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Lea diagrammas sulvants lilustrant la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 The EDITH and LORNE PIERCE COLLECTION of CANADI ANA Slueen's University at Kingston PE \ Utitrart; kiNOSTON. ONTARIO J AOTBOB PRIHTED • » f PtJSEYlSM EXAMINED. BY J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNE, D. D. AUTHOR or Tm *' HtSTOBT OP THB BSfORHATION i:( TBE aiXTESNTH , CESTTRY." MONTREAL: PRINTED BT LOVELL ft GIBSON, ST. NICHOLAS STnBRT. 1843. ■ BK50?^^1§ tjii*' vv^fiaJS: -i i- , ,, |ii U^^^. v; J ■ ■'•/ ; I fl! 'ill- ■^^r: :.r ri^'' PUSEYISM EXAMINED. I . I ^ 1 GENEVA AND OXFOED. " Two systems of doctrine are now, and probably for the last time, in conflict — the Catholic and Genevan. ' ' Dr. Puseyh Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Gentlemen : I am in the practice, at the opening of the course of lectures in our School, to call your attention to some subject peculiarly appropriate to the wants and the cir- cumstances of the times. Several such subjects now present themselves to our consideration. And first of all, there is one which is appropriate to every year and to every day : it is that which concerns the very nature of this School. It has none of those temporal sources of prosperity, of endowment, and of power, which nourish other institutions ; it can exist only as a plant of God ; it can be nothing excepting just as the Spirit of God — like the sap — diffuses itself, without cessation, through the principal branches, and through even the least of its twigs ; adorning the whole tree with leaves, witli flowers, and with fruits. Gentle- men, Professors, and Students, we are those twigs and brandies. Oli ! that we may not be barren and withered branches ! There is another sulyect which begins greatly to occupy the most distinguished minds ; it is the question whether the Church ought to depend upon the civil i i i.!>w 4 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. government, or ought to have a government of its own, having no dependence, in the last resort, but upon Christ and his word. Without entering here into this ^ important suhject, I would indicate two opposite move- ments, which are at this moment simultaneously taking place under our eyes in the world ; the one in theory, the other in practice. On the one hand, an admirable work, the production of one of the most profound thinkers of our age, Mr. Vinet,* leads some reflect- ing minds to acknowledge the independence of the Church ; and, on the other, many people are uniting themselves with new zeal around the institutions of the government ; so that there are all around us convic- tions and movements which seem to carry away the people of our day by contraiy currents. It is thus that a student of Geneva has just written to us, that the refusal to grant to him the exemption from military duty which the law stipulates in favor of students in Theology, will oblige him to quit our school. "We will always respect authority, but we cannot refrain from remarking that if, as all parties maintain, there has been a radical revolution in Geneva this year, that revolution has not, assuredly, tended to establish among us that equality and that religious liberty, without which all other lil crty is but a useless and dangerous plaything. Howev ^r, it is in France above all that this movement is taking place. A French student writes to us, with regrets which have touched us, that he has united himself again to the Established Chm-ch. When young men, after having pursued in our Preparatory School those first studies which present so many diffi- culties, desire to secure to themselves, by certain measures, a future more easy ; or even to abandon our institution for the purpose of placing themselves in one sustained by government, from which Unitarian and Rationalist doctrines have been banished, we shall be happ * Essai sur la Manifestation des Convictions Religieuses.— r Paris, 1842, I' of its own, but upon •e into this )site move- asly taking in theory, adinirable profound ae reflect- ice of the tre uniting ions of the us convic- awajr the s thus that I, that the tn military tudents in WewiU frain from there has y-ear, that ish among ', without dangerous 11 that this snt writes at he has I. "When eparatory any diffi- f certain ndon oui* es in one rian and ; shall be gieuses.— 1- rUSEYISM EXAMINED. 5 happy to think that we have been able to prepare them in part, with the aid of God our Saviour, for the work of the ministry, and we shall follow them in their career with the same affection, and we hope, with the same prayers. But we ourselves, Gentlemen, will make no advances to the political governments ; we believe that our sole resource is with the Government from above, and knowing the faithfulness of Christ towards those who seek only His glory, assured that there is a place for whomsoever He calls to preach His Gospel, we will ask of Him the confidence that we, teachers and pupils, ought to have in His love, and to make us all continue to walk by faith and not by sight. The circumstances even of the Church in our coun- try might also occupy our attention. Alas ! we have played this year the part of Cassandra. In vain have we presented, as well as we could, the correct principles of Ecclesiastical Government ; in vain, in particular, have we shown that the elders of the Church ought to be chosen by the people of the parishes assembled in their ph^ccs of worship, with their pastors, after having invoked the name of God, and not by municipal coun- cils, oVer which magistrates preside ; our words for a moment licard, have in the end been in vain. We have seen among us, a very strange spectacle ; Ave have seen ecclesiastics, men in other respects truly enlightened, and possessing undoubted talent ippear to fear their parishes, and employ their poAvert, 1 influence to cause the rulers of the Church to be elected, not by the Church, but by the magistrates charged to watch over the maintenance of the roads and public edifices. And now tliat this election has been made, what do people say ? Surprising thing ! Exclamations of astonish- ment and grief are heard, that the political bodies to which some have wished at all price to entrust the ec- clesiastical elections, have made those elections political ; the fall of tlie Church is predicted ; men are now occu- pied with those who are destined infalliblt/ to share the A 2 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. spoilsy* and nothing can equal the zeal which has been employed to obtain this change, unless it be the grief which has been manifested when, as we predicted, its inevitable results have been discovered. Behold, Gen- tlemen, whither ignorance of the first principles of ecclesiastical government, on the part of those who ad- minister the Church, whatever may be, in other re- spects, their illumination, their morality, their patriot- ism, inevitably conducts. If we look beyond this School, beyond this city, into the religious world in general, there are. Gentlemen, other subjects which present themselves. It is thus that we see pious men, seduced, without doubt, by many truths mixed up with strange errors, receive a system come from a town in England, | according to which there is no more Church, although Jesus has promised (Matth. xvi.) that " the gates of hell shall not prevail against it j" and that there ought to be no more pastors and teach- ers, although revelation declares to us that Christ him- self has established " pastors and teachers for the per- fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ," (Ephes. iv. 11, 12.) But, Gentlemen, there is another error ; it is that which is found at the other extremity of the theological line, that I intend now to indicate to you. In the bosom of a University in England, that of Oxford, has grown up an ecclesiastical system which interests and justly grieves all Christendom. It is now some time since some laymen, whom I love and respect, came to me to ask me to write against that dangerous error, I answered that I had neither the time, nor the capacity, nor the documents necessary for the task. But if I am incapable of composing a dissertation, I can at least show in few words how I regard it. It is with me even a duty, since respectable Christians ask it of me ; and * See the Courier of Geneva of the 24th September, 1842. t Plymouth. fDr. Merle here refers to those who are called " Plymouth Brethren.") it is ject f^ I U PUSEYISM EXAMINED. h. has been )€ the grief sdicted, its ihold, Gen- inciples of se who ad- 1 other re- 3ir patriot- 8 city, into Srentlemen, It is thus t, by many e a system '^hich there ed(Matth. ' igainst it;" md teach- hrist him- r the per- nistry, for ^.11,12.) it is that lieological In the Kford, has crests and ome time . came to error. I capacity, But if I JQ at least me even me : and , 1842. are called 'I it is that which has determined mc to choose this sub- ject for the present occasion. ^- i;;;-^- '-jMr Let us comprehend well, Gentlemen, the position which Evangelical Christian Theology occupies. At the epoch of the Reformation, if I may so speak, three distinct eras had occurred in the history of the Church. 1. That of Evangelical Christianity, which, having its focus in the times of the Apostles, extended its rays throughout the first and second centuries of the Church. 2. That of Ecclesiastical Catholicism, which, com- mencing its existence in the third century, reigned till the seventh. 