directed to be sung in plain tune, 
 as also the Epistle and Gospel. But this was 
 wisely altered. There are certain parts of the 
 service which the Rubric still directs to be said 
 or sung ; with reference probably to '^ choirs, and 
 places where they sing," as the Rubric expresses 
 it, and to parish churches and chapels, where the 
 prayers are said, and not sung. But whether 
 said or sung, it should be devoutly, audibly, and 
 distinctly. The 14th Canon directs, that the 
 Common Prayer " be said or sung distinctly and 
 reverently." Queen Elizabeth's Injunction of 
 1559, was, " that all readers of public prayers 
 " be charged to read leisurely, plainly, and dis- 
 " tinctly." The writer of the Homily on Com- 
 mon Prayer cites a constitution of Justinian to 
 the same effect : the rule laid down in the 
 Reformatio Legum is, ''partite voces et distincte 
 " pronuntient, et cantus sit illorum clarus et apfus, 
 " lit ad aiiditorum sensuin et intelUgeutiam per- 
 " veniant." The reason, why so great a stress 
 was laid on the distinct reading of the Church 
 Service, independently of its obvious necessity, 
 was the general prevalence of an opposite prac- 
 tice amongst the popish clergy, many of whom, 
 after they had conformed to the Liturgy, read it 
 as they had been accustomed to read the prayers 
 in their breviary.^" 
 
 '" Note [O].
 
 56 
 
 It is much to be regretted, that any of the 
 clergy of our Reformed Church, which justly 
 glories in a form of public prayer, so framed that 
 the people may both understand it, and bear a 
 part in it, should think it necessary, or profitable, 
 or consistent with the Church's intentions, to 
 read it in a hurried and indistinct manner. '^ It 
 " is an absurdity and an iniquity," says Bishop 
 Gibson, '" which we justly charge upon the 
 " Church of Rome, that her public service is in 
 " a tongue unknown to the people ; but though 
 " our service is in a known tongue, it must be 
 " owned, that as reading it, without being heard, 
 " makes it, to all intents and purposes, an 
 " unknown tongue, so confused and indistinct 
 " reading, with every degree thereof, is a gradual 
 " approach to it." 
 
 It is a subject, my brethren, of still deeper 
 concern, that any of our body, though but few, 
 should evince a desire and longing to revert, not 
 merely to some of the outward ceremonies, but 
 to the devotional formularies of the Church of 
 Rome ; that they should speak disparagingly and 
 disrespectfully of our Liturgy, and prepare men 
 of ardent feelings, and warm imaginations, for a 
 return to the Roman mass-book, by publishing, 
 for daily use, devotions and homilies, taken from 
 authors of that Church, and embodying not a 
 few of its superstitions and unscriptural doc-
 
 57 
 
 trines and practices : that they should recom- 
 mend, or justify, under any quahfication, prayers 
 or addresses to saints, a practice which began in 
 poetry, and ended in idolatry ; intercessions for 
 the dead, which our Church, by her formal dis- 
 continuance of them, has implicitly forbidden, 
 and which tend directly to the notion of purga- 
 tory ; and auricular confession, a practice utterly 
 unknown to the primitive Church, one of the 
 most fearful abuses of that of Rome, and the 
 source of unspeakable abominations. 
 
 It is a subject of concern, that while they 
 protest in cautious and measured terms against 
 some of the errors of that Church, they should 
 abstain from the plain, uncompromising assertion 
 of her unscriptural, or rather her anti-scriptural 
 character ; and spend their lamentations on their 
 own national Church, as sitting apart from the 
 mother of Churches, and in bondage to the 
 powers of this world, rather than upon that 
 system of corruption and tyranny which drove 
 her from communion with Rome, and which is 
 still maintained by Rome in theory, and, as far 
 as circumstances will permit, in practice also. 
 
 Again, it is matter of shame and grief to us, 
 and of exultation to our adversaries, that while 
 such men as Hildebrand and Becket are held up 
 to admiration,'^' men who, if they were sincere, 
 
 "' Note [P].
 
