Now this at first sight might seem to be written by a Roman Catholic, but such is not the case. Heylin, to speak proleptically, was only a Puseyite, and did but utter the sentiments of the Oxford sect, sentiments which the Puseyites most cordially acknowledge, as no one stands higher in their estimation than Peter Heylin. But in what respect Heylin and the Puseyites differ from the Roman Catholics it would be difficult to say, for we find that the Elizabethan clergy, in the year preceding the time which he has described with so much approbation, came to the following conclusions in convocation, which he reports without one word of dissent :

1. “That in the sacrament of the altar, by virtue of Christ's assisting, after the word is duly pronounced by the priest, the natural body of Christ, conceived of the Virgin Mary is really present under the species of bread and wine, as also his natural blood. 2. That after the consecration there remains not the substance of bread and wine, nor any substance, save the substance of God and man. 3. That the true body of Christ and his blood is offered for a propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead. 4. That the supreme power of feeding and governing the militant Church of Christ, and of confirming their brethren, is given to Peter the Apostle, and to his lawful successors in the see apostolic, as unto the Vicars of Christ. 5. That the authority to handle and define such things which belong to faith, the sacraments and discipline ecclesiastical, hath hitherto ever belonged, and only ought to belong unto the pastors of the church, whom the Holy Spirit hath placed in the church, and not unto laymen."

Heylin quietly informs us, that "the Convocation caused these articles to be engrossed that they were presented to the hands of the Lord Keeper Bacon, by whom they were candidly received; but they prevailed not with the Queen and the House of Peers, when imparted to them." These then are the decrees of the Church of England in convocation assembled !

We have only to turn from the pages of Heylin to those of the British Magazine for August last, to ascertain that there is not the slightest difference between Heylinism and Puseyism. In that periodical we find, in a letter from a clergyman, the following passage :

"It is, therefore, abundantly clear that the rubric at the beginning of our morning prayer requires the consecrating priest to wear an alb, and a chasuble, or cope, and the assistants albs and tunicles. How far it may be desirable so to do, is quite another question, into which I cannot now enter fully; but considering the length of time which has elapsed since these vestments were in use, and the prejudice against important truths which the revival of them would excite or strengthen, unless it were general, I would suggest whether it may not be as well for parochial clergymen to wait until the example is set them by bishops and cathedrals. Mr. H. is a little mistaken in supposing that the cope is never worn by the celebrant in the Roman Church. I have myself seen it worn in the Clementine chapel at St. Peter's, in pontifical high-mass, celebrated by bishops, not to mention other places." Leigh. (Signed) J. B-n.

With such authority as this, the question may, of course be considered settled, and copes from the Clementine chapel at St.Peter's will doubtless be duly imported.

Another correspondent of the Oxford sect, in the August number of the British Magazine, argues at length in favour of prayers for the dead, and he divides his argument into two portions, the former of which, “authority for the practice in Scripture," we give in his own foolish words.

1. "God is not the God of the dead but the living, for all live unto him.' They who have left this world are living.

2. "I exhort that prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.' It is for those who condemn the practice, as in itself wrong, to shew why, when the Apostle directs prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving to be made for all men, making no exception, those men are to be understood as excluding those who are still living, though not in this world.

3. "The Lord grant unto Onesi phorus that he may find mercy in that day.' From the previous salutation to the house of Onesiphorus, it has been inferred that Onesiphorus himself was dead."

This gentleman then goes on from what he calls his Scripture proofs, to Tertullian, Justin Martyr, and the Book of Maccabees, though he can hardly be au fait in the mysteries of his sect not to

reckon the Book of Maccabees amongst the most precious of the canonical scriptures. After this course of argument, he concludes with an inference truly characteristic of the sect. He first shews, or attempts to shew, that the Pharisees used to pray for the dead in the days of our Lord; "when therefore our Lord gave this injunction, The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat, all, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do,' he must, if this practice was then in force under the appointment of the Jewish teachers, be understood as sanctioning obedience to authority in a matter of this kind." By this mode of argument we are bound not only to the whole ceremonial law, but to the Talmud also. The writer after lamenting over the abrogation of prayers for the dead, concludes with this sentence: Happily the private use of them still remains free to those who regard this custom as a link to the communion of saints." He signs his letter with three crosses of a Roman Catholic bishop.

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In another twelvemonth we shall have something very like high mass in the churches of the Puseyite clergy. Dr. Hook, of Leeds, has already large wax tapers lighted in broad day on the altar of his parish church. The faldstool and the turning the back to the people, have been long established amongst them; the cope, alb, and tunicle, are coming in; prayers for the dead are part of their private practices. What then is wanting but the elevation of the Host ? and what harm would there be if "the consecrating priest" was to lift the bread high above his head, when he is performing "the dreadful mystery?"

