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for those, who frequently boast of their neglect in this service, and when present in the church by compulsion, evince their ignorance of the duty required there, by being unprovided with their instructions, or unable to find the several parts of them*, in the order which our excellent Liturgy requires.

To such neglect as these we owe the progress of Infidelity, on the one hand, and Enthusiasm on the other; and they who are not to be influenced by better and more worthy motives, should be reminded that their conduct is punishable by those very laws which they have so properly volunteered to defend.

These hasty remarks, Sir, I take the liberty of submitting to your inspection, in the hope of their favourable reception, and insertion in your Magazine. And I am the more inclined to do this, since, though I have the honour of being a Volunteer, and therefore may be presumed to speak of what I know, yet as belonging to a troop of horse (in the Surry Yeomanry Cavalry) I cannot be supposed to be a party concerned in that, which (at least in London,) relates in a more especial manner to the Infantry.

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HOULD this first part of an Essay on the Church meet with your approbation, it shall be finished as concisely and speedily as may be. That the word Church (EnxAnoia) is used in several senses in Scripture, cannot be denied. But this is no argument, that it never has an ap

It is generally observed that they come unprovided with a PrayerBook, or the form of Prayer. Nng

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propriate meaning discoverable by the context or by analogy. Otherwise also the word Temple would have no appropriate meaning in any place, because, Christians are sometimes called Temples; and Christ himself is meant by a Temple, (Matt. xxvi, 61.) I shall begin my remarks with an explanation of that part of Matt. xviii. which relates to the church; and from thence, as from a fountain head, shall derive and deduce an appropriate meaning of the word Church. Matt, xviii, 15. The whole of the preceding context relates to controversies and to scandals introduced by worldly men into the church. In this verse, our Lord directs, that if a Christian should injure another Christian, (1 Cor, vi. 6.) the injured person should endeavour first to gain redress by a private conference, Ver. 16. Should that fail, one or two witnesses (two or three, including the injured person) are to be taken to a second conference, in order to bear true witness (John viii. 17.) before the church. Ver. 17, 18, Should their admonitions likewise be disregarded, they are to bear witness before the church; whereby it is im plied, that the two or three above-mentioned, did not constitute a church; for, if they did, they might have settled the controversy. But to the church is here given the power of chaining and unchaining criminals, i. e. of excommunicating or of pardoning- offenders, with a promise, that God will conditionally confirm their sentence in the kingdom of heaven. (Compare Matt. x. 13.) Ver. 19. The meaning of Hal yw vw is I repeat unto-you, (ver. 18. Phil. iv. 4.) and this repetition Dr. Hammond calls a Palinodia :-EvpQwvnowo means speak the same thing, i. e. agree in evidence, (compare Acts x. 43. with Acts xv. 15, 19.) bring legal proof, or bear true witness.Пpaypalos signifies a suit. (1 Cor. vi. 1.) Arnowila means, shall petition or plead. (Luke vi. 30.) and xxiii. 22, 23. Deut. xvii. 6, 12, and xix. 15. Acts v. 9, Tit. iii. 10. the Greek, 1 Tim. v. 19. and Leigh's Critica Sacra, under TE.) In this verse, therefore, it is repeated, that when two or three witnesses bear an agreeing, i. e. true evi→ dence before the church concerning any offence, the sentence of the church shall be confirmed in the kingdom of heaven. Ver. 20. Eurypro, signifies brought together, (see ver. 16, 17.) as witnesses before the church. T por ropa, is, to my authority, i. e. tribunal. (Acts xxv. 11. the Greek) or to an oath in my name. (1 Cor. vi. 10, 11. and v. 4. tow, means, the mediator or judge, and per

haps,

haps, the inspirer, apa. See 1 Cor. v. 4. and vi, 5. the Greek, and 2 Cor. xiii. 1. and Acts xxv. 11. the Greek. Heb. vi. 17. the Greek. Rev. i. 13, 16. and xi. 3-7. and Parkhurst's Gr, Lex. under Mons. Here then it is shewn, that the judgment of the visible church upon earth is confirmed (if not guided) by the Holy Ghost; and hence it appears, that in its primary sense, the whole context relates to the controversies, (Exaydana heresies and offences,) and to the settlement of the controversies of Christians; and that the visible church essentially consists of more than two or three believers; but that the agreement of two or three witnesses in any cause is as necessary in the Christian, as it was in the Jewish church. And from hence most manifestly the apostles derive their authority, and according to these directions give judgment. (Compare ver. 18. and Matt. xvi. 19. and Acts xv. 10.) In the following verse, the explanation is continued in the same retrospective manner. (Compare ver. 15. and Luke xvii. 3, 4.) "see Hammond.

