The National Register. — London, England, 1809-04-16 00:00:00

254 THE NATIONAL REGISTER. APRI Cbc papa. ----- The Pulpit, and 1 name it filled NVitti !wit-Inn .we, that hids ;vie %veil lieware With what hire I touch that holy thing! There stand , the ine ..‘eager of truth; there stands The Legate of the Skies!—ii Theme di% ine, His office balCred, hi. eredentiabi clean-170%1'MM LECTURES ON TIIE Lrruß G Commenced February the 11th, and on March the `?l+t Terminated, By G. AN DIU,NV LS, D.D. or Sr. JAMES's CHURCH, IN PICCIDILLY. APPREHENSIVE of innovation, notwithstanding they were solicitous for reformation, the Reformers of the Church of England did not effect what otherwise they might have accomplished. Many illustrious characters, communicating within the pale of its establishment, have, age after age, regretted the incompleteness of the protestant reformation ; and of these some have propoed, at various times, to review and a:iend our national liturgy. it is not probable, however, that this measure would now be productive of the advantages which it was supposed were to be derived from it. Almost the same considera tions which induced its primitive reformers to avoid the extreme of innovation, seem to apply, with equal force, at this day, to the ceremonies and discipline of our national church. Crown with its growth and strengthened with its strength, it appears highly ineligible to shake those habits and affections by which the people of this country, during a critical succession of ages, have been uniformly induced to prefer and protect the established religion of their forefathers. It is rarely possible to do whit we call the best. Communities, no less than the individuals which form them. must submit to see their wishes lirnted by events, and their operations circumscribed b‘ ordinary computations. Our reformers, resembling in this our law givers, may say,—as did Solon, when he was asked whether be had given the Athenians the best of laws We gave them the best of those institutions that they would have received. Enough is now suggested, though more might be urged to the same point, to explain the causes of what many pious people regard as defects in our Liturgy ; and to chew, that to efface from it such defects, by explaining. difficult por tions of it, by obviating objections made to it, and by en forcing the ordinances which are contained in it, as well as displaying the excellencies which abound throughout it, requires no gammon teacher, but one vs ho, while tanglit by truth, is also perfectly acquainted Ns ith theological distinctions. The first of the series of Lectures on the Liturgy, by Dr. Indrewes, of which I am about to speak, mas the COMMINATION AGAINST SINNERS. Sunddy Evening, February the lgth.—Perhars it ought to be premised, when I am entering upon the performance of this part of my task, that, whatever was Me atte:dion paid by me to the subjects of these soccesiive d'vourscs, I have retained, excepting what memory may reproduce, ehing more than some short notes of ail that fell from ninettt preacher whose opinions it is become m y ice to examine. I trust, nevertheless, that he will reason to accuse me of having mis!akeii hi; posi• and that even as to words, where it shrill. , , , , in proper , at his words, it will be confessed !hilt I listened lo th the solicittult± to which he i 4 iroFspetr:oly must be often recollected, in excelpaiion Of TII that to stand in crowded chnrehez, some!imei !ed from the pulpit, and sometimes where duo: s are 12: anti shutting at you; back, is not the most eligible In for the purposes of retentive hearing. DICORVC- IeS ruck as these, with many wort:, arc what thc.ser. ther touier the Gospel than under the Law, blessin i cleat) or cursing, it may seem surprisieg «hv we sh delight in any religious ceremony. which in the leas! pears to militate aoinst the merciful dispensation u which it is tint- glorious privileTe to •° live, move. have our being !" Christianity furnishes the best I, 16. mon-hearer feels himself continually subjected to, in mix ing with the extensive congregations of this met: opolis. Rowland Hill, eccentric as is the general style of his san tit( gnome, once justly remarked, referring to the mysteries which are acknowledged to characterise revealed religion, " that there is such a thing as getting os er things." Now, if this be true of Divine Revelation itself, it applies with still more force, with an almost irresistible force, to many of those pious systems, creeds and prayers, drawn by hu man reason from 4he sources of divine wisdom. It is there fore oftner found easier to get over the difficulties insepa rable from those systems, than to explain them ; and hence it happens, that - wisest expounders of theological for mularies, anxious to do more than enough, frequently ex cite, by the excess of their zeal, almost as many doubts as their wisdom appeases. Highly as [ respect the abilities and acquirements of the present Rector of St. James's, and it some time since became me sincerely to express my opinion of him, 1 cannot say that his late parochial Lectures on our Liturgy properly satisfied sonic of those scruples by which many legitimate believers are still induced to demur to certain portions of the Occasional Cffices contained in the Book of COMMOD- Prayer.' Dr. ndrewes, indeed, seemed particularly unsa tisfactory, however ingenious, in his solution of the objec tions so often urged against the office of Culmination against Sinners ; which, though last in our spiritual ordinances, formed the subject of his first lecture. Is it possible to ac knowledge the Justice of the Curses contained in this Office of the Church, without implying condemnation to our selves ? Well might it. be retorted, upon each of those who join in this Service, —" Out of thine own mouth will 1 con demn thee!"—Where is the man, or the %vomits, that liveth and sinneth not ? Should it be shown, by any felicity_ of explanation, that we do not imprecate, using this office, on ourselves, the punishment doe to the transgressions of which, more or less, every individual must here own the commission, still another perplexity occurs. If only those who are without sin arc to cast the first stone at °Tenders, where i 3 the soul that can with any truth denounce, as it were, upon his fellow-sinners, the Curse of the Law of God ? By avowing the justice of the curses recited, in the ('ommina lion Sinners, we, however, do virtually conkss ourselves obnoxious to them ; by our rintett,we do, think as we may, confirm them personally ; and, so confessing and confirming them, do we not, in fact, implore those denunciations which we declare ourselves to . " have most, righteously deserved i" Theic are not imaginary things. Every parish priest experiences the reluctance with which his parishioners are brought to celebrate even the annual obv. , rvance of the established Commutation Againq Sinners.' Plain minds cannot enter into the sided' ies of theologiam ; are% if . joined with kind hearts, take alarm at the custom of religiously assembling toge ther, at stated times, for the purpose, as they think, of im precating vengeance en themselves, and denouncing it against their fallible fellow-creatures. The " general sen tences cif god's cursing against. impenitent sinners," I ink; the most trving portion of the present Commma Against Sinners,' arc, it will he found, collected prineit From the Old Testament, To us, therefore, who liv mentary on neuteronomv. 1 have been unnsuallv explicit on the Office of Cal ngtign chain' .* , illners, because it is an office which nt Members of the Church of England disapprove ; an: cause it does not strike me, as at all indispensftble cith the prosperit y or security of thisecclesiastical establishme It is now little used, and sill less olwrved. Let it' strive for straws. Instc:id of wishing to reinstate the gulntions of the •• primitive church," meetly asthey t m ng th o e t h e i cdo ov n ine Cons; a to repel' him wit Spli it faults, distance opening' aituatiol Diancies li , i I~ ►nces, o ac- Mice our- who cun- iveth Ity of Iffice, ns of n the those as it C;od ? whirr- micss iik as • and those have Mary lance even attoit the carts, toge- • if mi- ng it I scum Form- ation ipally ie ra- it , in- t, hould st all- under and com- )7n In 1- many id be- her to ment. Lis not le re• we r • ,