mutilation or alteration, because, inventing a meaning of his own for Scripture, he had no need to invent a scripture for his meaning.'

2. The second question is, Whether the declarations made before ordination, and the answers given in that solemn service itself, are mere conditions of admission, attended with no further obligations, or are co-extensive in duration with the clergyman's life, or at least with his exercise of ministerial functions? This is a question on which no doubt can justly arise. The object to be attained by the subscription is not of a transient nature, it is prospective as well as present; and the time can never come, while life lasts, to which it was not intended to reach. Nay, the questions themselves look into the whole future of the clergyman's ministry; and wherever the spirit of their engagements is departed from, a contract is broken,-there is a violation of faith. We again avail ourselves of the vigorous representations of the bishop of Oxford, when he is speaking of the word of God as the rule of the clergyman's faith:

“But remember, also, that the decisions of your church must settle the question for you as her minister. You hold your commission of a teacher on this condition, and you must, as an honest man, lay down that office if you cannot fulfil that condition. She, for instance, has distinctly condemned all the peculiarities of Roman doctrine; you have subscribed to their condemnation as the condition of receiving a commission to be one of her appointed teachers; if you now approve of what you then condemned, you cannot honestly continue to execute an office which you hold on the presumption that you are always ready, without qualification or reserve, to renew that first subscription.' (Addresses, p. 72.)

What is here said of the consequences of embracing errors which the church has condemned is equally applicable to the rejection of the doctrines which the church, by her Articles, has plainly declared and propounded as her faith.

We think we have now fulfilled what we undertook. We have shown that the Thirty-nine Articles (together with the three Creeds, since they are made integral parts of the Articles) are the authorized exponents of the theological system of the church of England; that every clergyman has declared his willing and hearty consent to them, and that the church requires him to take these Articles in their original and grammatical sense; that this declaration of full agreement with the Articles was a condition on which he was ordained; that he still holds his right to minister, subject to his honest adherence to what was so stipulated; and that he is guilty of a breach of faith when he forsakes the doctrine of the church, without renouncing his right to exercise his ministry in her sanctuaries.

What the doctrine of the Articles is lies on their very surface. It cannot be said that their statements are cloudy, and that their meaning cannot easily be discovered. They are only difficult to

deal with when it is wished to twist them into saying some new thing abhorrent to their intention. We therefore judge that it would be a waste of time to draw out their doctrine in full. There they are, at the end of our Prayer Books, speaking plainly for themselves. There is only one of them on which we feel called upon to make any observations; and that, not because the meaning of it is really uncertain, but because advantage has been taken of what it is alleged that it does not declare. We refer to Article VI., "Of the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for salvation." It is alleged that neither in that Article, nor anywhere else, is the inspiration of Scripture made a doctrine of the church. Let us see.

1. The evident intention of the Article is to make the Scriptures the ultimate and conclusive appeal, because they are of divine authority,-God's word.

2. The expressions "holy scripture," "holy writ," and "the word of God," are employed in the Articles as equivalents (compare vi., viii., xvii., xviii., xix., xx., xxi., xxii., xxiv., xxvi., xxviii., xxxiv.); and by calling the canonical books "the word of God,” in many of these, the church "begs the question," (see Essays and Reviews, p. 175,) that is, expresses her own doctrine on the subject; settles, for herself at least, that the Scriptures are inspired.

3. In all reference to Holy Scripture in the subsequent Articles, it is in a sense that regards the Scriptures as conclusive, because divine.

4. The Liturgy is in perfect harmony with this understanding of the Article. (See the Collects for St. Stephen's day, St. Andrew's, St. Mark's, St. Peter's, and that for St. Simon and St. Jude.) But, further, who that believes Scripture to be a human composition, full of errors, can dare to say, even to man, "the Scripture moveth us in sundry places to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness"? Much more, who could induce himself to say, "Blessed Lord, who hast caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning"? or to ask that all bishops, priests, and deacons may be illuminated with true knowledge and understanding of God's holy word; and that all God's people may receive from Him an increase of grace, to hear meekly His word, and to receive it with pure affection; and further to request that all who are praying to Him may be delivered from contempt of His word and commandments? The lips ought to be paralysed by the thought of uttering such words in unbelief of their truth.

But, 5. Ought it not to be enough to settle this point that the clergyman, who has signed his willing and hearty consent to this Article, has also, if in priest's orders, declared his persuasion that "the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity for eternal salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ;" that he is determined to instruct the people according

to that authority; to enforce, as necessary to be received, that only which may be "concluded and proved by the Scriptures;" to make the Holy Scriptures the rule of life for his people, for himself, and for his family; and to drive away all doctrines which are contrary to it? There is here no qualification, no distinction of fallible and infallible; the whole word of God is treated with reverence, as being of conclusive authority.

