The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-12-28 00:00:00

GLASGOW, PAISLEY. AND GREENOCK
RAILWAY.

On Tuesday week a sratutory half-yearly meeting of railway
FropVietors was held in the Sheriff Court Hall, hobert Dow
Ker, Esq., chairman of the board of directors, in the chair.
The Chairman called upon Captain Huish, the secretary,
to read the report, which that gentleman did. The following
:is a copy:—
The directors have looked forward to meeting the proprie-
tors with much pleasure, and avail themselves of the earliest
opportunity allowed by the act to assure them that the affairs
of the company are proceeding favourably.
The whole line from Greenock to Glasgow is now under
contract, two important divisions of the road having been let
to Messrs. Brassev and Mackenzie since the last meeting.
. . .

ble, and the directors are glad to see them placed in such
good hands. They have thus redeemed their pledge of hav-
ing the entire line provided for this autumn.
With the progress of the works during the last six months,
they have much reason to be satisfied, and they give from the
engineer's report the following particulars :
The first care of the engineer, as stated in last report, was,
by seizing on the heaviest works, and getting them well for-
ward, to satisfy himself that the contractor had the means of
completing them at the period assigned. From their present
state, and the energy evinced in carrying them on, this desi-
rable end is, in his opinion, secure. At the Bisbopton ridge
110,000 cubic yards have been removed, and the embank-
ments are formed to a considerable extent. Two bridges
are built, and a third is in hand ; nearly all the masonry will
will be finished next summer. The steam power applied,
and the means pursued for working the tunnels, are satisfac-
tory to the engineer, and throughout the whole of this im-
portant contract great activity prevails.
The other works between Paisley and Greenock are in
good hands, and are not of a formidable description. After
details will show the extent to which they have already been
carried. In Greenock four arches are completed, and nearly
a third, and retaining walls are proceeding with all desirable
despatch. The excavations at Cartsburu Hill and Gibb's
Hills are going forward at a rate to insure their completion
at the appointed time.
The bridges between Port-Glasgow and Greenock are all
provided for, and partially erected. Through the town of
Port-Glasgow nearly one half of the walls and arches are
building. There is no doubt that this part of the railway
may be finished next year, as promised in the last report.
It may be added, that the expensZ of the works through the
towns d Greenock and Port-Glasgow, together with all the
intermediate cutting, extending to full three miles, and in-
cluding the permanent way, dues not collectively exceed the
sum of £30.800.
Consideriug the nature of these operations, and the fact
that twenty-three streets and roads are crossed by bridges,
two of them of five arches each, and that nearly two miles of
retaining wall have to be erected, the directors consider this
as one proof among many of the care and economy that has
been exercised in designing and laying out these works.
The Walkinshaw and Finlayson contracts will be com-
menced without delay, and are neither of them of such mag-
nitude as to cause apprehensions respecting their accom-
plishment.
No point connected with the construction of the railway
has been more anxiously attended to than the formation of
the permanent road, and no reasonable expense has been
spared, in providing for its stability and fitness for the
smoothest possible conveyance of passengers. To this end
Mr. Locke has adopted a 751 b. rail, and four feet bearing,
and from the natural advantages of the country, affording
good ballast, blocks, and sleepers at reasonable rates, this
superiority has been obtained at an average price, even when
compared with lines where the rail is lighter. In the last
report reference was made to a difference of opinion respect-
ing the width of the rails. This is arranged by a unanimous
decision in favour of the old standard of 4 f. 82 in.
It will be the care of the engineer to urge forward the im-
portant points next summer, so as to prevent even the con-
tingency of bad weather having any effect in delaying the
opening.
The following is from the report of the Committee of Ma-
nagement, to whose charge is committed the portion of the
line extending from Glasgow to Paisley :
"The committee on the joint-line, in giving a summary of
their proceedings, have satisfaction in stating, that in every
department of the works under their direction considerable
progress has been made.
"They feel that the best information they can afford will
be found in the annexed particulars, collected from Mr. Er-
rington's report.
" The land plans for the Tradeston contract, in Glasgow,
are furnished, and the works will be commenced in the spring.
" Mr. Brassey's works are well stocked with materials,
which are all in full occupation. The first point of any mo-
ment on the Ibrox and Arkleston contracts, both of which are
in Mr. Brassey's hands, isthe cutting at Ibrox. 30.000 yards
have been turned out here, and the same rate of progress
insures completion in good time. The cutting through the
Arkleston Hill is the key to the works on the joint-line, and
here every effort is making, and the operations are pushed
forward by the contractor with skill and judgment.
"Although the tunnel is only 200 yards long, it has been
thought best to make the time of its completion more certain,
by sinking a shaft midway. This is done, and the tunnel is
worked both ways. The Paisley side is also open, and thus
three faces are actually at work; a fourth will be shortly
commenced. 100,000 cubic ards have been excavated in
this cutting.
" The works in Paisley are proceeding with rapidity for
the season ; the street bridges and walls are considerably
advanced, and the large bridge over the river Cart is built
above flood water. The intermediate lengths are slight em-
bankments of four and five feet, and are in course of formation.
" We may briefly remark, that from excellent ballast
having been found at convenient points along the line, and
Mr. Brassey having contracted for making and upholding the
permanent way, a very good road may be anticipated. Rails
and chairs in sufficient quantity for carrying forward the
works are in course of receipt, and it is confidently exptcted
that several miles of road will be laid in the spring. The
contractor is in possession of the whole of the land, excepting
three fields at Craigton. These will form the subject_of a
jury trial, which will be settled in January. The price of all
the house property in Paisley has been amicably settled,
except in two cases ; the compensation in these cases has not
yet been ascertained. Part of the land for the Paisley depot
has been acquired on fair terms.
" The committee have given much thought and attention
to the Glasgow terminus, and a sub-committee is now sitting,
having for its special object all matters connected with these
works, which are not of such a nature as to cause anxiety
regarding the time of their completion. Finally, it is due to
the respective boards to add, that the works of every descrip-
tion are let rate', and the committee see no reason to
expect that the outlay will be materially increased, unless it
shall be considered desirable for the permanent interests of
both companies to possess themselves at once of a sufficient
quantity of land to afford ample accommodation for their
expected traffic."
From Bogle-street, in Greenock, to the end of Port-
Glasgow, the whole of the land and property has been either
purchased on fair terms, or the price is in course of being
settled by arbitration. No jury trials are expected on this
part of the line. One or two cases must be referred to the
sheriff, in the summary mode pointed out by the act, chiefly
owing to defective titles. From Port-Glasgow to Paisley,
the land is partly acquired, partly under submission, and
partly in course of negotiation, and one or two jury trials are
anticipated. The awards here have, on the whole, been
satisfactory, and there is yet no cause to regret the adoption
of this pleasing mode of settling questions between the com-
pany and proprietors.
It will be seen that the directors are confirmed in their
expectation, that the whole line will be open to the pnblic
very early in the summer of 1840, a time peculiarly favoura-
ble, as embracing the season when travelling between
Glasgow and the numerous watering places on the coast,
commences. . .