3. That of tlie Papacy, which reigned from the seventh to the fifteenth century. - Such were the three grand eras in the then past his- tory of the Church ; let us see what characterized each one of them. In the first period, the supreme authority was attri- buted to the revealed Word of God. /i .' , In the second, it was, according to some, ascribed to the Church as represented by its bishops. In the third, to the Pope. We acknowledge cheerfully that the second of these systems is much superior to the third ; but it is inferior to the first ! In fact, in the first of these systems it is God who rules. In the second, it is man. In the third, it is, to speak after the Apostle, " that WORKING OP Satan, with all power, and signs and lying wonders," (2 Thess. ii. 9.) The Reformation, in abandoning the Papacy, might have returned to the second of these systems, that is, to Ecclesiastical Catholicism ; or to the first, that is, to Evangelical Christianity. In returning to the second, it would have made half m 8 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. the way. Ecclesiastical Catholicism is, iu effect, a middle system — a via media, as one of the Oxford Doctors has termed it, in a sermon which he has just published. On the one hand, it approaches much to Papacy, for it contains, in the germ, all the principles which are there found. On the other, however, it diverges from it, for it rejects the Papacy itself. The Reformation was not a system of pretended juste milieu. It went the whole way ; and rebounding with that force Avhich God gives, it fell, as at one single leap, into the Evangelical Christianity of the Apostles. But there is now, Gircntlemen, a numerous and pow- erful party in England, supported even by some Bishops, (whose Charges have filled us with astonishment and grief), which would, according to its adversaries, quit the ground of Evangelical Christianity to plant itself upon that of Ecclesiastical Catholicism, with a marked tendency towards the Papacy ; or which, according to what it pretends, would faitlifuUy maintain itself on that hierarchical and semi-Roniish ground, which is, according to it, the true, native, and legitimate founda- tion of the Church of England. It is this movemeut which is, from the name of one of its principal chiefs, called Puseyism. " The task of the true children of the Cathohc Church," says the British Critic, (one of the journals which are the organs of the Oxford party,) " is to un- protestantize the Church." "It is necessary," says one of these doctors,* " to reject entirely and to anathema- tize the principle of Protestantism, as being that of a heresy, with all its forms, its sects, and its denomina- tions." " It is necessary," says another, in his posthu- mous writings,! " to hate more and more the Reforma- tion and the Reformers." In separating tlie Cliurcli from the Reformation, this party pretends to wish not to bring back the Papacy, but to retain the Church in the juste milieu of Eccle- t * ^Ir. Palmer. t Mr. Froude. - ■»»i^t«*M«*^!^ PUSEYISM EXAMINED. m effect, a tlie Oxford I he has just [es much to principles lowever, it self. f pretended I'ebounding one single e Apostles. s and po^v- le Bisliops, ihment and aries, quit plant itself 1 a marked icording to n itself on ■which is, lie founda- movemeut ipal chief:?, i Catholic e journals " is to un- says one mathema- that of a lenomina- is posthu- lieforma- ition, this J Papacy, 3f Eccle- siastical Catholicism. Howeverj^ the fact is not to be disguised, that if it were forced to choose between what it considers two evils, it would greatly prefer Rome to the Reformation. Men highly respectable for their knowledge^ tb^r talents, and their moral character, are found among these theologians. And, let us acknowledge it, the fundamental want which seems to have decided this movement is a legitimate one. There has been felt in England, in the n^dst of all the waves wliich now lieaye and agitate the Church, a want of antiquity ; and men have sought a rock, firm and immoveable, on wliich to plant their footsteps. This want is founded in human nature ; it is also justified by the social and religious state of the present time. I myself tliirst for antiquity. But the doctors of Oxford, do they satisfy, for tlh^^- selves and others, these wants of the age ? I am convinced of the contrary. What a juvenile antiquity is that before which these eminent men pros- trate themselves ! It is the young and inexperienced Christianity of the first ages which they call ancient ; it is to the child that they ascribe the authority of the old man. If it be a question respecting the antiquity of humanity, certainly we are more ancient than the Fathers, for we are fifteen or eighteen centuries older than they ; it is we who have the light of experience and the maturity of gray hairs. But no ; it is not respecting such an antiquity that there can be any question in divine things. The only antiquity to which we hold is that of the " Ancient of days," (Dan. vii. 13,) "of Him who before the moun- tains were brought forth, or ever He had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlast- ing is God." It is " He who is our refuge from age to age," (Ps. xc. I, 2.) The truly ancient document to which we appeal is that " "Word which is settled for ever in Heaven," (Ps. cxix. 89,) and "which shall / '■ i .-'/ . •i 10 PUSETISM EXAMINED. stnnd forever," (Isaiah, xl. 8.) Behold, Gentlemen, our antiquity. Alas ! that which most afflicts us in the learned doc- tors of Oxford, is that whilst the people who surround them hunger and thirst after antiquity, they themselves, instead of leading them to the ancient testimony of the " Ancient of days," only conduct them to puerile no- velties. "What novelties in reality, and what faded ^ novelties ! — ihsii purgatory, those human pardons, tho&e images, those relics, that invocation of the saints, which these doctors would restore to the Church.* What immense and monstrous innovation that Rome to which they would have us return ! Who are the innovators, I demand ? Those who say as we do, with the eternal Word : " God hath be- gotten us of His own will, with the word of truth," (Jas. i. 18,) or those who say as do the " Tracts for the Times:" "Rome is our mother, it is by her that we have been born to Christ." Those who say as we do, with the eternal Word : " Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in de- parting from the living Gor," (Ileb. iii. 12,) or those who say, as do tlicso doctors : " In losing visible union with the Cliurch of Rome, we have lost great privi- leges, "f Certainly the doctors of Oxford are the in- novators. The partisans of Rome, that grand innovation in Christendom, donotliorc deceive tlieinsclves ; they hail in these new doctors, advocates of Romish novelties. The famous Romisli Doctor AViseman writes to Lord Shrewsbury : "We can coiuit certainly on a prompt, zealous, and able co-o])eration to bring the Church of England to obedience to tlio See of Rome. When I read, in their clironohxrical order, the writings of the theologians of Oxford, I se(> in the clearest manner these doctors npproximaling from day to day our holy Tracts for Tho Times, No. 90, Art. G. f British Critic. 'i Church, our Pop rites, on saints, a eyes, mo our own And protestal matter, at bottoi Church, that whi Such, place in men, so trious. to the -A the pres< And it ments t member what w€ Gent! have ne astical tion of ] Christia terns wl Ther tial ; it which i Ther the firsi because or cons ' the ma which \ ♦Lett PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 11 ■entlemen, imed doc- ) surround lemselves, my of the uerile no- Iiat faded ions, those 'nts, which * Wliat J to which 'hose who i hath be- of truth," Tracts for 7 her that say as we thren, lest lief in de- ) or those ible union 'cat privi- rc the in- vation in tbey hail novelties. s to Lord I prompt, 'hurch of' Wlien I gs of the manner our holy Critic. Church, both as to doctrine and good- will. Our Saints, otir Popes, become more and more dear to them ; our rites, our ceremonies, and even the festivals of our saints, and our days of fasting, are precious in their eyes, more precious, alas, than in the eyes of many of our own people." And the doctors of Oxford, notwithstanding their protestations, do they not concur in this view of the matter, when they say : " the tendency to Romanism is at bottom only a fruit of the profound desire which the Church, greatly moved, experiences to become again that which the Saviour left her, — One."* Such, Gentlemen, is the movement which is taking place in that Church of England, which so many pious men, so many Christian works, have rendered illus- trious. Dr. Pusey has had reason to say in his letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury : " upon the issue of the present struggle depend the destinies of our Church." And it is worth while for us to pause here a few mo- ments to examine what party we ought to prefer, as members of the ancient Church of the continent, and what we have to do in this grave and solemn crisis. Gentlemen, we ought to profess frankly that we will have neither the Papacy, nor the via media of Ecclesi- astical Catholicism, but remain firm upon the founda- tion of Evangelical Christianity. In what consists this Christianity when it is opposed to the two other sys- tems which we rgect ? ' There are in it things essential and things unessen- tial ; it is of that only which forms its essence ; of that which is its principle, that I would here speak. There are three principles which form its essence ; the first is that which we may call its formal principle, because it is the means by which this system is formed or constituted ; the second is that which may be called the material principle, because it is the very doctrine which constitutes this religious system ; the thirdi I * Letter of Dr. Fusey to the Arohbbhop of Canterbury. 12 PUSEYISM EXAinNED. can the personal or moral principle, because it concerns' the application of Christianity to the soul of each in- dividual. The formal principle of Christianity is expressed in few words : The TVoKD OP God, ONLY. .• That is to say, the Christian receives the knowledge of the truth only by the Word of God, and admits of no other source of religious knowledge. The material principle of Christianity is expressed with equal brevity : The Grace of Christ, only. That 18 to say, the Christian receives salvation only by the grace of Christ, and recognises no other meri- torious cause of eternal life. The personal principle of Christianity may be ex- pressed in the most simple terms : The Work op the Spirit, only. That is to say, there must be in each soul that is saved a moral and individual work of regeneration, wrought by the Spirit of God, and not by the stmj^le concurrence of the Church,* and the magic influencei of certain ceremonies. Gentlemen, recall constantly to your minds these three simple truths : The Word of Cod, oi^tY ; , , . The Grtite of Christy only ; The Work of the Spirit, only ; and they will truly b^ " a lamp to your feet and alight to your pjiths." ■ ' - ■ '■_'.'' ♦The words which are used in the French ta^tu^onction dc VEgliae^ and are employed to express that additional or concur- rent influence which the Church is believed, by the PuseyitM, to exert in r^geiieration by her mini8trationfl.--ivo<« hy the TV, some ^•;.a»t' PtTSETiSM E2tAMlNEt>. 