and recommended by the same irresistible testimony, as those of the Old Testament; for they were built upon the Old as a foundation-were addressed to those who were perfectly familiar with it, and were sure to be at once admitted in all their pretensions, provided the substantial grounds of their claims to credit could not be impugned. The Epistle to the Hebrews shows at once, how far this analogy between the two covenants might be carried, and how unnecessary the writer held it to pursue the argument through all its branches.Pp. 36-38.

Nothing can be more conclusive and satisfactory than this; but as the points of difference between the two dispensations cannot be said to be comprised in matters of omission only, our author proceeds to take cognizance of such other objections as arise out of a change in certain portions of the Mosaic economy, as adopted in the Christian scheme; and we have seldom read a more ably put answer than is here given— it turns on the preceptive character with which a type is oftentimes invested. The case of the Sabbath is exceedingly well put; and we therefore extract it.

As far then as the first reason for observing the Sabbath, and therefore one day in seven, is concerned, it is immutable; as far as regards the second, which specified the particular day, it was not only mutable, but inasmuch as the reason on which it was founded was itself a type of something to follow, it was necessarily to be changed when the antitype arrived. The deliverance from Egypt foreshadowed the deliverance of all mankind from more than Egyptian bondage; and as the commemoration of the former of necessity passed away when the actual deliverance had been completed, so was the day on which it was celebrated as necessarily changed for that on which the real and effectual transaction took place. If it would have been absurd to continue to offer the Paschal Lamb after the real Lamb of God had been slain, which took away the sins of the world; it would have been not less so to observe the day on which their earthly deliverance took place, when the day of their spiritual liberation that of the resurrection of our Lord-was known. The type was, in this case, a precept; and commanded the change as clearly, as, in the first instance, it had commanded the observance.—Pp. 40, 41.

At page 46, there is a good note from Davison's Discourses on Prophecy. This is a valuable book; and, putting fair play out of the question, we do not wonder at Dr. Hampden manoeuvring to have the sanction of his name. We cannot better conclude this article than in the summary which the reverend lecturer gives of his argument.

If, then, we have established our point, we have shown that there are reasons for those changes, which, at first sight, appear to give a character of greater laxity to the new law as compared with the old-whether with regard to the priesthood, the alteration of the sabbath and other ordinances, or the strictly legal form of the law itself-reasons which show that the authority of the second law is not less strict and absolute than that of the first. For it appears that the first pre-supposes, nay commands, the changes of the second; and thus not only sanctions such alterations, but gives to them all the force of the original statute. The text puts this notion in a striking point of view. It represents the Law as being itself a copy and transcript of the Gospel, as it already existed in the Divine mind-as being a distinct shadow, thrown forward from a pre-existing substance :-" See " saith he to Moses, when he was about to make

the tabernacle, (an abstract expression for the Jewish economy)-"see that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the Mount." This is a consideration which appears to relieve the mind of much anxiety, when the New Testament evidence on some of the points above alluded to is brought under discussion. We can then fall back upon the original constitution of the Mosaic Law, and argue from its acknowledged Plenary Authority to that of the New Testament, with a degree of confidence which grows stronger the more closely the connexion between the Old Testament and the New is established. 66 What," says Justin Martyr, "is the Law? the Gospel predicted. What is the Gospel? the Law fulfilled." Or as Hooker expresses it: "The general end, both of Old and New, is one; the difference between them consisting in this, that the Old did make wise by teaching salvation through Christ that should come; the New, by teaching that Christ the Saviour is come, and that Jesus whom the Jews did crucify, and whom God did raise from the dead, is he.-Pp. 48-50.

In our next article we propose to consider the third lecture, which is on the Inspiration of Scripture. The subject is a difficult one, and we think even Mr. Parkinson is not as clear as usual. But we wait.

ART. II.-The Church the Teacher of her Children. A Sermon, preached at St. Margaret's, Westminster, on Sunday, May 12th, 1839. By EDWARD, LORD BISHOP OF SALISBURY. London: Cochran. 8vo. Pp. 27; 24mo, small edition, pp. 24.

THOSE who are acquainted with the proceedings of the London Board of the National Society, need scarcely be informed of the deep interest evinced in National Education by the Bishop of Salisbury, or of the constant and valuable attention which he has bestowed on the late operations of that most important Society. The earnest zeal also which the Bishop has shown in his own diocese in advocating the cause of schools, and in modelling a board for the general improvement of education throughout the portion of the Church committed to his charge, must be well known to those who have the means of witnessing it. These circumstances give a peculiar value to the sermon which is now before us. Nor will, we think, the perusal of it disappoint those readers who expect to find in it the result of high principle, patient investigation, and sound experience. It is unquestionably one of the very best sermons which the state of religious education in many parts of the country has called forth.