 58 
 
 were yet the authors and abettors of evil, the fire- 
 brands of discord, and the subverters of civil 
 government, reproach and censure should be 
 cast upon those holy fathers, to whom, under 
 God, we owe our deliverance from an intolerable 
 yoke, Cranmer, and Ridley, and Jewel ; as 
 though the occasional errors into which they 
 may have fallen, under circumstances of difh- 
 culty which we are wholly unable to appreciate, 
 were not a thousand times outweighed by their 
 services to the cause of God's truth and of his 
 Church. 
 
 I am far from approving of those public con- 
 troversial discussions, which, by exaggerated 
 statements, sure to be made in the heat of the 
 moment, and admitting of easy refutation, tend 
 to promote, rather than check the growth of 
 Popery among us. Nor do I think it consistent 
 with truth, to deny that the Church of Rome is 
 a branch, however corrupt, of the Church Ca- 
 tholic ; or with charity, to speak more strongly 
 in condemnation of its faults, than the sacred 
 interests of true religion require ; but I hold it 
 to be still more inconsistent with both truth and 
 charity, to gloss over its deadly errors, and to 
 smooth the way for their readmission. 
 
 Let us not scruple to say of that Church, not 
 for her condemnation, but in our own vindication 
 and defence, and for a warning to those who are 
 
 (
 
 59 
 
 in danger of being deceived by her delusive 
 attractions, that she is in a state of schism, if not 
 of apostasy ; that she has forsaken the true faith, 
 and defiled herself with superstition and idolatry. 
 And let us speak all the more plainly, seeing 
 that she again employs, as her chosen defenders 
 and emissaries, a society of men, bound together 
 by a vow to uphold by all methods, and at all 
 hazards, not Christianity, but Popery ; and who, 
 in accordance with that vow, have framed and 
 carried out a system, so hideous in its princi- 
 ples, so mischievous in its effects, that it well 
 deserves to be described as having embodied the 
 very 'Miiystery of iniquity ."^^ 
 
 The Church of Rome has added to and de- 
 based the apostolical " form of sound words ;" 
 has superseded the apostolical succession ; has 
 mutilated and corrupted the apostolical commu- 
 nion. The character of the Church itself is not 
 altered by that of a few, or many, of its individual 
 members, whose personal graces and virtues at 
 once modify and recommend the principles 
 which they profess. There is scarcely any error 
 of doctrine, however extravagant or dangerous, 
 which has not been held by some persons of 
 unquestioned piety, and irreproachable conduct. 
 Against such a Church we are bound continually 
 to lift up the voice of solemn remonstrance ; 
 « Note [a].
 
 60 
 
 and, far from being ashamed of the name of 
 Protestant, we ought to show, that a sincere and 
 immovable attachment to the Cathohc Church, 
 in its constitution, disciphne, authority, privileges, 
 and offices, is perfectly compatible with, or rather 
 is itself a practical act of, protestation against 
 the errors and corruptions of the papal Church. 
 
 And surely the duty of so protesting is not to 
 be lost sight of, at a time when that Church is 
 boldly reasserting its pretensions amongst us, 
 and affecting to look for the speedy return of 
 our own Reformed Church into its maternal 
 bosom. Its errors are not less opposed to Gospel 
 truth and holiness now, than they were at the 
 time of the Reformation. The doctrines, and 
 practices, which rendered necessary our separa- 
 tion from that Church, are still retained by her, 
 unchanged, unmitigated, unqualified ; nor are the 
 differences between us, in essential matters, less 
 at the present moment, than they were in the 
 times of Cranmer or of Jewel, of Taylor or of 
 Bull. We are far from presuming to assert the 
 absolute perfectness of our own Church ; but it 
 is not in retracing any of the steps, by which 
 she has receded from the Church of Rome, that 
 she is to be made more perfect; nor by attempting 
 to remodel her upon the doctrine and discipline, 
 not of the primitive Church, but of the Church 
 of the fourth or fifth century, infected as it was
 
 61 
 
 with the remams of gnostic superstition, and the 
 inventions of enthusiastic or ambitious men. 
 
