my debt

letter. I have presented my love to my sister and cousin Anne, etc., in my letter to my brother Major. I would not have him alter his affairs because of [his debt to me]. My purse is as his. My present thoughts are but to lodge such a sum for my two little girls. It is in his hand as well as any where. I shall not be wanting to accommodate him to his mind. I would not have him solicitous. Dick, the Lord bless you every way.

I rest, your loving father,

O. CROMWELL,

I cannot believe that these Christian and tenderly affectionate letters to his own family could have been a tissue of falsehood and hypocrisy. Assuredly Cromwell understood Scriptural truth, and inculcated it upon his children; and such letters as these would seem to indicate that he himself often felt much of its power; but the greater his guilt that he did not act according to his professions.

F. H.

ON ASKING FOR THE PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

AFTER being accustomed for many years to the words "The prayers of the congregation are desired for a person seriously ill," I was startled lately by hearing "the prayers of the Church are desired." Will you allow me to ask, through your pages, whether the latter is correct; as one looks now with suspicious eye on any innovation, and the word "Church" is sometimes misplaced, of which this appears an instance. The prayers of a congregation are the prayers of the Church (according to Article xix.); but the prayers of the Church may not be those of the congregation.

LAICUS.

*** We leave our correspondents, if they think the point of sufficient importance, to reply to Laicus; but the formula objected to, whether right or wrong, is not an "innovation." If the Editor may be allowed to speak personally, he is guilty of having used this notification for some thirty years, without " suspecting it to be suspicious." When he first took holy orders, the members of his rustic flock used to send in a paper, saying "that the prayers of the Church" were desired for such a person; and he made the announcement, as he believes was the custom in his vicinity (and he presumes elsewhere) in the terms of that notification. Rustics still say "Church is gone in ;" and in the Anglican version of the Scriptures we read, "Hear the Church;" "tell it to the Church;" "salute the Church;"" cause it to be read in the Church ;" and "prayer was made of the Church." We have, however, no objection to "Prayer was made of the congregation," as the reading is in Tyndale's Testament, 1534, and in Cranmer's, 1539; but not in the Geneva, 1557, where we might have expected to find it. If the formula be wrong, we are willing to change it; but the Prayer-book mentions no form of notification, and some strict ritualists think none ought to be used. We never surmised that there was anything Tractarian in the expression; nay, Dissenters, we believe, and also the Church of Scotland, in such announcements, say "the Church." The strongest reason which suggests itself to us for saying "the congregation," is, that this is the phrase used in the margin of the prayer,

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THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND A READING, PREACHING, AND
PRAYING CHURCH.

For the Christian Observer.

OUR great champions, from Hooker downwards, in their contests with
the Dissenters, have contrasted our daily offices of prayer and praise,
and the large portions of Scripture in our services, with the scanty at-
tention to those particulars in non-conformist worship. We have heard
some Dissenters say, that in their younger days they rarely heard a
chapter read from the pulpit from year's end to year's end; and that
prayer itself was subordinated to preaching and singing; the usual
routine being first a hymn; then a prayer; then another hymn; then
a sermon longer than all the other parts of the service added together;
then another hymn; and lastly, a short epitome of the sermon in a pe-
titionary form. The public reading of the Scriptures in non-conformist
pulpits is stated to be now pretty general. We know how stoutly
Hooker had to contend with Cartwright for the reading of portions of
Scripture in public worship, which Cartwright seemed to consider a
"beggarly element;" and this in an age when the great body of the
people had not, as now, bibles to peruse at home. This great non-
conformist leader, speaking for his brethren, denied that the reading of
the Scriptures is necessary in the public congregation. "A number of
Churches," said he, "which have no such order of simple reading, can-
not be in this point charged with breach of God's commandment; which
they might be, if simple reading were necessary." This Hooker calls
"A poor, cold, and hungry cavil." Commenting upon such declara-
tions of Cartwright, as that "No salvation is to be looked for where no
preaching is;" "It confirmeth a man in the doctrine preached, when by
reading he perceiveth it to be as the preacher taught ;" and the like,
Hooker says, rather sarcastically, but with substantial truth (Book v.
sect. 22): "They tell us the profit of reading is singular, in that it
serveth for a preparative unto sermons; it helpeth prettily towards the
nourishment of faith which sermons have once engendered; it is some
stay to his mind who readeth the Scripture when he findeth the same
things there which are taught in sermons; and thereby perceiveth how
God doth concur in opinion with the preacher. Besides, it keepeth
sermons in memory, &c. But the principal cause of writing the Gospel
was, that it might be preached upon or interpreted by public ministers,
apt and authorised thereunto, &c. The very chiefest cause of commit-
ting the sacred word of God unto books, is surmised to have been, lest
the preacher should want a text whereupon to scholy."
This ap-
proaches towards popery; for extremes are apt to meet. Hooker, in
the above passage, is speaking of the reading of the inspired word; but
he afterwards adds: "They utterly deny that the reading either of
Scriptures, or Homilies, or sermons, can ever by the ordinary grace of
God save any soul;" which is to assert that the Gospel cannot be
preached unless in an extemporaneous manner; and that writing a
sermon frustrates the ordinance of God.

