It must, however, be added, that although Christ has condescended to endure temptation for us, and, by thus enduring it, has become, in a peculiar sense, touched with a feeling of our infirmities; yet, that he will not impart his divine assistance unless it be sought by the appointed means. It is not for us to sit still, and let the temptation hold its course, and expect that Christ will obtrude his deliverance; -the case is widely different. It was with a direct reference to our continual necessities that we were enjoined daily to prefer the petition, "Lead us not into temptation ;" and whatever be that temptation, which most severely tries our patience and our faith, we must pursue the course which has been marked out for us by the Apostle Paul; who, when pressed by temptation, besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him. We must have recourse to fervent, continual, importunate prayer ;-remembering that the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation. In proportion as the trial becomes more pressing, should our prayers become more earnest; especially since what Christ has done for us entitles us to come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in

time of need.

This, then, is the third point which was proposed for our consideration; viz.—The result of Christ's temptation as applicable to

ourselves.

The throne of God is emphatically a throne of grace. It is from thence that pardon is dispensed to the repentant and returning sinner; it is thither that all are invited to repair, who desire to accept that universal and unrestricted amnesty which was proclaimed in the Gospel of peace. That throne was always a throne of glory; by this name it is called in the writings of the Old Testament, and God himself declared, "Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool." But it is now a throne of grace; and, however we may be daunted by the contemplation of God's transcendant majesty, or discouraged by the consciousness of our iniquities and infirmities, we may come boldly, if we only come in the name of Christ. For he knoweth our frame; he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities; and he will so advocate our cause before the Almighty Judge, that through his intercession, we shall obtain a full salvation-a complete remission of sins. It should, however, be well understood, that to come boldly is not to come arrogantly or presumptuously; the assurance of the Christian must be equally removed from the extremes of an unauthorized confidence, or a crouching fear; and in thus drawing nigh, we must look well to it, that our boldness is derived from an exclusive reliance on the merit

of Christ, and not a lurking dependence on our own. This being duly ascertained, though we are deeply convinced of our multiplied and manifold transgressions, and persuaded that our very righteousnesses are as filthy rags; yet may we come boldly, confiding that we shall not only obtain mercy, but find grace to help in time of need.

By the expression "obtaining mercy," is signified that participation in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, which is common to all true Christians. Diversified as are the means by which God is pleased to bring men to the knowledge of himself; some by the preaching of the word; some by the trial of affliction, some by peculiar interpositions

of Divine Providence, in deliverance from danger or death; still the result is alike to all-they obtain mercy. Even in the time of their utmost need, the grace of God is ever attainable; the arm of their Redeemer is extended to save, and who shall draw it back? There is no temptation to which the Christian can be subjected through the weakness of his flesh, or the malevolence of his spiritual adversaries, for which there is not a peculiar promise; over which he shall not be enabled ultimately to triumph, if he only continue firm unto the end. Even when his flesh and his heart fail, God will be the strength of his heart, and his portion for ever. Christ, who has overcome death, shall deliver him from his fears, and put into his mouth that triumphant exclamation, "O Death! where is thy sting? O Grave! where is thy victory?"

To be thus reminded, my Christian brethren, of the humiliation, the sorrows, and sufferings, of our blessed Lord and Saviour, to be reminded also of the inestimable benefits which were thus dearly purchased for us, is necessary at all times, but peculiarly necessary at a period like this, when we are solemnly admonished, by the institution of our venerable Church, to repentance and newness of life. For where can we discern the reflection of our own sins, but in the mirror of our Saviour's sufferings? and how can we form a due estimate of our obligations to him, unless we contemplate the evils which, for our sakes, he encountered, and the glories which, for our salvation, he renounced? Let us, then, learn the most effectual lesson of humility and repentance at the cross of Christ. Let us set about the important duty of ascertaining how we stand with God, and what are our hopes of a heavenly inheritance. Let us well examine the foundations of our faith in Christ, whether they are such as will endure when the rains descend, and the floods come, and the winds blow; and if we find that they are not laid in a true and unfeigned repentance, let us know well that we are like unto the foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. Let us resolutely apply ourselves to the erection of a better and more durable fabric; for that which is designed to stand throughout eternity, should be grounded on the solid basis of the Rock of Ages, the foundation being laid in repentance, and the superstructure erected in faith. And though we are conscious of many and aggravated offences; though we are retarded by many and overwhelming infirmities; though we are surrounded by many and powerful temptations; yet, since" we have not an High Priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

T. D.

VOL. XII. NO. II.