 That we are in some respects impeded and 
 trammelled by the nature of our legal con- 
 nexion with the State is true ; and this is itself 
 one consequence which followed from the abuse 
 of the papal power before the Reformation ; but 
 this imperfection will in no way be remedied by 
 the resumption of exploded principles or prac- 
 tices ; and I cannot help suspecting that the 
 desire of reverting to tJiem, with less of impedi- 
 ment than now exists, is one motive with some 
 persons, who are seeking to effect a total separa- 
 tion of the Church from the State. Let us do 
 all that we have at this moment the power of 
 doing, as the ministers of that Church ; nay, let 
 us but do all that we are bound to do, and we shall 
 then see what further freedom of action is re- 
 quired. Before we cry out for a reformation of 
 the Church's laws, let us try the effect of those 
 which are in existence, and not complain of the 
 insufficiency of her ordinances, till we have carried 
 into them the spirit which is requisite to give 
 them life and efficacy. 
 
 It will not, I think, be denied, that the 
 Church of this country, in point of energy, power, 
 and usefulness, is, by God's goodness, at this 
 moment progressive : strange, that at this very 
 time complaints should be uttered of her wearing
 
 the chains of an ignoble thraldom, of her being- 
 compelled to mutter in indistinct accents the 
 praises of God, and of her not affording sufficient 
 scope for the indulgence of devotional feelings, — 
 that Church, in which the seraphic piety of 
 Hooker, and Hall, and Taylor, and Herbert, and 
 Ken, and Wilson, felt no deficiency nor re- 
 straint. 
 
 If instead of such lamentations, alarming our 
 people, and unsettling the minds of our younger 
 brethren in the ministry, we would admonish, 
 comfort, and encourage one another, to be faith- 
 ful to our dear Mother ; and use, in the spirit of 
 diligence and love, all the means and appliances 
 of good which she places in our hands ; setting 
 ourselves, as a united band of Christian soldiers, 
 with composed and stedfast resolution, to resist 
 the inroads of Popery on the one hand, and of 
 irregular enthusiasm on the other ; if we had 
 but grace to realize, in our own lives and per- 
 sons, the plain precepts and directions which she 
 has given for our guidance, recommending them 
 by our example to the consciences and affections 
 of all men, we should discover that there is much 
 less need of alteration than is supposed ; and, at 
 all events, we should know for a certainty in 
 what direction that alteration should be at- 
 tempted. 
 
 Let us be thankful to Almighty God, that the
 
 63 
 
 Church, crippled and fettered as she is thought 
 by some to be, has yet had enough of energy 
 and power to vindicate to herself the religious 
 education of the people ; to throw open the 
 doors of her sanctuary to multitudes, who were 
 before excluded from it ; and to send forth 
 within the last two years six additional bishops, 
 to watch over the growth and fruitfulness of her 
 distant branches. I gladly embrace this oppor- 
 tunity of thanking the clergy of the diocese 
 for the prompt and efficient manner in which 
 they gave effect to my suggestion of a general 
 collection at the Offertory on Palm Sunday last, 
 in aid of the Colonial Bishoprics Fund. The total 
 amount of that collection — more than 8,000/. — 
 greatly exceeded my expectations ; and will no 
 doubt operate as an encouragement to the 
 clergy, to adopt, more generally still, the mode 
 of proceeding which I recommended, when col- 
 lections are to be made for Church purposes. 
 I shall probably call upon them, in the course of 
 next year, to make another effort in behalf of 
 the Metropolis Churches Fund. The money 
 already contributed to that fund, including the 
 subscription for Bethnal Green, has secured the 
 erection of forty-one additional churches ; and 
 where a church is built, schools for the children 
 of the poor are sure to follow. 
 
