the changeable opinions of mankind, it was to be expected that creeds and confeffions fhould be confidered as attended with ferious inconveniences. Establishments of every kind are liable to the fame objection; they will be inconvenient to those who wish to be at liberty, and fometimes fo far forget the nature of man, and the condition of fociety, as to be perfuaded, that they ought to be at liberty to eftablish every thing for themselves. But the question is, whether this objection be not abundantly overbalanced by the convenience derived to mankind from their adoption. It may not be poffible to guard against all the inconveniencies arifing from establishments, in which fallible men are concerned: there are however fome, against which we would not wish to guard. The laws of the land, for inftance, are inconvenient to those who are indifpofed to obey them. So are creeds and confeffions to those who are difinclined to believe them. Whilft by others they are confidered as restraints upon human liberty, neceffary to the preservation of peace, order, and truth, in the world.

not be fuited to the future circumftances of the church; the establishment of it, therefore, must be left to depend upon the difcretion and judgment of its ministers for the time being. The answer which ST. PAUL would have returned upon fuch an occafion, the reader, it is prefumed, has already formed for himself.

The charge brought against the latter, that they check inquiry, and violate liberty, does not appear to be well founded. It certainly was not intended that creeds and confeffions fhould check

proper in "to prove

quiry: for every Christian is called upon all things'," to make inquiry, that he may be able to give a reafon for the faith that is in him; but "withal to hold faft that which is good." Should doubt remain upon this fubject, the language of the Homilies will clear it up; by which the opinions of our reformers may be clearly afcertained. In the first of these homilies, which begins with a fruitful exhortation to the reading and knowledge of the holy fcriptures, the members of the church of Eng land are conjured to read and judge for themfelves. "Let us reverently," (fay our reformers)" hear and read holy fcripture, which is the food of the foul: let us diligently fearch for the well of life in the books of the Old and New Teftament; for in holy scripture is fully contained what we ought to do, and what to eschew, what to believe, what to love, and what to look for at God's hand at length. In thefe books we shall find the Father from whom, the Son to whom, and the Holy Ghost in whom all things have their being, and keeping up; aud these three pera

fons to be but one GOD and one fubftance. In thefe books we may learn to know ourselves, how vile and miferable we be; and alfo to know GOD, how good he is of himself, and how he maketh us and all creatures partakers of his goodness. We may learn alfo in these books to know God's will and pleasure, as much as is convenient for us to know. And (as the great clerk and godly preacher, St. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM faith) "whatfoever is requefted to the falvation of man, is fully contained in the fcripture of God." Is fuch language calculated to check inquiry? Does it require the members of the church to subscribe to her doctrines without examination? Does it not rather enforce the very contrary mode of proceeding? The conclufion therefore is, that the articles of the church, though recommended to the Chriftian profeffor as fummary deductions from the language of Holy Writ, were not defigned by the compilers of them either to fuperfede the use of the fcriptures, or to abridge the right of private judgment fo far as it might be exercised with advantage to the party. And he who, upon proper examination, cannot adopt the faith profeffed in the church, is left, as he ought to be, to worship Gon in his own way.

As creeds and confeffions, therefore, were not meant to check inquiry, fo neither can they be faid to violate liberty; because no man is under obligation to fubfcribe to them. All that is required in this cafe being, that he who does fubscribe shall do it ex animo, as an honest man; plain language which admits of no ambiguity in the interpretation.

Should Dr. PALEY, therefore, have any ferious objections to the creeds and confeffions of the church of England, (which, from his manner of writing on the subject, fome readers may be led to conclude) he has but to follow the steps of those honest men who

have feceded from the communion of the church, because their confciences would not fuffer them to continue in poffeffion of preferments which must neceffarily be accompanied with a declared affent to her doctrine.

But when we are told, that creeds and confeffions "enfnare the confciences of the clergy, by holding out temptation to prevarication;" it appears to us, that a respect for the body fhould have withheld fuch a fuppofition. For my own part, I can say, that I did not prevaricate on this fubject. Charity bids me hope, that every one of my brethren can fay the fame.

But notwithstanding the objections made to the establishment of creeds and confeffions, the Archdeacon does not abfolutely determine that they ought to be abolished, but that they "fhould be made as fimple and eafy as poffible;" in other words, that by the general and comprehenfive form in which they are drawn up, they may poffefs as little of the nature of a test as poffible. If, for inftance," promises of conformity to the rites, liturgy, and offices of the church, be fufficient to prevent confufion and diforder in the celebration of Divine worship, then fuch promifes ought to be accepted, in the place of stricter fubfcriptions."

By ftricter fubfcriptions, we are here to understand, it is prefumed, fubfcriptions to our creeds and articles, But if these subscriptions to the doctrines of the church prove sometimes ineffectual to the fecurity of the defired object, can better hopes be entertained from mere promises of conformity to its rites, liturgy, and offices? Upon the fuppofition, that an honest man can, as a minifter, make use of the liturgy of a church, whofe creeds he does not believe; will conformity to the liturgy of a church answer every purpose of a belief of the doctrines contained in it? Surely not. "If articles of peace, as they are called,