Mr. Penn fortifies this criticism by referring, as to a parallel case, to the gloss found in the Codex Ephremi, in the Royal Library of Paris, which has been taken into the received text. The last clause of the third, and the whole of the fourth verse of the Vth chapter of John, appear in that MS. as a marginal note in a different hand. The Coder Ephremi is by Wetstein pronounced to be of the same age as the celebrated Alexandrian MS. All that we can say of this criticism is, that, though it is both ingenious and plausible, it proceeds wholly upon the dangerous ground of conjecture, which ought never to be admitted without the most obvious necessity into Biblical investigations.

We have extended our review of this ingenious and valuable work to so great a length, that we have left ourselves no room to advert to a variety of interesting topics connected with the general argument, in the treatment of which Mr. Penn has displayed the same learning, extent of information, and acuteness, that appear in the specimens we have given. The volume demands the attention of every Geologist, while it will not fail to interest the Biblical critic, and all who attach importance to the bearings of science on the evidences of Revealed Religion.

Art. IV. Thoughts on the Anglican, and American Anglo-Churches. By John Bristed, Counsellor at Law, &c. 8vo. pp. 500. New York. 1822.

WERE the question of church-polity stripped of all the adventitious matter which party-spirit and secular interests have mixed up with it, it would resolve itself simply into this: What system of ecclesiastical rule and discipline is in itself best adapted, as a means, to secure the two-fold object of Christian institutions-the perpetuation and the extension of the Church of Christ. We say, in itself adapted, because the proper way of determining the question would be, to consider the several schemes of church-polity separate from an Establishment, a state of things with which they have no necessary connexion. The alliance of Church and State is a measure of political expediency, which must be tried by other considerations. What sort of church-polity is best adapted, and has the strongest claims to be taken into such an alliance, is obviously a very different inquiry from the first. The end proposed by the complex scheme being changed, the adaptation of the means is set in quite a different light. Episcopacy may seem to possess some natural recommendations, in its primitive character; and those who are so honestly of this opinion

as to love it for its own sake, may possibly regret that it should be seen in this country through the disguise of an Establishment. Those who regret the want of discipline in the Church of England, and who are accustomed to speak of this as the only spot in its sun-like splendour, must needs regret the cause equally with the effect; especially since the cause which has produced this want of discipline, is such as would render discipline, if it were practicable, a greater evil than the want of it. Such friends of Episcopacy must, therefore, naturally wish for an opportunity of having the superior efficiency of their favourite scheme of church government, put to the test under circumstances which would give full scope, and as it were fair play to its native energies. Such an opportunity seems to present itself in the United States of America, where Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congregational Churches, alike protected by the State, yet, unencumbered with its patronage, are seen in amicable, and we doubt not beneficial competition. What Episcopacy, under such circumstances, may lose in outward pomp and dignity, it cannot fail to gain in inward purity and primitive discipline.

The majority of Episcopalians, however, it cannot be concealed, have no relish for this humble sort of Episcopacy. Their attachment is to an Establishment, and an Established religion; and a non-established Church, and a non-established religion, would seem to them a very poor sort of thing indeed. Like a root out of a dry ground, it would have in their eyes neither form nor comeliness. They will not deny that Episcopacy might exist in such a state of humiliation, and put forth its spiritual functions; but it seems to them an unnatural condition, one of dilapidation and disgrace. So strong is the tendency of Episcopacy to combine, both in idea and in fact, with the elements of secular grandeur, and to identify itself with political rule.

We are indebted for these " Thoughts" of Counsellor Bristed's, to a publication which appeared in this country in the year 1821, written by the Rev. S. C. Wilks, under the title of "Correlative Claims and Duties," which has for its main design, to shew the necessity of a Church-establishment ⚫ in a Christian country, for the preservation of Christianity among the people of all ranks and denominations.' The British Reviewers, we recollect, pronounced it unanswerable. The fact is, that it contains nothing in the shape of reasoning, that has not been met and refuted again and again. It is neither an answer to what has been written on the other side, nor admits itself of an answer, the argumentation being singularly feeble, vague, and untangible. But the Writer evidently

means well; and the strain of piety which runs through the work, may render it useful among the only class for whom, we presume, it was designed, members of the Church of England. On the other side of the Atlantic, however, it appears to have attracted somewhat more notice than on ours; and Mr. Wilks has the honour of having drawn down upon "the Anglican Church," this indignant exposé by way of rejoinder. The main_position,' says Mr. Bristed, taken and enforced by Mr. Wilks, is, that where there is no Church-establishment, a nation necessarily tends to irreligion and heathenism.'

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An inquiry, however brief and cursory, into the soundness of this position, may be deemed of some moment in these United States, where no church-establishment can be instituted, without violating an express provision in the federal or national compact, which binds together the whole Union. For, if this doctrine be sound, America has reason to apprehend the most portentous national evils, in consequence of not having linked the civil government and some one dominant Christian sect in the bonds of inseparable alliance.'