 It is to this combined provision for the spiritual
 
 64 
 
 and moral wants of the people, that the country 
 must look, under God, for the cure of its most 
 dangerous diseases ; -and I trust that the time is 
 not far distant, when the legislature of this 
 Christian land will again recognize the duty, 
 incumbent upon it, of doing something to pre- 
 serve and perpetuate its Christianity, by means 
 of the instrument which has been divinel}'^ 
 appointed for that purpose : not to supersede the 
 Church's endeavours, and contributions, and 
 sacrifices ; but to aid and encourage them ; to 
 answer a present demand of instant urgency, 
 which admits not of delay ; and to supply that, 
 which the Church herself will not be able to 
 supply, till her wealthier members shall have 
 been fully awakened to a sense of their Christian 
 obligations. 
 
 I should say something here on the subject of 
 education, but that the time forbids, and that I 
 spoke of it in a former Charge. I will merely 
 observe, on the present occasion, that the effi- 
 ciency of our parochial system will be most 
 materially increased by regular and periodical 
 inspection. With that object in view, I have 
 appointed clerical inspectors of schools in diffe- 
 rent parts of the diocese ; and I trust that 
 no clergyman will object to their visiting the 
 schools under his care, and reporting upon them 
 to me as diocesan.^^ 
 
 '' Note [R.]
 
 65 
 
 There are still a few points connected with the 
 orderly performance of divine service, which, as 
 I am frequently consulted upon them by the 
 Clergy, I will briefly notice before I con- 
 clude. 
 
 I think that it is not correct, to commence 
 divine service with a psalm or hymn. 
 
 The psalms and services had better be said 
 than sung, where the congregation are not suffi- 
 ciently versed in the knowledge of music to 
 take part in them. 
 
 Where a Saint's-day falls upon a Sunday, the 
 collect for the Saint's-day, as well as that for the 
 Sunday, should be read, and the Epistle and 
 Gospel for the Saint's-day, but the Lessons for the 
 Sunday. 
 
 The minister should himself give out the 
 psalms to be sung, and all notices that may be 
 lawfully published in church. 
 
 The prayers for the Ember Weeks should 
 always be used as appointed. 
 
 The responses in the Communion Service 
 should be said, rather than sung, where there 
 is not cathedral service. 
 
 After the Nicene Creed, the minister should in 
 all cases declare, what holy days or fasting days 
 are in the week following appointed to be ob- 
 served. 
 
 Baptism is never to be administered in private 
 
 E
 
 66 
 
 houses, except in cases of urgent necessity ; and 
 all such baptisms should be duly registered within 
 the time prescribed by law. This I request you 
 to take as my authoritative direction, as well as 
 what follows : 
 
 That you will not permit any clergyman to 
 officiate as your temporary substitute, or assis- 
 tant, not being a personal friend or acquaint- 
 ance of your own, who shall not have first 
 exhibited to me his letters of orders and testi- 
 monials ; and that no clergyman, serving only 
 one church, omit either Morning or Evening 
 Service on Sundays. 
 
 In conclusion, reverend brethren, let us be 
 careful to bear in mind om'selves, and to teach 
 our people, that the outward means and aids of 
 rehgion are not religion itself; but are so far 
 valuable and useful as they contribute to the 
 great ends of religion, to form Christ within us, 
 to estabhsh the life of God in the soul, and to 
 keep us within the precincts of his grace.^* The 
 more careful we are to observe all the external 
 circumstances of devotion, the more dihgently 
 let us cherish in ourselves, and strive to pro- 
 mote in others, those spiritual affections which 
 they are intended to excite and strengthen. 
 And while we contend earnestly for the faith as 
 delwered to the saints, and for all the ordinances 
 '' See Note [S.]
 
 67 
 
 of God, let us not forget the more excellent xmy ; 
 but imt on charity^ xohich is the bond of jJerfect- 
 ness, and pray earnestly, and strive as well as 
 pray, that " all hatred and prejudice may be 
 *' taken away from us, and whatsoever doth 
 ** hinder us from godly union and concord; that, 
 *' as there is but one body, and one Spirit, and 
 '^ one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, 
 " one baptism, one God and Father of us all ; 
 *' so we may henceforth be all of one heart and 
 " one spirit, united in one holy bond of truth 
 '^ and peace, of faith and charity, and may with 
 " one mind and one mouth glorify God through 
 " Jesus Christ our Lord."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Note [A.] 
 
