and every preacher in the established church muft afk his own confcience whether he does not preach the gospel, oval yaq αυτώ εςιν, εαν μη ευαγγελίζηται. (1. Cor. ix. 16.) But let us examine what these fchifmatics mean by THEIR Church of England. Over this church Mr. Romaine was Overfeer, "WILLIAM ROMAINE was the RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN CHRIST;" (P. 160) " he had that RULE over the church to which his great age and long experience in the things of GOD fo juftly entitled him;" (p. 177) he is "ranked (by these fectaries) among thofe of whom the apoftle may be fupposed to speak." (Heb. xiii. 7.) " Remember them which had the rule over you, who have fpoken to you the word of God, whofe faith follow, confidering the end of their converfation;" (P. 176) he was an youevos, and "The word nyovuvos fignifies one who prefides in the church, and is eminently applied (Matt. ii. 6.) unto him who was to come out of Bethlehem a governor, to rule God's people Ifrael. It is applied (Luke xxii. 6.) to those whom this governor is pleafed to employ in his fervice, and he that is chief, as he that doth ferve.' And it is applied (Acts xv. 22.) to chofen men of the church, who are called chief men, or (to fpeak in modern language) leading men among the brethren. In Mr. Romaine we had a leading man, whom we might confult in private, and hear in public, with profit and pleasure. His congregation, on Tuesday morning, was, generally, a choice company of minifters and people." P. 177. He had "five hundred minifters in his lift" of gospel preachers, (P. 182,) who spoke "in the churches of the faints," (P. 180,) and many of whom, probably, had the implicit faith of Mr. Cadogan, who ftates, that "I could not but obferve, the last time I heard him, a light upon his countenance, which appeared like the dawn, or a faint refemblance of glory." (p. 183.) We afk whether fuch minifters have not feparated themfelves from their diocefan-whether they are not members of a church within a church-whether fuch teachers who, in the language of Mr. Cecil, are reported "like Mr. Cadogan, to have happily emerged from their brethren," (Memoirs, P. 121,) are not guilty of the fin of SCHISM, and whether their separation from the church government of this realm may "not rife in judgement against them?" (P. 125.) For thefe feceders from our epifcopal church are numerous, active, united, and fupported by opulent patrons. The Rev. John Newton, Rector of St. Mary, Wolnoth, may, perhaps, be their prefent director and head, for Mr. Cadogan addreffes him as "father," when he was but a "little child and a young man." This fraternity, under the aufpices of a gentleman, whose name name we would never mention without that refpect which is due to fervent piety, virtuous intentions, and an irreproachable character, Mr. Wilberforce; of the Thorntons, Ôldham, &c. &c. has purchafed many livings in different counties of the kingdom, has erected numerous chapels in populous towns, and has even engroffed, we understand, a majority of the lectureships in LONDON. The agents of thefe feparatifts are indefatigable, and if they once obtain a majority in a corporate body, they never lofe it. Thus, in the Weavers Company, where the nomination of two evening lecturers is vefted in the court of affiftants, no person is now admitted a member of fuch court until he has given a promise to vote for Mr. Cecil and Mr. Forfter alternately. In populous districts, as the whole fociety's ftrength is exerted in favour of the methodistical candidate, they have frequently carried the election, and, if the Rector thould refufe his pulpit, (where he has the power, for in the new churches he has not the power,) he incurs all the odium of this measure, while his diocefan is applauded for his liberality, candour, and toleration. For there is one "living prelate of exalted character," whom Mr. Cecil does not name, from motives of delicacy,” (Memoirs, P. 32,) who certainly does not perfecute thefe vital preachers of Evangelifm. Mr. Cadogan, at Chelsea, might exclude a lecturer regularly ordained, and of unexceptionable character, from his pulpit, without the interference of the Bishop, but when the Rector of St. Margaret's, Lothbury, hefitated to admit a profeffed faint, it was notified to him, by the higher powers, that thefe were ticklifh times, and not the days in which to give offence to Christians.* When the ortho dox * We fully agree with the learned prelate, here alluded to, that the times are indeed ticklish ;-nay, that they are more than ticklish, --that they are momentous-that they are critical. But is the danger, with which they are pregnant, to be averted by a departure from the ftrict line of duty ?