THE BISHOP OF EXETER.

"THE Western Times" newspaper, dated August 10th, and published at Exeter, contains a lamentable portrait of clerical affairs within that diocese. This is the substance of the statement. About Christmas last the Dean of Exeter died: the government proceeded to nominate Lord Wriothesly Russell to the office of dean, and appointed him by letters patent. The appointment produced a communication from the Chapter of Exeter Cathedral, stating that the Act of Parliament for the suspension of

Church dignities, precluded the chapter from making another prebendary; and, therefore, the new dean must be selected from the existing body. The crown, willing in all things to conform to the law, complied with the suggestion, and nominated the Rev. T. Grills, a member of their own body, and a prebendary, to the vacant deanery. The chapter had other views, and, therefore, intimated a new difficulty-"that the dean must be a canon, and the aforementioned act prevented them from making Mr. Grills a canon, and therefore they could not appoint him." On receiving this information, the government passed an Act of Parliament empowering the members of the chapter to preserve the canonry as a qualification for the office, and thus to enable them to appoint Mr. Grills. Notwithstanding this arrangement, the chapter appointed Mr. Precentor Lowe to the deanery, probably before the act was passed, though this is not mentioned in the "Western Times."

But, it should be known, that the Rev. Hill Lowe, was, six or seven years ago, named to the precentorship of the Cathedral, that he might vacate two valuable livings in Worcestershire, Hollow-cum-Grimley, in favour of the Bishop of Exeter's son. The bishop, also, has lately provided, by dexterous management, for his son-in-law, the Rev. Mr. De Bouilli. On the death of the Vicar of Thoverton, a good living fell vacant to the presentation of the Rev. Chancellor Martin, who gave it to Mr. Atherly but here the Bishop of Exeter interposed, he said there was no dean, and therefore the right of presentation lapsed to himself. The dispute was referred to the Earl of Devon, who decided in favour of the Bishop. The right reverend prelate, thereon, presented the vacant living of Thoverton to his "respected friend,” Dr. Coleridge of Lawhitton, who immediately vacated Lawhitton, to which the bishop forthwith appointed his own son-in-law, Mr. De Bouilli; and thus "the vacancy of the deanery" has, indeed, been turned to good account.

It should, also, be known that Mr. Lowe, on taking the deanery, vacated the living of the Holy Trinity, in favour of his son-in-law, Mr. Rock. In the very same paper in which these intrigues are detailed, we find an account of the Bishop of Exeter's proceedings as a spiritual pastor in his diocese. At a

visitation which the bishop held at Totnes, on August 5th, he gave the usual charge to the clergy: "They had reason," he said, "to be thankful for God's mercies, in preserving those institutions which are the best support of true religion; institutions which tend, more than all others, to the improvement, temporal, as well as spiritual, of man; and are essential to the existence of the constitution of this country, as established in Church and State. In the discharge of their limited duties (for the clergy were now limited to the rights of the Church) he would encourage them to be zealous and earnest, for while shut out from taking part with their fellowmen, in matters and things in which were involved interests of a great, and, not unfrequently, of a momentous nature, they were called upon to be the more earnest in the cause of Christ, and the establishment of his kingdom amongst men." The bishop then adverted to the apostolical succession, and referred to certain clergymen who had denied the direct descent of their body from the apostles; alluding chiefly, as it was supposed, to Mr. Head.

"If any such there were who thought this doctrine erroneous, then would he recommend them in humble prayer to God, to ask that their minds might be enlightened, and that they might be delivered from this error. And if, after this, any man feel convinced within himself, or become convinced by the arguments of others, that the ministerial charge in the Church of England is of human origin, and has no higher authority, then," said the bishop, "in the name of God, let him depart from us. We would weep over him; we would mourn his loss, and would pray over him; but, if, after this, continuing to hold station or place, or continuing to receive emolument in the Church, he slanders and vilifies it, no words of mine are sufficiently strong to characterise his baseness."

The right reverend diocesan here wounds no small company of the clergy; even all those who have their consciences not yet seared with a hot iron, and who sigh, and who cry, for all the abominations done in the establishment. The number of those who do in private vilify the prayer book, and who disbelieve its well known difficulties, and who abhor the worldliness of their Church, is astonishingly great, though the number of those who leave the position of sin in

which they find themselves, is astonishingly small. There are, however, other clergymen in whose minds the moral sensation is nearly annihilated, and they take every thing that they find in the Established Church without scruple, difficulty, or hesitation.

We do not profess to know how many tears the bishop would shed over seceding clergymen, but it is to be presumed, that if the seceders did, by their secession, vacate emoluments in the presentation of the diocesan, that the right reverend prelate would ere long find matter of consolation therein, and, taking comfort, dry up ere long the effusion of his

tears.

