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who are fully persuaded that the practice is "no where forbidden;" who have, moreover, chapels duly furnished with all the materials requisite for the papal worship; who are encouraged by an eager party to make continual advances towards the old religion, who venerate the saints, and "all but adore" the "blessed Virgin, Mary, the mother of God;" who think it a matter of very great importance to restore copes, and candlesticks, and side-tables, and altars; will not, ought not, according to their principles, long to restrain their pious sympathies in rendering such assistance to the dead as they may consider themselves capable of bestowing: for what could be more inhuman than to withhold the

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The Chapel of Ease lately erected at Littlemore, near Oxford, under Mr. Newman's auspices, may thus be described :The architecture is correctly copied from the pointed Gothic; the chapel will hold perhaps 200 persons. On the altar is a large gold dish, resting against the wall, between two large handsome golden candlesticks. In the wall is a stone cross, in alto-relievo, which seems to stand on the altar; this cross is about a yard high. The wall about the cross is on some festivals of the church hung with crimson velvet; on one side of the altar is a stone side-board fixed in the wall, to receive the elements before they are consecrated and put on the altar. the other side of the altar is a large tablet, recording in golden letters the names of some benefactors, with this text from Nehemiah: "Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof” (xiii. 14). On this tablet, the building is styled, "The Chapel of Saint Mary the Virgin, and Saint Nicholas, Littlemore." On the roof are hung eight escutcheons, bearing some symbolical paintings-a pelican—an anchor and a fish-a cope of a priest-a crown of thorns, &c. It was reported that shortly there was to be introduced a comely picture of "the Queen of Heaven," to be hung up at the west end, over the door of entrance.

Before the altar is a small faldstool covered with crimson, on which the priest always kneels during service, turning his back to the people.

Service is performed every afternoon, to a congregation of about three people.

Littlemore is about three miles distant from Oxford.

services of mercy or affection from those who may stand in need of all the intercession of their friends upon earth? Such must be the reasoning of the Oxford sect; and will not an argument so powerful counterbalance any scrupulous regard to the letter of the prayer book? Yes, truly; and it is far from improbable that ere now certain priests of the Pusey persuasion, in proper costume, may have said or sung a mass composed for the occasion for the soul of Mr. Froude. We shall hear much more of their proceedings in this department of their superstitions, and both in prose and verse it will be taught us what sort of ceremonies they think proper to follow on these occasions.

But what is the secret of this revolting absurdity? A disbelief in the efficacy of the death and righteousness of Jesus Christ unto a full; complete, and perfect justification. This, indeed, is the whole secret; for they that know not what it is to stand on the right foundation, who never have believed that "there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus;" who never have gone to God for a free grace pardon without any mixture of human merit; who never have cast aside all hopes of pleasing God by repentance, or preparation, or good works, or future sanctification, as a means of obtaining pardon; and who, therefore, never have been by free grace freely forgiven; cannot, dare not, trust their own souls, or the souls of the most saintly persons that ever lived, to meet that Judge in whose sight the heavens are not clean, and who chargeth his saints with folly. Hence, when a good man is dead, the ignorant opponents of justification by faith dare not say, with Paul, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." Neither dare they with Paul argue from predestination, through calling and justification, unto final glory (Rom. viii. 30). No; they have been going about to establish their

own righteousness, and have not submitted to the righteousness of God (Rom. x. 3); and, therefore, are left, in their vain imaginations, to combat with terrors, and struggle with apprehensions, whenever they ponder on the state of the dead and the holiness of the eternal Judge. Hence their poor nostrums of superstition to help a hopeless case, and to render assistance by their own blind will-worship to those whom they never believed that Christ himself was able to save. Not but that these men will declare they believe in Christ, and often talk of faith; but when their faith is closely examined, it is never more than a hope that Christ will give them grace to save themselves by their own sanctification, which is not believing in the Lord their righteousness, but in themselves. To look upon Christ as made sin for them that they may be the righteousness of God in him, they never have learned, never understood, never believed, but constantly and earnestly denied. These are the blind leaders of the blind, and into the ditch they fall-the deep, inextricable ditch of papal lies, superstitions and frauds. This is the secret of all the purgatorial fable of the Romish church, the masses for the dead, the indulgences, and the incalculable plunder of the papal hierarchy. The obits, the chauntries, the prebends, the monasteries, and all the religious houses, were founded for no other purpose than to make up for the rejection of justification by faith. Men would not believe in Christ; and as he is the appointed Sun of Righteousness, it could not be otherwise than that, in shutting their eyes to his glory, they should wander into the realms of darkness, into the valley of the shadow of death.

The Oxford Tractators have formally denied justification by faith; in their views of faith they do not in the smallest degree differ from the council of Trent; and in one word, they profess"progressive justification," which is to reject the faith once delivered

These, therefore,

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unto the saints. are the persons to pray for the dead;" but all that they can do by all their ceremonies and litanies, will be of as little avail for the souls of the departed, as are the indulgencies and pardons of the Pope, duly paid for in the Roman chancery.

