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takes not this for a denial, but turns it into an argument: "the less I have by right, the more I have by mercy; even men afford their dogs enough to keep them alive, and I ask no more.' When the angel put the hollow of Jacob's thigh out of joint, yet he would not let him go; the more lame he was, the more reason he had to hold. The prodigal was not kept away, nor driven off from his resolution, by the fear, shame, or misery of his present estate; for he had one word which was able to make way for him through all this, the name of Father. He considered, "I can but be rejected at the last, and I am already as low as a rejection can cast me; so I shall lose nothing by returning, for I therefore return because I have nothing; and though I have done enough to be for ever shut out of doors, yet it may be, the word Father may have rhetorick enough in it to beg a reconcilement, and to procure an admittance amongst my Father's servants."-Bishop Reynolds

THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

* * *

Here, I feel that I am on holy ground. I am glancing at a form of worship, which, though not divinely inspired, was, I doubt not, in its compilation and composition, divinely superintended: at a form of worship, which, being appointed, in the counsels of mercy, to be a feast to millions as they groped through the wilderness, was therefore most abundantly provided, and well prepared; at a form of worship, which has been the sanctified means of raising multitudes, in their affections, far above the atmosphere of this sinful world, even to the gates of heaven; and the blessed savour of which they took along with them, when they were called to enter in at the gates, and to stand in the presence of the King Eternal. Such is the glance, the feeble and limited glance, which the time has allowed me to direct towards the Liturgy of the Church: a Liturgy reverential yet glowing, humbling yet full of comfort; a Liturgy, which applies itself to evory want of a returning sinner, and to every desire of a confirmed believer: a Liturgy which can guide a transgressor in the deepest valley of his distress, and which can accompany and assist the adoring saint in the highest fervours of his devotion: a Liturgy which requires nothing but spirituality in the worshippers, or an anxiety to become spiritual, to be the delight of every heart, "a joy of many generations," an honoured means of edifying the body of Christ, and of educating man to become the companion of God for ever.-Rev. R. Housman.

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE ROMANISTS TO BE CONSIDERED AS THE ONLY CATHOLICS.

"The word Catholic, as fond of it as they are now in the Roman Church, if any Christian of Rome, for some years after Christ, had heard any one say, I am a Catholic, he would not have been able to have guessed what religion he had meant. But when the Greeks had used the word (katholike) in their language, first to distinguish the Christian Church, as extending to all nations, from the Jewish, which was confined to one nation in particular,-afterwards to distinguish the common Christianity, which was in all parts of the world, from that of a sect which sprang up in some particular country,-after this the word Catholic was taken up by them of the Roman Church, and in process of time they came to distinguish themselves by it, from the Greeks and from those of the other Eastern Churches that first used it.

"It could not but seem strange to the Greeks, to see them of the Roman Church, whose communion extended no further, at that time, than only to the West part of Europe, that they should call the Roman Church the Catholic or universal, in opposition to the Greeks and to all other Christians that then possessed, not only all the rest of this Europe, but all that was Christian in Africa and Asia besides. this is not strange to any one who considers how natural it is for those of any sect to make a great business about words. As they are apt to bestow the worst words they can find upon their adversaries, so with the same partiality, they are ready to appropriate the good ones to themselves.

But

"Thus, the Jews will have none but themselves to be "the children of Abraham.” The Turks will have none but themselves to be called Mussulmans (believers). The Arian heretics, in their day, would allow none but themselves to be Catholics. If they of the Roman communion will be the only Catholics now, who can help it? But we shall not allow it them, till they can prove all other Christians to be schismatics, and us in particular."-(Lloyd, one of the seven Bishops imprisoned by James II. for withstanding the excesses of his prerogative, in 1688.)

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STRONG, but not exaggerated, was the language of Bishop Hallifax, the editor of Butler's Analogy, when he stated that the bishop had "done as much essential service to the cause of sound morality and true religion, as any one person since the extraordinary gifts of the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge have been withdrawn."

As complete a memoir as could, after the lapse of more than eighty years, be compiled, has recently been published by his connexion, the Rev. T. Bartlett, Rector of Kingstone, Kent.* A brief abstract of this narrative will be acceptable to those who know his writings, and may draw the attention of others to them.