 In our attempts to discover the intention of those who 
 framed the Article which forms the subject of our inquiry, 
 we shall derive assistance from the teaching of the earlier 
 Fathers, by whose statements of all the essential points of 
 Christian doctrine, the fathers of our Reformed Church con- 
 stantly declared themselves willing to abide. I think it right 
 to repeat here, what I had thought was so plainly stated in 
 the Charge itself, as not to be liable to misconception, that 
 my purpose, in this Charge, is to point out, as clearly as I can, 
 what the doctrine of the Church of England is, as set forth 
 in its authorized formularies j and not to discuss the truth 
 of the doctrine itself. To say, therefore, that my statements 
 respecting the effects of baptism are unscriptural, is alto- 
 gether beside the purpose. Are they, or are they not, in 
 conformity with the teaching of the Church ? I state, that 
 the children of wrath are made in baptism the children of 
 God. It is denied that " children are brought to the font as 
 " the children of wrath." But what says the Catechism ? 
 '' Being by nature born in sin, and the children of mrath, 
 " we are hereby made the children of grace." 
 
 To prove that the connexion of baptism with justification 
 is a tenet of our Church, I need only refer to its adoption of 
 the Nicene Creed. The Homily of the Salvation of Mankind 
 says, " We must trust only in God's mercy, and that sacri- 
 " fice which our High Priest and Saviour Christ Jesus, the 
 " Son of God, once offered for us upon the cross, to ob- 
 " tain thereby God's grace, and remission, as well of our 
 " original sin in baptism, as of all actual sin committed by
 
 69 
 
 ** us after our baptism, if we truly repent, and unfeignediy 
 " turn to him again." — " Our office is, not to pass the time 
 " of this present Hfe unfruitfuUy and idly, after that we are 
 " baptized, or justified" 
 
 Note [B.] 
 
 This quotation is from Heylyn's Quinquarticular History, 
 e. 8, p. 554. 
 
 Note [C] 
 
 The agents of the Court of Rome in England, who 
 carried on their correspondence through the hands of Secre- 
 tary Windebank, in the reign of Charles I., " drew a flatter- 
 " ing picture of the resipiscence of the Anglican party, who 
 " are come to acknowledge the truth in some articles, and 
 " differ in others rather verbally than in sub&tance, or in 
 "points not fundamental; who hold other protestants to be 
 " schismatical, and confess the primacy of the holy see, 
 " regretting the separation already made, and wishing for 
 " re-union ; who profess and pay implicit respect to the 
 ** Fathers, and can best be assailed on that side." Sallams 
 Constitutional History of England, vol. ii. p. 92. Compare 
 this with the statements, recently published in the Romish 
 periodical UAnii de la Reliyion, of what is supposed by its 
 correspondents to be now going on in England. 
 
 Note [D.] 
 
 " Touch that (infallibility), and you shake the whole 
 " building of popery, even to the foundation, that is, the 
 " papacy itself. To secure that, they are brought under this
 
 70 
 
 " miserable necessity, of holding all for Catholic faith that is 
 "once received into the Roman Church." Bp. Lloyd (of 
 St. Asaph), Sermon on the 5th November ; an excellent 
 manual for those who wish to know what the religion of 
 Rome really is. It has been lately republished by Mi'. 
 Brogden, in his useful Collection of Discourses on the Liturgy 
 and Ritual of the Church. 
 
 Note [E.] 
 
 The Church of Rome " has displayed so systematic a 
 " policy to make no concession to the Rcformei's, either in 
 " matters of belief, wherein, since the Council of Trent, she 
 " could in fact do nothing, or even as far as possible, in 
 " matters of discipline, as to which she judged, perhaps 
 " rightly, that her authority would be impaired by the pre- 
 " cedent of concession, without any proportionate advantage: 
 " so unvarying in all cases has been her determination to 
 ''yield nothing except through absolute force, and to elude 
 *' force itself by every subtlety, that it is astonishing how 
 " honest men on the opposite side, (men, that is, who 
 " seriously intended to preserve any portion of their avowed 
 " tenets, not such as Montague or Heylin,) could ever con- 
 " template the possibility of a reconciliation." HaUam's 
 Constitictional Iliatory, ii. p. 99. When M. Antonius de 
 Dominis, who was not an honest man, professed his inten- 
 tion of attempting such a reconciliation, Bishop Morton 
 " dehorted him : for the Italians would never be persuaded 
 " to retract an erroi-." Bishop Hacket^.s Life of Archhhliop 
 WilliaviS, p. 103. ilis account of the whole matter is veiy 
 instructive.
 