The council of Trent has thus united the views of the Romish church to purgatory. "If any one shall affirm that after the grace of justification received, the sins of a penitent sinner are so remitted, and his liability to eternal punishment is so cancelled, as that no liability remains to his suffering, either punishment in this life, or in the life which is to come in purgatory, before he can reach the kingdom of heaven-let him be accursed."SESSIO, VI. CAN. xxx.

THE OXFORD MEMORIAL ΤΟ THE MEMORY OF THE MARTYRS.BAPTISM.

THE project of building a church at Oxford as a monument to the memory of Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley, will not fail for want of funds; but, as an affair of principle, it seems to be unsuccessful.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and Bishop Philpotts, are names already on the list; which seems to be considered a sort of public confession of sound principles, both by the Puseyites and the Evangelical clergy. Each party is anxious to shew that they are followers of the faith of the Martyrs, though the project was set on foot at first by the Evangelical party. In our opinion, we think it quite capable of proof that, on the grand question of baptismal regeneration, the Martyrs were Puseyites, and that the Evangelical clergy and laity, who subscribe to the Oxford memorial do not believe this doctrine as the Martyrs did. From the Tracts of the Anglican

Fathers, No. 1, "Holy Baptism; a Sermon set forth by the most Reverend Father in God, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop and Martyr," lately republished by the Puseyites, the question of Cranmer's views of baptismal regeneration may easily be settled. "The second birth," says Cranmer, "is by the water of baptism, which Paul called the bath of regeneration, because our sins be forgiven us in baptism, and the Holy Ghost is poured into us as God's beloved children; so that by the power and working of the Holy Ghost we be born spiritually, and made new creatures. And so by baptism we enter into the kingdom of God, and shall be saved for ever, if we continue to our lives' end in the faith of Christ.... wherefore, good children, to the intent you may the better know the strength and power of baptism, you shall first understand that our Lord Jesus Christ hath instituted and annexed to the Gospel three sacraments (!), or holy seals, of his covenant and league made with us. And by these three, God's ministers do work with us in the name and place of God (yea, God himself worketh with us), to confirm us in our faith, to assure us that we are the lively members of God's true church, and the chosen people of God, to whom the Gospel is sent, and that all these things belong to us, whereof the promises of the Gospel make mention. The first of these sacraments is baptism; by the which we be born again to a new and heavenly life, and be received into God's church and congregation, which is the foundation and pillar of the truth. The second is absolution, or the authority of the keys; whereby we be absolved from such sins as we be fallen into after our baptism. The third sacrament is the communion of the Lord's Supper; by the which we be fed and nourished and fortified in the faith of the Gospel..... Wherefore, by the virtue of this commandment, which came down from heaven, even from the bosom of

God, baptism doth work in us the work of God. For when we baptize in the name of God, that is as much as to say, as God himself should baptize us. Wherefore we ought not to have an eye only to the water, but to God rather, which did ordain the baptism of water, and commanded it to be done in his name. For he is almighty, and able to work in us by baptism forgiveness of our sins, and all those wonderful effects and operations for which he hath ordained the same, although man's reason is not able to conceive the same. Therefore consider, good children, the great treasures and benefits whereof God maketh us partakers when we are baptized, which be these. The first is, that our sins be forgiven us; the second is, that the Holy Ghost is given us, which doth shed abroad the love of God in our hearts; the third is, that the whole righteousness of Christ is given to us by baptism, that we may claim the same as our own; fourthly, by baptism we die with Christ, and are buried as it were in his blood and death, that we should suffer afflictions unto death, as Christ himself hath suffered. And as the man which is baptized doth promise to God that he will die with Christ, that he may be dead to sin and to the old Adam, so, on the other part, God doth promise again to him, that he shall be partaker of Christ's death and passion. But, peradventure some will say, How can water work such great things? To them I answer, that it is not the water that doth these things, but the Almighty Word of God, which is knit and joined to the water; then it is the bath of regeneration, and baptism-water, and the lively spring of eternal salvation, and a bath that washeth our souls by the Holy Ghost..... ye shall also diligently labour, good children, to keep and perform these promises, which you made to God in your baptism, and which baptism doth betoken: for baptism, and the dipping into the water,

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doth betoken that the old Adam, with all his sins and evil lusts, is drowned and killed by daily contrition and repentance, and that by the renewing of the Holy Ghost we ought to rise with Christ from the death of sin, and to walk in a new life, that our new man may live everlastingly in righteousness and truth before God, as St. Paul teacheth, All we that are baptized into Christ Jesus are baptized into his death; for we are buried with him by baptism into death, that as Christ has risen from death by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life.'.... thus ye have heard, good children, what is meant by the words of baptism, by the which we are born again, and made new to everlasting life. Learn these things diligently, and thank God who in Christ hath called you to be partakers of so large and ample benefits: and express baptism in your life, and baptism shall be the great comfort to you, both in your lifetime, and also in your death-bed. For by baptism we be grafted into the death of Christ; wherefore sin, death, or hell cannot hurt us, but we shall overcome all these things by faith, as Christ himself overcame them. And so by this new birth we shall enter into the kingdom of God and life everlasting."