The sermon is on 1 Thess. v. 21, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." And we must be allowed to make some considerable extracts from it.

After remarking that our Lord and his apostles had foretold that the church would not be without severe trials, not only from open enemies,

but also from those who professed to belong to her, His Lordship proceeds in these words :

The experience of the church in all ages, abundantly confirms the anticipations which the language of Scripture must have suggested from the first. Even the personal presence and authority of the apostles did not preserve the christian community in its infant state from the divisions caused by erroneous views of the truth, or heretical misrepresentations of it; nor did Satan fail in each succeeding age to bring forward vain imaginations and unsound doctrines, whereby the ignorant and unstable were led away, and the faith of "those which were approved" was made manifest and confirmed.

Nor, while the Church was thus exposed to the trials which her Lord and his apostles had foretold for her, did she, on the other hand, neglect the course which had been pointed out for her safety under them. In obedience to the injunction of the apostle, she proved all things, and held fast that which was good. She tried each successive heresy which arose by the touchstone of the word of God, and the received faith and practice of the universal church. As a guide to direct her children aright, she appears to have had, even in the time of the apostles, a "form of sound words, which St. Paul enjoins Timothy to "hold fast." And, when occasion required, the early creed, to which the name of the apostles has been given, and the fuller successive creeds, called the Nicene and Athanasian, were raised as bulwarks against heretical innovation, and developed the teaching of the church of Christ.-Pp. 2-4, 8vo. edit.; pp. 4, 5, small edit.

Having thus stated the practice of the primitive church, the Bishop points out how the neglect of following ages in imitating her example led to the innovations of popish error.

Well (says his Lordship) would it have been had this vigilance of the church been throughout maintained, so as to preserve in its purity the faith committed to her. But the slumber of ignorance, and the deceitfulness of error, came upon her; and they who should have been her guardians, betrayed their trust. Hence, through the dark period of successive ages, baneful superstition overshadowed the heritage of the Lord; and doctrines prevailed therein, and customs were upheld, equally at variance with the revealed word of God, and the practice of the earlier and purer ages of the Catholic Church. Then was Rome enabled to build up her system of tyranny and fraud; imposing on the reason of her subjects burthens too heavy to be borne; smothering the simplicity of the faith with pompous ceremonies and unmeaning forms, making the word of God of none effect through her traditions; and deadening the conscience by substituting a law of works for the faith which brings to justification, and for the inward holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.—P. 4, 8vo. edit.; pp. 5, 6, small edit.

This is followed by a valuable development of the principle on which the Reformation in this country was conducted, namely, a reference to Scripture alone, interpreted by catholic antiquity, as the standard of faith.

But still, in due time, was the old rule again effectively applied. Again, at the period of the Reformation, did our church bring to the proof the whole system of religion as then maintained, and, by the blessing of God, purged it from the dross, and brought out the pure metal, as gold twice refined from the furnace.

Then did our reformers fall back upon the word of God, as the sole and sufficient rule of faith; while they at the same time held that, in the interpretation of that word, the authority of the earliest and purest ages of the

church, the consent of the fathers of catholic antiquity was not to be set at nought by each man's private opinion and unassisted judgment; but rather to be carefully sought for, and reverentially followed and received. Then did they make their protest against all such doctrines as were not either plainly to be read in the holy Scriptures, or clearly to be proved thereby; and reformed all such rites and ceremonies as were either in themselves contrary to the word of God, or which, having been originally "devised of godly intent and purpose," had, by the corruptions of men, been "turned to vanity and superstition." Then did they frame the Articles of our Church, as a standard of sound doctrine for their own and succeeding generations; our form of Common Prayer, for the expression of the devotions of her children, and the suitable service of Almighty God; and the Catechism, for training up the rising generation in the tenets of christian faith, and in the practice of the virtues of the christian life.

Thus did the Church, when the occasion called for it, "prove all things, and hold fast that which was good." She proved all things, and rejected whatsoever was unable to stand the proof-the corruptions that ignorance had introduced, or fraud invented, or superstition conceived. She proved all things, and held fast that which the word of God established as true, which the consent of antiquity marked as sound, and which reason and experience showed to be necessary for the order and quiet discipline of the Church, and to tend to godly edifying.

She thus approved herself to the judgment of her children as a faithful keeper and witness of the word of God, and commended herself to their affections as a careful and tender nursing mother, a safe and unerring instructress and guide. Pp. 4-6, 8vo. edit.; pp. 6, 7, small edit.

The Bishop next applies the principle to the more immediate subject of his sermon-religious education.

