OXFORD THEOLOGY.

In the following pages, the reader may expect to find a brief view of the Roman, Oxford and Protestant systems of religion, in reserence to various fundamental points. The comparatively little dif ference between the Roman and Oxford systems, and the vast differ. ence between both and that of the Reformers, will abundantly ap pear from Bishop M'Ilvaine's remarks, during the progress of the discussion.The opinions of the two distinguished divines, from whose writings extracts are made, are classified under the theological divisions, characteristic of the Popish controversy. Their general opinions in regard to the " Oxford movement" and its Popish tendencies are first given, as introductory to the survey of the sys

tem.

General opinion of the Oxford Tractaríans.

BISHOP M'ILVAINE.

"I am fully persuaded that with a truly Protestant communion, the most direct refutation of Oxford Divinity is itself." Pref. p. 11.

"It would be singular indeed if works so voluminous should not contain a great deal of useful knowledge. Read Cardinal Bellarmine's Defence of Popery! May not as much be said of that learned champion of the Decrees of Trent?" p. 12.

"The whole history of the Church warns us against forgetting that very good and sincere men may set on foot great errors-and thus inflict an injury of which worse men would not be capable." p. 25.

"Ten years of open attack around the walls of Troy effected nothing. But one day's delusion among the wardens at her gates; the not examining what lay concealed under an apparent act of religion, betrayed the city." p. 30.

"What the articles and homilies so distinctly teach, that system directly denies, most earnestly condemns, and most indignantly casts away." p. 343.

"I am deeply impressed with the grave importance of the errors, and

BISHOP DOANE.

equivocating censures of those, whose indolence has kept them ignorant, and whose timidity distrusts the truth." p. 181.

"The summons to the ancient faith, the ancient discipline, the ancient worship; the impulse given to ancient piety, and ancient holiness, and ancient charity-these will remain as blessings to mankind, when every name that has been mixed up in this strife of tongues shall be forgotten." English Sermon, p. 39.

"To the multitude of honest Christians, who love the truth, and who are naturally anxious at the appearance of division and disquiet, it may suffice to say that there is no ground for anxiety." p. 182.

BISHOP M'ILVAINE.

probable evil consequences to the Church, of Oxford Divinity." p. 1.

"We must take heed: there may be much restoration of what is old in this system, but it may be old error, wearing a venerable aspect to some, because antiquated; and speaking words of wisdom to some, because, like the prayers of some, in an unknown tongue." p. 104.

"In view of the tendencies of Oxford divinity, I cannot question that its certain results, if time and room be allowed, will be the driving of true holiness from God's house, and the surrounding of its altars and crowding of its courts, with the wood, hay and stubble' of a dead formality, which the Lord, when he cometh, will destroy with the breath of his mouth." p. 537. Whoever reads the preceding quotations will begin to suspect that one of these divines sympathizes with the Tractarians, and that the other is determined to bear a strong testimony against them.

On the Popish tendency of Oxfordism.

The blessings of the Reformation, brought about, under God, by Luther, Cranmer, Calvin, &c., are so great and inestimable, that any system which tends to Popery, will be generally discountenanced by Protestants, as a fearful and calamitous retogradation. Hence, the only way to encourage the progress of Oxfordism in Protestant communities is to deny, or conceal, its Papistical affinities. This denial, however, does not always succeed.

"For the Oxford writers, nothing need be asked, but that they be read

Just in proportion as this is done, the outcry against them will be diminished. Not that all agree with them. Far from it! But that the charge of Popery, or heresy, is seen at once to be ERRONEOUS, or MALICIOUS." p. 158.

"The impression is produced on the minds of the truculent on the one hand, and of the timid on the other, of some great overwhelming crisis, as if the Reformation was about to retrograde!" p. 181.

"I have devoted a long time and a great deal of pains to the study of the system.

And I am constrained to say that every further step has produced but a deeper and deeper conviction on my mind, that (whatever the intention or supposition of those who maintain it) it is a systematic abandonment of the vital and distinguishing features of the Protestant faith, and a systematic adoption of the very root and heart of Romanism." p. 14.

"The difference between this divinity and the true divinity, for which our Reformers gave themselves to death, is a difference of great vital doctrine, not of one doctrine merely but of the system of doctrine, from corner

The worthy Bishop of the Diocese of N. J. seems to think that almost all the abominations of Romanism [how very inconvenient" to kiss the foot of an Italian ecclesiastic] may be condensed into that one frightful word-POPE! But there can be a great deal of " pretty Popery without having a Chief Bishop at Rome. Although the Pope raised himself above the Bishops, just as the Bishops did above the Presbyters, it is very possible for the three to hold even worse errors in common. The reader will find, as he goes along, that this Pretty Popery" has a very strong resemblance to her less comely twin-brother at Rome.- Popery without a Pope!" Yes; "mutato nomine "-the name being changed, there is no scarcity.

66

The following quotation from Rev. Mr. Paimer (whose work on "the Church" Bishop Whittingham has edited in this country, with notes which indicate that the Bishop is even higher Church than the Deacon, a thing not uncom mon) will show that some, engaged in the Oxford “movement "have no objec tion to kissing the Pope, provided it be in the right place. Says Mr. Palmer "I should like to see the Patriarch of Constantinople and our Archbishop of Canterbury, go barefoot to Rome, and fall upon the Pope's neck, and kiss him, and never let him go till they had persuaded him to be reasonable." After such long and Catholic" salutations, it is a supposable case that the two divines would have no objection to the "bare foot" of the Pope.

BISHOP DOANE.