Careful re-examination demonstrates that the original
calculations on this head were much underrated, or that the
increase in two years has been very great. The directors
have ascertained that, during the last summer, 30,000 persons-
passed weekly between Glasgow and Greenock. In going
to parliamen,, rather more than one-third of the then existing
traffic was assumed to travel by reilway, but the directors
have now little doubt of ultimately acquiring nearly all.
By starting steamers from Greenock on arrival ot each train
to the numerous ports to which they now run, a great saving
in time will be effected, and the tedious and uncertain river
trip avoided In this union of purpose, the board is led to
believe, that many if not all the steam companies now plying
on the Clyde will cordially join. In cases where this co-.
operation is declined, the directors will arrange with other
parties; and the gain of one hour and a half in four (com-
bined with low fares) will be a sufficient inducement to in-
sure the public support. To the western Highlands in par-
ticular, the practical gain in time will be one day of 'three.
To facilitate these plans the directors are at present employed
in maturing a project for carrying down the rails to one of
the quays, so that but a few paces may intervene between the
steam-boats and the railway carriages. A committee is also
appointed to negotiate with the harbour trustees, for in-
creased accommodation for steamers, particularly deep-sea
boats, and also for having rails laid along zhe quay, in order
that waggons may be taken to and from their loading berths
without shifting the goods.
'l'he board think it due to their proprietors at a distance
and unacquainted with the localities, to state, that they have
no fear whatever of any part of the sea-going traffic (which,
however, forms a very small portion of their expected re-
turns) being diverted into other channels. They form this
opinion from the concurrent testimony of all nautical men,
as to the certainty of the passage to Greenock in all weathers,
the security and convenience of the port, and the safety of
the approaches, (advantages not possessed by any other fiar-
bour that can interfere with it,) added to the circumstance of
the greatest saving in time, being two hours in nineteen from
Liverpool, while the contingent risk appears imminent.
The directors have felt some difficulty in determining the
amount of accommodation required for the commencement
of their business.

They have leaned to the side of caution, in directing their
engineer to prepare for an average of 2,000 passengers
(which will enable the company to carry, on emergencies,
4,000,) and 300 tons of goods daily.
Two thousaud tons of rails have been contracted for with
Messrs. H arfords, Davies, and Co., of Bristol, at a moderate
price, to be delivered at convenient points along the line.
Nearly 91/0 tons are shipped.
'I he directors must now allude to their financial prospects,
as this :A a subject on which the proprietors will naturally
feel auxiouF. Every item of expenditure has been carefully
and minutely consi,lered—practical experience having taken
the place of theoretical calculation.
TW*act of parliament confers on the proprietors the power
of borrowing £133,000; and this sum the directors will re-
commend being taken up by bonds, as soon as half the capi-
tal shall have been paid: and, allowing for cost of works,
stations, land and compensation, engines, carriages, &c., ex-
penses in obtaining the act, management, and every con-
tingency, the directors have great pleasure in stating that
they do not anticipate being obliged to call for more than
£2O per share, or 80 per cent. on the subscriptions. The in-
creased accommodation for two companies at Glasgow and
Paisley will cause an extra outlay there; but this is allowed
for in the estimate—and the board, therefore, feels much
pleasure in announcing that, while the traffic from new
sources will be larger, the calls on the proprietary will be
less than expected.
The number of shares required by the act to be issued have
all been appropriated, and are ascertained to be in good
hands.

Notice has been given for a bill to make a railway from
Airdrie to Glasgow ; should it be obtained, a vast mineral field
will be opened up, and as the proposed line crosses the Glas-
gow, Paisley, and Greenock Railway, it will become a very
important auxiliary.
The directors are sensible of the advantages that would fol-
low from a junction with tire Edinburgh and Glasgow Rail-
way, and any judicious plan that can be suggested for this
purpose will receive their best attention.
In such a number of sh -tree, some defaulters may reasonably
be expected; but the board have only to recommend the for-
feiture of fifty-eight shares, on which the first call has not yet
been paid. Iho notices required by the act were duly sent
to the parties.
The directors have delayed making a call until they should
meet their pror rietors, but the heavy outlay which is going on
must be promptly met. They, therefore, resolve on a call of
£2 per share, payable on the 12th of January. By act of par-
liament, three directors have vacated their seats at the board :
the gentlemen who go out are Mr. Robert D. her, Mr. Archi-
bald Falconer, and Mr. Roger Aytoun, who are all capable
of re-election.

MARK Hutsti, Secretary.
We have not room for the balance-sheet, but we may men-
tion that the receipts of the ~ompany from the commencement
amount to , , .. £89,378 3 10

And the expentaditure to

.71:229 10 9

Showing a ba:anee of .. £18,148 13 1
The Chairman then rose and said—l assure you the direc-
tors have much pleasure in again meeting the, shareholders,

