sequent Reformation; been invented ginal copy. Mat. xi. 25, 26. In thilke in the days of Wyckliffe, there is much reason to conclude, that his boldness, learning, and piety, would, in a great measure, have accomplished the mighty work, which God had reserved for Martin Luther, about one hundred and thirty years after. If, as there is reason to believe, some erroneous opinions were intermixed with the doctrines of Wyckliffe, we ought rather to admire that in such a dark age he discovered so many valuable truths, than be surprised that in some things he erred. Dr. Fuller, in his very interesting Church History of Britain, speaking of Wyckliffe's sentiments, says, "And here we will acquaint the reader, that being to write an history of Wyckliffe, I intend neither to deny, dissemble, defend, or excuse any of his faults, We have this treasure (saith the Apostle) in earthern vessels; and he that shall endeavour to prove a pitcher of clay to be a pot of gold, will take great pains to small purpose. Yea, should I be over officious to retain myself to plead for Wyckliffe's faults, that glorious saint would sooner chide than thank me, unwilling that in favour of him truth should suffer prejudice. He was a man, and so subject to error; living in a dark age, more obnoxious to stumble; vexed with opposition, which makes men reel into violence; and, therefore, it is unreasonable that the constitution and temper of his positive opinions should be guessed by his polemical heat, when he was chafed in disputation; but, besides all these, envy hath fathered many foul aspersions upon him." (Page 129.) Several manuscript copies of Wyckliffe's translation of the New Testament are still in existence; and as it may not be uninteresting to the pious reader to see a specimen of so early an attempt to make the word of God known to the people of this country in their own language (for to them it had at that period been, for many centuries, in every sense of the word, a sealed book) the following passages are selected and exhibited in the antique and venerable dress of the ori tyme Jhesus answeride & seid, I knowleche to thee, Fadir Lord of Hevene & earthe, for thou hast hid these thingis fro wise men & redy, & hast schewid hem to litil children. So, Fadir: for so it was plesynge to fore thee. John x. 26-30. Ye beleven not, for ye ben not of my scheep. My scheep heren my vois & I know hem, & their suen me. And I gyve to hem everlastynge life, & their schulen not perische, withouten end : & noon schal rauysche hem fro myn hond. That thing that my Fadir gaf to me, is more than alle thingis: & no man may rauysche from my Fadris hond. the Fadir ben oon. I & Wyckliffe ended a life of trouble and persecution, in 1383. Forty-one years after his death his bones were taken up by a decree of the council of Constance and burnt, and his ashes thrown into the river. Such was the revenge which the Papists wreaked on the dead body of him whom, when living, the Lord protected from their fury. "But," says the excellent Fox, "these and all other must know, that as there is no counsel against the Lord; so there is no keeping downe of veritie, but it will spring and come out of dust and ashes, as appeared right well of this man. For though they digged up his body, burnt his bones, and drowned his ashes; yet the word of God and truth of his doctrine, with the fruit and success thereof, they could not burn, which yet to this day, notwithstanding the transitory body and bones of the man were thus consumed and dispersed, doe remaine." As the remarks in this series of papers are intended chiefly to apply to the period of the actual and general Reformation of our Church from the tyranny and corruption of Popery, it is unnecessary, at present, to dwell any further upon the writings and doctrines of this good and great man: it shall suffice to select the following sentiment of his, which is yet preserved, and will evince the purity of his tenets on one point, which, above all others, the Papists had obscured and He depraved. "The merit of Christ," only, the effect of his depravity. Thus far indeed we have thought it right to take notice of Wyckliffe; for every member of the English Protestant Church should be taught to look back with gratitude and veneration to the memory of a fellow countryman, whose praise will ever be so justly maintained in all the Churches of God. L. R. God acts righteously by a holy necessity of nature, and yet does not lose his praise; and so the sinner, acting unrighteously from an inveterate bias to evil in his nature, is not exempted from blame. The liberty of a rational agent, and consequently his accountableness, cannot depend upon his feeling no bias to either good or evil, or on his having his inclination exactly poised between both; for there is no intelligent being in the universe in this Extracts from the Common-Place Book of a situation, therefore, if this be freedom, Country Clergyman. (Continued from p. 3.0.) ON HUMAN CORRUPTION. IT is strange that men of sense and reflection should object to the doctrine of human depravity, when it is represented as implying a total incapacity to perform works intrinsically good; on the ground of its destroying the sinner's responsibility, and taking away his obligation to serve God! Yet strange as it may seem, it is the sort of objection which lies at the bottom of that opposition perpetually made from the pulpit and the press to this doctrine; or, at least, to that full and strong exhibition of it, which is well known to be one of the peculiarities of the doctrinal articles of the Church of England. The objection, in other words, is simply this, "How can a man be blamed for not doing what he cannot do? Consequently, if you teach men that they have no power to do what is good, do you not furnish them with an excuse for not doing it, and encourage them to continue in sin and impenitence!" But is not this being imposed upon by the mere sound of words? For what is the reason that a man cannot do what is good? Is he under any physical incapacity to exercise his reason or regulate his affections, as is the case with an ideot or a lunatic? Then, indeed, he would be blameless. No; he experiences a moral incapacity as some persons seem to think, it is merely a fiction of the mind, and has no real existence. But so far is it from