Upon the whole then, it has been shewn, that in the sense in which the word Church is here used, two or three could not constitute a church; secondly, that the disci ples did not constitute a church; (compare ver. 1. with ver. 17. and 18.) Thirdly, that the church received from Christ authority to judge righteously her members who offended or gave scandal, (see Parkhurst's Gr. Lex. under Exardanor) and finally, that excommunication from the church, when deservedly inflicted, was likewise exclusion from heaven.

I am,
Gentlemen,

Your obedient, humble Servant,

(To be Continued.)

JUVENIS,

The CATHOLIC PETITION impartially examined.

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As S we conceive the mere presentation of this petition to both Houses of Parliament, to be a matter of most serious import, and as one which may, if not soon, yet remotely, produce momentous consequences, we have given it a very minute, and we trust impartial inves

tigation.

tigation. I indeed should we merit the title of ORTHODOX CHURCHMEN, if we suffered such a remarkable measure as the present to pass by unheeded, or with a cursory kind of notice. It behoves every man who has the slightest regard for the civil and religious privileges which he enjoys under our invaluable constitution, to watch with jealous circumspection any attempts that may be made to weaken or rival the ecclesiastical establishment of these realms, knowing, or at least as he ought to know, that it was by that establishment those privileges were first settled, and have since been secured. Let no man deceive himself. The republicans in the reign of Charles I. began with the Church, and in destroying that, they soon effected the downfal of monarchy amidst an ocean of blood. In that dreadful contest it is an undoubted historic fact, that many Romanists took an active part, rejoicing in the general confusion which overwhelmed the great bulwark of the refor mation. The rebellion in Ireland broke out in consequence of the civil commotions in England, and was fomented by the Court of Rome, and regarded by the popish party every where, as a glorious struggle against heresy, even while the same party expressed their outward attachment to the royal cause. And what was the real ground of their attachment to that cause? Nothing more or less than this; that they hoped from the influence of the Queen, and many powerful persons in the court, to see their Church re-established. The stedfastness of Charles I. turned their attachment into enmity, and many of the religious order of the Romish persuasion, were seen active and triumphant at his murder.

We are not willing to revive antient animosities; nor is it our wish to create prejudices against any of our fellow subjects on account of the practices of their forefathers. But when the principles which formerly actuated the Romanists, still exist, when it is avowed, that their Religion is still the same, and that their Church is unerring and unchangeable, it is but right and prudent to see what direct effect those principles have had in other days upon political affairs, and how far the decrees and practices of that Church may be Trusted. Openness and impartiality are requisite on both sides. It is essentially necessary that each party, viz, the petitioners and the legislative authorities, should conduct themselves with the utmost candour and attention

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to each other. On the part of the latter there can be no doubt, but that this will be abundantly the case but has it been so with the former?-That it has not we shall here prove, by a most remarkable instance on the face of the petition itself.

Much of it appears to be doctrinal. It professes that the applicants do not assent to certain articles of Faith which form some of the most important and distinguish→ ing Credenda of the Roman Church, established and enforced on penalty of anathema by the Council of Trent, subscribed and assented to by all of the clergy of that communion, and carefully inculcated into the infant minds of youth by their, public catechisms. Now a bundred laymen of that church, come forward and sign their names to a petition, wherein these articles are denied. And suppose a hundred or a thousand, or ten thousand laymen, calling themselves members of the Church of England, were to subscribe a similar declaration against the liturgy and standard Confession of Faith of the established Church, would that be a proof that the bishops, the clergy, and the great majority of laymembers of her communion, agreed with them in such a renunciation? Whence comes it, that on matters of faith, the Romish Bishops and clergy of Ireland have not come forward, and expressed shemselves as the petitioners have done? But we know that on the contrary, all that is therein declared doctrinally has their decided disapprobation; and though political prudence makes them silent, yet amongst themselves they condemn such acts of the laity, as contrary to the obedience which they owe to their spiritual superiors Now when the wonderful influence of the priests over the great mass of their persuasion is considered, it would be extreme weakness, not to say folly, to concede what is claimed in the present petition, on the simple declaration of a few individuals, Dr. Geddes called himself a Catholick to the last, and died according to the forms in which he had been bred, though for the greatest part of his life, he had laboured to sap the foundations of the; Christian faith, and to turn revelation into ridicule; and his munificent patron Lord Petre, though he sanctioned the doc tor's infainous labours, when he died ordered masses for his soul. The declaration of such persons, therefore, with regard to what they believed of the papal claims, or the faith of the Roman Catholick church, is not to

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