As Cranmer freqnently changed his opinions, or rather was continually making progress in religious discoveries, it might be suggested that he afterwards relinquished these popish views of baptism; but it is certain that this was not the case; for in his answer to Gardiner, A.D. 1551, only two years before the accession of Queen Mary, he has thus expressed himself, "For this cause Christ ordained baptism in water, that, as surely as we see, feel, and touch water with our bodies, and be washed with water, so assuredly ought we to believe, when we be baptized, that Christ is verily present with us, and that by him we be newly born again spiri

tually, and washed from our sins, and grafted in the stock of Christ's own body, and be appareled, clothed, and harnessed with him in such wise, that as the devil hath no power against Christ, so hath he none against us, so long as we remain grafted in that stock, and be clothed with that apparel, and be harnessed with that armour."

Now, by this extract, it is entirely certain that Cranmer, the great founder of the Church of England, and its most illustrious martyr, held views on baptism fully in accordance Iwith the decrees of the Council of Trent, the Confession of Augsburg, and all the great continental Lutherans; for it is to be observed that Luther always professed complete assent to baptismal regeneration, and there can be no question that Cranmer's opinions were influenced in a high degree by the authority of Luther, and his renowned associates.

Bishop Ridley entirely agrees with Cranmer. "Now on the other side," says he, "after the truth shall be truly tried out, it be found that the substance of bread is the material substance of the sacrament, although for the change of the use, office, and dignity of the bread, the bread indeed, sacramentally, is changed into the body of Christ, as the water in baptism is sacramentally changed into the fountain of regeneration, and yet the material substance remaineth all one as before," "there is no need to hold the dogma of transubstantiation in order to believe that Christ is imparted in the Eucharist, because he is equally imparted in baptism, and yet no one contends that the water is transubstantiated.".... "in baptism the body is washed with the visible water, and the soul cleansed from all filth by the invisible Holy Ghost."...." in baptism our sins are taken away, and we from sins purged, cleansed, and regenerated in a new man, to live a holy life according to the Spirit and will of God. It is not

the water that washes us from sin, but Christ, by his word and his Spirit given to us in baptism, that washeth away our sins that we have of Adam by our carnal nature.”

Exactly in the same strain speaks Latimer. "Like as Christ was born in rags, so the conversion of the whole world is by rags, by things which are most vile in this world: for what is so common as water? Every foul ditch is full of it; yet we wash out remission of our sins by baptism; for like as he was found in rags, so must we find him by baptism. There we begin: we are washed with water, and then the words are added whereby the baptism receiveth its strength. Now, this sacrament of baptism is a thing of great weight; for it ascertaineth and assureth us, that like as the water washeth the body and cleanseth it, so the blood of Christ our Saviour cleanseth and washeth it from all filth and uncleanness of sin."

Here, then, are the three Martyrs, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, each believing and asserting their belief in the strongest words; that children are really and bonâ fide born again in in baptism, cleansed from original sin, and made heirs of the kingdom of heaven. This is what the Oxford Tractators assert; this is the creed of Pusey, Newman, and Hooke; this is the creed of the Prayer-book and the Homilies; but this is not the creed of the Evangelical Calvinistic clergy. They do not entertain the same opinions as the founders of the Established Church; they do not believe in baptismal regeneration; they constantly deny it, and consider it a mark of Oxonian superstition: yet these are the persons who, in order to express their aversion to Popery, both within and without the church, would raise memorials to the martyrs whose faith they reject!

Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, were holy men, but they were not without faults; and though they had disengaged themselves from many of the

errors of popery, yet they had not advanced so far in the knowledge of the truth as to constitute them safe authority for the household of faith. The timidity of Cranmer's character, the leader of the English reformation, is well known; his fears of his tyrant master, Henry VIII., and of the papal party, betrayed him into acts of submission and evasion in matters of religion, which would have classed him amongst the libellatici and thurificati of the early Christians. We do not wish to recount his errors, for they have been long ago cast into the depths of the unfathomable sea of God's mercy, and no more inquisition is made for them in the chancery of divine justice; but what he did is recorded in ecclesiastical history, and is written for our warning. Other acts of his, which were not the result of fear, but were the free exercise of his high authority, are also to be found in the pages of history-and his change of sentiment in religion is notorious -he therefore is not a safe guide. Bishop Ridley was conspicuous in the reign of Edward VI. for his zeal in the matter of pontifical attire, insisting vehemently on the necessity of arraying Bishop Hooper in those popish vestments, which have, in consequence, been irreversibly bequeathed to the bishops and priests of the Establishment. Hooper had been appointed to the see of Gloucester, but refused to wear the prelatical costume. Ridley took up the question warmly, and endeavoured most earnestly to se

* The death of Cranmer, with an irresistible evidence, must convince us that his was that godly sorrow which worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of. His prayer at the stake is the very soul of faith:-"Lord Jesus, thou didst not die for little sins only, but for great ones, like mine." Prayer like this before the throne of grace was never yet refused, nor ever will be, as long as there is a Priest in heaven, who can save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. Cranmer's name is great amongst that cloud of witnesses who have testified that there is indeed forgiveness with God that he may be feared.

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