13 e it concerns of each in- expressed in I e knowledge nd admits of is expressed Ivation only other meri- may be ex- r. soul that is sgeneration, T the siteple ic influencei runds these and alight adjonctiondc al or concur- Pusentes, to t the TV, These are the three great beacons which the Holy Spirit has erected in the Church. Their effulgence should spread from one end of the world to the other. So long as they shine, the Church walks in the light ; as soon as they shall become extinct or even obscured, darkness like that of Egypt will settle upon Christen- dom. But, Gentlemen, it is precisely these three funda- mental principles of Evangelical Christianity which are attacked and overthrown by the new system of Ecclesi- astical Catholicism. It is not to some minor point, to some doctrine of secondary importance that they direct their attention at Oxford; it is to that which constitutes the essence even of Christianity and of the Reformation, to those truths so important that, as Luther said, '* with them the Church stands, and without them the Church falls." Let us consider them. I. The formal principle of Evangelical Christianity is this: The Word op God, only. He who would know and possess the Truth, in order to be saved, ought to address himself to that revelation of God which is contained in the Sacred Scriptures, and to reject everything which is human addition, everything which, like the work of man, is justly sus- pected of being stamped with the impress of a deplorable mixture of error. There is one sole source at which the Christian quenches his thirst; it is that stream, clear, limpid, perfectly pure, which flows from the throne of God. He turns his lips away from every other fountain which flows parallel with it, or which would pretend to mix itself with it; for he knows that because of the source whence these streams issue, they all contain troubled, unwholesome, perhaps deadly waters. The sole, ancient, eternal stream, is God; the new, ephemeral, failing stream, is man: and we will quench 14 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. our thirst but in God alone. God is for us, so full of a sovereign majesty, that we would regard as an outrage, and even as impiety, the attempt to put anything by the side of His Word. But this is what the authors of the novelties of Oxford are doing. " The Scriptures," say they, in the Tracts for the TimeSf " it is evident are not, according to the principles of the Church of England, the Rule of Faith. The doctrine or message of the Gospel, is but indirectly presented in the Scriptures, and in an obscure and con- cealed manner."* " Catholic tradition," says one of the two principal chiefs of this school,f " is a divine informer in religious things; it is the unwritten word. These two things, (the Bible and the Catholic tradi- tions,) form together a united rule of Faith. Catholic tradition is a divine source of knowledge in all things relating to Faith. The Scriptures are only the docuf ment of ultimate appeal ; Catholic tradition is the autho- ritative teacher." " Tradition is infallible," says another doctor;! "*^^ unwritten word of God, of necessity, demands of us the same respect which his written word does, and precisely for the same reason, — ^because it is His word." " We demand that the whole of the Catholic traditions should be taught," says a third. § Behold, Gentlemen, one of the most pestiferous errors which can be disseminated in the Church. Whence has Rome and Oxford derived it? Certainly the respect which we entertain for the incontestable science of these doctors shall not prevent us from saying it: This error can come from no other source than the natural aversion of the heart of fallen man for everything that the Scriptures teach. It can be nothing else than a depraved will which leads man to put the Sacred Scriptures aside. Men first abapdon the fountain of living waters, and then hew for them- ♦Tract 85. f Newman, Lecture on ftomamsm. :Keeble's Sermons. i Palmer's Aids to Befi^cUw. f ; i PUSEYI8M EXAMINED. 15 sofuUofa In outrage, (ting by the of Oxford the Tracts ing to the le of Faith, indirectlj and con- Lja one of is a divine tten word, lolic tradi- Catholic all things the docuf the autho- :tor4 "the inds of us does, and His word." ! traditions rous errors Certainly ontestable : us from aer sowce n man for t can be is man to '• abandon for them- >;i selves, here and there, cisterns which will hold no water. Here is a truth which the history of every Church teaches in its successive falls and errors, as well as that of every soul in particular. The theologians of Oxford only follow in the way of all flesh. Behold, then. Gentlemen, two established authorities by the side of each other: The Bible and Tradition. We do not hesitate as to what we have to do : To THE Law and to the Testimony ! We cry with the prophet : " K they speak not according to His word, it is because there is no light in them : and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish ; and they shall be driven to darkness." (Isa. viii. 20, 22.) We reject this Tradition as being a species of Ration- alism which introduces, for a rule in Christian doctrine, not the human reason of the present time, but the human reason of the times past. We declare, with the Churches of the Reformation in their symbolical writings, (Confessions of Faith,) that "the Sacred Scriptures are the only judge, the only rule of Faith;" that it is to them, as to a touch-stone, that all dogmas ought to be brought ; that it is by them that the ques- tion should be decided, whether they are pious or impi- ous, true or false.* Without doubt there was originally an oral tradition which was pure ; it was the instructions given by the Apostles themselves, before the sacred writings of the New Testament existed. However, even then, the Apostle and the Evangelist, Peter and Barnabas, (Gal. ii. 13.) could not walk uprightly, and consequently stumbled ^;^their words. The divinely inspired Scrip- tures alone are infallible : the word of the Lord endureth forever. But, however pure was oral instruction from the time that the Apostles quitted the earth, that tradition was necessarily exposed in this world of sin, to be little by little defaced, polluted, corrupted. It is for Befloction. •Formula of Agreement. 16 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. this cause that the Evangelical Church honours and adores, with gratitude and humihty, that gracious good pleasure of the Saviour, in virtue of which that pure, primitive type, that first Apostolic tradition, in all its purity, has been rendered permanent, by being written, by the Spirit of God himself, in our sacred books, for all coming tin:^. And now she finds in those writings, as we have just heard, the divine touchstone, which she employs for the purpose of trying all the traditions of men. Nor does she establish concurrently, as do the doctors of Oxford and the Council of Trent, the tradition which iswritten and the tradition which is oral ; but she deci- dedly renders the latter subordinate to the former, because one cannot be sure that this oral tradition is only and truly Apostolical tradition, such as it was in its primitive purity. The knowledge of true Christianity, says the Pro- testant Church, flows only from one source,, namely, from the Holy Scriptures, or, if you will, from the Apostolic tradition, such as we find it contained in the ^vritings of the New Testament. The Apostles of Jesus Chrish, — ^Peter, Paul, John, Matthew, James, — ^peform their functions in the Church today ; no one has need, no one has the power to take their place. They perform their functions at Jerusalem, at Geneva, at Corinth, at Berlin, at Paris ; they bear testimony in Oxford and in Rome itself. They preach, even, to the ends of the world, the remis- sion of sins and conversion of the soul in the name of the Saviour ; they announce the resurrection of the Crucified to every creature ; they loose and they retain sins ; they lay the foundation of the house of God and they build it j they teach the missionaries and the min- isters of the Gospel; they reguhite the order of the Church, and preside in Synods which would be Chris- tian. They do all this by the written Word which they liave left us. Or rather, Christ, Christ himself, does it bjr that Word, since it is the Word of Christ, rather a ms^ )nours and icious good that pure, -, in all its [ng written, books, for 36 writing^ \, which she litions of the doctors ition which »t she deci- he former, tradition is IS it was in 3 the Pro- e^ namely, I from the ined in the *aul, John, IS in the the power mctions at at Paris ; 3me itself, the remis- e name of on of the hey retain God and ■ the min- er of the be Chris- hich they If, does it 3t, rather PUSETISH EXAMINED. I J tjian the word of Paul, of Peter, or of James. " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations ; lo, I am witli you always, even to the end of the world." (Matth. ^xviii* 19, 20.) Without doubt, as to the number of their words, the Aposles spoke more than they wrote ; but as to the substance, they said nothing more than what they have left us in their divine books. And if they had taught by the mouth, as to the substance, differently or more explicitly than they did by their writings, no one could at this day be in a state to report to us, with assurance, even one syllable of these instructions. If God did not wi^ to preserve them in His Bible, no one can come to His aid, and do what God Himself has not wished to do, and what he has not done. If, in the writings more or less doubtful, of the companions of the Apostles, or of those Fathers who are called Apostolical, one should find any doctrine of the Apostles, it would be neces- sary, first of all, to put it to the trial, in comparing it with the certain instructions of the Apostles, that is with the Canon of the Scriptures. So much for tlie tradition of the Apostles. Let us pass from the times when they lived to those which succeeded. Let us come to the tradition of the doctors of the first centuries. That tradition is, without doubt, of great value to us ; but by the very fact of its being presbyterian, episcopal, or syuodical, it is no more Apostolical. And let us suppose, (what is not true,) that it does not contradict itself; and let us suppose, that one Father does not overthrow what anotlier Fa- ther has established, (as is often the case,) and Abelard has proved it in his famous work entitled tlic *SVc et Non, whose recent publication we owe to the care of a French philosopher* ; — let us suppose for a mo- ment, that one might reduce this tradition of the * ■ 1 1 ir I II I -..-—. *Ouvrages in^dit^s d* Abelard, published by Mr. Victor Cou- sin. Paris, 1836. The Introduction to this work, upon the history of Scholastic Philosophy in France, is a chef-d'auvrc. ij2 Hi 18 ilftJSEVlSlrf EXAHnNED. Fathers of the Church to a harmony similar to that which the Apostolical tradition presents, the canon which might be obtained thus could in no manner be placed on an equality with the canon of the Apos- tles.