The principle of the apostle, however, to "prove all things, and hold fast that which is good," which the Church thus maintained, has a wider application than that it should be confined to the doctrines of the christian faith, or the rites and ceremonies of the Church. The observance of it should be regarded by us as an imperative obligation with reference to all our duties, whether such as concern ourselves alone, or such as influence the condition of our fellow-men. The circumstances of the present day appear especially to call for the application of this great principle to the work of the education of the young.Pp. 6, 7, 8vo. edit. ; p. 7, small edit.

Then having given some important statistical statements respecting the want of education, more especially in the metropolis and other populous parts of the country, and having made some remarks on the defective character "in many instances" of the education afforded, the Bishop thus proceeds :

With the knowledge of these deficiencies, both in the extent and in the quality of the education of the people, it is natural that the minds of men who are sensible of the importance of the subject should be much exercised upon it; and it is natural, too, that various projects should be entertained, some of them distinguished rather by zeal than discretion-some framed rather with regard to immediate apparent expediency than to sound principle-some, perhaps, in which designs of mischief are cloaked under apparent zeal for the public good; and that the views even of those whose intentions are the best, should not always be such as the judgment can approve.

Here, then, it is that we have need to remember the precept of the apostle. Here the Church must recall to mind the wisdom of former days; and proving, by the means which have been given her, her existing institutions; and prov ing, too, the various propositions now set before her, she must hold fast of the one, and adopt of the other those, and those alone, which her judgment,

enlightened and guided by the rules her Lord has supplied, shall proclaim to deserve her support, and pronounce to be good.-Pp. 9, 10, 8vo. edit.; p. 10, small edit.

The Bishop's review of the chief projects* now entertained for the establishment of a general national system of education, which is designed to embrace all parties and sects, is so admirable, and the grounds for the Church's withholding her approbation and support from them are so satisfactory, that we are tempted to transfer them to our pages without further remarks.

Doubtless it were the happiest state, did no differences of belief or practice offer any obstacle to the combining in one common system of instruction all the population of our land, so that the nation at large could provide for the nation's wants, and train up all its children in one harmonious system of religious truth. And such would have been the case, had none been led astray to quit the sound doctrines of established truth for various self-devised systems of erroneous faith, and therefore to reject the instruction whereby the Church would train up those within her fold in the peaceful godliness of the christian life.

But since, unhappily, schism has rent and torn that body, which, according to the declared will of our blessed Lord, should have been maintained as one; and those who bear the common name of Christian, differ often in the most important doctrines of the faith, which many hold not aright-hence it is, because some portion of the people will not receive that form of instruction which the Church provides, that others propose different methods whereby their scruples may be respected at the expense of the sacrifice of more or less of the doctrines which the Church of Christ has ever held; or even of the whole body of christian truth.

The Bishop adds, in a note to the larger edition of his Sermon, these observations on the Government plan, written, we believe, just after it was first promulgated:"It will be observed, that though other systems of education have been discussed, no especial reference has been made in this discourse to the plan recently promulgated by the Committee of the Privy Council, appointed to superintend the application of any sums voted by Parliament for the purpose of promoting public education.' The extent and details of this plan are at present too imperfectly developed for the author to wish to pronounce a decided opinion respecting it. It has been declared, indeed, not to be a system of education at all; but merely the establishment of a single school. But that school is termed a model school,' which, of course, implies that it is set up as a pattern by which other schools should be regulated. And in so far as this model school is formed on the principle of combining the members of different religious persuasions in a common system of religious instruction, it is obvious that some of the objections stated to another system will bear upon it. Nor does any sufficiently satisfactory remedy appear to be provided for this, by the division of religious instruction into 'general' and 'special,' and the provision for the latter branch by licensed ministers of different sects. For while one probable consequence of this will be to establish in the school as many licensed teachers of religion as there are considerable sects in the country, it is also to be feared that what is called 'general' religious instruction may prove to be the inculcation of morals without doctrine; while 'special' instruction, under such circumstances, would be apt to become a statement of doctrine without practical application of moral duty. The author cannot but express his regret, that the necessity (which he does not deny) of admitting Dissenters to the participation in the advantages of a grant in aid of education from the public funds, should have been held to carry with it the necessity of communicating those advantages by means of a common and combined system. Whereas he believes that the good proposed might have been effected more easily and unobjectionably by the adoption of a different plan; either by making use of the agency of the National Society on the one hand, and the British and Foreign Society on the other; or by the establishment of separate training schools, under the immediate control of the government, but on the system respectively of those societies, so far as religious instruction is concerned."-P. 18. 4 G

VOL. XXI. NO. X.