Whatever, then, may be the comprehensiveness of the church of England with regard to the tenets of her ministers, it does not extend to any dissent from the doctrines contained in her Articles, or to any disregard of the engagements indelibly fixed by her ordinations. There are boundaries openly planted; and beyond these her ministers may not wander, unless they have first resigned their commissions. It may be urged upon any of her clergy,

If, instead of willingly, and from your heart, declaring your belief in the doctrine of the Trinity, as held by the church, you now deny it; if you question the miraculous incarnation, or the vicarious sacrifice and the resurrection of Christ, the sufficiency of Holy Scripture, any of the doctrines of the Creeds, the corruption of man's nature, and his helplessness without grace, his justification as only attainable through faith, and the value of good works as depending on their being the fruits of faith; or if, instead of denying, you hold the Romish doctrines of purgatory, pardons, worshipping of images, adoration of saints, transubstantiation, or the existence of any other satisfaction for sin but that of Christ alone; if you hold anything which the Articles condemn, or reject any of the doctrines which they assert ;you are not only not a true churchman, but you cannot minister, except in violation of your engagements, and without breaking a contract which you have solemnly made; there is no place for you in the ministry of the church of England, excepting by wrong-doing and covenant-breaking!

This may be called narrow-mindedness; but, if so, it is demonstrably the narrow-mindedness of the church of England, which leaves no place open within her pale for the Rationalist, and none for the Romanizer.

We believe that there never was a time when it was more important to look to our landmarks, and to resist all attempts either to break them down, or to provide facilities for overleaping them.

PUBLIC MEETINGS FOR RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES, AND HOW
TO CONDUCT THEM.

In the year 1860 about two thousand five hundred meetings were held, in various parts of the United Kingdom, in aid of the Church Missionary Society; two thousand nine hundred and fifty for the British and Foreign Bible Society; and many besides, for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Church Pastorial Aid Society, the Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, and other religious associations. Some of those were well attended, interesting, and profitable, both to the societies in whose behalf they were held, and to the audiences assembled.

Some were thinly attended; and so dull and uninteresting, that those who were present departed without profit; and the necessary expenses of printing notices, and the travelling of deputations, swallowed up the meagre collections; so that nothing in the way of gain remained for the special objects contemplated.

Surely there must be something wrong here--either this mode of collecting money is not good, or there must be a screw loose in the machinery, local, or moving, which interferes with the proper working of the plan. We intend to look into this matter, and to glance, first, at the necessity for holding provincial public meetings; secondly, to inquire into the causes of failure; and thirdly, to give a few hints, founded upon the experience of "old hands," which may serve, with the Divine blessing, to increase the interest generally felt in the public advocacy of our great religious institutions. First, as to the necessity for holding public meetings. Some worthy people assert that this is not the right mode of collecting money; and that we ought to copy the apostolic model,-" upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." And we have heard of a congregation mentioned at the Conference, on Missions in Liverpool in last May,* which does conform to this model; and the result has been £650 annually. But, while we highly commend this successful application of the apostle's injunction, and wish that nothing more was needed to fill the treasuries of religious societies, we cannot help regarding it as an exceptional case; and we fear that the plan would not answer generally, unless we had apostolic authority to command, and an apostolic spirit in the masses of our people, constraining them to give. Nay, we are convinced, that if this plan were generally adoptedforced on, before the religious state of congregations would warrant it-Bibles for the poor would again be sold at book*Conference Missions, p. 176; Nisbet and Co.

sellers' prices-populous places must forego the aid of additional curates-and England's foreign mission, instead of continually extending, like the beautiful banana-tree, dropping down the branches of Christ's church to grow and bear fruit in foreign lands, would be dried up at the roots, and unable any longer to put forth those "leaves" which are "for the healing of the nations."

We therefore believe that public meetings, well conducted, are necessary in the present state of home congregations; that they are very beneficial, and that they do receive "the blessing of the Lord" which "maketh rich," in money to expend, and in spiritual fruit to be gathered in.

Time was when certain religionists refused to entertain the notion of such meetings; when rigid churchmen gave the reply to diligent canvassing secretaries, "We never allow any societies to be advocated in our parishes unless when we receive a King's letter authorizing the collection to be made." And even in the transition state of feeling upon the subject, so great was the opposition still in some well-meaning quarters, that a venerable prelate, who has passed away from the scene of his labours here below, is said to have been rebuked by a celebrated baron of the Exchequer, because, in committee, he advocated the admission of females to public meetings; and actually had the daring to enter one, of which he himself was president, with a lady of his family leaning on his arm!* Happily that time is only a matter of history, as well as royal letters in behalf of three or four exclusively favoured societies. And now churchmen of every shade, as well as the nonconformist bodies, admit the necessity for, and benefit resulting from, public meetings.

The pulpit is doubtless a powerful engine for the furtherance of good; and the legitimate influence of the pulpit is great. We sincerely wish that "the advance" in the great cause of missions at home and abroad was sounded in every pulpit in the land; and we feel persuaded that, with a little christian boldness on the part of the clergy, this might soon be accomplished. But the pulpit is not sufficient there is not time in a sermon to say enough upon such special topics. The great themes of the pulpit are, salvation by grace through Christ our Redeemer, and the urging upon believers to live "unto Him which died for them and rose again;" and although a bible story, or a missionary fact, comes in most appropriately in illustration of any great principle, yet there is not time, nor is

*We remember a public meeting for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (or Christian Knowledge Society) in the diocese of Chester, at which the bishop) Dr. Blomfield, afterwards

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bishop of London) presided, when, as a special favour, a few ladies were allowed to be present-but they were carefully concealed behind the organ!-EDITOR.