being true in fact, that in order to put creatures into an accountable condition, it is necessary there should be no bias on the will; that it is in proportion as the bias is greater to good or to evil, that we consider them deserv ing of approbation or censure, esteem or abhorrence. A moral impossibility either way proportionably elevates or depresses the character in the scale of moral excellence. We adore God, because the holiness of his nature makes it absolutely impossible for him to do evil; we abhor the devil, because his depravity renders it equally impossible for him to do well. ON JUSTIFICATION BY WORKS. How is it that men keep on terms of peace with conscience, while they expect to be saved on the meritorious condition of their own innocence and rectitude? Alas! When I look around, and take a survey of the manifold duties which press upon me on all sides, as a man and a Christian; as a minister, a husband, a father, a master, a neighbour, &c.; when I consider the wisdom which is necessary to arrange all these duties, so that one shall not encroach upon another, and that there may be time for all; when I look at my own slothfulness, at the frequent indisposition of my mind to the perform thee." (Tit. i. 5.) We derive muck information from various incidental hints which are given in different parts of the New Testament. Here, for instance, is a fair specimen of the order of the primitive Church, left us by an inspired writer. ance of my duty; at my great want of wisdom and of strength to bear up with holy fortitude against all the hindrances and impediments which lie in my way; and when from past experience I too surely presage future failures, my soul is palsied at the view of such a detail of my duty, and utter despondency would The Island of Crete is celebrated by produce total neglect, were I not quick the ancient classical authors, for conened to a cheerful renewal of my en- taining an hundred cities.* Titus had deavours, by remembering the exceed the government of Christian asseming great love of our Master and only blies throughout the district, as St. Saviour Jesus Christ, who died to re-Paul "had appointed him.” He was deem us from the curse of the law, and to procure for us, through his merits, pardon and acceptance; and were I not animated by his gracious assurances of sanctification to all who truly believe in his name and desire his favour. Were it not for these, I might as well be told to take upon me the management of the stars, to preserve them in their orbits, to arrange their motions, and to maintain the whole in due harmony and order; as to work out my own salvation. For the Christian Observer. ON THE ORDER OF THE PRIMITIVE In the times of the Apostles, the vast Among the rest, the large and populous island of Crete, now called Candia, was not neglected. There were Cretes as well as Arabians at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost was poured largely on the disciples of Jesus. (Acts ii. 11.) These men returned, and reported in their native country, the things which they had heard and seen. St. Paul visited the island in company with Titus, at an early period of his ministry, before he was made a prisoner; and he left Titus among the islanders, to water the Church which he had planted. "For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed. to set in order the things that were wanting in every city. And he was to ordain elders or presbyters for the whole island. Individual Christian societies in Crete seem to have claimed no right to set in order their own affairs, independently of Titus; nor were the neighbouring pastors called in by the different congregations, to ordain such as they had chosen. Whatever assistance Titus might require from other pastors, the whole management of their affairs seems to have been committed to him alone. It avails nothing to say, that Titus is never, called exclusively the Bishop of the island, or that he was an Evangelist, and an assistant to the Apostle. The word bishop signifies nothing more than an overseer. Common ministers were overseers of the flock, and Titus was their overseer. He is no where called an Evangelist in the New Testament. But it is not the name or the title, but the office, which is under consideration. Were Titus to rise from the dead, and visit the Church militant again, we could find an office in the English Church, which, when stript of those appendages which a change of times and circumstances has introduced, would be very similar to that which he sustained in the island of Crete. His ancient diocese was as large as some modern dioceses in England; and had the writer of this paper lived under the government of Titus, in primitive times, he would probably have found himself in a situation not much different from that *Called KgnTv EXATOHTON. Hom, Il. ii. 649. Centum urbes habitant magnas, Virg. Epod. ix. 29. En. iii. 106. Vid. Hor. iii. Ode xxvii. 33. which he now fills, as an English clergyman, under his proper diocesan. He must then have been subject to the authority of his Bishop, in spiritual matters, and he therefore submits with pleasure to a mild ecclesiastical authority in his own country. These reflections are made without the least intention to offend persons of any denomination or profession: but we certainly have a pleasure in being able to derive from the word of God a sanction for our own system. WAYRING For the Christian Observer, MISCELLANEOUS. Proposal for a further Voyage to discover the North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. THE discovery of a passage by sea, from the North Atlantic Ocean to the North Pacific Ocean, is a subject of such immense importance, that I should imagine it is not foreign to the purpose of the Christian Observer, in asmuch as what may tend to the promotion of commerce, may prove of considerable advantage in the accomplishment of many of the views of those associations of Christians who desire to communicate to heathen nations the light of Revelation. The first notion of a passage to the Pacific Ocean, by the sea or straits near the North Pole, was formed as early as the commencement of the sixteenth century; but nothing of any importance appears to have been at tempted until the voyage of Forbisher, in 1557, in which he sailed as far as sixty-two degrees of north