* "Without doubt, — and we acknowledge it, — ^the de- clarations of Christian doctors merit our attention, if it is the Holy Spirit which speaks in them, that Spirit ever living and ever acting in the Church. But we will not, we absolutely will not allow ourselves to be bound by that which, in this tradition and in these doctors, is only the work of man. And how shall we distinguish that which is of Gwl from that which is of men, but by the Holy Scriptures ? " It r^nains," says St. Augustine, "that I judge myself according to this only Master, from whose judgment I desire not to escape."! "^h® declarations of the doctors in the Church are only the testimonies of the faith which these eminent men had in the doctrines of the Scrip- tures. They show how these doctors received these doctrines ; they may, without doubt, be instructive and edifying for us; but there is no authority in them which binds us; All the doctors, Greek, Latin, French, Swiss, German, English, American, placed in the pre- sence of the Word of God, are, altogether, only dis- ciples who are receiving instrucfion. Men of the first times, men of the last, we are all alike upon the benches of that divine School j and in the chair of instruction, around which we are humbly assembled, nothing ap- pears, nothing elevates itself, but the infallible Word of God. I perceive, in that vast auditory, Calvin, Luther, Cranmer, Augustine, Chrysostom, Athanasius, Cyprian, by the side of our contemporaries. We are not " dis- ciples of Cyprian and Ignatius," as the doctors of Ox- fordj call themselves ; but of Jesus Christ. " We (C Ui^ *Nitzsch, Protestantiche Theses. +Retract. In Prol. :j:Newinan on BomanLim. r > |ar to that |the canon lanner be the Apos> ', — the de- ition, if it ;hat Spirit But we |lves to be in these V shall we hich is of lins," says ing to this re not to •s in the ith which the Scrip- ved these iictive and in them 1, French, a the pre- only dis- f the first 3 benches Jtruction, hing ap- Word of , Luther, Cyprian, ot "dig. 5 of Ox- . "We puseYism examined: do not despise the writings of tiie Fathers," we say with Calvin, " but in making use of them we remem- ber always that all things are ours" (1 Cor. iii. 22) j that they ought to serve, not govern us ; and that " we, we are Christ's" (1 Cor. iii. 23), whom in all things, and without exception, it behooves us to obey."* This the doctors of the first centuries are themselves the first to say. They claim for themselves no au- thority, and only wish that the Word which has taught them may teach us also. " Now that I am old," says Augustine, in his Retractions, " I do not expect not to stumble in word, or to be perfect in word ; how much less when, being young, I commenced writing ?" f " Beware," says he again, " of subjecting yourself to my writings, as if they were Canonical Scriptures."J " Do not esteem as Canonical Scriptures the works of Catholic and justly honored men," says he elsewhere. " It is allowed us, without impeaching that honor which is due to them, to reject those things in their writings, should we find such in them, which are contrary to the Truth. I am, in regard to the writings of others, what I would have others be in regard to mine."§ "All that has been said since the time of the Apostles ought to be retrenched," says Jerome, " and have no authority. However holy, however learned, a man may be, who comes after the Apostles, let him have no authority."|| "Neither Antiquity nor Custom," says the Confession of the Reformed Church of France, "ought to be arrayed in opposition to the Holy Scriptures ; on the contrary, all things ought to be examined, regulated and reformed according to them." And the Confession of the English Church even says, the doctors of Oxford to the contrary not^vith- standing : " The Holy Scriptures contain all that is necessary to salvation, so that all that is not found in them, all that cannot be proved by them, cannot be *Calv. Inst. Relig. Christ, fRetractions. tin ProL de Trinitate. §Ad Fortunatianum. ||In Fsalm. Ixxxvi.- . . T 'iaiV«l>4!t 20 PU8ETI3M EXAMINED. ) f 1 f ■ III required of any one as an article of faith or as necessary to salvation." Thus the Evangelical doctors of our times give the hand to the Reformers, the Reformers to the Fathers, the Fathers to the Apostles ; and thus forming, as it were, a chain of gold, the whold Church of all ages and of all people, shouts forth as with one voice to the God of Truth, that hymn of one of our greatest poets :* Parle seul a mon cceur, et qu'aucune prudence, Qu'aucun autre Docteur ne m'explique tes lois ; Que toute creature en ta sainte presence S'impose le silence, , * ,^ Et laisse agir ta voix If < . What then is Tradition ? It is the testimony of His- tory. There is a historical testimony for the facts of Chris- tian history, as well as for those of any other history. "We admit that testimony ; only we would discuss it, and examine it, as we would all other testimony. The heresy of Rome and of Oxford,— and it is that which distinguishes them from us, — consists in the fact that they attribute infallihility to this testimony as to Scrip- ture itself. Although we receive the testimony of History in that which is true, as, for example, in that which relates to the collection of the writings of the Apostles ; it by no means results from this that we should receive this testi- mony in that which is false, as, for instance, in the adoration of Mary, or the celibacy of the priests. The Bible is the Faith, holy, authoritative, and truly ancient, of the child of God ; human Tradition springs from the love of novelties, and is the Faith of igno- rance, of superstition, and of a credulous puerility. How deplorable but instructive, to sec doctors of a *Comeille. f Speak Thou alone to my heart, and let no other "Wisdom, no other Doctor explain to me Thy laws ; let every creature be silent in Thy holy presence, and let Thy voice speak 1 / \ instinct, or rather, this intelligence, which emanates from the virtue of the Holy Spirit. Eveiy Christian, (the Word declares it,) is called upon to reject "every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh," (1 John, iv. 1 — 5) And this is what is essen- tially meant, when it is said that the Church is the judge of controversies ! Yes, I believe and confess it, — there is an authority in the Church, and without authority the Church cannot stand. 13ut where is it to be found ? Is it with him, whoever he may be, that has the external consecra- tion,|whethcr he possess or not theolological gifts, whether he has received or not grace and justification ? Rome herself does not yet pretend that orders save and sanc- tify. Must then the children of God go, in many cases, to ask a decision in things relating to faith, of the children of this world ? What ! a bishop, from the moment he is seated in his chair, although he may be perhaps destitute of science, destitute of the Spirit of God, and although he may perhaps have the world and hell in his heart, as had Borgia and so many other bishops, shall he have authority in the assembly of the saints, and do his lips possess always the wisdom and the truth necessary for the Church ?... No, Gentlemen, the idea of a knowledge of God, true, but at the same time destitute of holiness, is a gross supernaturalism. « Sanctif; xvii. 17) [that autl I not a ma Gregory, Irenaeus with a p" those mc the worl cession, ministry Rejec from the of the \ of him things : « What (Luke : is what « You : xvi.29^ That who " things «W most e: Beh true p humai God 1 receiv Su come that^ Wei :..«»*■■ *< PUSETI8M EXAMINED. 23 [e Catholic of contro- 'at is the 'uncils, still |le, it is the (t which is •en of God, pshopj and •t of God, the instinct ijurious to iristian this emanates Christian, |ect "every some in the is essen- irch is the 1 authority le Church Is it with I consecra- ifcs, whether 1 ? Rome and sanc- in many faith, of , from the e may be ! Spirit of ^orld and any other Wy of the 3dom and jntlemen, the same turalism. ' ** Sanctify them tlirough the Truth" says Jesus, (John, xvii. 17). There is an authority in the Church, but that authority is wholly in the Word of God. It is not a man, not a minister, not a bishop, descended from Gregory, from Chrysostom, from Augustine, or from Irenaeus, who has authority over the soul. It is not with a power so contemptible as that which comes from tiiose men, that we, the ministers of God, go forth into the world. It is elsewhere than in that episcopal suc- cession, that we seek that which gives authority to our ministry, and validity to our sacraments. Rejecting these deplorable innovations, we appeal from them to the ancient, sovereign and divine authority of the Word of the Lord. The question which we ask of him who would inform himself concerning eternal things is that which we receive from Jesus himself : " What is written in the Law, and how readest thou ?" (Luke X. 26.) That which we say to rebellious spirits is what Abraham said from heaven to the rich man : " You have Moses and the prophets, hear them." (Luke xvi. 29). That which we ask of all, is to imitate the Bereans, who "searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so." (Acts xvii. 11). " We ought to obey God rather than men," even the most excellent of men, (Acts v. 29). Behold, the true authority, the true hierarchy, the true polity. The churches which men make possess human authority-^this is natural. But the Church of God possesses the authority of God, and she will not receive it from others. IL Such is the formal principle of Christianity ; let us come now to its material principle, that is to say, to that which is the body, the substance even, of religion. We have announced it in these terms : iiilV:' •»(■ /I «l 24 PXrSEYISM EXAMmED. The Grace of Christ, only. " Ye are saved by grace, through faith," says the Scripture, " and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God ; not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. ii. 8.) Evangelical Christianity not only seeks for complete salvation in Christ, but seeks it in Christ only, thus excluding, as a cause of salvation, all works of his own, all merit, all co-operation of man or of the Church. There is nothing, absolutely nothing upon which we can build the hope of our salvation, but the free and viimeritcd grace of God, which is given to us in Christ, and communicated by faith. Now, this second great foundation of Evangelical Christianity is equally overthrown by the modern Ecclesiastical Catholicism. The famous Tract, No. 90, which I hold in my hand at this moment, seeks to explain in a papisticle sense the Confession of Faith of the Church of England. The 1 1th article of this Confession says : " That