and reporting the progress of our great undertaking. The
report is now in the hands of the meeting, and. I shall not
delay your comments on it a moment, except to state that as,
this day ends the services of the first Board of Directors, ap-
pointed under the act of incorporation, it will now rest with
the present meeting to elect three directors in the room of
three whose names have been ballotted out as required by the
act. In making this announcement, I cannot help alluding
with feelings of pleasure to the unanimity which has charac-
terized the proceedings of the board—a circumstance which,
I assure you, has tended not less to facilitate the business of
the company than to the personal comfort of the directors;
and also to the good feeling and excellent spirit which have
all along prevailed between this board and the gentlemen of
Glasgow, in managing the joint line. It cannot be supposed
that so great a mass of business could be transacted as that
-isThich his passed through the hands of the board, without
grappling with the most formidable difficulties, and, in truth,
the directors, in conducting the business of the company,
have found themselves placed in, and had their ways to work
out of situations sometimes full of perplexity and embarrass-
ment; but with energy and perseverance, and guided by an
eye constantly directed to the solid welfare of the Railway,
and hence to the interests of the shareholders, difficulties
have been overcome, and no opposing iufluence, so far as
can be seen, can now prevent the Railway being opened at
the time originally contemplated and proposed— the summer
of 18.10. There are two leading points on which the Directors
were thoroughly agreed, and which formed the foremost
and most fundamental principles -of our management, viz :
—lst, To secure, above all .considerations, Ahat the work
should be well done; and, • 2nd; Its speedy completion.
With a view to the accomplishment of these most important
objects, it was our-first most anxious concern to commit the
executive department, both indoor and outdoor, into the
hands of men of the highest professional skill and talent, in
whose zeal for the interest and honour of the Company the
fullest reliance could be placed; and I speak with the hearty
concurrence of every member of the Board, whether preseut
or absent, when I say that the gentlemen who were appointed
to these responsible nffices have in no respect come short of
the good opinion that was• forrn.ect of them, or disappointed
the trust reposed in them, but that one and all have fulfilled
to the full the highest and most sanguine expectations of the
-Board. I should •clo• violence to my own feelings, and be
committing an act of injustice, did I not embrace the present
occasion- of speaking .in terms of the highest commendation
of the indefatigable labours and zeal of these gentlemen. If •
it were a matter of purely personal concern, it is impossible
that more devotion could be shown to the business of the
Railway, or more interest felt in its welfare, than is done by
the gentlemen we-have the good fortune to call the officers of
the Company; and.l invite the shareholders-to look at what
is done, and the arrangements in progress, and to rest as-
sured that our Railway,- when it 'arrives at its completion,
will not, in point of masterly construction and working effici-
ency, combined with economy of disbursement, be surpassed,
or can be surpassed-by any railway in the• united kingdom.
:On a late occasion,- when the directors visited theline, they
were agreeably astonished and delighted to find the works in
such a state of advancements- which, considering the unfa-
vourable season for carrying on operations of that descrip-
tion, reflects the highest credit on all concerned. The te-
most pains continue to be used to secure the landowners and
resident country gentlemen from annoyance; and from the
few complaints that have -reached the ears of the directors,
and these from still fewer individuals, -it may be fairly in-
felled that their efforts -have-been successful. For this we
are mainly indebted to the prudent care of• the contractors,
and to the able and-judicious management of Mr. Ross, our
inspector of police,. I congratulate the meeting on the pros-
-pects of the company, and- the favourable report you have
just heard read... The general-prospects of the company are
every day brightening. The-report-states on increase of tra-
velling—in illustration -of which; •I•may mention that the
traffic was taken for three- days -last week; during the dullest
month in the year, and during very-wet and stormy weather,
showing within a. fraction of 700 a-day between Glasgow and
Greenock alone, the number being-greater-than was proved
in parliament. .The.directors also expect to obtain a much
larger proportion of the traffic than was originally antici-
pated, one or two companies have signified their acqui-
escence in the plan ; as soon as the company's plans are ma-
tured, negotiations will be entered into with all of them.
Another agreeable fact to mention is, that of the shares held
on the Clyde only 158 are in arrears of the second call, and
of these 90 will be made immediately. In short, sanguine as
the directors have always felt as to the success of the railway,
from the advance of public opinion in favour of railways in
general, and the increased estimation in which our I ailway
held in its locality, evinced by the increased amount of stock
held
,by local proprietors, and the increased travelling be-
tween the termini, the efforts of the directors will receive a
new stimulus, from the well-grounded and increasing con-
viction that our railway is destined to yield an ample return
for the capital invested, and prove a powerful instrument of
much public and private good, (Great applause.) In con-
clusion, I may state that the directors-have determined that
they will receive shareholders to the amount of £2O per share,
allowing interest at the rate of five per cent, on all balances
after deducting the calls.

William Leitch, Esq. said—ln rising to move the adoption
of the report which you have heard read, I cannot, forbear
giving expression to,the feelings of satisfaction with which I
have listened to it. lam sure every one present must join
me in congratulating the directors on their being able to
produce such a gratifying report. Our worthy chairman has
anticipated what I would• otherwise say in reference to the
good qualities of the officers engaged on the railway. I com-
pletely concur with him in all he has said of their efficiency,
and, without any further remarks, I move that the report be
adopted.

Thomas Turner, Esq., seconded the motion, which was put
from the chair, and carried unanimously.
On the motion of Bailie Muir, seconded by Thomas Saun-
ders, Esq., the common seal of the company was attached to
the register of proprietors for the last six months. .
James Baird, Esq., in moving that 58 shares be forfeited,
remarked that it was a most gratifying proof of the solidity
of the Isis on which the undertaking rested, that of the con-
tributors to a sum of E. 400,000 there were only 58 lame ducks.
(A laugh and cheers.)
Thos. Saunders, Esq., seconded the motion, and expressed
his concurrence in Mr. Baird's remark, that the paucity of
the forfeitures was a remarkable proof of the solidity of the
company and the zeal of its members.

The motion was carried unanimously.
Adam M•Leish, Esq.. said he had a motion to make, but
from its nature he would rather address himself to the share-
holders than to the chair. At last meeting it would re-
collected that be had given notice of his intention to move
that some remuneration be given to the directors for the great
toil, trouble, and loss of time to which they were subjected
by_attendintr to the dutie.- of their iin part.nt office.'-..Every
other railway company made an allowance to their directors,
and he was sure that by none was such a mark of favour bet-
ter merited than by those whom they had the happiness to
have placed over their undertaking. The sum he proposed
might strike a number as too small; but he did not propose
it so much as a payment for their services—for he was well
aware that, in that sense, it was altogether inadequate—as to
mark to some extent the respect in which these gentlemen
were held by their constituents. He would hold it as the
height of ingratitude were they not to do something of the
kind; and, impressed with this conviction, he should move
that the thanks of the company be given to the directors, and
the sum of £,IOO be paid to them for past services, and a like
sum be given to them annually in future. He made his mo-
tion from a sincere conviction that it was right and proper,
and he hoped it would meet with the unanimous approbation
of the meeting. (Cheers.)
Andrew Donaldson Campbell, Esq.. of Asbcraig, seconded
the motion, and expressed his regret that the proposal did not
give them compensation equal to that granted to directors on
other lines. (Cheers.)
The Chairman said, before he would put this motion, he
most take the liberty of saying that the proposal did not ori-
ginate with the directors. It was a spontaneous movement
from without, and the directors had resolved to be altogether
passive in the matter.
James Baird, Esq. bad serious objections to this motion,
and was afraid it would have an injurious effect • upon the
minds of shareholders at a distance. What to the gentlemen
composing the direction was the paltry sum of £3O a year ?
It could not for a moment compensate them for the loss of
that proud and independent position which they bad hitherto
occupied as a gratuitous labourers in the work. He should
regret to see them lowered from the lofty pedestal on which
as yet they stood. It would be much more gratifying to the
directors themselves, and much more. satisfactory to all con-
cerned, were they to wait till the works were completed and
in active and stlecessful operation, and then bestow upon
each a present which they could transmit with pride to their
children's children—something that it would be a credit to
the shareholders to give, and an honour in the directors to
receive. He must repeat that be regarded the remuneration
proposed by the present motion as paltry mu the extreme.
William Leitch, Esq. —Let Mr. Baird propose a larger
sum, if he thought so little of this.
Mr. Baird.—No; he would propose nothing at the present
time, as he thought such an expenditure of the money inju-
dicious, and, as regarded the directors, of no importance to
themselves personally. He was sure that, even if voted, they
would refuse it.

