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ever afterwards be prepared to surrender not only his reason, senses and conscience, but the clear Word of God itself to the so-called infallible Church, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of Scripture.'1 That is, he must first judge on the one question of surrendering for ever in religious matters his judgment, and manhood, and the Bible; and afterwards, in every doubt or difficulty, he must follow the decisions of the final judge of controversies: or first use his eyes to discover some human infallible guide; and then at all risks follow him, either blindfold or when visibly leading him over a precipice.

This is certainly not the process of the Anglican Church, of which the great foundation for all things necessary is always Scripture and reason only. Thus, Article VI. limits things necessary to those which are read in Scripture, or may be proved thereby;' and the second question at ordination requires a priest to teach nothing as necessary, but that, which he shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the Scripture.'

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On the same principle, Article VIII. says, that the three creeds ought to be believed, for they may be proved by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture:' and, on the other hand, Article XXI. declares, that general councils 'may err, and sometimes have erred in things pertaining to God;' and that things ordained by them as necessary have no authority, unless it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture:' and Article XIX. declares, that as other Churches have erred, so also the Church of Rome hath erred;' and that even in matters of faith.'

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Finally, under what limitations it belongs to the Church 'to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures' is defined in Article XX., saying, 'It is not

1 Creed of Pius IV.

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lawful for the Church to ordain anything that is contrary to God's word written; neither may it so expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another:' and, further, that, ‘besides the same, it ought not to enforce anything to be believed for necessity of salvation.' So that, while the Anglican Church supplies helps and instruction, its whole foundation for all necessary faith and duty is Scripture and reason only.

We come next to the early fathers, respecting whom I hope to speak at length in the next chapter: but it may be observed here, that their teaching seems beyond the reach not only of ordinary students, but of the Lord Bishop himself, even about the Eucharist-concerning which he so repeatedly urges 'the teaching of the ancient fathers,' or 'the teaching of the primitive Church,' or 'the consentient teaching of Catholic antiquity'-for the 'Charge' says to the diocesan clergy, that its words 'may seem to require you as honest men to master all teaching about the Sacraments and ordinances of the Church, and the progressive work of the grace of God in the hearts of the redeemed;' and adds, 'I am not setting before you a standard of attainment, to which I have certainly never attained myself:'1 and that it is no discredit to his lordship to be somewhat deficient in an acquirement of such enormous labour, and disproportioned recompense, may partly, I hope, be seen in the next chapter.

1 P. 119.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE TEACHING OF THE EARLY FATHERS.

'Respecting either Christ, or His Church, or any other thing which relates to our faith and life, I will not say, We . . . but if an angel from heaven shall have preached anything to you, beyond what you have received in the legal and evangelical Scriptures, let him be accursed.'-AUGUSTIN.

contra Lit. Petil. lib. iii. c. vi.

WHAT I shall try to prove respecting 'the teaching of the ancient fathers' upon this question may be comprised in the five particulars following, viz. :-1st, that the teaching of the fathers, to which we are referred, is unmanageably voluminous; 2ndly, that it is largely of an oratorical character; 3rdly, that the rhetorical figures most abound with respect to the Sacraments, as shall be exemplified in the case of Baptism; 4thly, that the teaching of the ancient fathers has been largely corrupted by the patrons of pious fraud; and, 5thly, that by garbled extracts, and mistranslations and ambiguities, ancient fathers, as well as modern bishops, are brought forward as witnesses against their own indisputable doctrines. These topics may furnish sufficient matter for the present chapter.

First, then, let me prove the voluminousness of the teaching we are referred to.

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The best editions of less than the tenth part of the fathers of the undivided Church' occupy 84 volumes folio, viz. to name them alphabetically:-Ambrose occupies 5 folio volumes; Athanasius, 3; Augustine, 11

Basil, 3; Chrysostom, 13; Cyril Alex. 6; Ephraim, 6; Epiphanius, 2; Eusebius Pamphilus, 4; Hieronymus, 12 ; Gregory Naz. 2; Gregory Nyssen, 3; Gregory Magnus, 4; Origen, 4; Tertullian, 2; Theodoret, 4. To these authors must be added nearly two dozen of the principal fathers remaining, viz. :—Clemens Romanus, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian, Cyril of Jerusalem, Dionysius Alexandrinus, Dionysius Areopagita-whose works, indeed, genuine and spurious, are published in several folio volumes-Damascen, Eusebius Emissenus, Facundus, Fulgentius, Guadentius, Hilary, Irenæus, Isidore Hispalensis, Isidore Pelusiota, Justin Martyr, Ecumenius, Optatus, Primasius, Gelasius, Leo Magnus, and Vigilius-all of which certainly occupy above 16 volumes more; making, with the former, above 100 volumes folio: and then there are reckoned about 150 minor fathers of the undivided Church,' whose remains we need not notice, for 100 folios in Greek or Latin seem more than sufficient employment for ordinary students to master!'

But, secondly, the testimony of these ancient and prolific fathers is of a singularly rhetorical character. On almost all subjects they abound in metaphorical and sometimes hyperbolical expressions: such as, for example:- Thou seest the Holy Ghost;' Abel held Christ in his hands; 'When a bishop enters under thy roof, Christ enters;' 'By love a man may be in many places at once;' 'The Scriptures are terrible;' In hearing the gospel, Christ's body and blood are poured into your ears;' Christ's flesh is to be devoured by the hearing;' in communicating Think not, that you receive the body from a man, but fire from a seraph with a forceps.' Again, Christ took bread, blessed, and brake it, transfiguring His body into bread, which is the present Church broken in afflictions; and we see Christ,' and feel and break Him; and tear Him with our teeth;' and 'the Lord is in the

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words of Scripture;' and 'a believer is transelemented into Christ;' and 'Christ slew Paul with his voice, and, passing him after a manner into His own body, ate him.' And it would be easy to multiply such examples indefinitely.

But, thirdly, such figures are naturally most abundant when the fathers speak of the Sacraments: which are themselves visible figures, signifying spiritual things, and spoken of figuratively in Scripture. Thus :-This is my It is the Lord's Passover; 2 covenant;' 1 "We are buried with Christ by baptism,' and the 'baptised into Christ have put on Christ,' and 'This is my body.' The fathers, therefore, very generally follow herein the general rule of Augustine—that 'on account of the similitude of the things which they represent, the Sacraments generally receive the names of the things themselves'and a comparative modern, of much more learning than Augustine, testifies that, with respect to the Sacraments, 'the fathers used the same forms of speech, which Christ had done before them;' and that all the fathers with one consent teach, that there is the same change of water in Baptism as there is of bread in the Eucharist.' 8

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I think it well, indeed, to give at some length examples of such 'teaching of the ancient fathers of the undivided Church' with respect to Baptism: for it will shed much light on their very similar teaching respecting the other Christian Sacrament.

The fathers, then, say of Baptism, that it is the antitype of Christ's Passion; '4 and, 'Approach not to the laver, as to bare water;' and, 'Consider the divine power latent in the water;' and,

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Think it full of divine fire ; '6

and, 'The Holy Ghost rests on the water;' and, ‘The

1 Gen. xvii. 10.

2 Exod. xii. 11.

4 Cyr. Hier. Catech. Mystag. 2.

3 Casaubon, quoted by Bishop Morton, 5 Id. Cap. Myst. 3.

Concil. Nic. de Bapt. Binius, lib. iii. decret. apud Morton.

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