we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome doc- trine." Behold the commentary of the new School of Oxford: "In adhering to the doctrine that faith alone justifies, we do not at all exclude the doctrine that works also justify If it were said that works justify in the same sense in which it is said that faith alone justifies, there would be a contradiction in terms. But faith alone in one sense justifies us, and in another, good works justify us : this is all that is here maintained I.... Christ alone, in one sense justifies, faith also justifies in its proper sense ; and so works, whether moral or ceremonial may justify us in their respective senses." " There are," says the British Critic, " some Catholic truths which are imprinted on the surface of the Scrip- ture rather than eveloped in its profound meaning ; such is the doctrine of justification by works." " The preaching of Justification by Faith," says another doc- I tor of tl by the j moters c by wor never ! Justi judicial death o it is 001 work o <' Ju "is a Holy I tween ( from si calls tl " radic heretic prevai' all oc< and m teachii those ^ which Iki found trine i "San Godi Justil thed( ofR'^ ofCli of th Chur ford PUSEYISM EXAMINED. m says the the gift of St." (Eph. |r complete 1 o%, thus bf his own, lie Church. which we ■free and in Christy vangelical modern e n my hand iticle sense gland. '" That we some doc- )f Oxford: 3 justifies, vorks also the same fies, there 1 alone in ks justify ist alone, s proper remonial Catholic ie Scrip - teaning ; "The her doc- tor of this School, " ought to be addressed to Pagans by the propagators of Christian knowledge ; its pro- moters ought to preach to baptized persons justification by works." — "Works, yes : but justification by them, never ! Justification is not, according to these doctors, that judicial act by which God, for the sake of the expiatory death of Christ, declares that He treats us as righteous; it is confounded by them, as well as by Rome, with the work of the Holy Spirit. *' Justification," says again the chief of these doctors, " is a progressive work ; it must be the work of the Holy Spirit and not of Christ. The distinction be- tween deliverance from the guilt of sin and deliverance from sin itself, is not scriptural."* The British Critic calls the system of Justification by grace through faith "radically and fundamentally monstrous, immoral, heretical and anti-Christian." " The custom which has prevailed," say again these doctors, " of advancing, on all occasions, the doctrine of Justification explicitly and mainly, is evidently and entirely opposed to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures."! And they condemn those who make " Justification to consist in the act by which the soul rests upon the merits of Christ only."J I know tliat the doctors of Oxford pretend to have found here a middle term between the Evangelical doc- trine and the Romish doctrine. " It is not," say they, " Sanctification which justifies us, but the presence oif God in us, from which this sanctification flows. Our Justification is the possession of this presence." But the doctrine of Oxford is at bottom the same with that of Rome. The Bible speaks to us of two great works of Christ ; Christ for us, and Christ in us. Which of tliese two works is that which justifies us ? The Church of Christ answers : The first. Rome and Ox- ford answer : The second. When this is said, all is said. 'Newman, on Justification. fTract 80. {Ncwmuu, on Justification. C «i :@»pf ■*» '-^■*""'— - ;^'- 26 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. And these doctors do not conceal it. They Inform us that it is the system against which they stand up. They declare to us that it is against the idea, that, when the sinner " has by faith laid hold of the saving merits of Christ, his sins are blotted out, covered, and cannot reappear ; his guilt has been abolished, so that he has only to render thanks to Christ, who has de- livered him from his transgressions." — "My Lord," says Dr. Pusey to the Bishop of Oxford, " it is against this system that I have spoken" Stop ! Do not tear to pieces this Good News, which alone has been, and will be in all ages, the consolation of the sinner ! Gentlemen, if the first principle of this new School had for effect to deprive the Church of all light, this second principle would have for its end to deprive her of all salvation. " If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth : received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (Gal. ii. 21, iii. 2, 3.) Men the most eminent for piety, have felt that it is the source even of the Christian life, the foundation of the Church, which is here attacked : " There is rea- son," says the excellent Bishop of Winchester, who, as well as several other Bishops, and particularly those of Chester and Calcutta, has denounced these errors, in a Charge addressed to his clergy, " there is reason to fear that the distinctive principles of our Church would be endan«^crcd, if men should envelop in a cloud the great doctrine which sets forth the way in which we are accounted righteous before God; if men doubt that the Protestant doctrine of Justification by faith is funda- mental ; if, instead of the sacrifice of Christ, the pure and only cause for which we arc graciously received, men establish a certain inherent disposition of sanc- tifioation, and thus confound the work of the Spirit within with the work of Christ without." The School of Oxford pretends, with Rome and the Council of Trent, "that justification is the indwelling m us, 01 I by the B " from eac only one Godl absolves from sin Are t The I be just ] image c pardon in the ] *L ,^i-'Pi»4Sl'jraBB sy inform stand up. idea, that, [he saving ered, and d, so that o has de- j Lord," is against *o not tear been, and er ! w School light, this eprive her y the law, tians, who the truth : law, or by ; that it is ndation of re is rea- r, who, as y those of frors, in a ion to fear would be the great h we are »t that the is funda- the pure received, of sanc- lie Spirit 3 and tlic 'dwelling PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 27 I in us, of God the Father and of the incarnate Word, by the Holy Spirit, and that the two acts distinguished from each other by the Bible and our theologians form only one."* — What then ? God 1. remits to the sinner the penalty of sin ; he absolves him ; he pardons him ; 2. he delivers him from sin itself; he renews him ; he sanctifies him. . , Are there not here two things ? The pardon of sin on the part of God, would it not be just nothing at all ? Would it not be simply but an image of sanctification ? Or should one say that the pardon which is granted to faith, and which produces in the heart the sentiment of reconciliation, of adop- tion, and of peace, is something too external to be taken into the account ? " The Lutheran system," says the British Critic, " is immoral, because it distinguishes these two works." Without doubt, it does distinguish them, but it does not separate them. " See wherefore we are justi- fied," says Melancthon, in the Apology for the Confes- sion of Augsburg ; " it is in order that being righteous we should do good, and begin to obey the law of God ; see, here why it is that we are regenerated and receive the Holy Spirit ; it is that the new life may have new works, and new dispositions." How many times has not the Reformation declared that justifying faith is not an historical, dead, vain knowledge, but a living action, a willing and a receiving, a work of the Holy Spirit, the true worship of God, obedience towards God in the most important of all moments. Yes, it is a living, efficacious faith which justifies ; and these words effi- cacious faith — which are found in all our Confessions of Faith — are there for the purpose of declaring that faith alone, without doubt, serves as a cause in the work of justification, that alone, without doubt, it jus- tifies, but that precisely because of this it does not rest alone, that is to say, without its appropriate operations and its fruits. *Letter of Dr. Pusoy to tho Bishop of Oxford. ^■t-aoaBfs'. r -"■•■ •' — irw 1 1 58 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. I ;i J ■f'\ (I Behold, the grand difference between us and the Ox- ford School. We believe in sanctification through jus- tification, and the Oxford School believes in justification through sanctification. With us, justification is the cause and sanctification is the effect. With these doc- tors, on the contrary, sanctification is the cause, and justification the effect. And here are not things indif- ferent, and vain distinctions ; it is the sic and the non, the yes and the no. Whilst our creed establishes in all their rights these two worksj the creed of Oxford compromises and annihilates both. Justification exists no more, if it depend on man's sanctification, and not on the grace of God j for " the heavens," says the Scripture, "are not clean in his sight," (Job xv. 15), " and his eyes are too pure to behold iniquity," (Hab. i. 13) ; but on the other hand sanctification itself can- not be accomplished; for how could you expect the effect to bo produced when you begin by taking away the cause ? " Herein is love," says St. John, " not that we loved God, but that He loved us ; we love Him because he first loved us." (1 John, iv. 10, 19.) If I might use a vulgar expression, I should say that Oxford puts the cart before the korse, in placing sanctification before justification. In this way neither the cart nor the horse will advance. In order that the work should go on, it is necessary that tliat which draws should be placed before that which is drawn. There is not a system more contrary to true sanctification than that ; and, to employ tlie language of the British Critic, there is not, consequently, a system more monstrous and im- moral. What ! your justification, shall it not depend upon the work which Christ accomplished on the cross, but upon that which is accomplished in your hearts I It is not to Christ, to liis grace, that you ought to look in order to be j ustified, but to yourselves, to the right- eousness which is in you, to your spiritual gifts I.... From this result two great evils. Either you will deceive yourselves, in believing that there is a work in you sufficiently good to justify you s PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 29 3 theOx- •ough jus- jstification •n is the hese doc- ^ause, and |ngs indif- the non, •lishes in 'f Oxford tion exists I, and not says the b XV. 15), 7," (Hab. tself can- [xpect the king away "not that love Him 19.) If I lat Oxford ictification cart nor >rk should should be ! is not a lan that ; itiCf there 3 and im- 3t depend the cross, r hearts I t to look he right- say, an to err as \ and we XX. 2.) herefore, the soul, Station of show of . ii. 23.) Church, 'piritual, affair of a clearly already Chester, stem of lal and sight of their internal signification and the spiritual life, may have upon the character, the efficacy and the truth of our Church ; a system, which robs the Church of its brightest glory, and, forgetting the continual presence of the Lord, seems to depose Him from His just pre- eminence ; a system, which tends to put the observance of days, months, times and seasons, in the place of a true and spiritual worship ; which subtitutes a spirit of hesitation, fear and doubt, for the cordial obedience of filial love ; a slavish spirit for the liberty of the Gospel ; and which, indeed, calls upon us to work out our sanctification with fear and trembling ; but without any foretaste of the rest that remaineth for the people of God, without giving us joy in believing."