He was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, (the birth-place of Alfred_the Great) May 18, 1692, being the youngest of eight children of Thomas Butler, a retired linen-draper, who resided at the Priory there. Joseph was at first educated at the grammar-school, taught in an ancient Norman chapel in Wantage church-yard, under the Rev. Philip Barton. The father was a Presbyterian, and purposing to educate Joseph, whose talents were promising, for the office of a teacher in his own denomination, he was placed under a Mr. Jones, in an academy then held at Gloucester, and afterwards at Tewkesbury. Here were brought up Archbishop Secker, Lord Bowes, Chancellor of Ireland, and Dr. Chandler, a Nonconformist teacher. Secker, as well as Butler, was the son of dissenting parents; and dissenters frequently object that they received only dissenting baptism. It is true that no register of Butler's baptism has yet been found; but only a few years ago a correspondent of the British Magazine succeeded in discovering the register of

* Memoirs of the Life, Character, and Writings, of Joseph Butler, D.C.L., late Lord Bishop of Durham. London, Parker, 1839. pp. 526.

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Secker's baptism. The writer of this memoir has ascertained from the Vicar of Bradford, that Archdeacon Sharp, of York, who was also the son of a Nonconformist, was baptized at Bradford church; and, probably, Butler also was regularly baptised. But if he had only lay, or schismatical, baptism, it was afterwards recognised by the church, as valid, and not to be repeated, although irregular. But whatever extreme opinion we might entertain on that sometimes distressing question, it is not true that his orders, either as deacon, priest, or bishop, were at all irregular, or any of his official acts invalid, as dissenters would say we ought consistently to suppose; no, not on the strictest principles of the apostolical succession in the ministry. When Butler had attained his twenty-first year, he carried on a correspondence with Dr. Samuel Clarke, on some difficulties and objections which he found in regard to the Doctor's a priori arguments on the being and attributes of God. Clarke did not know at first who his talented correspondent was; but thought so highly of his reasoning powers, and of the value of his remarks, as to subjoin the entire correspondence to the subsequent edition of his work.

Butler observed in his fourth letter to Dr. Clarke, that he " 'désigned the search after truth as the business of his life." He was occupied not only by metaphysical researches, but by seriously weighing the grounds of nonconformity; and this ended in such a disapprobation of them, as to induce him to resolve on entering the ministry of the church. In vain did his father summon to his aid several presbyterian divines; the son's purpose could not be shaken. He who was unwilling to admit Dr. Clarke's theories, except on satisfactory grounds, retained the resolution which conviction dictated, after such a careful examination as a man like Butler would make. Mr. Bartlett justly observes on this circumstance: "When the peculiar texture of Butler's mind is considered, his uncommon powers of investigation, his patient and unwearied search after truth, his cautious hesitation in coming to a conclusion without a comprehensive view of the whole bearings of the case; and when, too, the counter-tide of parental wishes, and family feelings, and early habits, are placed in the scale, perhaps the secession of no man from the ranks of nonconformity, ever furnished a stronger argument in favour of an established church, than the decision of Joseph Butler to conform to the church of England. But it must not be forgotten, that he could have had no prospect of secular advancement to bias him, beyond such as might naturally follow a diligent and faithful discharge of his ministerial duties."

The father finding Joseph's decision unalterable, entered his son at Oriel College, Oxford, March 17, 1714; and while undergraduate there, an intimacy arose between Joseph Butler and Edward Talbot, the second son of the Bishop of Durham. It is evident from his officiating for his friend Talbot at his living of Hendred near Wantage, after the spring of 1717, that he took orders soon after he attained his academical rank of student of civil law, i. e. at the same time that other collegians take the degree of Bachelor of Arts; but when and by what bishop he was ordained, does not appear. At the joint recommendation of Mr. Talbot and Dr. Clarke he was, in 1718, appointed preacher at the Rolls Chapel, in London; being only 26 years of age when appointed to so honourable an office, and proceeding to the degree of Bachelor in Civil Law three years afterwards, June 10, 1721. In the previous year his friend Secker finally determined to enter the church, of which resolution we may give some account hereafter: But suf

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fice it to say, that Mr. Talbot, who died in 1720, gave his dying recommendation of Butler, Secker, and Benson to his father, then Bishop of Salisbury; and that these became eventually Bishop of Durham, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of Gloucester. Dr. Talbot was translated to Durham in 1721, and promoted Butler to the living of Haughton in 1722, and, in 1725, to Stanhope.

In 1726, Butler published his celebrated fifteen sermons, preached at the Rolls chapel, which are more and more recognized as accurately defining the principles of christian morality, by establishing the supremacy of conscience; and as "the most precious repository of sound ethical principles," and "the highest service rendered by any philosopher to moral science."