-Moft certainly not. We entertain the higheft poflible refpect for our fuperiors of every denomination, and efpecially for our fpiritual paftors, for thofe whofe peculiar province it is to watch over the interefts of the established church, to inculcate its doctrine, to enforce its difcipline. But, at the fame time, we feel a high fenfe of duty, that renders it impoffible for us to facrifice to that refpect confiderations of ftill greater importance. If we perceive a relaxation of authority, in cafes where an exertion of vigour appears to us to be particularly neceffary, we fhall ftate, with all due deference to the fuperior judgement of our prelates, our ideas on the fubject. We muft, therefore, in the prefent inftance, obferve, that, dox Dr. Conybeare was apprehenfive that Alphonfus Gunn, of ALBAN HALL, a new light, might carry his election against in these times, when fchifmatics daily increase, when efforts to undermine the establishment multiply in an alarming degree, the danger is not to be repelled by relaxing the reins of fpiritual power, by conniving at the progrefs of ufurpation, by facilitating the inroads of invaders, but by a firm, vigorous, and manly difcharge of duty, difplayed in a rigid adherence to the pure unadulterated doctrine and difcipline of the Protestant church, as eftablished by law. Whoever fuffers the fear of giving offence to individuals, or to fraternities, of whatever defcription, to deter him from enforcing a ftrict obfervance of thofe rules, the execution of which he is appointed to fuperintend, and which are deemed effential barriers to that establishment of which he is at once a member and a guardian, acknowledges his inability to fupport the burden which he has voluntarily confented to bear. Schifm, furely, if we at all understand the doctrine of our church, is an offence, and of no light nor trivial nature. All fchifmatics, therefore, must be confidered, by true churchmen, as offenders; and the fear of giving offence to offenders is, we conceive, an infufficient reafon to affign for a departure from established regulations of acknowledged utility. The very nature of the times, indeed, is, with us, an irrefiftible motive for giving additional ftrength to the barrier, fo wifely opposed to fchifmatics, and for increased vigilance in repreffing the fin of fchifm, not by rewards, but punishments; not by facilitating their entrance into the fold, but by a total exclufion of them from it. In Now that we are on the fubject of difcipline, we fhall avail ourfelves of the opportunity to make a refpectful, but folemn, appeal to one of our prelates, on a matter connected therewith. In a former number we had occafion to notice the conduct of a reader at a Chapel Royal, who conftantly omitted the prayer ordered to be read in all churches in time of war, for the fuccefs of his Majefty's arms. confequence of our animadverfions, an explanation, we understand, took place between the clergyman in queftion and his diocefan. The former, with an effrontery peculiar to himfelf, pofitively told the latter that he never had read the prayer, and never would read it. A declaration fo daring, of a determination to difobey the mandate of his fuperiors, and to perfift in a violation of duty, fhould certainly have incurred the punishment which it unquestionably deferved. The authority of the prelate being now formally oppofed to the pertinacity of the priest, it became a matter of public intereft, and there appeared to be no choice left in the adoption of means for the termination of the conteft. Great, then, was our furprize, at finding that this profligate avowal of difaffection, this flagrant act of rebellion againft lawful power, was followed by a compromife!!! The priest was against a true churchman, he wrote to his diocefan, requesting him not to licence this thundering cannon. Fortunately the diffenting intereft prevailed not, but the zeal of the epifcopalian head of the church, who was informed that the Methodists had been defeated, urged him to write to the Rector of Bishopfgate, that if Mr. Gunn had applied to him for a licence, and produced a certificate from the churchwardens, that he had been duly elected by a majority of the parishioners, he “could not have refufed licencing him, otherwise he might have fub was fuffered to retain his fituation, on condition of giving half his falary to a fubftitute, who would engage to read the prayer!!! We shall not here enter into an investigation of the motives which influenced the conduct of this refractory prieft, nor yet of his wellknown character and principles, though we "could a tale unfold;" but we put the individual entirely out of the queftion. We will, however, ftrenuously maintain, that a