* The universal Church of Christ rejoices to hear such words. She beholds, with gratitude towards her divine Head, the firmness, with which some bishops, ministers, and laymen of England meet this growing evil. But is this enough ? Is it enough to retain, on the edge of a precipice, a Church and a people, hitherto so dear to the friends of the Gospel ? Oxford conducts to Rome ; Mr. Sibtliorp and others have proved it. The march of Puseyism regularly inclining, from Tract to Tract, towards the pure system of the Papacy, demonstrates clearly enough the end to which it tends. And even if it should not eftect a total conversion to Popery — what signifies it, since it is nothing else than the Popish system, (in its essential features,) transferred to England ? It is not necessary that the Thames should go to Rome to bear the tribute of its waters : the Tiber flows in Oxford. England owes everything to the Reformation. What was she before the renovation of the Church ? Blindly submissive to the Tudors, her forms of government, both political and ecclesiastical, were superannuated, without life and spirit ; so that in England, as in almost all Europe, we might say, with a Christian statesman, ♦Chai'ge delivered by Ch. R. Sumner, D. D., Lord Bishop of Winchester, 1841. ^awiJCSSswj! 36 PUSEYISM EXAMINED. that " despotism seemed the only preservative against dissolution."* The Reformation developed, in an admi- rable manner, that Christian spirit, that love of liberty, that fear of God, that loyal affection for the sovereign, . that patriotism, those generous sacrifices, that genius, that strength, that activity, which constitute the pros- perity and glory of England. In the age of the Reformation, Catholic Spain, gorged with the blood of the children of God, fell, overthrown by the Almighty Arm, and reformed England ascended, in her stead, the throne of the seas, which has been justly termed the throne of the world. The winds which engulphed the Armada called up this new power from the depths. The country of Philip II., wounded to the heart because she had attacked the people of God, dropped from her hand the sceptre of the ocean ; and the country of Elizabeth, fortified by the "Word of God, found it floating on the seas, seized it, and wielded it to bring into subjection to the King of Heaven the nations of the earth. It is the Gospel that has given to England our antipodes.^ It is the God of the Gospel who has bestowed upon her all that she possesses. If in those distinguished islands the Gospel were to fall under the united attacks of Popery and Puseyism, we might write upon their hitherto triumphant banner : " Ioha- BOD, the glory of the Lord is departed." God has given the dominion of the seas to nations who bear, every where, with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But if, instead of the Good News of Salvation, England carries to the heathen a mere human and priestly religion, God will deprive her of her power. The evil is already great. In India the Puseyite missionaries are satisfied with teaching the natives rites and ceremonies, without troubling themselves about the conversion of the heart ; tlius treading closely in the steps of the Roman Catholic Church. They ♦Archives of the House of Orange-Nassau, published at the Hague, by Mr, Groen Van Prinsterer, Counsellor of State. fNew Zealand, [ive against n an admi- of liberty, sovereign, at genius, the pros- Lge of the lie blood of Almighty stead, the ;ermed the ulphed the depths, the heart il, dropped he country , found it t to bring nations of England il who has f in those under the might PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 37 \ye (( ICHA' to nations I of Jesus Salvation, iman and jr power. Puseyite 3 natives emselves g closely . They led at the rate. i endeavor to counteract the efforts of evangelical mis- sionaries, and disturb the weak minds of the natives, by tc ling them that all those who have not received Episcopal ordination are not ministers. If England prove unfaithful to the Gospel, God will humble her in those powerful islands where she has established her throne, and in those distant countries subjected to her sway. Do we not already hear a faint rumor, which justifies these gloomy presentiments ? The mother country sees her difficulties increase ; unheard of disasters have spread fear and terror on the banks of the Indus. From the chariot of this people is heard a cracking noise, because impious hands have changed the polebolt. Should England forsake the faith of the Bible, the crown would fall from her head. Ah ! We also, Christians of the continent and of the world, would mourn over her fall ! We love her for Christ's sake ; for His sake we pray for her. But if the apostacy, now begun, should be accomplished, we shall have nothing left for her but cries, groans and tears. What are the Bishops doing ? What is the Church doing ? This is the general question. If the Church of England were well administered, she would only admit to her pulpits teachers who submit to the Word of God, agreeably to the Thirty- nine Articles, and banish from them all those who violate her laws, and poison the minds of the youth, trouble souls, and seek to overthrow the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A few Episcopal mandates will not accomplish this. We undoubtedly believe that no power can take from the Christian the right to " examine the Scriptures, and to try the spirits whether they are of God." But we do not believe in the supreme power of the Clergy: We do not believe that the servants of a church may announce to it doctrines which tend to overthrow it. Did it not please the Apostles, the elders, and the whole church to impose silence upon those at Antioch, who •■ *Jrd, human XV. 22.) speak only Convoca- ^ays a vain ure cannot applied to I be moved all not the 22) form a liey did at ted tlirone, mning and !sus Christ 1 usurping a ? she allows diversities, e like that Voe to the i! ing Chris- ce it. To 'chy above ler he has s received rmed suc- — all this man, but ms a fatal God had B Mosaic lotal and nd estab- the Old. L'stament. Apostles he world •f priest- PUSEYISM EXAMINED. •69 iiood and ordinances, "The kingdom of God" saitli Jesus, '- cometli not with observation : neither shall they say, lo here ! or lo there ! for behold the kingdom of God is within you," (Luke xvii. 20—21.) "Tlie kingdom of God is not meat and drink ; but righteous- ness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," (Rom. xiv. 17.) Let us then attribute a divine institution and a divine authority to the essence of the church ; but by no means to its form. God has, undoubtedly estab- lished the ministry of the word and sacraments, that is to say, general forms, which arc adaptod to the universal church ; but it is a narrow and dangerous bigotry, which would attribute more importance to the parti- cular forms of each sect, than to the spirit of Chris- tianity. This evil has long prevailed in the Eastern Church, [Greek,] and has rendered ''t barren. It is the essence of the Church of Rome, and it is destroy- ing it. It is endeavouring to insinuate itself into every Church ; it appears in England in the Estab- lished Church ; in Germany in the Lutheran, and even in the Reformed and Presbyterian Church. It is that mystery of iniquity, which already began to work in the time of the Apostles. (2 Thes. ii. 7.) Let us reject and oppose this deadly principle wherever it is found. We are men before we are Swiss, French, Englisli, or German ; let us also remember, that we arc Christians before we are Episcopalians, Lutherans, Reformed, or Dissenters. These different forms of the CInuch are like the different costumes, different features, and different characters of nations ; thp.t which consti- tutes the man is not found in these accessories. Wo must seek for it in the heart which beats luider this exterior, in the conscience which is seated there, in the intelligence wliieli there shines, in the will which there actH. If we assign more importance to the Church than to Christianity, to the; form than to the life, wo rthall infallibly reap that whii;h we have sown ; we shall soon have a Church composed of skeletons, clothed, it may be, in brilliant garments, and ranged, I admit. i 4Q PUSEYISM EXAMINED. in a most imposing order to the eye ; but as cold, stiflf, and inmioveable as a pale legion of the dead* If Puseyism, (and, unfortunately, some of the doctrines which it promulgates are not, in England, confined to that school,) if Puseyism should make progress in the Established Church, it will, in a few years, dry up all its springs of life. The feverieh excitement which disease at first produces, will soon give place to languor, the blood will be congealed, the muscles stifiened, and that Church will be oidy a dead body, around which the eagles will gather together. All forms whether papal, patriarchal, episcopal, con- sistorial, or presbyterian, possess only a human value and authority. Let us not esteem the bark above the sap, the body above the soul, the form above the life, the visible Church above the invisible, the priest above the Holy Spirit. Let us hate all sectarian, ecclesias- tical, national or dissenting spirit; but let us love Jesus Christ in all sects, whether ecclesiastical, national or dissonting. The true catholicity which we have lost, and which we must seek to recover, is that of " holding the Truth, in love." A renovation of the Church is necessary ; I know it, I feel it, I pray for it from the bottom of my soul. Only let us seek for it in the right way. Forms, ecclesiastical constitutions, the organization of Churches, are important, — very important. " But let us seek first the kingdom of God and (Matth. vi. 33.) Let us then, Gentlemen, be firm and decided in the Truth; and while we love the erring, let us boldly attack the error. Let us stand upon the rock of ages, — the Word of God; and let the vain opinions, and stale innovations, wliich are constantly springing up and dying in the world, break powerless at our feet. "Two systems of doctrine," says Dr. Pusey, "have now, and, probably, for the last time, met in conflict ; the system of Geneva and the Catholic system." "We accept this definition. One of the men who have most powerfully resisted these errors, the Rev. Vf. Goodc, his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto us." seemi inten naria tae beloi C( Engl the the i( e; V cold, stifF, dead. If > doctrines onlined to ress in the dry up all ent which ^o languor, Tened, and und which copal, con- iman value above the ^e the life, •iest above ecclesias- t us love il, national we have is that of on of the )ray for it seek for it stitutions, nt, — very m of God s will be cd in the LIS boldly 'f ages, — ons, and iging up our feet. ', "have conflict J 1." Wo ive most Goodc, PUSEYISM EXAMINED. 