Mr. M`Leish admitted that the sum was too small, and,
with regard to the value of the services of the directors,
altogether inadequate. It was not as pay, but simply as a
mark of respect, that be moved it. The directors of the
Glasgow and Ayr Railway had £6OO a year allowed them,
and the shareholders of the Edinburgh and Glasgowlinegave
their directors £lOOO a year, and he felt persuaded that those
in the management of the Greenock Railway were as well
entitled to remuneration as the directors of any other line in
the kingdom. The idea of the shareholders at a distance
being displeased at what had been proposed, he could not
admit. Indeed, he felt convinced that they would be asto-
nished were a practice, universally followed elsewhere in
regard to works of this kind, not adopted here.
John Poynter, Esq. was anxious for unanimity, and would
suggest that, before the motion was from the chair, the
directors should retire for a little, to consider whether they
should consent to receive any remuneration for their services.
William Brown, Esq., of Kilmardinny, begged leave to
remark, that there was only one motion before the meeting.
Mr. Baird,a objection had scarcely assumed the form of a
motion; and, even if it had, it had not been seconded, and
consequently fell to the ground. As to the suspicion that
shareholders at a distance would object to the directors
receiving some compensation for their services, he would
merely remark, that such conduct on their part would be in
the highest degree unreasonable. They surely could not
expect that people on the spot should have all the toil and
trouble, and that they should have nothing to do but to pocket
their share of the profits. He believed that their directors
would attend to their business without any other inducement
than a sense of dutv but he also knew, that in other joint
stock concerns, the despatch of business bad been much fa-
cilitated by the payment of the directors.
The motion was then carried unanimously.
Captain Houston Stewart, R.N., in name of his brother
directors, returned thanks for the vote of approbation with
which their services had been rewarded. He must confess
that he had been but a drone in the hive hitherto, owing to
circumstances which compelled him to reside at a distance
from the scene of action; but he hoped that, in future, he
would he able to devote inure of his time and attention to the
great work in which they all felt so deep an interest, and the
prospects of which were now so very promising. He spoke
disinterestedly when he said he regarded the thanks they had
voted to the directors well deserved, for he was conscious that
no share of the merit was due to himself. Since he was last
among them, he had resided in England, in the immediate
neighbourhood of a great railway, with the officers on which
he was well acquainted. He had inquired into the working
of this mode of conveyance; and, from all be learned, he
was convinced that the Greenock Railway needed to fear
no competition with any other medium of transit. Of the
officers, too, he felt bound to speak in the highest terms. Mr.
Errington and Captain Huish had conducted themselves in
such a manner as to gain for them the respect and approba-
tion of the landed gentlemen along the line, although their
duties led them sometimes into discussions which tequired
the utmost prudence to hiring to a satisfactory conclusion.
He recollected being once on the line, when he had an op-
portunity of seeing how their engineer conducted him-
self in very trying circumstances. Mr. Errington at that
time did not know him (Capt. S.) but he was met with a host
of serious objections, and he was quite delighted with the
knowledge, good-humour, and firmness with which he met
and finally overcame them all. (Cheers.) He was sorry to
learn that an old and esteemed friend of his (Captain S.'s)
was not friendly to the railway. He was convinced that
there must be some misunderstanding in the case; and al-
though he could not promise to remove it, his hest endeavours
should not be wanting to effect that object. (Cheers.) His
heart beat high at tbe.prospect which this railway opened of
increased prosperity to Greenock, and to Renfrewshire gene.
rally, and he could not express his desire for the success of
the undertaking better than by wishing their next half-yearly
report might be as satisfactory as that which had been read
that day. In regard to the pecuniary part of the resolution
in which the thanks of the meeting had been conveyed to the
directors, he would only say that he agreed with what had
fallen from Ir. Brown the-$-nbject-,-batiW the same time

care'Should be taken that only those who laboured should re-
ceive the reward. No work no pay was a sound maxim;
and those who, like himself, had been drones in the hive,
would get no share of the honey unless they attended to their
duties.

William Brown, Esq. moved the re-election of the three
directors who bad been ballotted out. The propriety, and
even prudence of this step, were so obvious that he would not
take up time in endeavouring to demonstrate them. Those
who had so auspiciously begun the work should be requested
to see it finished. It would be a pity to see men who worked
so well, and so successfully, interrupted in their exertions.
Captain Stewart had alluded to the benefits which Greenock
and R enfrewshire would derive from the railway, and he did
not think these had been over-estimated. At the same time
he would remark that he had great pleasure-in-3-a shareholder
residing in Glasgow, in coming forward to state that that city
would benefit largely from its construction. (Cheers.)
John Gray, Esq. seconded the motion, which was carried
unanimously.

On the motion of Mr. McLeish, the thanks of the meeting
were given to the chairman, and the meetiug broke up.

TRACTS FOR THE TIMES.*

(From the Church of England Quarterly Review.)
We are now about to enter upon one of the most momen-
tous inquiries by which the church of Christ has been agitated
for many years—one, in which we. are called upon to deter-
mine whether the zeal be according to knowledge or contrary
to it. The question is one in which we must weigh without
bias the logos and the didiskalia—one, in which we must
decide whether the authors of the Tracts for the Times have a
tendency to Popery, or whether they can be accounted or-
thodox. We are aware that we are not discussing the merits
of ordinary men; nevertheless, we shall make our remarks
freely, but without seeking unduly to give offence.
The tracts seem at first to have obtained respect and circu-
lation from their enforcement of apostolical succession in our
church; nor was it suspected that any purpose of innovation
and of raising tradition to the standard of God's word was
contemplated. For some time afterwards, they appeared
more injudicious than dangerous: but now no one can avoid
perceiving that they are making new and serious breaches in
.

the Christian world, and div:ciing our house against itself.
The authority of the fathers, whichis claimed for their asser-
tions, will only be admitted according to the opinions which
each may have formed of it: the varying sentiments and con-
tradictions of the fathers will prevent general deference from
being paid to it. All, therefore, that the writers will e•ffect
will be the rise of a new party in the church, which, if we
may judge from its present deportment, will ultimately lapse
into Romanism.