latitude; no attempt, however, was made to sail direct to India by the north-west, until Hudson's voyage in 1607. Hudson made three unsuccessful voyages, the last in 1610; he was then persuaded that the bay he had discovered, and which he called Hudson's Bay, must lead to the North-West Passage, and he had determined to prosecute his object in the spring of 1611; but his death put an end to the project. Other voyages on the western as well as the eastern coast of America, were made by Pool, Fox, James, Baffin, and Fotherby, down to the year 1616; but all at the expense of private persons; and nothing further was attempted, until, in 1773, a voyage was under taken, under the authority of government, by Lord Mulgrave, who explored his way to upwards of eighty degrees, where he was obstructed by solid ice. Little additional information was thereby afforded toward the discovery of a North-west Passage, his Lordship's instructions being limited to proceeding to the North Pole as nearly as possible on one meridian. Captain Cook, after several attempts, firmly persuaded himself of the impracticability of the discovery. But since the death of Captain Cook a voyage has been undertaken by Captain Mears and others, and they discovered that what Captain Cook had laid down as an extension of the northwestern part of the American continent, is a great number of islands in habited by Indians. Captain Mears sailed in a north-east course among those islands, until he arrived within two hundred leagues of Hudson's House, on the western extremity of Hudson's Bay; and he believes that he should have discovered the North-west Passage, if his instructions had not obliged him to return to Canton for the benefit of the Chinese market. Captain Meares, Mr. Etches, Mr. Wilby, and others, who sailed in the Princess Royal on that voyage, all con cluded, that if neither the arm of the sea through which they had penetrated, nor Middleton's Straits, about three degrees southward, should be found to reach across the continent, yet that the land barrier must be very inconsiderable; and they determined that, from all the circumstances of their approach to within two hundred leagues of Hudson's House, a practicable passage to Hudson's Bay, either by a strait, or by lakes or rivers, is likely, by perseverance, to be found. Mr. Wilby, one of the voyagers who accompanied Captain Meares, and with whom I have had several conversations on the practicability of a Northwest Passage, thinks that Captain Cook sought the passage in too high a latitude; and Captain Meares also thought it should not be expected higher than about sixty degrees. The representation of Sir Francis Drake to Queen Elizabeth, in 1579, affords some proof of the validity of this opinion. Sir Francis told her Majesty at court, that he had sailed many leagues up the strait that was then generally believed to terminate in Hudson's Bay. This passage was at that time distinguished by the name of the Strait of Anian. As a further confirmation it appears, in a recent edition of the Life of Dr. Franklin of Philadelphia, that among the archives of Spain, M. de Mendoza, an officer charged with a trust of importance in the Spanish marine department, had found in that part of the archives relating to the navy, the narrative of a voyage made in 1598, by Lorenzo de Maldonada, which was read before the Academy of Sciences at Paris sometime previous to the French revolution. curious document, which has the signature of Dr. Franklin for its authority, and the account given by Capt. Mears, with respect to the degree of latitude in which the North-West Passage is to be looked for, is singular and striking; and notwithstanding what has been advanced by Captain Cook and the Russian navigators, it has led many to think that the North-West Passage does exist. Dr. Franklin was one of those who entertained this opinion, and always conceived that the passage was sought for in latitudes too near the Pole. An argument has been employed to the contrary, founded upon the fact of a Dutch merchantman having sailed within one degree of the Polc, and having found the climate temperate, and that had the time and continuance of the temperate season allowed of it, he would have sailed round the northern part of the American continent to the Pacific; but I cannot but entertain the opinion, from all the evidence I have read and all I have heard, that the North Pole consists of land, and from thence southward continues either as a continent, or intersected only by large islands; and that the passage must be a strait or large river, communicating with the Archipelago discovered by Messrs. Meares, Etches, and Company. Many navigators and geographers of my acquaintance have embraced the same opinion, and consequently that the North-West Passage may, by proper perseverance, be ascertained; for the doubt respecting its existence seems to have, in some degree, subsided. The means I would propose for conducting future attempts at discovery are as follows: From this narrative of Maldonada it appears, that he sailed to Davis's Straits, on the eastern coast of America; from thence he sailed westward, leaving Hudson's Bay on the south, and Baffin's Bay on the north; he then sailed northward till he reached seventysix degrees latitude, and two hundred and seventy-eight longitude (counting from the first meridian) being obstructed by the ice he then made a southwest course, and in latitude sixty, longitude two hundred and thirty-five, (counting from the first meridian) he found a strait, which separates Asia from America, and through which he sailed into the Pacific Ocean. M. Bauche, first geographer to the late king of France, calls this passage the Straits of Ferrer, and places it between William's Sound, and Mount Saint That on gaining the coast, at about Elias. sixty degrees north latitude, endeavours The correspondency between this should be made among the natives of That the Admiralty, under the authority of the King, should fit out two ships, of proper dimensions and strength, to sail round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, and attempt the discovery by the north-west coast of America; and the Merchants of the United Kingdom open a subscription for fitting out two other vessels, to sail to Hudson's Bay, and attempt the discovery on that side. |