The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-03-31 00:00:00

tit traturt.

Tux TRUTH AID Orncs or THE CHRIATTAe
MINISTRT..—In the present state of our church and its
professed teachers, the indepenrir-nt testimony of any
one clergymen in behalf of the tnie doctrine of our
Reformed church is valuable and important It is not
the size of the book, or the &moon' of original argu-
ment, or the depth of learning, that makes it so; but
the fa-t that there are sti,l me", ac Atered through
even this unhappy diocese, quietly corking in the r
reap ctive churches. who can, when called upon. tpeak
for themselves, and who will not bow down to the
ecclesiastical despot am that is seeking to establish
itself, but will maintain the true doctrine of that
church, of which they are Mini tars. We welcome
tnerefore this lit le tract, as being doubly vain •hi.,
ho h from th • amount of practical informs ion which
it contains, and for the tue Protestant spiri• which it
brr ethos- We could have wished that the rev, author
had somewhat enlarged it, as it is impossible in so few
pages to place the subject reared of before the Church,
except in a very b ief and summary say. The err r
eine:A.lly met and exposed is the claim se r up by some
clertymaa of the Church of England to be sac ific ng
priests, and it is met both by Scripture an.
by the Church's own formula ies. Noe but men
instructed in the art of ps verting the meaning
of words by tract No. 90 would ever pretend
to ground such claim, upon the Prayer Book, as their
arguments are refu eti at every ;age, as Mr. Ilessiland
shows. In peaking of the words "alms andoblations."
anti showing that the latter word does not refer to thy
bread and wine, the author is not quite so clear as he
. might be. He says in a note, page 17, "This is a
difficult question," &c., and 'confesses that he has
difficulty to account for the use of the two words, for
the offerings of the people." That difficulty ianishes
upon the following tonsideratione In the rubrics
Preceding the " pryyer for the Church Militant."
persons are di:revert, while the sentences are read, to
collect ' the alms for the poor, and oqirr devotions of
the people" in a decent basun. In tho server ces we
learn what these other devotions are, namely offerings
for the support of the minister, as we find by looking
at the 6th, 7th, Bth and 10th sentences. Theis devo-
tions, the same as the oblations in the following
prayer, could not be the bread anti wine because they
were to be collected in a boson. In the next rubric we
find that the prayer for the Church Militant is to be
read after the bread and mine are on the table, and yet
provision is merle for omitting the words "alms and
oblations," in case there should be none. Seeing there-
fore that there may be ne alms and oblations while yet
the bread and wine are there, it follows that the word
obiation does not refer to the bread and wine, while
the previoua rubric compared with the sentences shows
plainly enough that it refers to the offering made for
the support of the minister; and this is so plain a
matter that nothing short of wilful misunderstanding
c .111.1 derive any argument from these words in favour
of "the eactillet of MN mass." We must however express
our regret that the rev. &Ober should have said so un-
guardedly, "Whoever heard of • sacrifice of bread
and wine?" If in the present day none but men of
honest aud candid minds entered into controversy, no
one would misunderstand these words. But the author is
dealing with those who found their claim to this sacrifi-
cial priesthood upon the supposed fact that Melchisedic
offered a sacr,Jlee of bread and wine. In sermons.
therefore, professedly controversial, it would have been
more prudent to have discounted this objection, before
asking the question above quoted; moreover, we have
"mesa offerings and drink offerings," mentioned in
Leviticus, which surely are "sacrifices of bread and
wine." With these little exceptions we can heartily
recommend these two short sermons, as containing
nothing but what is true. and much that is valuable
and worth knowing. We only wish that they bid
been published in a cheaper form, for more (general
distribution among that class of people which is most
exposed to the pernicious influences of these pretended
priests. We must not, however, close our remarks on
these sermons without noticing the truly Catholic
spirit in which they are written. In a note, page 28,
the author says :

n It is to be ohsereed that the Article doen not insat on the
necessity for Epi.copoil Ordination. The reaeon no doubt
being that the origin.' draught of this Article was drawn up
by a body composed both of English and German Reformers
(See Bishop Broom, upon the Article). Surely it Is our
wteiom and strength to follow in this reepert the footsteps of
the Reformers and hewever mods we may ourselves prefer an
Episcopal Ordination, )et not to fail to elengnivews" Ministers
of Chri.t and stewards of ae mysteries of Gait" our
brethren in Scotland and elsewhere, though they on not
Elutcopally ordained. Our noble-hearted Queen hes won the
affections of bet Scotch subjects by nothing m much n. by her
recognition of their national Kirk. Let on I.y all means
promote the re-union of Chrovendom, by cultivating • epirit of
brotherly fellowship with all Protestant and Reformed Churches
both at home and abroad, though they follow not in ail things
Rh Ito This Is the rldit an Scriptural method ; not to
honker after the fleshpots of the spiritual Egypt which is
Rome."

Such sentiments as these, not only written and
preached, but also carried out in practice during the
last twenty years, would have placed the Protevanta
in the Church of England in • very different position
to what they row occupy. If theta had been less
exclusiveness on the part of teslly good and sound
Churchmen, they would not now be in doubt whether
they can reckon on the support of the Prottxtatit
N-nconformists in the g•eat struggle which is aroach•
log, or Lot. But even now, late as it is. we are glad to
tee the true spirir of our heformets reviving, and we
wish that eve-y Protsstant cletgyman would think it is
duty to make public his sentiments on this important
gnestion, as Mr. Headland has rlone, atal thus encourage
the lay members of our church who are beginning
slmost to despair, and st.engthen the bands of those
bre•bren who are placed by circumstances in positions
of great. r 411110111 y than themselves. We cannotelorte
our remarks better tttao t 7 another quotation from
the se.usdis before us—

It is quite needful also, both to defend oar own consistency
and to strengthen our brethren, that we should show hoe-
contrary such • erroneous nod strange &net I Me: are not only
to Holy Scrw.ture, hut also to the teaching 11 our church.
They •1111 not 111 .ny night wow of the word • 111 g, Church-
men who introduce .uch Itrunith doctrinnes ; but they are the
high churchmen o stand by the doctrine ,d their church,
and do not sutler their Prayer Book sad their articles to be
ridden over rough-shod.