As Mr. Holden has very clearly, shown that a great pro-
portion of what is pressed on•our attention depends upon
tradition, the question is, can "the traditionary creed of the
church, so far as it is known to us, be proved to be identically
the same as that which was preached by Christ and the apos-
tles?'.' If this proof can be given, it should be received as
the test of orthodoxy ; if it cannot, it should be only respected
as human testimony.: and it will need but little reflection to
decide that the required proof is impossible; that the eccle-
siastical traditions, on which so great a stress is now laid,
can never be authenticated. as purely and transmissively
conveying the declarations of our Saviour and his apostles,
that even an uniformity with the Scriptures in certain parts
will not amount to a demonstration that they proceeded from
the same source as the Scripture, and that no one thing to
be discovered in the early ecclesiastical writings can fix on
them the character .of divine. Mr. Holden very properly
urges, ttkat corruptions existed in the primitive age of the
church, eift thus that there will be the same difficulty in dis-
tinguishing the true church in the primitive as in the subse-
quent ages. Of these corruptions, the epistolary parts of the
New Testament give an overwhelming evidence; in the age
too succeeding the apostles schisms and heretical opinions
abounded, and most of the churches were lacerated with in-
testine divisions. But, though the church was at no time
free from the pernicious doctrines of heretics, " the essentials
of the faith, which were at first delivered by the Holy Ghost,
and sent down from Heaven, are still taught :" and the er-
rors of particular churches have never destroyed the sub-
stance of sound doctrine.

It is, however, assertained in the tracts (No. 71), that the
heretirs were always distinguished from the Catholic body ;
that the sects in every country bore their own refutation on
their forehead, in that they were of recent origin; that all
those societies in every country which the apostles had found-
ed did agree together in one ; and that no time short of the
apostles could be assigned with any show of argument for the
rise of their existing doctrine. Mr. Holden rejoins, that
this assertion bears its own refutation on its forehead; that,
since heresy is proved by the Scriptures to have existed in the
lifetime of the apostles, it cannot be called of recent origin ;
that there is no evidence that all the societies founded by the
apostles agree in one; and that to allege " that the faith of
the orthodox had its rise at no time short of the apostles, is a
mere assumption, which, if proved, would not of itself prove
also that it was the creed delivered by the inspired teachers
of Christianity?' Further, the simple fact of this or that
doctrine having been received by several early churches does
not absolutely prove apostolicity; for the inerrancy of these
churches must be first established; and as a corruption of re-
ligion soon began, and as we know not that those churches
may not have erred, no article of faith, solely because they
received it, can therefore be pronounced apostolical. But the
coincidence of many ancient churches in religious opinions
is said, on the other hand, to amount to more than a presump-
tion that these transmissive doctrines had a divine origin;
yet what avails the presumption, when the evidence which is
required to verify these writers is wanting ! It will also be
required for this, that the coincidence should be universal ;
and not merely universal, but that proofs of apostolical origin
should be produced. With respect, likewise, to the inference
that the transmissive belief of the primitive Christians must
have been in exact union with the doctrines promulgated by
the apostles, it is one which will not bear an examination.
When we consider the eagerness of the spirit of heathenism
in the early ages to intrude into the sanctuary the false philo-
sophy which often successfully corrupted the doctrines of the
gospel—the darkness of Pagan idolatry, in which the human
mind had been long involved—the difficulty with which the
early Christian converts comprehended a pure and spiritual
religion—the deficiency of the primitive teachers in cautious
inquiry, in close reasoning, and heim'etrenticAUkill (asArb
Holden_ continues), it is no wonder that they were'iMie'iiines
led away by the errors of the times, which became difficult of
detection, on account of the paucity of written documents;
and it is plain that the primitive Christians could not have
derived from their proximity to the apostolic age all the ad-
vantages which are supposed. The oral instruction of the
apostles, as these writers understand it, would have been yet
morn-noble be more liable to misconception on

the part of the hearers: the preaching of their cotempoi a-
ries would have been equally liable to misapprehension, anti
the probability of error must have increased at every remove:
no steady light of divine truth could have been therefore thus
communicated : no oral instructions could have descended
to the second generation without some mixture of error. If

idolatry found an entrance into the households of Nahor and
Terab (Gen. xxxi, 3052); of Isaac, Esau, and Jacob (Gen.
xxxi. 92; xxxv., 2); if the true religion bad become corrupt-
ed during the servitude in Egypt (Josh.xxiv., 14), parallel
examples of the truth of these remarks are efore us; and
it is absurd to argue, that what took pace in these instances
could not have taken place with the early Christians. Oral
tradition is always unsafe : it has always been that to which
the advocates of a corrupt faith have applied as to a para-
mount authority; it was that by which the Jews, in our
Saviour's time, rendered the word of God of no effect : it is
that which the Papist still claims as the sanction of his doc-
trines. If oral tradition had been designed to direct the
church, we cannot conceive why the New Testament should
have been written—why the apostles should have committed
to writing the substance of the doctrines which they preached.
On the same principle as .they wrote, Moses was desired to
write the law, as a protection against the insecurity or oral
tradition !

As to the rule of Vincent of Lirius, quod übique, Two: sem-
per, quod al. omnibus, &e., which is urged in support of the
unbroken continuity of tradative belief from the very period
of its origin, Mr. Holden observes, that it is not within the
reach of human ability to discover what were the precise te-
nets held everywheje, always, and by all; that Omniscience
alone could accomflisb so mighty a task; consequently, that
some abatements must be made from the universality of the
rule. And if it must necessarily be enforced by limits, its
capability of constituting a proof of apostolicity may be
doubted; and when it presupposes unanimity, absolute an-
tiquity, and universality, it begs the question, and assumes
what it should prove. But this acute writer objects, that as
it was out of the power of any one or of all the writers in the
three first centuries, whose works are extant, to have ascer-
tained the doctrine of all the apostolical churches, these de-
clara4ions must be accepted with considerable limitations—
that heretical opinions having sprung up, even in the infancy
of the church, grown with its growth, and increased with its
strength, and a great part of the ecclesiastical writers having
been occupied in refuting them, the doctrinal uniformity
of the primitive ages is disproved—that as certain early here-
tics either rejected a large portion of the Scriptures received
by the church, or mutilated them or acknowledged several
spurious books, the fathers could not properly argue with
such on scriptural grounds, and could only appeal to the tra-
ditionary doctrine, and that thus tradition was not intro-
duced as infallible or equipotent with the Scriptures, but
merely as the only common ground of argument. Again,
certain heretics contended that their doctrines were conform-
able to those of the apostles; that they had been conveyed
to them by tradition in perfect purity; and that in process of
time they had been perverted by their opponents. This alle-
gation the fathers denied, retorting the charge of perversion
on their antagonists, su that tradition was equally claimed
by either party.
But the fathers occasionally called the Scriptures them-
selves tradition ; sometimes the creed or summary of neces-
sary articles of faith handed down in the apostolic churches
was likewise so denominated. In the latter case, tradition
was a system of doctrine really contained in the Scriptures,
and one to be proved from the Scriptures, not anything per-
fectly independent of them; in fact, a compendium of Scrip-
tural doctrines. "Lastly," proceeds this writer, "the
t hers declare, with one voice. that the Scriptures contain all
things necessary to be known, believed, and practised for
salvation; which are words that fully refute the extravagant
assertions of those who would raise tradition to an authority