41 seems to think that by the Genevan system, Dr. Pusey intends to designate the Unitarian, Pelagian, latitudi- narian system, which has laid waste the Church, not only in Geneva, but throughout Christendom. "Accord- ing to Romish tactics," says Mr. Goode, " the adver- saries of the Oxford School are classed together under tiie name that will renler them most odious ; they belong, it is said, to the Genevan School.^ Certainly, Gentlemen, if the Unitarian School of England and Geneva were called upon to struggle with the semi-Papal School of Oxford, we should much fear the issue. But these divines Avill meet with other opponents in England, Scotland, Ireland, on the conti- nent, and if need be, even in our little and humble Geneva. Yes, we agree to it; it is the system of Geneva, which is now struggling Avith the Catholic system ; but it is the system of the ancient Geneva ; it is the syj>teni of Calvin and Beza, the system of the Gospel and the Reformation. The opprobium they would cast upon us we receive as an honor ; three centuries ago Genevp, rose agninst Rome ; let Geneva now rise against Oxford. "I suould like," says one of the Oxford doctors,! " to see the Patriarch of Constantinople and our Areit- *Tho Caso as It Ts. fW. Piilincr'r Aids to Reflection, 1841. This work contains some curious and, without doubt, authentic conversatinns, Avhieh Mr. Pahner had at Geneva, in 1836, with difi'erent pastors and )rofessors of tlio Academy and the Company. **J»fi/, '2ii. The mblic professor of l)of>;matic Theology told mc, wiu-n I asked lim what was the precise doctrine of the Company of Pastors at that time, on the subject of the Trinity, 'Perhaps no tAvohad exactly the same shade of opinion, that the p;reat majority would deny the dtx'trino in the sch(thistic sense. — Amjust 4. A pastor of the Company tohl me, " that of thirty-four members, \\o thinks there are only four who would admit the doctrine of tho Trinity.'" The author was almost as nuicli dissatisfied with the Evan<5elical as with the Unitarian ministers. Jle reialf^ '\at one of the former said to him, on the J2th of Anf>;ust ; "Von are lost in tiie study of outward forms, mere W(.)rldly vanities : *' You an a haby, a mere baby, he suid in English." d2 42 PUSEYIS3I EXAMINED. bishop of Canterbury go barefoot to Rome, throw their arms round the Pope, kiss him, and not let him go, till they had persuaded him to be more reasonable ;" that is to say, doubtless, until he had extended his hand to them, and ceased to proclaim them heretics and schismatics. Evangelical Christians of Geneva, England, and all other countries ! It is not to Rome that you must drag yourselves, " to those seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations" (Rev. xvii) ; the pilgrimage that you must make is to that excellent and perfect tabernacle, "not made with hands" (Heb. ix) ; that "throne of grace, where we find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. iv.) It is not upon the neck of the " Man of Sin," that you must cast yourselves, covering him with your kisses and your tears ; but upon the neck of Him with whom " Jacob wrestled, until the breaking of the day" (Gen. xxxii.) ; of him, "who is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and every name that is named, not only in this world ; but also in that which is to come." (Eph. v.) Yes, let the children of God in the East and in the "West arise, let them, understanding the signs of the times, and, seeing that the destinies of the Church depend upon the issue of the present conflicts, conflicts so numerous, so different, and so powerful, form a sacred brotherhood, and, with one heart and one soul, exclaim, as Moses did when the ark set forward, "Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee." (Num. x. 35.) ii ' ':'? ::»i V THE END. Note. — This address was delivered before the Professors and Students of the New Thcolofjical Seminary, at Geneva, at the opening of the present session, on the fourth of October last, (1842,) at the earnest request of a number of English Gentlemen who were at Geneva, the last summer and autuam. '^rff-^t EXTRACTS FROM LATE PUBLICATIONS; RELATING TO THE TRACTARIAN CONTROVERSY. The Montreal Publishei* fearing that many signs indicate the increase of the Tractarian Heresy, in this Province, hopes that the following extracts may be useful to the Members of the Anglican Church, numbers of which he trusts still glory in the name of Protestants and are not ashamed of the Great Funda- mental 7Vm-^ w 44 EXTRACTS. hateful ami unchristian as this doctrine, it is perhaps not neces- sary to determine ; none certainly ever prevailed so subtle and extensively poisonous." — Ibid.^ lxiv., p. 390. The PoiJe s Supremacy and Purgatory are insinuated at pi 409 of the British Critic, for October last, and likewise an apology for the honours paid in the middle ac^es to " Saints, and to the mother of God ;" and there is a note upon the passage of "v\hich the editor of the Irish Ecclesiastical Journal, (no low Church publication) remarks, that " all comment upon it is superfluous, unless piety and truth are departed from the Chux'ch of England. Let any one, who is conversant with the writings of Romanists, say, whether ho has ever seen a more daring attempt to justify their impiety, a more reckless prostitution of truth, than this fearful note. Is it then come to thi > that those who should be the Guardians of our Church's purity, and the guides to Catho- licity, are engaged in a deliberate and systematic attempt to introduce amongst us the idolatry of Ro«ie in its grossest and most audacious profaneness ?" For the poAvers conferred, by the Apostolic Succession, on the Priesthood, see licinains of Eev. R. H. Froudcr vol. iii.. p. 43. 1st. 'To admit or exclude* whom they Avill, from 'the mys- terious communion called the Kingdom of Heaven. 2d. To bless and intercede for those within this ' kin^rdom,' in a sense peculiar to themselves. 3d. • To make 1 he Eucharistic bread and wine the body and blood of Christ, in the sense in which our Lord made them so. 4th. To enable others to perform this of which, among many Bishops who have denounced it, the Archbishop of Armagh maintains that it " destroys the value of the articles as a standard of faith," and the Bishop of Exeter that it is " by far the most daring attempt that has ever been made by a Minister of the Church of England to neutralize the distinctive doctrines of our Church, and to make us symbolize with Rome." " Those who wish to understand what is now going forward in the Church of England, should read the account of the corres- ponding movement in the days of Charles I., at vol. 1. chap. VIII. of Mr. Hallam's masterly History of the English Constitution. Wliat is Puseyism? an answer is furnished in the British Critic in one of its numbers for February last. " The very first aggression," say they, " of those who labour to revive some degree at least of vital Christianity, .... must be on that strange congeries of notions and practices, of which the Lutheran doctrine of justification is the origin and representative. Whether any heresy," the writer continues, "has ever infected the Chui'ch, so hatel'ul and unchristian as this doctrine, it is per- haps not necessary to determine, none certainly has ever prevailed so subtle and extensively poisonous." So infamous, in fact, is the doctrine, that the British Critic, " plainly expresses its convic- tion,'' that " a religious Heathen would sustain a heavy loss " in exchanging the "fundamental truth," that is, in Heathenism, "ibr fundamental ei.or," — the doctrine of justification by faith only. Keasons, why every faithful Member of the Church of Erg- land should discourage such Persons, and Societies, as incline to the dangerous errors of the Tractarians. 1st. From their Doctrines they are DISSENTERS from the United Church of England and Ireland, because in contradiction to the 6th article of that Church, they make tradition the joint rule of faith with holy Scripture. — (Tract lxxviii. page 2.) and because they hold, that the power of making the body and blood of Christ is vested in the successors of the Apostles. — Froude, vol. 1. p. 326. 2d. Any Church, or sect, holding the points of praying for the dead, (Tract, vol. iii. p. 22,) of the intercession of the Virgin Mary, (Tract lxxv., p. 80,); of justification preceding Faith, •Tho Editor for a considerable period was the Rev Newman, Vicar of St. Mary's Oxford, tlie real leader of the Tractarians, but on severe strictures being made by the Board of Heads of houses of Oxford, on tho 90th Tract, Mr. Newman resigned tlio Editorial chair to his brother-in-law, tho Rev. ■ Keble, Vicar of Ilursley alluded to above, but ho remained virtually the editor,— it is now understood that the soi- dis:int Editor, has resigned from a similar cause, and that Mr. Newman has again openly resumed the editorship. Tho Oxford tracts were dis- continued, at tho request of the Bishop of Oxford, wlUch ho Jjentions in Ills last cliargo. 