CHRIST. If he will not HEAR THE CHURCH, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. But still, you will say, a practical difficulty remains. Where is the Voice of the Church to be found, that we may hear her? How are we to understand the Word, so as it shall be The Truth? What is the answer the Church in England makes to such of her dutiful Children as say to her-'We admit the authority in controversies of faith, which you claim for the Church Catholic, of which you are an integral branch, but how when we are in doubt are we to ascertain the decisions of this tribunal whose competency we fully admit? We wish to do as did the primitive Christians, we wish to be guided by Catholic antiquity, but how are we to know when we are so guided, how when we are so doing as did they of early times?" The Church would not be acting the part of a Mother, if, without help or cue, she sent these humble inquirers to pore over the folios of ancient wisdom, the records of the Primitive Church, as they are to be found in the writings of the early Fathers. It is not enough that she should say to such: the true test of truth is Catholicity, "What has been believed by all, in all places, at all times," for even were this test of Vincent of Lereus as valuable in establishing truth, as it is in detecting error, they would have a right to rejoin, We have not time nor ability to use these means, to apply this test. What therefore are WE to do? Hear the Church supply the clue to this answer, in a subsequent part of the canon already quoted. She says," and since those articles of the Christian religion, which were agreed upon by the Bishops in lawful and holy Synod, convened and held by the command and authority of the most serene Queen Elizabeth,

are without doubt collected from the sacred books of the Old and New Testament, and since they agree in all things with the heavenly doctrine herein contained, and since also the Book of Common Prayer, and the book for the ordering of Archbishops, Bishops, Priests and Deacons contains nothing foreign from this teaching, whosoever shall be sent to teach the people shall ratify the authority and fidelity of these matters, not only by word of mouth, but by his subscription also. Whoever shall do otherwise, and shall disturb the people with contrary doctrine shall be excommunicated." It is in conformity with this canon that every clergyman is bound to sign a declaration that he will conform to the Liturgy of the Church of England as now established. On grounds such as these then I make answer to the inquiries just proposed, that The Book of Common Prayer is the VOICE of the CHURCH to English Christians. That while we take the Bible as our Law, we must take the Prayer Book for our Interpreter. The reasonableness of this answer I shall, God willing, seek to show in my next letter. I shall then seek to prove that the charge of Popery brought against this deference to the Prayer Book, is idle and absurd, and that the Prayer Book being Scriptural, Primitive and Catholic, is a safe guide to us who wish to find the Word, the Truth; and who look for salvation through the merits of our LORD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

LETTER II.

My dear Friend, in my last letter we arrived by a connected chain of reasoning at the conclusion that the PRAYER BOOK is the VOICE OF THE CHURCH to English Christians: and I promised to show in this letter the justice of the conclusion, and to clear it from the silly charge of Popery, which is so often made against those who prefer the judgment of early Christians to the caprice of the populace, and who see more to reverence in the associated piety of ages, than in the separate dogma of an individual teacher whether of Rome or of Geneva. And before I proceed to show that the PRAYER Book is Primitive, Scriptural and Catholic, let me first say a few words on this senseless cry of Popery which is ever and anon raised against consistent Churchmen, by those who find it easier to bring a railing accusation, than to offer a substantial argument. It is astonishing how easy a thing it is to call names, and it is amusing to observe the ease with which some persons indulge their fancy of imputing opinions to others which they themselves have made up, as it would seem, to show how beautifully they can demolish their own handiwork. To show that particular usages sanctioned in the Prayer Book, and on which many clergymen are now insisting with an earnestness proportionate to their temporary disuse, are not Popish, will be the work, GOD willing, of future letters. I would only now answer the silly charge in general terms by referring to the writings of the good Bishop Sanderson, the very dust of whose writings, said the pious Dr. Donne, is gold. This Bishop Sanderson lived in the times of trouble and

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persecution which preceded and followed the Martyrdom of King Charles the First, of blessed memory, He was the author of the General Thanksgiving in the Book of Common Prayer, and other portions of the Liturgy are also ascribed to him. He belonged to that class of divines who are now called High Churchmen, and he was, like his spiritual descendants in the present day, treated by the low Churchmen and Puritans of his times with the nicknames of Formalist, Papist, and the like! I know not that High Churchmen could find a better vindication of themselves from this unmeaning slander than would be afforded by a republication of the good Bishop's Prefaces, the one to his Fourteen, and the other to his Twenty sermons. It is not peculiar to our day to find hot-headed men bandying about names with a flippancy from which it might have been thought, that the self-denying piety of the persons assailed, and under whose name others are attacked, might have protected them, did we not know that it is part of the Christian's inheritance in the truth to have his cast out as evil.

I now come to the maintenance of the position, that the Church of England possesses some documents which are in a definite form, and which are calculated to convey a satisfactory answer to those who are really in search of a test, by which they may always know, that the Law is to them the Truth, and that these documents are to be found in her Book of Common Prayer. In order to show then that the Prayer Book is the teaching of the Catholic Church in this country, we must show:

Into these times the reader will have some insight in "The Life of Humphrey Faithful, by himself," which will form Part V. of the Leeds Tracts.

I. That the Book of Common Prayer is an authorized document of the Church of England.

II. That it contains directions on the points which the Church is supposed to be by our argument competent to decide.

III. That these directions are Primitive, Catholic, and Scriptural.

That the Prayer Book is an authorized document of the Church of England can be denied by none, who know the diligent prayer and study which were bestowed upon its compilation and revision. It has the sanction of the Church's Synods, which cause it to be binding upon us as baptized members of the Body Mystical of CHRIST. And not to quote the various more direct and express ratifications of this book, I will only refer again to that canon of 1571, by which it is adjudged an offence worthy of excommunication if any preacher shall venture to teach otherwise than the Prayer Book directs. Here then is a clear recognition of the Prayer Book as an Interpreter of Scripture, and we may pass on to consider,

II. Whether the matters which it contains are sufficiently general and comprehensive to allow us to consider it as a faithful epitome of what Scripture requires from us as Christian sons and daughters of the English Church. And what are the matters on which we are called upon to hear the Church? I should answer that we are called upon to hear her in all that relates necessarily to our spiritual wellbeing in our reading of Holy Scripture, in our interpretation of its teaching, in our faith, in our worship, and in the discharge of our relative duties. In none of these is our Prayer Book wanting. Our Reformers in putting that book together have been careful to provide for a particular course of Bible