P

MISCELLANEOUS.

ON THE EARLY FATHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

No. II.

"Omni antiquitate uti possumus, quæ, quo propius aberat ab ortu et divina progenie, hoc melius ea fortasse, quæ vera erant, cernebat."-Cic. Tusc. Quæst. 12.

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS:-SECT. II.

ACCORDING to the Sixth Article, it is the doctrine of the Church of England, that "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.' This article was mainly directed against the opinions set forth in the most approved writings of the Romish Clergy, who maintained the inviolable authority of the Holy Fathers, whom they regarded with a degree of veneration superior to that with which they approached the word of God. Hence it became necessary to reduce the Patristical influence within its legitimate bounds; and our Reformers at once abjured the notion of the infallibility of the primitive Church, appealing to the Scriptures as the only sure rule in matters of faith. At the same time, while they grounded their doctrines upon the basis of divine revelation, they studied the primitive writings with the deepest attention, as the most valuable guide in investigating the truth. They found it necessary also to turn the testimony of antiquity against those who had so long employed it in support of their idolatrous superstitions; and to inquire how far the support, alleged to be thence derived, could be safely relied on. In this inquiry, the relative weight of the writers whose testimony is adduced was a point of material importance; as well as the date of the document, on the authority of which any matter of doctrine or discipline, unauthorized by Scripture, depends. Here then, arise two questions:-1. To whom the appellation of the FATHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH properly belongs? 2. Which, and what portion, of their works may justly be accounted genuine and authentic?

1. There is considerable difference of opinion respecting the persons to whom the title of FATHERS is justly applied. Some would confine it to the Apostles, and their immediate successors; while others extend it to the Christian writers, of every denomination, in the first twelve centuries of the Gospel era. Perhaps the preferable opinion lies between these two extremes; and those alone are to be regarded with any degree of veneration who flourished within the first five centuries of the primitive church. After the celebrated Council of Nice, and more especially during the dark and gloomy period of the middle ages, a class of writers arose, greatly inferior to their predecessors, in whatever light their characters are estimated. Sadly deficient in learning, prejudiced in opinion, and inelegant in style, they cannot be supposed to possess a tithe of that authority which we

readily assign to those of an earlier date. The bulk of the errors and misapprehension of the sacred text which has been collected from the Patristical writings, as well as the authorities alleged in support of divers heretical doctrines, are, for the most part, chargeable upon these later interpreters; and few indeed are the doctrinal delinquencies of which the Anti-Nicene Fathers can fairly be accused. Their interpretations of Scripture, as we have already stated, were sometimes fanciful and incorrect: but it is extremely disingenuous to visit the sins of their successors upon the heads of those whose honesty was unquestionable, even where their judgment may be questioned. It should be remembered, also, that we are only contending for the accuracy of their facts, not for the constructions put upon them. They were faithful witnesses of the early discipline of the Christian Church, and they had the readiest means of an accurate insight into its doctrines : and so far they are to be received as the most competent, though far from infallible, guides, in the investigation of gospel truth.

