The Sun.
London, England, 1822-12-23 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

TAE BISHOP OF PETERBOROUGH'S EXAMINA-
TION QUESTIONS. "
( Concluded from Saturday's Su.x)
That in the conscientious discharge of his duty,
the Bishop has' excited c‘ sensations of anger
in many," more especially in the breasts of those
who are suffering under his just sentence, or of
the party to whom they belong, is very natural
to suppose ; and, indeed, he knows it by experi-
ence, from those sensations bursting forth in the
most insolent pamphlets, of which he complains,
and the Council go along with him in the com-
plaint, that more abusive pamphlets have never
been written than those which have been written
by Clergymen against these questions. But we
cannot agree with that Council, that he has ex-
cited "apprehensions in most people ;" however
little approbation he may have met with in the
whole range of their most varied and extensive
circle. "It is chiefly," as he says, " the voice of
faction which has been raised against these
questions ; and in the outcry, Episcopal authority
has been treated with insolence, and ecclesiasti-
cal discipline has been set at nought." Such,
men are glad of every opportunity to raise a hue
and cry against the constituted authorities ; and,
to gratify their rage and indignation, have heaped
upon his sacred character such epithets as would
degrade the meanest and lowest even of their
own faction, merely because he stands forth to
perform his duty, as he is bound by the Canons of
his Church. But, so 'far from exciting the " ap-
prehensions of most people," the majority, I am
persuaded, of those who have ever read these
pamphlets, only feel disgust at their authors, and.
the justice of the Bishop's resolution against a.
party that could be provoked by any conduct to
make use of expressions' so diametrically oppo-
site to the Ministry into which they would enter,
and to the Christian principles which they profess
to hold in their greatest purit,y. All this envy,
hatred, and malice, is, however, imputed, by this
friend and adviser of the Bishop, to him alone,
who, " without necessity, provokes to strife, and
without cause, becomes a stumbling block to
them that are weak !"—A noble Counsel truly
for the defendant, to plead the cause of the
plaintiff, and to prove his own client guilty of
the very abuse which the conscientious discharge
of nothing more than his duty has brought upon
him from the other. But there is no cause,
no necessity, for this duty in the present times !
This Bishop, thank GOD, with as much zeal,
and far more knowledge, looks with other eyes
into.the spirit of the times; and there he sees,
with some of his venerable colleagues, especially
the Bishop of Meath,a numerous class of "Teachers
gaining proselytes from the Established Church,
while they profess to preach her articles of faith,
and pervert them as they pervert the Scriptures,
and deduce from them doctrines which the pious
and learned compilers of them, and all their
most distinguished successors, have uniformly con-
demned as unknown to the Gospel." Ile has
thought it therefore high time to open his eyes to
the machinations of these men; and besides these
questions, in the outset, laid down such an excellent
plan in his diocese, by the division of labour in the
different districts, so as to render the task at' once
easy and effective, of each of his ministers to ful-
fil his zealous wishes in the cause of the Church
in general ; more particularly to guard all who
are committed to their charge from the seductive
influence of these ' wolves in sheep's clothing,'
who pretend only to be in battle array against
infidelity on the one hand, and the Church of
Rome on the other, but who are in reality ene-
mies, and more dangerous for their treacherous
disguise of friendship, seeking whom they may
devour in the Church of Gots. Instead, there-
fore, of contentinghimself with a mere subscription
to the articles on what these men call a literal
sense, this Bishop directs hiS attack where he be-
bolt's the danger, and will not yield to any diversion
of is zeal and activity from the main object of
his spiritual campaign. Ile is placed at the head,
or on a high hill, the sirsTr_oric., which he trans-
lates in the spirit, as one appointed in his ele-
vated station on purpose to look over and watch
the interests of the Church, and the opinions of
the different candidates and ministers in his dio-
cese ; and not, as they would take it in the letter,
to overlook all that come before him, and to be
so bound up in the literal sense of the Articles, as
to be quite satisfied with the mere assent and
formal subscription to them.
Those articles themselves were drawn up to be
at once a concise and comprehensive formulary
of the doctrines which were scattered in different
parts of the Bible. They ,were not formed all
at once; but, like the laws of this country, arose
as they were called for by the occasion, by the
sects that sprung up in the Church and out of the
Church, all professing to appeal to this one book
as their sole standard of authority. And now
that these articles themselves, which were to
avoid diversity of opinion, are made the subject
of dispute, where is the inconsistency, either with
their letter or their spirit, in a Bishop, using his
sacred right to put these, or any other such
questions as lie may think necessary, to discern
the spirits of them that come before him ? How,
indeed, can he be said to perform his duty, if he
does not enter upon such an exarninatiou as may
bring to light any serious difference which pre-
vails among subscribers to the same articles, in
tenets which men equally conscientious profess to
deduce from them, but which he who is the ap-
pointed judge. thinks to be perfectly at variance
with either their letter or their spirit, or perhaps
with both ? There is nothing in the Royal De-
claration to make him " merge certain differences
of opinion, much less to attempt to reconcile two
such opposite disciples as those of Calvin and
Arminius." The Church he believes to be nei-
ther Calvinistic nor Arminian ; but, like truth,
stands firm between the two extremes in which
the Sects fluctuate, some more, some less, from
the spirit of the first founder. Nor is it at all a
" novel practice, to reject all the good men who
would co-operate in the work of the Ministry,
because they lean to the tenets of Calvin or Ar-
minius." As long as the candidates appear to
him to be the followers of either, or what are

called Evangelicals, (following, a gospel of their
own, or, as they were called in old limes, .44 Gos--
pellers,": because, searching far deeper than
others, into the councils of God, they follow any
other gospel than that of the Evangelists,) it
would be a violation of the du.; y which he owes
to the Establishment, whatever may be their
moral character, to admit them into the Church.
" What l"exclaims an animated writer in defence
of the Bishop, 44 are we to set the gates of our
national, Church wide open, and let all enter that
will, upon .a mere subscription to the Articles,
with an implied reservation, that the interpreta-
tion thereof may be considered entirely within
their own breasts ? Surely this can never be look-
ed upon as a qualification for the ministry on the
one part, or an adequate. discharge of prelatical
duty on the other." If such presumption is to
be encouraged, the candidate may next turn
round and examine the Bishop ; and is future, we
must take the sense of our articles from those
who are just on the threshold, and not from those
who are in the Holy of Holies. Ilow contrary
this to the constant and established custom of
our ancestors,—pious and sober men, who really
thought the head was to govern the body, and
not the body the head. They have therefore
appointed, by express Canons, the Bishop to
examine, whether for Holy Orders or for
C.nracies; and, as he ean.but examine in his own
sense, have wisely left it entirely to his discre-
tion. That there may not be diversity of opi-
nion in preaching upon the same articles, and
that they who subscribe to them may agree, not
,only in form, but in spirit—in reality, and
..not- in name only, he whose right and office
'it' i's, to whom his diocese look up as their model
and arbiter, puts forth these questions to the
. candidate, that he may sift his principles, and not
merely listen to the sound of his voice, or only
read the subscription of his hands but that he
may know of a truth what it is his duty to know,
whether he is qualified or not, by his " sound
doctrine," for preaching upon topics which are of
such infinite importance to all that are to hear
him and take his word for gospel for the remainder
of his life.

CANONICUS.