"The bishop next spoke of the two sacraments, contending for their spiritual efficacy: they are not mere signs, but effectual means of grace, and necessary to salvation. With respect to those infants who die unbaptised, he expressed himself in terms the most humane and charitable, but firmly maintained the doctrine of the Church, that in baptism we are regenerated, and born anew of water and of the Holy Ghost. That any one, after having engaged that he will use the form of words, and continue to enforce them, can yet deny that regeneration is given in baptism, might appear incredible, did not the experience of two hundred years prove to the contrary; and, he lamented to say, that these errors not only continued to our times, but were to be found in his own diocese: names, the bishop would not mention, but persons there are, who take upon themselves to garble and omit expressions in administering this sacrament, which they are too tender to use, but not too tender to promise to use. I do not think,' said the bishop, there are any such here: but, if what I now say comes to their knowledge, as perhaps it may, I call on them to repent of their wickedness, and to pray God to forgive them.' The right reverend diocesan thus went on to shew that, by the canons, if any one persists in this error, he is, in the first instance, to be suspended; and should he, after a month, persist, then he is to be excommunicated. Such being the ecclesiastical law, the clergy might depend upon it that it should be strictly enforced in his diocese," &c.

Such are the transactions within the pale of the Church, as by law established, and all too bad for comment. The evangelical clergy, however, can bear all this,

On the 22nd April, 1839, was held the Eighteenth Anniversary of this Society, which appears to us strongly marked by the characteristic features of the passing age, and which apparently combines in one focus the objects aimed at by several of our English benevolent associations, such as the reformation of prison discipline, the education of orphans, &c. &c. It has the patronage of the Duc de Broglie, as honorary president, and of the Marquis de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, as president.

The president, in his introductory speech, says that M. Lamartine has given the character of the system of the Society in the following sentences:

"This political economy-calm as a system of philosophy, fervent as a religion, patient as a certainty, raises itself above a rigid and jealous patriotism, by means of the patriotism of humanity which embraces all parties, all nations, in the same love. It has placed before it, as the object of its endeavours, the indefinite improvement of Societies, and it is neither disconcerted by the slowness of the pace, nor by the false steps of the human race. It is sure to reach the end at which it aims, because it leads man and brings him to God.

"This is, in truth (continues the president), that which our system really is, around which men of different opinions rally, and unite themselves with the most noble zeal, and with an active devotion, (as our illustrious colleague has also said), 'to this benevolent system of politics, to this effort, extending beyond domestic boundaries, in which the attention is occupied with real interests, instead of disputing about doubtful systems-in which gratitude precedes benefits received, and respecting which all the world is agreed, because the good is immediate and the advantages evident."

This Society takes as its motto the following expressions of the Duc de Rochefoucauld-Liancourt:

"The better a man is, the more religious he becomes, but he keeps his faith to himself and is indulgent to others;"

and this kind of sentimental religionism appears to pervade the ideas of its supporters. We see in it no traces of the religion of our blessed Lord. If good is to be done, it is not, according to this "philosophy," the glory of God, which is the ultimate object in view-the indefinite improvement of human society, and mending the world by "the application of Christian morals to social relations,' is the Utopia flitting before the eyes of the benevolent people who compose this Society. They seem to be entirely accordant on the principle,

"For modes of faith let graceless bigots fight, He can't be wrong whose life is in the right," Accordance in cold approbation of Christian morals is the basis of their union.

AN ELUCIDATION OF THE PROPHECIES, BY J. TYSO.-1838. WE promised to take some notice of this work, sent us by the author, but have not space to enter into a detailed examination of its contents. The design may be gathered from the concluding paragraph, with which we fully accord.

"I suspect there must be some great mistake among Christians in the present day, relative to the coming of the Lord Jesus; or else there must be a most lamentable defect in their love to Him, for who would not desire to be with the object of their highest love? It is generally thought that the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven is simply to judge the world, to sentence the wicked to helltorments, and to take the righteous with Him to heaven. Now, with merely this view of the subject, it is no wonder that we never hear good people pray, 'Even so, come, Lord Jesus.' But, if the coming of the Lord includes not only the destruction of all antichristian powers, and the binding of Satan, but also the stitution of all things," the kingdoms of this world, becoming the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, when He shall take to Himself His great power, and reign, when the kingdom shall be the Lord's, and He shall be governor among the nations, and all shall know Him, from the greatest to the least, and the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth as the waters do the sea, and the will of God be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then, when we contemplate the declaration of our Saviour, Surely I come quickly,' our hearts would all respond with the apostle, Amen, even so, come, Lord Jesus.'"

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