The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-10 00:00:00

THE ESSAYS AND REVIEWS.

(Prom the Brightoti Observer.)

The following is the third and last Supplemental Dis-
course, delivered in Christ Church, New-road, by the Rev.
Robert Ainslie, on Sunday, the 2d June :
"WHAT IS IT THAT A CLERGYMAN OF THE ESTAB-
LISHED CHURCH IS REQUIRED TO BELIEVE ?

Matthew, 15th chapter, 12th and 13th verses : " Then
Came His disciples and said unto Him, knowest thou that
the• Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying?
But He answered and said, every plant which my heavenly
Father hath not planted shall be rooted up."
Acts of the Apostles, 20th chapter, 33d and 34th verses :
"I have coveted no man's silver or gold, or apparel : yea,
ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto
my necessities, and to them that were with me."
2d Corinthians, 6th chapter, 4th to 10th verses :—" In
all things approving ourselves as the Ministers of God, in
much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in
stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watch-
ings, in &stings by pureness, by knowledge, by long suf-
fering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour
of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour
and dishonour, by evil report and good report : as deceivers/
and yet true; as unknown, and yet well-known; as dying,
and behold we live ; as chastened, and not killed ; as sor-
rowful, yet always. rejoicing; as poor, yet making many
rich : as having nothing, yet possessing all things."
There has recently been published a new translation of
the gOspels of Matthew and Mirk, accompanied by a
learned, critical commentary. The author is Lancelot
Shadwell, Esq., (late fellow of St. John's College, Cam-
bridge.) Shortly after its publication, he was borne to his
grave. Such was its boldness of appeal and invective in refer-
ence to the bishops and the hierarchy that it has been sup-
pressed, and a copy of it cannot be obtained. I will give
you onb specimen from the commentary on the first test-
12th 'verse. Referring to the Pharisees taking offence at
what Jesus said, Mr. Shadwell says—" The High Church-
men did not like being brought to book. It is so at the
present day. The Churchman will speak from the pulpit
where he has all the talk to him elf ; but if any reader of
Scripture will call his attention to the written Word of God,
and point out some of the monstrous falsehoods in the
Prayer-book, the Churchman will immediately endeavour
to slink out of the discussion." This is strong language
for a man who has held a fellowship in St. John's College,
CaMbridge, and who was the son of a Vice-Chancellor of
England. He has 411$ his testimony to what he believed to
be the truth, and has now entered upon his rest. To, my
mind the words of Jesus, in the 12th verse, c mvey a great
gospel truth. It is good to read on such authority that all
error shall be rooted up; we receive it as gospel or glad
tidings. It has been very largely fulfilled, but there is a
great work to be done among Christians in respect to insti-
tutions, offices, titles, and hierarches, with their flagrant
abuses; and the time will come when the truth of Jesus
will be vindicated—" My kingdom is not of this world."
The means by which these great results will be achieved
will not be by the dignitaries, the councils, nor the synods
of any Church. They are obstructive to all advancement.
If you will try and consolidate their system, extend their
hierarchies, increase their power, they will exalt you; but
seek to spread the simple truths of the New Testament—
use the mental freedom God has given you to comment on
the words of Jesus and the written revelation; and unless
in the Popish Church you harmonise with the creeds—and
unless in the Protestant Churches you do the same, you
must expect slander, malice, and •vituperation in every
form. Nevertheless, it is true that every plant which my
heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.
We have now to refer to the service for the " Consecra-
tion of Bishops and Archbishops," to the Articles, and to
the Canons, and we shall learn in reference to these" What
it is that a clergyman is required to believe." I pass by the
dress of a bishop before and after his consecration ; I make
no comment upon his titles ; but when the " most rev. father
in-God, the archbishop, demands the king's mandate for
the consecration of a bishop," my attention is arrested, and
I ask, is it a part of Christianity, is it an institution of

Jesus Christ, that men like Henry VIII., Charles IL, and

George'lV. should issue mandates, after having selected
some favourite in order to promote him, that he may be
consecrated a bishop in the church of Jesus Christ ? Did
Jesus Christ inteni an irreligious prime minister of an im-
moral and debauched monarchto elect bishops inhis Church,
and the monarch to command their consecration ? Is not
this "one of the strange doctrines" that priests and bishops
should drive out of the Church ? Is not this a part of the
ecclesiastical polity of the Church of England to which
archbishops and bishops, priests and deacons, give their
assent and consent ? Can anything be more corrupt than
such a ioUrce for the selection of bishops ? It is well known
that for writing a political pamphlet a man has been made
a bishop—for services rendered through the support of mem-
bers of the House of Commons a man has been made a
bishop—as a reward of tutorship to the children of a mis-
tress, and through the influence of that mistress, a man has
been made a bishop.' Such things in connection with the
religion of Jesus areiniquitous and atrocious; and that they
have happened during the present century cannot be
denied.

