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Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-12-28 00:00:00

vine revalation 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 ;t when about the same period, we read the
miracles gravely related by Sulpicius Severus,* 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 most
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 Sonnah, 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
refoi mers did not. go far enough, we may, as the fancy of these
men ferments, expect a baptismos umer ton nekron to be en-
rolled among our institutions. '['heir progress has been steal-
thy and dangerous; and if the Bishop of Oxford will tolerate
such mountebankisin and such doctrines in his diocese, no
one can tell wheie these innovations on our established eccle-
siastical practice will end. If the church, according to;,our
articles, has the sole power of deciding 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, 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
darness, the 'candidate'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-
tion 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.