In 1733, Butler became D.C.L., being appointed Chaplain to Lord Chancellor Talbot, brother of his departed friend; in 1736, clerk of the closet to her Majesty; and in the same year, Prebendary of Rochester, by the Chancellor; and December 3, 1738, was consecrated Bishop of Bristol --from whence he was translated to Durham, on the death of Bishop Chandler in 1750. He had previously in 1747, refused the primacy, when it was vacant by the decease of Archbishop Potter. He is said to have taken so unfavourable a view of the then state of things, as to have remarked, as a reason for refusing the primacy, that it was "too late for him to try to support a falling church." The dangers that then beset our church have passed away, and others have in turn threatened it since; but we may be encouraged by her preservation, never to to take such desponding views as Butler is said to have done, even in the worst times.

Butler had scarcely entered on his Episcopate at Durham, when his health visibly declined, and he removed, by medical advice, to Bath, and expired there June 16, 1752, and was interred in the cathedral at Bristol on Saturday, June 23. We are told that "he was of a most reverend aspect; his face, thin and pale; but there was a pleasing placidness in his countenance which inspired veneration, and expressed the most benevolent mind. His white hair hung gracefully under his shoulders, and his whole figure was patriarchal." "He conciliated all hearts. In advanced years, and on the episcopal throne, he retained the same genuine modesty, and sweetness of disposition, which had distinguished him in youth, and in retirement, During the ministerial performance of the sacred office, a divine animation seemed to pervade his whole manner, and lighted up his pale wan countenance, already marked with the progress of disease, like a torch glimmering in its socket, yet bright and useful to the last."

It was in the year 1736, that he published his Analogy of Religion, natural and revealed, to the constitution and course of nature. Perhaps no work has been a more powerful antidote to infidelity in all its diversified forms, or better suited at once to settle, enlarge, and strengthen the faith of the serious and inquiring reader. Its general object is admirably set forth in the inscription to the bishop's memory, placed in the cathedral of Bristol, in the year 1834, and written by Dr. Southey:

"Sacred to the memory of Joseph Butler, D.C.L., twelve years bishop of this diocese, and afterwards Bishop of Durham, whose mortal part is deposited in the choir of this Cathedral."

"Others had established the historical and prophetical grounds of the Christian religion, and that sure testimony of its truth which is found in its perfect adaptation to the heart of man. It was reserved for him to develop

its analogy to the constitution and course of nature: and laying his strong foundation in the depth of that great argument, there to construct another and irrefragable proof; thus rendering philosophy subservient to faith, and finding in owtward and visible things the type and evidence of those within the veil.

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"He who believes the scripture to have proceeded from the Author of Nature, may well expect to find the same sort of difficulties in it as are found in the constitution of nature."--Origen. Philocal. p. 23.

PAUL OF SAMOSATA:

A TALE OF THE ANCIENT SYRIAN CHURCH.

(By a Correspondent of the Church.)

CHAP. VII. (and last,) –

-THE CAPTURE OF PALMYRA.-THE DECISION.

One short month had passed away since the conversion of the Roman centurion, and with it had departed for ever the glory of Palmyra. The genius of Rome had triumphed, and her Eastern rival, confiding too rashly in her untried energies, was constrained to humble herself in the dust before the victorious legions of Aurelian.

The circumstances of that sad and singular vicissitude have engaged the historian's pen, and need not be detailed in our present narrative. Suffice it to state, for the purpose of explanation, that from the first blow struck in the contest to its disastrous termination, the cause of Zenobia experienced nothing but reverse; the battles of Antioch and Emesa proved successively ruinous defeats; until at length the aspiring Queen saw herself despoiled of all her territory, except the city within whose walls the shattered relics of her army were besieged. Yet even under this discouragement the siege was protracted with remarkable determination. Thousands of the Roman soldiers were swept away by the discharge of the engines and the sallies of the inhabitants, who were animated throughout by the fearless intrepidity of despair. The compliment reluctantly paid by Aurelian to the valour of his enemies, while it supplied an excuse for his extreme tardiness, was certainly not undeserved;"The Roman people," was his language in an original letter, "speak with contempt of the war which I am waging against a woman. They are ignorant both of the character and of the power of Zenobia. It is impossible to enumerate her warlike preparations of stones, of arrows, and of every species of missile weapons. Every part of the walls is provided with two or three balista, and artificial fires are thrown from her military engines. The fear of punishment has armed her with desperate courage. Yet still I trust in the protecting deities of Rome, who have hitherto been favourable to all my undertakings."

See Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xi. vol. i. p.183.

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