 71 
 
 Note [F.] 
 
 Nor can it be made to agree with the hmguagc of tlie 9th 
 Article. The English Article says, " There is no condemna- 
 tion for them that believe and are baptized;'' the Latin is, 
 " renatis et credendibus." 
 
 Note [G.] 
 
 " Sicuti in baptismo semel renati sumus, ita Ccena Domi- 
 " nica ad vitam spiritualem atqiie sempiternam jugiter alimur 
 " atque sustentamur." — Noelli Cuterhismus. 
 
 Tlie doctrine that the benefits of Christ's death are applied, 
 not simply by an internal act of faith, but by the sacraments, 
 is the doctrine not of the Church of England only. The 
 Assembly's Shorter Catechism, A. 92, says, "A sacrament 
 " is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ, wherein by sensi- 
 " ble signs, Christ, and the benefits of the New Covenant 
 " are represented, sealed, and applied to believers." If the 
 sacraments are "generally necessary to salvation," simple 
 faith, without the sacraments, where they may be had, is not 
 sufficient. 
 
 Note [H.] 
 
 Every Clergyman, before he is ordained, and again, as 
 often as he is admitted to any benefice or office in the mini- 
 stry, subscribes to the three articlos in the 36th Canon ; 
 the second of which is as follows : " That the Book of 
 " Common Prayer, and of ordering of bishops, priests, and 
 " deacons, ccntaineth in it nothing contrary to the Word of 
 *' God, and that it may lawfully so be used ; and that he 
 " himself will use the form in the said book prescribed, in 
 " [tuljlic prayer, iind administratiun uf the sacraments, and
 
 72 
 
 " none other." The 1 Eliz. cap. ii. s. 4, enacts a penalty 
 for using " any rite, ceremony, order, form, or manner, of 
 " celebrating the Lord's Supper, oj)enly or privily, or Ma- 
 " tins, Even-song, Administration of the Sacraments, or 
 " otlier open prayers, than is mentioned and set forth in the 
 *' said book." The 13 and 14 Car. II. cap. iv. s. 2, says, 
 that as " nothing conduces more to the honour of our reli- 
 *' gion, and to the propagation thereof, than an vmiversal 
 "agreement in the public worship of Almighty God; and 
 " to the intent that every person within this realm may cer- 
 " tainly know the rule to which he is to conform in public 
 " worehip, and administration of sacraments, and other rites 
 " and ceremonies of the Church of England, — be it enacted 
 " that all and singular ministers, &c. shall be bound to say 
 " and use the Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, &c. in such 
 " order and form as is mentioned in the said book." 
 
 Note [I.] 
 
 The King's Injunctions given to the Archbishops in 1694, 
 direct " That the Bishops do use their utmost endeavour to 
 " oblige their Clergy to have public prayers in the Church, 
 " not only on holidays and Litany-days, but as often as may 
 " be, and to celebrate the Holy Sacrament frequently." Con- 
 cerning frequent Communion see George Herbert's Coun- 
 try Parson, ch. 22, and Bishop Stillingfleet's Eccl. Cases, 
 p. 59. The requisition of the 21st Canon goes no further 
 than that "in every parish church and chapel, the holy 
 " Communion shall be ministered so often, and at such 
 " times, as every parishioner may communicate at the least 
 " thrice in every year, Avhereof the feast of Easter to be 
 " one."
 
 73 
 
 Note [K.] 
 