equal to the Scriptures."
He then discusses the sense in which Irenwus understood
tradition, and unanswerably refutes the usual meaning ap-
plied to his words—showing, with Stillingfleet, that where he
speaks most of tradition he resolves the ground of faith
wholly and entirely into scripture; and that those who other-
tvse apprehend him take citations on trust, or only search
him for the words of those citations, not taking the pains to
inquire into the scope and design of his intercourse. As
I reuteus always asserts the paramount authority of the Scrip-
tures—as he affirms Polycarp, the disciple of St. John, to
have reported all things agreeably to the scriptures, it is evi-
dent that he believed the scriptures to be supreme in matters
of faith, not tradition to have been another apostoiicial stand-
ard of Christian doctrines.

By him and Tertultian tradition was accounted only an
evidence subsidiary to the scripture; it wascited in proof that
the scriptures were written by those to whom they are attribu-
ted—by neither was it elevated to the rank which has been
assumed. The opinion of Tertullian on this point has been
so fully proved by a living prelate to have been conformable
to our twentieth article, and opposed to the Roman Catholic
notion, that this part of the subject may be safely dismissed;
for it is very apparent, that in many passages cited from the
fathers in support of tradition they meant the doctrines deli-
vered down in the sacred writings—not that to which modern
appeal is so forcibly made.
Amon; other things wanting is the continuity of consent;
also the primary and connecting link in the chain of evi-
dence is wanting. Irenmus is the earliest subject of appeal ;
but as he flourished late in the second century, and as the
other authorities flourished at a much later period, there is a
great chasm which cannot be supplied; "and a failure in
tracing at any one period the uncontaminated descent of tra-
dition from the apostles subverts the very foundation upon
which the high authority claimed for it is built."
The advocates of the theory which is now perplexing the
church use language nearly similar to that of the Roman
Catholics in support of tradition, and quote texts in common
with them to justify its pretensions. If their words be ad-
mitted, how imperceptibly may Protestants glide into Popery !
Mr. Churton in particular has quoted texts which are insuffi-

* The author of a publication, entitled Travels in Town,
in his allusion to the editor of this periodical, says—" The
charge of Puseyism lies against him, inasmuch as he has so
lavishly praised the men, and recommended their works, who
were the first to broach, and still continue the leading cham-
pions of, those sentiments;" and in another place calls this
review the organ of the Puseyites! he editor wishes dis-
claim any connexion with the party alluded to: if he has
praised any of their works, it has only been when they have
Contained sound church principles; but when the authors
have departed from them, he has, in the same independent
spirit by which this Quarterly has alwayi been conducted, re-
proved and exaused the tendency of they
.peculiar_ opinions,
Is the plesehTsrticie. will testify.

cient to establish the authority of tradition as a standard of
faith. It is not disputed that, the apostles delivered oral as
well as written instructions; but if these oral instructions
were not embodied in Scripture, who now can tell us what
they were ? Who can shew that the traditions, to which ap-
peal is now made, were the same, or indeed had any relation-
ship to them! One text, on which great reliance is placed,
is Thess. ii , 15; but were the paradoseis in the apostle's
preaching (logo) different from the paradoseis in the apos-
tle's epistles? and as the epistles were written documents,
and as we cannot imagine men acting under the influence of
the holy spirit to have omitted anything necessary to salvation
in those written documents, we cannot admit a distinction in
this passage, especially since the words, as edidaehtheetee
must convince every unbiassed mind that these paradoseis
were things that had-been generally taught. Tradition, in
the sense in which it is claimed, could not have continued
pure for a century, much less could it .leave been conveyed
uncorrupted to our times; how any Men of critical minds
can attach certainty to it, and write of its pure sources, we
cannot understand. -In 2 'fim, Mr. Keble understands
teen kalee'i parakatatheekeen, as" the treasure of apostolical
doctrines and church rules, containing" -according to the
citation by Mr. Holden,) " besides the substance of Christian
doctrine, a certain form, arrangement, and selection, me-
thodising the whole, and distinguishing fundamentals; and
also a certain system of church practice, both in government,
discipline, and worship, comprising matter independent of,
and distinct from", the truths which are directly scriptural."
It is most manifest that this is mere conjecture, and that the
words contain.in themselves no authority for this amplifica-
tion ; in fact, Suicer (in voce) has given instances of a differ-
ent interpretation. Whatever was the parakatatheekee, the
text only enjoins Timothy to keep it safe: it is silent even
how it was to he kept safe; and Mr. Keble's notion of mat-
ters independent of, and distinct from, the truths which are
directly scriptural; in other words, tradition, is unwarranted
by it. Have we, however, evidence that that which is now
called primitive tradition was the good deposit committed to
Timothy ? - For all the texts collectively which refer to the
oral teaching of the apostles do not prove it to have been
distinct from that teaching which is preserved in the Scrip-
tures. We ask, do not the partisans of tradition virtually
assert the Scriptures to be defective ? and is not the tradition-
ary interpretation of many passages contrary to the simplest
rules of hermeneutics ?

Mr. Holden states, that it is likewise urged that the Scrip-
ture no where hints that its authority was to supersede that of
the unwritten word, no where asserts that it is by itself an
intelligible rule of Faith; that, "so far from it, the. Scriptures,
on the very face of them, bear testimony to the contrary." In
other words, this argument asserts the insufficiency of the
Scriptures. No*, as our Saviour arguing with the Jews, did
not refer to tradition, but to the Jewish Scriptures, for proof;
as the apostles, seeking to convince the Jews, reasoned not
from tradition, but from the Seripture; and as by tradition
the Jews were said to have made the word of God of no effect,
it is very clear that Christ and his apostles considered the
Scriptures alone as the intelligible rule of life and faith; and
that if this was the case with the. Old Testament, polity of
reasoning exacts that it should also have been the case with
the New. We cannot understand, since the apostles were
enjoined to write•(Apoc. i., 10, 11—ii. 1,8, 12, &c., xiv. 12,
xxi. 5, ef, 2'; Pet. iii. 1, '2; St. John Ep. i.-1, 3,4, ii. 1,12,
13, 14, 25, v. 13, 1 Cur. xi., 23.), how anything traditionary,
and therefore uncertain, can assume an authority with re-
ference to that which has been written, unless it. be one most
subordinate and open to criticism. St. Luke evidently thought
tradition an uncertain guide; for he wrote his gospel that
Theophilus might know the certainty or security (asphaleia)
of the oral (kathos paredosan—periton kateechathees) instruc-
tion which he had received. Had the evangelist not fore-
seen the possible and probable corruption of this oral in-
struction, the cause which impelled him to write would not
have existed. St. John, -too (xx. 31.), says, " These are
written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through
his name ;" than which no words can more fully express the
perfect sufficiency of the Scriptures, and by consequence the
inadequacy of tradition. St. Paul likewise wrote to Timothy,
hint to whom was committed the good deposit, that he might
know how to behave himself in the house of God, (1 Tim.
iii. 14, '25); whence it appears, that if the good deposit had
been oral instruction, it was insufficient without this hortatory
epistle. In his second Epistle iii. 16;17, St- Paul unequi-
vocally maintains the complete sufficiency of the Scriptures;
and St. Peter ( I Ep. iv., 11) desires that if any man speak,
he should speak as the oracles of God, by which the writte❑
word, not tradition, must have been meant.*
In the cause of the Scriptures against tradition, Dr. Shut-
.