2. The inference to be drawn from the relative importance of the writings of the earlier and later Fathers, is this:-That such doctrines or ceremonies as derive their whole or principal support from PostNicene testimonies, which is the case with many of the corruptions of the Romish Church, and the heresies of other communions, have but little, if any, pretensions to the sanction of antiquity. A similar deduction clearly attaches itself to those works, attributed to the Apostolical writers and their successors, which are either spurious or interpolated. It is an object, therefore, of no little importance to establish the genuineness and authenticity of those writings, to which an appeal is made in defence of any particular position; and more especially as some divines of the German school have laboured to establish a charge of forgery against all the writings which have been attributed to the Apostolic Fathers. That interpolations to a great extent have been intermixed with what is genuine, and that some entire pieces have been proved to be spurious, it is not intended to deny; but it is scarcely to be expected that the erudition of Pearson, and Wake, and Cotelerius, by means of which their authenticity to a certain extent has been established, is to be set aside at once at the bare dictum of Dr. Semler and his associates.

Interpolation is not the only drawback upon the authority of the Patristical writings. It does not unfrequently happen that they have been shamefully mutilated. The Romanists more especially have practised this fraudulent method of getting rid of passages, which were opposed to the doctrines and traditions of their corrupt Church; and have not hesitated to cancel whole leaves of ancient manuscripts, and to omit or alter statements, which tended to bring their superstition and idolatries into disrepute. In an edition of Origen, they omitted his commentary on the whole of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, because his exposition militated with their opinions respecting the Eucharist; and in their printed copies of Isidore this sentence is for the same reason omitted:-Panis vero et vinum ideo corpori et sanguini Domini comparantur, quia, sicut visibilis hujus panis vinique substantia exteriorem nutrit et inebriat hominem, ita Verbum Dei, qui est Panis vivus, participatione sui fidelium recreat mentes.

(Isid. Orig. VI. 19). Numberless other mutilations of a similar tendency have been detected by the learned; some of which we shall have occasion to notice hereafter.

Having ascertained the title of any individual writer to the appellation of a CHRISTIAN FATHER, the degree of authority which his opinions carry with them, and the genuineness and authenticity of the works in which his opinions are found; great caution is still required in order to a right apprehension of his views. In particular, no decisive inference should be drawn from detached passages and isolated fragments; but from the uniform tenor and general bearing of his sentiments, and the connected train of his argument. The context should be diligently examined; and care should be taken that a writer be not made to contradict himself, through an inattention to the different objects which he may have in view on different occasions. How easily such perversions may be effected, will readily appear by a reference to the commentaries of the School Divines, which consisted for the most part of quotations, compiled from the Fathers, and linked together without order or arrangement. Catalogues thus formed were received by those, who had not the ability to search the original documents for themselves, as the most unerring guides in matters of faith and it was very generally believed, till Jewel and others submitted them to a strict and severe examination, that the Fathers were really adverse to the principles of the Reformation. A somewhat similar, though more disingenuous, misrepresentation of the Fathers has lately been attempted by modern Unitarians. The passages which have been adduced in support of the simple humanity of Christ, are generally characterised by some difficulty of expression or ambiguity of construction; without the slightest reference to the general tenor of the author's views, and uncompared with any other portion of his works. Not unfrequently, also, passages are alleged in support of the Socinian doctrines, which speak of Christ as having a human nature, and as being inferior to the Father. But the deduction is clearly inconclusive, which would argue the absence of the divinity in Christ, from the presence of humanity. It is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that he possessed both the human and divine natures; and the production of passages in support of one part of the doctrine can only tend to confirm the orthodox faith in that part, without detracting an atom from the stability of the other. There is not a single passage in any one of the Anti-Nicene Fathers, fairly interpreted, which affords the slightest sanction to the doctrine that Jesus Christ was a mere man; nor are there wanting many, on the other hand, which, though they do not expressly state his divinity, assert his miraculous conception, which is tantamount to a proof of this important article of the Christian creed.

From the foregoing observations we may fairly conclude, that the writings of the Fathers, if studied in due subservience to the Holy Scriptures, and not estimated above their legitimate value, are calculated to throw considerable light upon the doctrines and discipline of the primitive Church, to confirm the truths of Revelation, and to establish or confute the conflicting opinions which divide the several dissentient communions of the Christian world. If the several funda