 See the Bishop of Lincoln on Tertullian, p. 402, and on 
 Clement of Alexandria, p. 452. John Gregorie's Works, 
 p. 89. Bp. Stillingfleet's Eccl. Cases, p. 382. Staveley on 
 Churches, p. 155. Joannes Damascenus says, that praying 
 towards the East was aypa^oq TrapdhoaiQ twv ctTTOOToXwi'. It 
 was however not a universal practice. Socrates, Eccl. Hist. 
 V. 22, says that the Church of Antioch in Syria had the 
 altar to the West, ai'Worpo^oi^ exn np' diaw. So the ancient 
 Church of St. Benedict at Paris. See Mabillon Lit. Gall. 
 p. 68. 
 
 Note [L.] 
 
 Bishop Jer. Tayloi-, Diss, from Popery, vol. x. p. 239, 
 says, ''To put our trust and confidence in God only, and to 
 " use ministeries of his own appointment and sanctification, 
 " is so essential a duty owing by us to God, that whoever 
 " trusts in any thing but God, is a breaker of the first 
 " commandment ; and he that invents instrumental supports 
 *' of his own head, and puts a subordinate ministerial confi- 
 " dence in them, usurps the rights of God." " The Church 
 " of Rome invents things of her own, and imputes spiritual 
 " effects to those sacramentals, — which because God did 
 " not institute, and did not sanctify, they use them without 
 " faith, and rely upon them without a promise, and make 
 " themselves the fountains of those graces, and produce con- 
 " fidences, whose last resort is not upon God, who was 
 " neither the author, nor is the approver of them." Speak- 
 ing of the holy water, he says, " and so the simplicity of 
 *' Christian religion, the glory of our dependence upon God, 
 *' the wise order and economy of blessings in the Gospel, 
 " the sacredness and mysteriousness of sacraments and divine 
 " institutions, are disordcied and dishonoured ; the bishops
 
 74 
 
 " and priests, inventing both the word and the element, in- 
 " stitute a kind of sacrament, in great derogation to the 
 " supreme prerogative of Christ." 
 
 Note [M.] 
 Sec also Bishop Stillingfleet's Eccl. Cases, p. 377. 
 
 Note [N.] 
 
 It was proposed in the Lower House of Convocation in 
 1562, " that the use of copes and surplices might be taken 
 " away, so that all ministers in their ministry use a grave, 
 " comely, and side-garment, as commonly they do in })reach- 
 " ing ;" i. e. I conceive, when Sermons were preached with- 
 out the reading of the Common Prayer, Strype's Ann, 
 I. i. p, 501, 
 
 Note [O.] 
 
 The Clergy who read in this hurried and indistinct 
 manner were called, in derision, " Mumble-Matins." 
 
 Note [P.] 
 
 An office in honour of Hildebrand (Gregory VII.) was 
 added, by order of Benedict XIII, to the Roman Breviary, 
 in which he is praised especially as "having withstood, as a 
 ** valiant wrestler, the impious efforts of the Emperor Plem-y ; 
 "for having deprived him of his kingdom, and liberated his 
 " subjects from their allegiance." This addition was objected 
 to by some of the bishops in France, and suppressed by an 
 Arret of the Parliament of Paris, in 1735.
 
 75 
 
 Note [Q.] 
 