tleworth, the warden of New College, •Oxford, steps forth
also as a powerful champion. He rightly maintainsin limine,
that if the first links which ought to connect a chain with any
given object be wanting, no addition to its length at the op-
posite end will remedy the defect; and that to defend tradi-
tion hy_appealing to, tradition is, in fact, reasoning in a
circle. He adduces a striking passage from Irenmus (adv.
iii., 1.), who, be it remembered, is claimed as an au-
thority for tradition, which passage unequivocally declared,
that what the first teachers of Christianity originally taught
by word of mouth, they afterwards committed to writing ;
and that those writings are the books of the New Testament :
consequently, the paradoseis of the apostles were the mate-
rials from which. the gospels and acts were made, and were
identical with the doctrinal parts of the epistles. From the
second chapter of the same book it further appears,. that "the
first appeal to floating tradition, as containing articles of belief,
in addition or in contradiction to the records of holy writ, was
made by the earliest of those numerous classes of heretics
who, at so early a period of the church, attempted to ingraft
their own inventions upon the revelation of God's will."
When he again says, that the sound traditions derived di-
rectly by the church from the apostles themselves in all points
harmonized and coincided with the written word; we have a
datum in vindication of our preceding interpretation of apos-
tolical paradoseis. We have thus a proof that Irenmus can—
not be justly cited as a traditionist.
Dr. Shuttleworth has likewise clearly established, that
neither Clemens Romanus. Polycarp, Ignatius, nor the his-
torians of the martyrdom of the two latter, make tradition a
second standard of faith, nor set it up as an auxiliary to
revelation. Nor can we conceive that St. Paul especially,
who called the Jewish traditions lodaikoi muthoi kai entolai
anthropon (Tit. i. 14), and cautioned Timothy against them
(1 Ep. i. 4.), stigmatizing (iv. 7.) them as yraodeis muthui,
rit'llU had wished tradition to direct the Christian church,
would not have left some injunctions respecting it. Nor in
the writings of Justin Martyr is there any reference to oral
communications, as opposed to those which the apostles left
recorded in writing for the edification of the church—nu hint
of an esoteric and exoteric system of Christianity. ThusW.,
have we descended beyond the first 150 years after the close
of /mi. Lord's ministry, during which period the doctrine of •
tradition, as being concurrent in authority with the Scrip-
tures, was not imagined. -Had the case been otherwise, we
should have found during this interval some allusion to it
as a rule of faith, some sifting of the evidence on which it
rested, some direct retracing of it to the apostles; and Justin
Martyr, who disputed withTrypho, especially, might have
been expected to have been diffuse in its favour. The opi-
nions of the writers of the third or fourth centuries, from the
inability to support them by the evidence of the earlier, have
little value : and if we would see how tradition involved itself
in the fabulous as it proceeded down the stream of time, we
need only consult the pages of the Byzantine authors.
Tradition should always be received with great caution: it
has ever been the engine by which the commandments of men
have been set it opposition to the revelations of God. It was
the -tool which enabled the Jews to wrest and wrench the
Scripture; from their obvious interpretation; it was the tool
by- which many of the early heretics forded the gospels to
their purpose: why should it not be so again, if it be equalized
with the written word ! What tradition has perforined for the
Roman Catholics it may perform for others. If God, by mi-
raculous aid, enabled certain persons to write an infallible
record of his will—an infallible directory for mankind, what
they wrote must necessarily be accounted complete; if not,
the anomaly of something uncertain, therefore fallible, as an
indispensable aid to the infallible, will be presented to us.
Hence Dr. Shuttleworth properly contends, that there is an
d priori improbability against divine inspiraaun having been
afforded to an incomplete Scripture; that is the written works
of i he apostles are merely a kind of pareyro, mere incidental
allusions to uoctrines stated elsewhere, it will follow, a that
as the original record has at all events not come down to our
time, the revelation of God's will which we now possess is ne-
cessarily incomplete; that we know not at this moment the
whole of our religion, what it has been and should be." For,
as he continues to assert, that the oral instruction of the
apostolical ages has been transmitted to our tunes in any-
thing like purity, or a state capable of identification through
all the thousand heresies of 1,800 years, on the almost total
extinction of Christian knowledge in Europe before the Re-
formation, is the merest gratuitous assumption, contradicted
by historical testimony. Where were the pure traditions of
the church i❑ the ignorant and superstitious middle ages of
Europe? In this dark epoch was true Christianity to be
found anywhere -but in the Scriptures ?
We cannot escape from the dilemma—either that " reve-
' lation, supposing it to have originally consisted of the written
Scriptures and of oral tradition, is at this moment incomplete,
the communication having been lost in the lapse of ages, anu
the supplementary written portion alone having descended
to us; or that, on the other hand, we must be prepared to re-
ceive the canonical books of the New Testament as an en-
tire, full, and sufficient declaration of the will of God and
summary of our faith." That the latter is correct we cannot
doubt; for to &seta that traditionary doctrines passing from
mouth to mouth, capable of modification according to the
wishes of the reporters, are- revelation, and as such equally
binding, on the belief and conscience as the 'Holy Scripture,
(as we hear in the present day) is most startling, and, in our•
opinion, opens a ready
,doorto heresy and schism.
The proximity to the apostolical age yields not proof that
the early Christians could not have made important mis-
takes ; for at that time inspiration had ceased. Without
inspiration we cannot imagine unmixed truth to have been
orally transmitted front one generation to another; if we
affirm that in this transmission there was no taint or super-
addition of human speculation, we ►mist exempt those suc-
cessive•generations from one of the most besetting infirmities
of our nature. It• we compare the writings of the apostles
with those of the primitive Christian fathers; we instantly.
perceive that we have passed the boundary of inspiration—
we perceive the writers to be merely fallible beings: tradi-
tions descending to us through such a channel can, therefore,
not be put in competition with the inspired documents.
In evidence, that no inspiration can be assigned even to
Clemens Romanus, Dr. Shuttleworth instances his notice of
the phcenix, not merely as illustrative of the resurrection,
but as asserting the existence of that fabulous bird as an
established fact in natural history, bow much less can it be
assigned to those who lived at later periods? In Justin
Martyr we observe, occasionally, strange inferences drawn
from holy writ, verbal inaccuracies arising from ►nisquota-
tions, or quotations memoriter, and continually perceive most
inconclusive reasoning, such as his deduction of moral evil
front the progeny of angels having commerce with antedilu-
vian females.t Such was his interpretation. What shall
we say "of his discovering the holy symbol of the cross in
the masts of shipping, iu the implements of husbandry, in
the tools of the carpenter, and even in the position of the
nose and eyebrows in the human face ;" and of his quoting
Lam. iv. 20, in support of the last idea? Shall we accredit
tradition handed down by such a person ? Moreover, if Ire-
nmusa.a by some called the disciple of Polycarp, the disciple
of St. John, who in this case ought to have known the truth,
asserted for the sake of supporting a fanciful theory, in illus-
tration of John viii. 57, that our Lord must have nearly
reached his 50th year at the time of his crucifixion, to make
out which, contrary to the express declamation of the four
evangelists, he interpolated more than 15 years between his
baptism and the commencement of his ministry, of what au-
thority can lie be in matters of tradition? If such distin•
auished men as Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen bore tes-
timony to the authenticity of that stupid production and for-
gery, the apocryphal epistle of Barnabas, whose misrepre-
sentations of the Levitical law, cabbalistical nonsense, and
monstrous blunders abundantly refute it, how can they be
trusted respecting orally tradittve communications? If Lac-
tantius, too, could repeat the outrageous and stupid 'error of
this unknown author ou Isaiah xiv. 1, and reading Kruios for
Kuros, and arguing from that blunder as from a truth, could
have applied the passage to Christ—in the one to Christ°
Kurio mou, in the other Christo Domino meo—can we, wit-
nessing this want of biblical knowledge, account for a safe
custodies of tradation ? Nay, who that have read the frivol-
ties with which the pages of the fathers are filled will trust
their judgment respecting any standard of faith separate from
the written word? Who will allow these fanciful men to
hand down to us another rule of life ?