As in the " ordination of priests," so also in the consecra•

tion of bishops—the archbishop; and bishops charge this
nominee of the king to "receive the Holy Ghost," and they
say, "stir up the grace of God which is given thee by this
imposition of our hands." In what light can this appear to
those who have been behind the scenes P They look upon it
as a piece of politico-ecclesiastical humbug—other persons,
seriously disposed, wish in deep sorrow to throw a pall over
the whole act, whilst others 'aught outright and treat the
dramatis persona) with contempt. Is there nothing in this
contrary to the Word of God? To the simple and beauti-
ful religion of Jesus? Would it not meet with the
approval of the whole kingdom, if the bishops were deter-
mined to deliver the Church from such folly and wicked-
ness so provocative of contempt for and unbelief in every-
thing bearing the namo of religion? But I have not time
to enlarge upon this unscriptural service. On the two sub-
jeclis—lnspiratton and Miracles—there is neither rubric,
Canon, nor Article; so That anything written by the
Essayists on these topics, however much it may be opposed
to prevalent opinions, taught by the clergy, cannot be con-
sidered as a violation of any law or Article to which they
have given their assent and consent. The only exception,
which we shall presently refer to, is, that no devil is to be
expelled without the license of the bishop.
In his Majesty's declaration, prefatory to the Articles, it
is distinctly said " that no man hereafter shall either print
or preach to draw 'the article aside any way, but shall sub-
mit to it in the plain and full meaning thereof, and shall
not put his own sense or comment to be the meaning of the
article, but shall take it in the literal and grammatical
•
sense."

This is a galling chain to thousands of ministers of the
Church of England. There are 39 Articles and 141
Canons. To suppose that these, drawn up three centuries
since, can be approved and agreed to as is required is absurd.
Continual doubk scepticism, mental warfare, and conviction
of positive error, lead to mental compromise and reserva-
tion, and to struggles for liberty which in the present
state of ecclesiastical law must be ineffectual. The articles
are not drawn up in the words of Scripture, but in scholastic
phraseology. If under every heading of a chapter, texts
alone had been collected and arranged, it would have been
a method at once scriptural and unobjectionable to every
believer in Christianity. But it is not so. They are Gen-
sidered to be strictly Augustinian and Calvinistic to the
annoyance of thousands of the English clergy. I have not

time to mention even the titles of the articles and canons.
I will quote the 13th article and a part of the 17th, as illus-
trations of what very few of the clergy can believe, and a
vast majority of them repudiate.
XIII. Of Works before Justification.—" Works done be-
fore the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of his spirit, are
not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith
in Jesus Christ, neither do they make meu meet to receive
grace, or (as the schoolmen say) deserve grace of congruity ;
yea, rather for that they are not done as God has willed,
and commanded them to be done, we doubt not they have
the nature of sin."

This may be very sound scholastic theology, but it is
opposed to the facts of human life, hostile to the virtue of
society, and directly opposed to Christianity as taught by
Jesus. Part of XVII. Article on Predestination and Elec-
tion.—" As the godly consideration of predestination' and
our election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and nn-
spwaeolevrakeksea
tobhfl e m
e theco
working
fi foos ri to
eenfgdo thed
theirl y personsearthlyspirit
ef andChrist,members,
su c h
mortifyinga s
af enedl idnrathwei
ntm-
hge
up their mind to high and heavenly things as well, because
it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal
salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth
fervently kindle their love towards God ; so for curious and
carnal persons lacking the spirit of Christ to have continu-
ally before their eyes the sentence of God's predestination
is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust
them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of the
most unclean living no less perilous than desperation ?" Is
this Christianity ? Is it in harmony with the teaclfing in
other parts of the Prayer Book ? Do all the Bishops and
the tst o Archbishops believe this, and all the clergy also ?
If not, are they to live and die in this state of falsehcod ?
As to the canons and constitutions they cannot be believed
and acted upon in the present day. For instance, any man
may be excommunicated for saying that the church estab-
lished
maintaining
law is not an apostolic church, teaching and
doctrine of the apostles; the same for
maingthe
speaking against the Book of Common Prayer—the same
as to the rites and ceremonies—the same for speaking
against the form and ordering of bishops, priests, and
deacons ; the same for saying that nonconforming churches
are true churches—but into the details I cannot go. Many
9f them are pgticular and minute, acme describe the clerical