"Who has not heard the sweeping charges of Popery brought, not only against the Church of which Hooker was a Presbyter, and its American Sister, but against all and singular their doctrines, rules and usages? Did they believe and teach Apostolic Succes. sion? It was rank Popery. Popery was thus a matter of history.-Did they maintain Baptismal Regeneration? Still it was Popery. Then Popery was a doctrine. Do they use a Liturgy? Popery! Popery is a form of prayer. Do they kneel at the communion? Popery! Popery is a posture. Do they wear a Surplice? Popery! Popery is a garment. Do they erect a Cross upon a Church, or private dwelling? Popery! a bit of wood is Popery." p. 156.*

"This calumny of "Popery" has been thrown upon the greatest lights of the Church..... It was the cry against Jewell, Whitgift, Hooker," &c.

P. 2.

BISHOP M'ILVAINE.

"If men have cried "Popery," when there was no danger, it does not follow that whenever the cry shall be raised again, we should remain at our ease. Many groundless alarms of fire are heard in our cities. Incendiaries would be glad to persuade us hence, that all future alarms are so likely to be groundless that we need not heed them.

So would Satan rejoice in his work, and have free course to inflame the city of God with his fiery darts, could he only persuade us that because such men as Hooker and Whitgift, &c., were falsely accused of Popery, therefore we need be under no apprehension of Popery from the men of Oxford."— p. 527.

"We are not to be put to sleep by such opiates, nor blinded by such dust. Popery is on the alert. Satan is about his work." p. 527.

Both writers express their opinions of the Popish tendency of Oxfordism, with sufficient decision and earnestness. We shall now, as

we proceed to view the system, be able to determine its true character, and to decide which of the two Bishops is right. The prospect now is that "the contention will be so sharp between them, that they will depart asunder one from another"—the one to verge towards Rome, and the other to pass on to Geneva and the countries of the Reformation.

Let us attend first to the doctrine of JUSTIFICATION, which was the lever that upheaved the Roman "world of iniquity."

Cal

*With great deference, we suggest that these lively figures of speech be converted into Presbyterian language, and applied to that "mixed multitude," whom "the Rector of St. Mary's Church" considers as under the "malign influences of Calvinism?" Do they believe in Presbyterian ordination! vinism ! Calvinism is Scripture history.-Do they believe in regeneration by the Spirit? Still it is Calvinism! Calvinism is Bible doctrine.-Do they pray extempore? Calvinism! Calvinism is prayer without a Service Book. Do they sit at the Communion table? Calvinism! Calvinism is an Apostolic posture. Do they wear decent apparel? Calvinism! Calvinism is a fisherman's garment.-Do they oppose "man's feasts and fasts in God's Church?" Calvinism! Calvinism is pure Anti-Popery.-Do they hold fellowship with "other denominations?" Calvinism ! "Catholic charity" is Calvinism.-We think there is more Gospel in our version than in the episcopal text. The attention of the reader is directed to Bishop M'Ilvaine's commentary on these same words.

1. Justification.

"The doctrine of a sinner's justification in the sight of God, is fundamental. . . This is a central and a cardinal point in theoretical as well as practical religion; and the degree of error on other articles, may be inferred from the degree of departure from the truth, in regard to this. The history of the Christian Church, from the days of the Apostles, confirms the statement now given. Was any heretic ever known to hold a sound doctrine on justification?" Dr. Alexander's Tract on Justification. p. 4.

Do the Diocesans of New Jersey and of Ohio agree with Dr. Alexander in this estimate of the importance of the doctrine of Justification? If they do, it will be highly auspicious of the soundness of their general theology. Let us, then, hear their opinions.

BISHOP DOANE.

"Men lay the sacred platform out in triangles and parallelograms, and take their stand on this or that as taste or fancy shall direct." Leeds Sermon, p. 6.

"With one school, this is the great doctrine; that with another. One is extolled as fundamental. Others dwindle into non-essentials. A single truth is set up as the test of a standing or falling Church: while integral portions of the same 'faith once delivered to the saints' serve but to breed suspicions of their advocates; and bring on those who dare not to separate 'what God has joined together,' the name of bigots and formalists." do, p. 7.

BISHOP M'ILVAINE.

"The doctrine of justification by faith was the master-principle of the Reformation." Pref. p. 5.-"that same great doctrine, so mighty in the war of the Reformation, so feared and hated and libelled at Rome-Justification." p. 6.

"It was in precise accordance with the view of HOOKER that Luther spake of the doctrine of justification as the Article of a standing or falling Church; that Calvin maintained that if this one head were yielded safe and entire, it would not pay the cost to make any great quarrel about other matters in controversy with Rome.' In this prominence of justification, there was a perfect agreement among the Protestant divines, as well of England, as of the Continent." p. 23. The great importance of the doctrine of Justification by faith is thus fully acknowledged by Bishop McIlvaine, as indeed it is throughout his whole work; whilst the Diocesan of New Jersey1 has no idea of setting up a "single truth," particularly justification [possibly the apostolic succession ?] as "the test of a standing or falling Church." We now proceed to inquire about the nature of justification.

Oxford Justification, like Roman, is Sanctification. The true nature of Justification is a fundamental point in the dispute with the Tractarians, as it was at the Reformation with the Pa

"There is reason," says the Bishop of Winchester, who denounced the Tractarian errors in a Charge to his Clergy, "there is reason to fear that the distinctive principles of our Church would be endangered, if men should envelop in a cloud the great doctrine which sets forth the way in which we are accounted righteous before God; if men doubt that the Protestant doctrine of Justification by faith is fundamental."

Bishop Doane, in his long list of Church dignitaries whom he had the hap piness to see in England, places by an amusing coincidence the name of the good Bishop of Winchester last.-Eng. Sermon, p. 100.