46 EXTRACTS. iJ '■•,' H H W 'V' (Newman, p. 21,); and of deeming the mass to be the sacred, and most gracious monument of the Apostles, (Newman to Fausett, pp. 46, 47,) must be considered as an offset of the Church of Rome, and being adherent to " a modified system of Popery," (Bishop Mant) as in DISSENT from the AngUcau Church as by law established. (Extracts from the recently published Bampton Lectures, by the Rev. J. Garbett, Professor of Poetry in University of Ox- ford, &c. " The professed character of this teaching, is not the Christianity of the first and second centuries, os we lind it recorded ; but that of the fourth century, a period of demonstrable degeneracy, and hitherto accounted the precursor of the Papal idolatries ; but which is now assumed as the true epoch for the development of the Apostolic system. But even the theology of that period, corrupt as it is, is not contemplated on its own prin- ciples. In some points, such as the popular use of Scripture, and the necessity of sacerdotal absolution, it is regarded with the eyes of Rome ; and not only are the preferences of the system in that direction, if opportunity should offer for their unobstructed exhibition, but its logical development is Tridentino Romanism. When a system, therefore, is offered to us, so scientifically con- structed, the only mode to grapple with it, is to attack its first principles If we suxTender the solo authority of Scripture as the canon of truth, and justification by Faith only, as the true exponent of the mode of salvation, all that makes the Church of England what she is, is lost ; it may be a matter of time, or a matter of convenience, of personal feeling, or a gi'eater or less power of logical deduction, but the argumentative defence of her reformed doctrine is rendered impossible — jou are brought at once to the syf.tem of the fourth century, and, by inevitable pro- gression, to the Christianity of Trent."— Preface xir. Mr. Garbett, after remarking that "we must not permit our- selves to look with a blind and undistiuguishing veneration upon any one period of the Church whatsoever," (for which ho assigns most convincing reasons from the Scriptures), proceeds to say — "the decease of the Apostles was followed by an instant and wide devolopement of corruptions. Evils immediately forced tliomselvcs on men's notice, both in faith and practise, which Avcre never theroafter, removed from the bosom of the Church This is a painful subject, (in Avhich no mind would MilHngly dwell ; and they are no judicious friends to the Fathers, or to the ages which their talents illuminated and their holiness consecrated, who shall challenge a stern scrutiny, by an indiscriminating admiration. Holy though they were, they are not proof against that dissection ot manners and doctrine which vigorous intel- lects, not anti-patristioal in principle, nor originally irreverent of antiquity, feel themselves driven to adopt ; and which they do adopt unsparingly, ^vhen, not content with inciUcating a rational respect, wo exact a religious obedience towards them." "The doctrine of Justiticalioii, as laid down in those Tridon- 5««'r EXTRACTS. i7 sacred, and to Fausett, Church of lof PoiDery," Ihurch as by Lectures, rsity of Ox- ', is not the wo find it [enionstrable 'f the Papal och for the theology of ts own prin- f Scripture, led with the 10 system ia mobstructed Romanism, ifically con- ack its first scripture as as the true e Church of f time, or a jater or less fence of her brought at (vittible pro- permit our- meration )r which lie proceeds to instant and tely forced \\ hich weiiB eh This gly dwell ; to the ages onsecrated, criminating oof against rous intel- reverent of ?h they do : a rational ISC Tridon- line decrees which are now held forth as the genuine expression of the Catholic faith, was not to be found in the ancient Catholic Fathers. We can trace its genealogy — ^we know who its parents were — we can tell the day and hour when it was born. — It does not come from Clement, or Ignatius, or Polycarp ; it comes not from Irena?us, the disciple of him who taUced with John, nor from the martyr Justin, nor from the great Athanasius, nor from holy Augustine, -with his mind capacious of Divine truth ; nay, the last of the Fathers of the Church, who, through Scrip- ture, still held fellowship with the Apostles of Christ and the primitive Church, in the darkest times, holy Bernard, utterly repudiates it. Heathen metaphysics have as much to do with it as the Gospel ; and as it is now held and defended by the Eomish Church, it is the work of those speculative and scholastic heads, under the influence of whose vast but perverted power, the study of Scripture was banished from the schools. Holy writ grew insipid by the side of dialetic fence, and metaphysical refine- ment ; and the homely truths enunciated by our Lord, and enforced, and expounded by the Apostles, gave way for three centuries to the philosophy of Lombard and Aquinas." lu a note Mr. Garbett adds, — " It is a formidable sign of the times, that the new theology draws its stores and definitions directly from those masters of the schools who were the great corrupters of the Gospel theology, and gave a name and fixity to what before were unacknowledged and unsystematized errors. A more complete, not modification, but reversal of Church of i^ England theology, it is impossible to conceive." Extract of a letter from the Rev. Thomas Frognall Dibdin, D. D., Rector of St. Mary's, Bryanstone Square, to the Lord Bishop of Llandaff : " As far as I can collect and compare the numerous opinions adoat upon the consequences of the toleration of the Oxford Tracts, a crisis in our Protestant Church, may be said to be approaching. I arrived in England from a four month's visit to tlie Low Countries, and found my own Parish (Marylebone,) in particular, excited and divided between the adoption of the white or black gown in the pulpil. I came from the land where Papacy may be said to be flourishing in all its childish and disgusting ^'■' varieties, to witness what seemed to me to be a struggle to renew many of its absurdities. I had thought that the block gown had well and ably done its duty for two centuries, and that we might as well leave the surplice in tlie quiet possession of the Roman- ists, and with the Clergy of our respective cathedrals. One innovation leads to another, and without being the slave of blind submission to " ordinances," which savour rather of man than of (lod, I may be allowed to enter my unalterable protest against changes which, though perhaps unessential in themselves, lead to the disturbing of other matters of direct vital importance. The congregation are divided, if not distracted, by this variety ; for both cannot be right. m-'-fstm^' 'il"< 48 . , EXTRACTS. \i t :f A i •'Qiiamvis ille n'lger quam^'is tu candidus esset." They may still retain an affection for the Protestant Church,' but they must be prepared for other changes ; an altar crowded with priests, candlesticks with tapers to light the sun, crosses, genuflexions, and all the flutter of gossamer robes. My Lord, even these are little mischevious compared Avith the doctrine which has been delivered from the pulpit by a surpliced preacher, — by one who dares to receive the pay of a Protestant clergyman, ; while inculcating some of the most audacious dogmas of Rome. - In the afternoon sermon of Christmas-day the congregation of..... were deliberately told that *' the body of Christ had been as abso- lutely upon the altar-table of the communion, as it appeared to the shepherds in the manger ;" in other words, transubstantia- tion in its most flagrant character ! I know that this is trae and what do the Romanists say — without disguise — in open day? *' You are doing our business tvell at Oxford. You are sending out skirmishers and light troops to prepare for the charge of our heavy cavalry." My Lord, do not believe that this movement is confined to our own shores. I heard enough at Bruges, and Malines to open the eyes of my understanding ; and to convince me that a simultaneous movement was in contemplation. It was even affirmed that auricular confession was tolerated at Oxford ; and, that " the University was at length beginning to open its eyes." It was intended that extracts should have been given of the charges of the different English, Irish, and Colonial Bishops, as also of the United States, who have, within the last few years, passed tnell deserved censures on the heresies treated of in these pages, which, under the cloak of upholding the UnUy of the Church, assume a right to question all the vital truths of the Protestant faith — but, the limits prescribed to the Publisher will not permit. In conclusion, the attention of the Christian Public, is called to the evident tendency of these dangerous doctrines, viz : Under the above pretence, to unchristianize, and hand over to the " tmcovenanted mercies of God," all those who follow not in these slippery paths, which lead back to that labyrinth of errors, from which the Church of Christ was rescued by Luther, Calvin, and kindred spirits I The efforts now making by these specious and subtile enemies of the Church of Christ, are strcmtous and comprehensive ; no expense, no mis- representations are spared; the minds of youth are especially sought to bt» led away; school-books; stories for the young ; indeed, every department of juvenile literature, are now tainted with this deadly venom; therefore, in conclusion, parents, Sunday School teachers, and all those interested in the immortal welfare of the rising generation, are affectionately, and earnestly entreated to teware, lest through a want of caution and enquiry, they become guilty of perverting the minds of those, entrusted to their care, through the medium of books which are daily issuing from the press, con- taining, under specious and alluring titles, the seeds of abundant and soul- destroying error I Montreal, 22d April, 1843. '■^:,i'^ ctidus esset." the Protestant Church, ges : an altar crowded light the sun, crosses, imer robes. Mv Lord, ared with the doctrine by a surpliced preacher, a Protestant clergyman, cious dogmas of Rome. r the congregation of..... Christ had been as abso- inion, as it appeared to ■ words, transubstantia- rtow that this is tme disguise — in open day? brd. You are sending •e for the charge of our e that this movement is nough at Bruges, and iding ; and to convince contemplation. It was is tolerated at Oxford ; beginning to open its given of the charges of the also of the United States, deserved censures on the ' the cloak of upholding stion all the vital truths of to the Publisher will not ristian Public, is called to les, viz : Under the above " uncovenanted mercies of paths, which lead back to of Christ was rescued by SIGN BOOK CARD AND LEAVE AT CHARGING DESK IF BOOK IS TO BE USED OUT OF THE LIBRARY BUILDING »M5 Ll^g^Q - //9^/9 \ \ _.. J id svibtlle enemies of the sive ; no expense, no mis- ire especially sought to bu deed, every department of adly venom ; therefore, in all those interested in the ectionately, and earnestly aution and enquiry, they entrusted to their care, uing from the press, con> ids of abundant and soul- N. -^^^^