1

THE

CHURCHMAN ARMED

AGAINST

THE ERRORS OF THE TIME.

PART I.

ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, ON THE MINISTERIAL COMMISSION, AND ON THE UNITY TO BE PRESERVED IN THE CHURCH.

THE insufficiency of man to discover, by his own natural powers, any certain knowledge, either of the attributes or of the worship of the Deity, is manifest from the various contradictory opinions which were entertained, concerning the nature of the Supreme Being, by the wisest philosophers of ancient days, while they were unblest by divine revelation. This simple consideration powerfully urges humility upon man, and directs him to the Holy Scriptures, as the records of the Divine Will, and the elements of every duty which an acquaintance with the attributes of the Almighty suggests. It must, however, occur to every reflecting mind, that, among those who profess

to believe the Scriptures, very different opinions have prevailed, both with respect to the doctrines which are to be derived from them, and the discipline by which those doctrines are to be maintained. Even christians, who are blest with the clearest revelation, which God was ever pleased to make to man, are much divided in opinion respecting the doctrines delivered in the Gospel, and the mode by which the purity of the christian faith is to be maintained in the church. There would be less difference of sentiment on these sacred matters, if, instead of subjecting the Scriptures to our own diversified opinions, we were to endeavour to place ourselves in the circumstances of those persons who were firstguided by their authority; and, having ascertained their prevailing opinions and usages, to regulate ourselves according to the model which they have left us of the christian church.

To recall the minds of christians to this very important subject, which is too little contemplated in the present day, is one object of this compilation. It is zealously hoped that this object may be promoted, if we are successful in obtaining due attention to the following judicious discourses, and to the succeeding extracts from the writings of those apostolical fathers which have been considered genuine by the ablest critics. The discourses are by the Reverend Edward Davies, Rector of Bishopstone, in the Diocese of St. David's, and the learned author of "Celtic Researches," "The Mythology and Rites of the British Druids," &c. The extracts are taken from the 2d edition of Wake's Apostolical Fathers.

The editors of this compilation have an earnest wish to impress correct notions of the christian church upon the minds of those who read this part of their work. For this purpose they would observe, that what was deemed, by the apostles of Christ and their companions, to be essential to the character of the church, claims the closest possible regard in these advanced ages of the Gospel. It may be that God has, in his infinite wisdom, purposely left some particulars, concerning the nature and constitution of the christian church, unpronounced, with commanding precision, in the New Testament, in order that, under the authority of apostolical and primitive example, the general spirit of the Gospel might be more conspicuous and free among those who strive to acquire it in its genuine characters of humility and a love of concord. While, then, we have before us the usages of the apostles, and of those who immediately succeeded them, let us distrust our own private notions of that discipline, by which the christian faith may be best maintained in genuine purity, if at any time we should find our notions at variance with their usages. With the Bible in our hands, let us be careful not to overlook the primitive practices of the apostles and earliest christians; but, from what they believed, and from what they practised, under the direction of their Divine Master, to " go and teach all nations," let the nature of the christian church be ascertained, rather than from the uncertain and very contradictory notions of the present day. On this subject, we are ourselves most forcibly impressed with the justice of the complaint made,

now nearly a century back, by the pious Nelson, author of "A Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England." That excellent layman, in the preface to his admirable work, lamented that the clergy were, in his days, restrained from sufficiently insisting on the nature of the christian church, and on the authority of the ministerial commission, in consequence of a modest apprehension that they might be misconceived to entertain a wish unduly to magnify their office. The modesty, to which Mr. Nelson respectfully referred this deficiency of instruction, on the part of the regular ministry, has ever since operated, and the christians of this country remain uninstructed in the true nature of the church of Christ. When therefore it has been adverted to, and the authority of its ministers asserted, a charge of pride has commonly been adduced against the conscientious minister who has brought the neglected truth before his hearers, insomuch that, not only modesty, but the fear of such a charge, has restrained the clergy from more frequently teaching the nature of their divine commission. The ignorance which consequently prevails as to the nature and constitution of the christian church, and the many divisions by which it is agitated, call aloud for a remedy. It is not now a time for the reverend the clergy to be deterred, by an erroneous feeling of modesty, from the discharge of this part of their duty. The author of the following Discourses has ably discharged his duty in this particular. While his professed purpose is to urge, that the great christian duty of maintaining communion

with the apostolical church remains uncancelled by the tolerance of British laws, he demonstrates the authority of an episcopal appointment to the christian ministry, in succession from the apostles; he enforces the necessity of union among the disciples of Christ, and he distinctly marks and deplores the sin of schism or separation. May his example be followed, and may the blessing of the Almighty ever attend the duly authorized and consecrated ministers of Christ!

In the succeeding extracts from the apostolical fathers, we find every caution conveyed, in these Discourses, as to the obedience due to the bishop; and every exhortation to union, amply confirmed, with all the authority which attaches to the precepts of those acknowledged disciples of Christ, who lived with, or immediately survived, the apostles.

The first extract is taken from the Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians; " an Epistle," says Archbishop Wakė, " so highly esteemed by the primitive church, that we are told that it was wont to be publicly read in the assemblies of it: and, if we may credit one of the ancient collections of the canon of Scripture, was placed among the sacred and inspired writings. Nor is it any small evidence of the value which, in those days, was put upon this Epistle, that, in the only copy of it which, for aught we know, at this day remains of it, we find it to have been written in the same volume with the Books of the New Testament.'

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The same Archbishop also observes, that "for what concerns the person who wrote this Epistle,