Par. 73. General lesson we have to learn from Romanism. SECTION III.-Second Objection. 76. Objection II. That Church principles place us in a false and uncharitable position as regards II. That their proper tendency is to produce not 81-83. III. That they purport to invest with Church privi- 85. Many non-episcopal Protestants hold opinions equally liable to the accusation of unchurch- 86 92. IV. That Church Principles go to exclude no per- son of piety from the Church of Christ, who, 93-98. Holy persons are individually united to the Church by inward conformity; and even their societies, as distinct from the persons composing them, may possibly be portions of the visible Church; but we want evidence to affirm it 99-105. Nor do these admissions impair the obligation to Page 396 116. These principles refer us to an acknowledged and 117, 118. They limit and soften differences of opinion 119. Discussion of their bearing as learned historically 146. Reaction next in the deeper study and stronger inculcation of Church principles, which are the Par. 155-158. The substantial and final tendency of these discus- sions is towards the confirmation of unity in the 159-166. Illustrations from the controversy in Scotland con- cerning settlement of ministers, of a great prac- 176-178. Idea and position of the Church of England emi- nently favourable to the general object of union, which, however difficult, is not in all degrees 179, 180. Even as regards portions of the Roman Communion 181. Wherein the peculiar strength of Romanism and of 182, 183. There is no reason why they should not be com- bined, nor anything in the Church of England to disqualify her from fully combining them 184. A general sentiment of the necessity for religious union is growing among serious persons . 185, 186. Which cannot be realised by inward feelings alone, or by common reception of the canon of Scrip- ture, but only by oneness of communion. 187. The apparent ripening of things for a crisis 188-193. How to await it, holding by the law of truth and by Page CHURCH PRINCIPLES CONSIDERED IN THEIR RESULTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. 1-4. True form of History. 5-8. Variation and reaction in religion. 9, 10. Movement not necessarily progressive. 11-28. Characteristics of this period as one of religious reaction; the evils and their remedies. 29-35. Enumeration of the subjects to be discussed; and the mode of handling them. 1. Ir it be expedient to note the forms of thought and action by which successive ages are distinguished as they pass by us, and thus to supply the materials of a larger retrospect and of more comprehensive and permanent records, it can scarcely be a task requiring much apology, to consider the bearings of particular truths of religion with respect to the shifting circumstances of the world from time to time, and to the different degrees and modes in which those truths are apprehended. That which we familiarly call the history of men, is not their history. It is a part indeed of their history, but not the most important and essential part. We should think it strange, and might be tempted to complain of it as either a gross error B or a fraud, if an account of some of the less important classes of material objects should monopolise or even assume the title of natural history. It is not less at variance with the true nature of things, though more in conformity with our habitual but erroneous conceptions, that relations, which are only secondary with respect to the most momentous interests of man, and the highest parts of his nature, should, by a semblance of common consent, be considered the history of man. There is fraud in this case, but the fraud is in ourselves, in each of us, in the depravation of the inward eye, which misrepresents the comparative magnitude of objects, and gives to the things which are seen, a greater importance than to those which are not seen. 2. Secular history explains to us much of what concerns the bodily and temporal interests of man: his social position and the results upon character arising out of it, much of his experimental life in the senses, in the imagination, in the understanding, and even in the affections. It ought to go, and in right hands it does go, much farther. The true historian interprets and combines its separate phenomena, by constant reference to the central influence which controls all the movements of human nature; the principle of religion. Yet, for a long time, and until very recently, the mind of our country has been fed with its knowledge of the past, from works which are altogether defective on this vital subject; and it will probably be long before our habits are so reformed as |