man who refufes to pray for the fuccefs of his Sovereign's arms,+ when engaged in fuch a conteft as the prefent, is totally unfit for the facred office of a minifter of the Church of England, however qualified he may be to act as a high prieft of the new fect of Theophilanthropists, fprung from the hotbed of Atheism, and trained in the nurfery of Regicide. It is equally clear to us, that whenever obedience to lawful authority be. comes a matter of difpute, a neglect to enforce it is infinitely danger. ous, as well in the immediate effect which it produces, as in the example which it offers. Mercy may temper juftice, but weakness deftroys authority. Auctoritatem facilitate deftruas. It is, we truft, unneceffary for us to declare, that no dread of giving offence, not to offenders, but even to those whom we honour, refpect, and esteem, fhall ever lead us to fhrink from a rigid discharge of our duty to the public. We have undertaken a serious task, and we shall endeavour to fulfil it to the beft of our ability. We must request, however, the learned prelate, to whom we have appealed, to believe that, though we differ from him on this point, we are no ftrangers to the firmnefs which he has difplayed on other occafions; on one, in particular, he has fignalized his zeal in a manner worthy his ftation; our only wish is, to fee him uniform and confiftent in all his proceedings. He will not, we are perfuaded, think himself hardly treated by us, when he coolly reflects on the length of that interval which occurred between the first application that was made to him, and the recent renewal of the fubject. * "Like Bafil and Chryfoftom, Mr. Cadogan thundered in the pulpit." P. 97. + If an order had been iffued to pray for the fuccefs of Buonaparte's arms in Egypt, would the prieft to whom we allude have refufed to obey it? Should this note meet his eye, he will immediately perceive the grounds on which this question is founded.—VERBUM SAT. jected jected himself to a profecution," we reply to fuch fupreme church doctrine, in the words of the true churchman, the Bishop of Rochefter, "if Dr. Conybeare had admitted fuch a preacher into his pulpit, by fuch authority, he ought never to have been inducted to a parochial church, as a found Rector of the established church."-Utrum horum-? But, as these enlightened and fpiritualizing divines pretend to preach, exclufively, the whole counfel of God, in oppofition to the general body of the Clergy; as they affect to understand the articles of our church with greater precifion, and to comprehend them more fyftematically, than any other Clergymen, let us investigate the fundamental principles on which they pretend to ground their fuperiority over their nominal brethren. These teachers of the gospel of Jefus, who enforce damnation by abrogating redemption from the non-elect, the nonjuftified by their vital knowledge and experience of their feeling falvation, (for their doctrines or language are not fully understood, but by thofe who have felt," P. 59,) affect extraordinary fuperiority over priefts in general. They defpife the language of the fchools and univerfities, and affert that "a perfon may pafs through most of our public feminaries, and our two famous Univerfities alfo, and never once have put into his hands, as the book for ftudy and meditation, the SCRIPTURE GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD." (P. 89.) We fuppofe thefe fingularly bold and malevolent affertions are delivered in confequence of information derived from grown-up gentlemen, who have been admitted at Alban Hall, who never refided a month in the University at one time, but having once been entered on the books, then become regular academical clergymen, and advertize themselves as members of Alban Hall, OXFORD, when a charity fermon is notified to their followers. But, in contradiction to this Prefbyterian infinuation, we affirm, from certain knowledge, that, in many colleges in Oxford, the under-graduates (we allude not to fuch termtrotting gentry as they are acquainted with) generally attend chapel twice a day, and accompany the reader of the leffons with a Septuagint and Greek Teftament in their hands; that the bachelors frequently perufe the Hebrew; and that a lecture in the Greek Teftament is regularly delivered, on a Sunday, by the tutors. These are academical ftudies; how, then, could Mr. Cadogan "quit his academical ftudies for that of the Bible?" (P. 44.) But Mr. Cadogan laments, perhaps, that our ingenuous youth spend not as much time as he has fpent in religious exercifes, and particularly in reading the fcriptures on his knees," (P. 28,) in reading the Bible on his knees." (P. 51.) Mr. Cecil allows that Mr. Cadogan "pof fefled |