After this period the progress of innovation was so rapidly
accelerated that before the close of the fourth century many
of the abuses which human invention had superadded to di-

* Compare Deut. vi. 6-8, x•i 8-21, xxx. 2, 10, xxxi.
11-13, xvii. 19, 1 Kings ii. 3, 2 Chr. xxxiv. 31, Ps. xii 6,
xix. 7-11, lxix. 105, Isaiah viii. 20, xxxiv. 16, Mal. iv. 4,
Matt. xxii. 22, Mark xii. 24, Luke xvi. 29, .x. 25, 26, John
v. 39, Acts xvii. IL—particularly Rev, xvii. Jl, 19, which,
in principle, applies to all the works of. all the inspired.
writers.
See a -subsequent note. r. Adv. Her., ii. 39.

vine revelation became almost completely established. These
were subsequently matured into Popery in its worst form.
When we find Augustine approving the administration of the
eucharist for the purpose of removing a murrain from cattle,
under the idea that it was caused by demons,* and recounting
a miraculous vision vouchsafed for the purpose of discovering
the concealed bones of Gervasius and Pretasius, interred two
centuries before ;-f when about the same period, we read the
miracles gravely related by Sulpicius Severus,l.and consider
that through these periods the oral traditions of the church
must have descended, and descended unimpaired, if we would
accept them as sound portions of apostolic teaching, we must
be more than ordinarily credulous, if we can assent to their
integrity or authenticity.
It is to tradition, which is, as we have described it, that a
party in Oxford would, in these days, direct the church as to
a rival of the word of God ! They would hew out for us a
broken cistern which can hold no water, and little by little
lead us back to all the corruptions of Popery. It is impossible
to foresee the mischief which they are pet forming, and which
they are leading others to perform ; yet it requires no prophe-
tic spirit to perceive, that as tradition before conducted the
church to Popery, the tradition which these men advocate
will have a similar result, if .it be reverential, as they wish it
to be. It is a fond fancy, that the adoption of tradition may
be restricted to any particular period of the church; the bar-
, rier which the present party may prescribe to themselves will
perhaps be broken down by their disciples; and all the gross
absurdities of the later writers, often not exceeded by the Tal-
mud or the Sonnab, may thus force their way gradually as
points of faith. Nay, are not the mummery of abandoning the
reading desk, of kneeling on the steps of the altar, and of
affected and Pharisaic individuals, wearing, the cross, sure in-
dications of what will follow ? ' Will not trine baptism, total
immersion,§ and unction be advocated upon the same princi-
ples? Nay, as prayers for the dead have already their apolo-
gists, as Bishop Ken has been canonized in a service formed
on the Popish model, and deceased relations and friends have
been provided with a devotional commemoration, and the bre-
viary itself has been strongly recommended to us, because our
reformers did not go far enough, we may, as the army of these
men ferments, expect a baptisms umer ton nekron to be en-
rolled among our institutions. Their progress has been steal-
thy aocldangerous ; and itthe
,Bishop of Oxford will tolerate
such mountebankism and such doctrines in his diocese, no
one can tell whet 0 these innovations on our established eccle-
siastical practice will end. If the church, according to;our
articles, has the sole power of decidinc, on her rites, no mem-
ber of that church has a right to add' to them, or substract
from them, under any pretext: if any one be dissatisfied with
her formularies and institutions, let him leave her commu-
nion, and not try to establish a new sect within her pale.
(To be continued.)

* De Civitato Dei xxii. 8, in which are many most mar-
vellous legends.
t Confess., ix. 8,. . T. Dial. i. 7,8, 9; iii. 6.
Baptism was mostly confined to Easter and Whitsun-
tide; and from a tradition, that the West was the place of
darkness, the canclidate's face was directed to that quarter.
When he renounced the devil and his works, he was wont to
stretch cut his hand, as if in defiance of him; the renuncia-

lion twice took place, once before the congregation, and once
at the font. Then followed a sort of exorcism; after which he
was stripped of his garments and anointed with oil, the sign
of the cross being made upon h's forehead. Then twice im-
mersion took place, afterwards another unction, and at last
he was clothed.in a white garment, which he wore for a
week, and then deposited in the church. If we were to re-
vert to such falsely called primitive customs, the simplicity of
our services would be destroyed, and these absurd and other
equally absurd encumbrances would supply its place. These
were a yoke which our fathers could not hear.