 The Arret of the Parliament of Paris, dated August 0, 
 ] 7G1, condemned the writings of Bellarmine, Molina, Suarez, 
 ]^scobar, and others, to be burnt by the common hangman, 
 " comme seditienx, destructifs de toute la morale Chietienne, 
 " enseignant une doctrine meurtriere non-seulementcontre la 
 " surete de la vie des citoyens, mais memo contre celle des 
 " personnes sacrees des rois." Another Arret of Mai"ch 5, 
 1762, spoke of the Jesuits' doctrines, " dont les consequences 
 " iroient a deti'uire la loi naturelle, cette regie des moeurs 
 " que Dieu meme a imprime dans les cceurs des hommes, et 
 " par consequent a rompre tons les liens de la societe civile, 
 *' en authorisant le vol, le mensonge, le parjure, I'impurete la 
 " plus criminelle, et generalement tons les passions, et tons 
 " les crimes, par I'enseignement de la compensation occulte, 
 ** des equivoques, des restrictions mentales, du probabilisme, et 
 " du peche philosophique, et a detruire tons les sentimens de 
 " riiumanite parmi les hommes, en favorisant I'homicide et 
 " la parricide, &c." On the 6th August, 1762, the Parliament 
 proceeded to decree the expulsion of the Jesuits, "comme 
 une secte d'impies, fanatiques, de corrupteurs," and they 
 subjoined to the Arret a regular chronological chain of the 
 crimes, confusions, corruptions, revolts, and murders, which 
 that Order had occasioned in the countries where it was esta- 
 blished, down to the very time of its expulsion. My 
 attention was directed to these remarkable documents many 
 years ago by the late loarned and venerable Dean of Win- 
 chester, Dr. Rennell. Yet this is the Oi'der, which was 
 re-established, together with the Inquisition, by Pope 
 Pius VII,, whose predecessor Clement XIV. had described 
 them as hastes htmiani (jeiier'is : and this is the Order, which 
 directs the education of a great part of the people of Ireland, 
 and of many of the sons of the Roman Catholic nobility and 
 gentry in England. For fuller intbrmation respecting the 
 Jesuits the reader may consult Les Jcsultes, ids qu'ils out 
 etc, or tlie CuUectio Ovusculunon, Brema^, 17(k?, torn 1. 
 p. 677.
 
 76 
 
 Note [R.] 
 
 At this part of the Charge I made some observations re- 
 specting the remarriage, by Clergymen, according to the 
 rites of the Church, of parties who have ah-eady contracted 
 a vahd marriage before the Superintendent Registrar. It 
 appeared to me that such a proceeding was irregular ; that 
 the banns, in such a case, could not be correctly published ; 
 and that a licence, which is a dispensation for banns, could 
 not be granted ; and that if the proceeding were allowable 
 in the case specified, it would be also in all cases of Dis- 
 senters' marriages solemnized by any other person than a 
 Clergyman. I am still inclined to this view of the subject : 
 but I have had pointed out to me a form of licence for such 
 remarriage, prepared by the Master of the Faculties, and 
 printed in Dr. Phillimore's late Edition of Burn's Ecclesi- 
 astical Law, vol. ii. pp. 433, 99, and I therefore suspend my 
 judgment upon the question, till I shall have had an oppor- 
 tunity of further inquiry and consideration. 
 
 Note [S. 
 
 *' Ceremonies are advancements of order, decency, mo- 
 '* desty, and gravity, in the service of God, expressions of 
 " those heavenly desires and dispositions, which we ought 
 " to bring along with us to God's House, adjuraents of atten- 
 " tion and devotion, furtherances of edification, visible in- 
 " structers, helps of memory, exercises of faith, the shell that 
 " preserves the kernel of religion from contempt, the leaves 
 " that defend the blossoms and the fruit ; but if they grow 
 " over thick and i-ank, they hinder the fruit from coming to 
 " matuiity, and then the gardener plucks them off." Arch- 
 hishop Bramhall, p. 488.
 
 77 
 
 Additional Note on p. 23. 
 
 My statement, that the language of tlie Liturgy in some 
 sense corrects that of one of the Articles, has been perverted 
 into an admission, on my part, that the Articles require 
 correction. My meaning, which is so obvious, that no 
 honest reader can mistake it, is, that the Liturgy expresses 
 the doctrine of that Article in language somewhat more 
 correct than the Article itself, and so explains the true 
 meaninci; of the Article. 
 
 R. CLAY, PRINTEK, BREAD STRKUT HILL.
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 Lately Published, 
 THREE SERMONS ON THE CHURCH, 
 
 Preached in the Parish Church of St. James's, Westminster, during 
 Lent, 1842. 8vo. 2s. 
 
 THE MANIFESTATION OF THE SPIRIT GIVEN 
 
 TO EVERY MAN TO PROFIT WITHAL: 
 
 a S>cnnoii, 
 
 Preached in St. Mary's Church, Cambridge, before the University, 
 On Commencement-Sunday, July 3, 1842. 
 
 Svo. li'. V 
 
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