66 66 "end of the first century; but has no meaning in our "Lord's mouth at a time when the ascension had not been "heard of. So the Apocalypse, if taken as a series of poetical visions, which represent the outpouring of the "vials of wrath upon the city where the Lord was slain, "ceases to be a riddle. Its horizon answers to that of "Jerusalem already threatened by the legions of Vespasian, "and its language is partly adapted from the older prophets, partly a repetition of our Lord's warnings as "described by the Evangelists, or as deepened into wilder threatenings in the mouth of the later Jesus, the son of "Ananus. The Epistle to the Hebrews, so different in its conception of faith, and in its Alexandrine rhythm, from "the doctrine and the language of St. Paul's known "Epistles, has its degree of discrepance explained by ascribing it to some1 companion of the apostles; and "minute reasons are found for fixing with probability on 66 66 66 66 Apollos. The second of the Petrine Epistles, having "alike external and internal evidence against its genuine"ness, is necessarily surrendered as a whole; and our "critic's good faith in this respect is more certain than the " ingenuity with which he reconstructs a part of it. The "second chapter may not improbably be a quotation; but "its quoter, and the author of the rest of the epistle, need "not therefore have been St. Peter." It alleged that in this passage Dr. Williams did advisedly maintain and affirm the doctrine, position, or opinion, that the portion of Holy Scripture usually called the Revelation of St. John the Divine, the Epistle usually called the Epistle to 1 In my own judgment, the Epistle bears traces of being post-apostolic. ii. 3; iii. 14; x. 25-32; xiii. 7, 8. the Hebrews, and the Epistle usually called the Epistle of St. Peter, are not respectively parts of Holy Scripture, whose authority is binding upon the Church. It charged that this opinion was contrary to the sixth article of religion, to the Epistle for All Saints' Day, Rev. vii. 2, and to the question and answer in the Ordination Service for deacons. The ELEVENTH COUNT extracted the following passages: At pages 56, 59, 61,-" Our deluge takes its place among "geological phenomena, no longer a disturbance of law "from which science shrinks, but a prolonged play of the "forces of fire and water, rendering the primeval regions “of North Asia uninhabitable, and urging the nations to 66 new abodes. We learn approximately its antiquity, and "infer limitation in its range, from finding it recorded in "the traditions of Iran and Palestine (or of Japhet and "Shem), but unknown to the Egyptians and Mongolians, "who left earlier the cradle of mankind. In the half ideal, "half traditional notices of the beginning of our race, "compiled in Genesis, we are bid notice the combination " of documents, and the recurrence of barely consistent genealogies." 66 "Baron Bunsen notices the high hand' with which "Jehovah led forth his people, the spoiling of the Egyp 66 tians, and the lingering in the peninsula, as signs, even "in the Bible, of a struggle conducted by human means. "Thus, as the pestilence of the Book of Kings becomes "in Chronicles the more visible angel, so the avenger who "slew the firstborn may have been the Bedouin host, akin nearly to Jethro, and more remotely to Israel. 66 "So in the passage of the Red Sea, the description may 66 "be interpreted with the latitude of poetry: though as it "is not affirmed that Pharoah was drowned, it is no serious "objection that Egyptian authorities continue the reign of Menepthah later. A greater difficulty is that we find "but three centuries thus left us from the Exodus to "Solomon's Temple. Yet less stress will be laid on this by whoever notices how the numbers in the Book of Judges proceed by the eastern round number of forty, "what traces the whole book bears of embodying history "in its most popular form, and how naturally St. Paul or "St. Stephen would speak after received accounts." 66 66 "When the fierce ritual of Syria, with the awe of a "divine voice, bade Abraham slay his son, he did not "reflect that he had no perfect theory of the absolute to "justify him in departing from traditional revelation, but "trusted that the FATHER, whose voice from heaven he "heard at heart, was better pleased with mercy than "with sacrifice; and his trust was his righteousness. Its “seed was sown from heaven, but it grew in the soil of an "honest and good heart. So in each case we trace "principles of reason and right, to which our heart 66 perpetually responds, and our response to which is a "truer sign of faith than such deference to a supposed "external authority as would quench these principles "themselves." It alleged that in these passages Dr. Williams did advisedly maintain and affirm that the statements of Holy Scripture as to historical facts may be read and understood in a wholly figurative sense, and in a non-natural sense, of the plain words and purport thereof. It charged that this opinion was contrary to the sixth and seventh of the Articles of Religion, and to lessons: the following proper 1. The first lesson for evening service on the first Sunday in Lent. Genesis xxii. 2. Second lesson for All Saints' Day. Hebrew xi. Also to the question and answer in the Ordination The TWELFTH COUNT extracted the following passages:-At pages 81 and 87-" Propitiation would be the recovery of that Peace, which cannot be, while Sin "divides us from the Searcher of Hearts." 66 66 "Salvation from evil through sharing the Saviour's "spirit, was shifted into a notion of purchase from God, through the price of his bodily pangs. The deep drama "of heart and mind became externalized into a com“mercial transfer, and this effected by a form of ritual.” It alleged that in these passages Dr. Williams did advisedly maintain and affirm that Christ did not suffer, nor was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile his Father to us, nor to be a sacrifice for the original guilt, as well as for the actual sins of men. That the offering of Christ is not the perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, both original and actual. It charged that this opinion was contrary to the second and thirty-first Articles of Religion, and to the rubric and prayer of conservation in the Communion Service. The THIRTEENTH COUNT extracted the following passage: 66 "was purified by faith; the accompanying symbol, water, "became by degrees the instrument of purification. Holy Baptism was at first preceded by a vow, in which the "young soldier expressed his consciousness of spiritual "truth; but when it became twisted into a false analogy "with circumcision, the rite degenerated into a magical "form, and the Augustinian notion of a curse inherited by "infants was developed in connexion with it." It alleged that in this passage Dr. Williams did advisedly maintain and affirm that the element of water is not a divinely ordained means whereby we receive the spiritual grace in the Sacrament of Baptism. It charged that this doctrine was contrary to the twenty-seventh article of religion and to the Catechism on Baptism. It further alleged that Dr. Williams in the same passage did advisedly maintain and affirm that St. Augustine falsely introduced the notion of original sin attaching to every person born into this world, and deserving God's wrath and damnation. It charged that this doctrine was contrary to the ninth Article of Religion, and to the Baptismal Service. The FOURTEENTH COUNT extracted the following passage: : At page 82-" Thus the Incarnation becomes with our "author as purely spiritual as it was with St. Paul: the "Son of David by birth, is the Son of God, by the spirit "of holiness." It alleged that in this passage Dr. Williams did advisedly maintain and affirm that the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ was purely spiritual, and that the Son of God did not take man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin. It |