The Author's qualifications for this Inquiry are set forth in the Introduction, He represents himself as having a kind of hereditary claim to be enrolled among the advocates of all that vitally concerns the well-being of the Protestant Episcopal Church, whether it be that established in England, or its legitimate offspring located in these United States.' His father, grand-father, and great grand-father were, he tells us, all beneficed clergymen in the Church of England; his elder brother is so now; and he was himself designed, from his birth, for the clerical calling. With this view, he was sent to Winchester College, which had for its head-master at that time, the Rev. Dr. Joseph Warton, of classical and poetical memory.' When he had been here little more than three years, and had ascended from the lowest class up to nearly the head of the senior part of the fifth form,

a general rebellion against the severe and capricious authority of Dr. Huntingford, then only Warden, now both Warden of Winchester College and Bishop of Hereford, broke out among the gownsmen cr students on William of Wykeham's foundation. This rebellion was headed, and the oath of universal [conspiracy administered, by Richard Mant, then one of the prefects in the sixth form, and now a protestant champion of the popish doctrine of baptismal regeneration, and one of the Editors of Mant and D'Oyley's Family Bible. In order to set an example of vigorous discipline, the Warden and Fellows of Winchester, after an express pledge on their part to bury the whole under an act of general amnesty, expelled the first forty boys who stood senior on the college rolls.'

Mr. Bristed's name happened to stand the twenty-first on the roll,' and he was consequently included in the act of expulsion. He returned to the parental roof, where he spent some years, still steadily directing his steps' towards an entrance into the Church. But, at the age of seventeen, his resolution as to taking orders was considerably shaken, in consequence, he tells us, of several conversations with the Provost of Queen's College, Cambridge.

• The main substance of the learned Provost's arguments, in order to dissuade me from entering the Church, was, that as all the livings in the establishment were under the control of patronage, public or private; either ministerial, as representing the government, or lay, as belonging to individual noblemen and gentlemen; or clerical, as vested in single bishops or in religious bodies; a man's location or ascent in the national Church did not depend exclusively, or chiefly, or, probably, at all, upon his own talents, learning and character; but upon some extrinsic influence, some remote contingencies and probabilities, over which he had no control.

In addition to which, he represented the clerical market in England as being overstocked; the number of parishes and church benefices bearing no reasonable proportion to the multitudes of the national clergy. Whence, he concluded, that either of the other learned professions, whether law or physic, would be preferable for a young man to pursue, as rendering him in a greater degree the master and carver out of his own fortunes.

All these, and other similar observations, to be sure, bore only a secular aspect, and had nothing to do with preaching the Gospel, either to the poor or to the rich; yet, falling from the lips of a clergyman high in the establishment, advanced in years, and distinguished for his talents and learning, made a deep and lasting impression upon my unexperienced, unballasted mind; and induced me to relinquish all thoughts of the church, and embrace the calling of a physician.'

My objections to the Church of England were then, and are now, confined exclusively to her political position; her close alliance with the state; her system of patronage, whether lay or clerical, excluding the congregations altogether from any choice of the clerk, who is to minister to them spiritually; and her provision of tithes. Her liturgy, articles, and homilies, are all strictly spiritual; and when faithfully set forth, and supported by the preaching and living of evangelical clergymen, are eminently calculated, under the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, to call men from darkness into light, and from the power of Satan unto God.

My kingdom is not of this world, emphatically declares the Lord Jesus Christ. But Bishop Warburton, with all his immense talents and exhaustless ingenuity, urges the position, that the Church and the State, in England, are, in themselves, two free and independent sovereigns, and as such, form a mutual, equal alliance and league

between each other; in the same manner as is, or might be, done between any two other earthly potentates.

But, without encountering any detail, we may simply ask, who is the head of this independent, sovereign church? The Lord Jesus Christ himself. And does He enter into an equal, mutual alliance, offensive and defensive, with impious, irreligious, profligate, formal sovereigns? for example, with the brutal, bloody Henry; the politic, arbitrary Elizabeth: or the perfidious persecuting dynasty of the Stuarts? Utrum horum mavis, accipe. Which will ye believe? The Saviour himself, who says his kingdom is not of this world, or the right reverend William Warburton, who seeks to stamp the secular stain upon its beauty of holiness?

In addition to this, the political wisdom of excluding every other religious denomination, except the dominant sect, from an equal participation in the rights, privileges, and offices of government, is more than doubtful. This policy proscribes, and thus renders useless, if not hostile, at least one-third of the talent, learning, piety, and efficiency of the whole empire. Mr. Bates, a loyal adherent to the British government, and a sound churchman withal, in his valuable work called "Christian Politics," recommends, that, while the Anglican church should be protected in all her present emoluments, benefices, and dignities, the partition-wall between her and the other denominations should be so far thrown down, as to admit every religious persuasion, throughout the empire, to an equal share in the offices of government, whether civil or military; giving to all the citizens equal political rights and privileges, and allowing to the national church the exclusive enjoyment of her revenues and ecclesiastical prerogatives.

It is not easy to find a valid reason why Britain should not repeal her Test and Corporation acts; laws passed amidst the beat and smoke of religious intolerance and persecution. She has already done it, with signal success, in relation to her Irish protestant dissenters. And why not extend the boon to all the dissenting sects throughout the nation; and thus, indefinitely, augment her own intellectual and moral power, by permitting all, instead of only a privileged order of her people, to serve, aid, and support her, to the full extent of their capacity and powers, in her civil and military functions; in the field and on the flood; in foreign courts, and in her home councils and cabinet?

Other countries have learned this lesson of practical political wisdom. In these United States, every religious communion is placed on equal ground, as to all civil rights and privileges. By a provision of the federal constitution, the general government is interdicted from regulating or interfering with the religion of the Union; and the separate States, for the most part, have confined their legislative enactments to the mere civil incorporation, with certain restrictions, of such religious bodies as apply for charters. In the United NetherJands, in Prussia, in Russia, nay, even in France, there is no exclusive national church, shutting out the other sects from equal political privileges; but in those countries, all religious denominations stand on the same level of social claim and right.

During the time when Russia broke down the military strength