But if prayer and reading the Scriptures are necessary; so also are the explication and application of Scripture by the living voice; and hence our great champions justly maintain that the Church of England is a preaching as well as a praying Church; and this is one of their strong arguments in the contest with the Church of Rome. It were superfluous to cite proofs of this. Hooker, in the very section above alluded CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 66.

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to, says: "So worthy a part of Divine service we should greatly wrong, if we did not esteem preaching as the blessed ordinance of God; sermons as keys to the kingdom of heaven; as wings to the soul; as spurs to the good affections of man; unto the sound and healthy as food, as physic unto diseased minds: wherefore how highly soever it may please them with words of truth to extol sermons, they shall not herein offend us." No truly; for, as Hooker adds: "In this therefore preaching and reading [the Scriptures] are equal; that both are approved as God's ordinances, both assisted with his grace." Hooker, in his vindication of the ordinance of preaching, echoed the opinions of those two eminent prelates, Grindal and Whitgift, under whose archiepiscopal jurisdiction he exercised his sacred office. Grindal remonstrated vigorously with Queen Elizabeth, for the promotion of diligent parochial preaching. Her Majesty maintained that three or four preachers were sufficient for a county, and that the "exercises" or "prophesyings" which the Archbishop had encouraged were injurious to the Church; and she commanded him to abridge the list of preachers; but he declared to her Majesty that his conscience would not permit him to do so; and he also denied her warrant to interfere with the spiritualities of his office. "Public and continual preaching of God's word," said he, in one of his letters to the queen (Dec. 20, 1576), "is the ordinary mean and instrument of the salvation of mankind;" and so far from thinking that the "prophesyings," as they were called, were carried to an excess, he wished to see "godly preachers" pervading the whole land. Whitgift maintained that "the true preaching of the word is an essential note of the Church;" which is conformable to the doctrine of our nineteenth Article, that "The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure word of God is preached, and the sacraments duly administered."

May the Church of England never lose this glorious characteristic! It is justly entitled to the appellation of "a preaching Church;" and especially of late years. But there is some danger in the present day of efforts being made to obscure its lustre in this respect. Some among us do not scruple to express a sort of contempt for sermons; and if the opinions of such persons should prevail, preaching will be huddled into a corner; or be well nigh thrust out by an almost exclusive, and therefore disproportionate, attention to other parts of the ordinances of the Lord's house, and these protracted by choral service. The Acts of the Apostles, and the Apostolical Epistles, which exhibit to us what the Church of Christ was in its pristine days, and under the direct guidance of apostolical authority, set forth preaching in the most prominent light among the institutions of our holy faith. "Christ sent me not," says St. Paul, "to baptize, but to preach the Gospel." "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel." "It is not reason," said St. Peter, "that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables." Assuredly then, if it should ever come to pass that the Church of England begins to cast preaching into the shade, its honour and its utility will have departed; and it will soon minister its offices amidst silent walls, it may be of quaint devices and imposing aspect, while the living worshippers will be found in crowded conventicles. It was through preaching, as God's instru ment, and by His grace, that the nations were converted to the faith; it is through preaching that no small part of the believer's instruction and edification are carried on; and by preaching that the ignorant are taught, and the hardened reclaimed: and Satan will have an advantage over us, if, for any reason whatever, however specious or

apparently sacred, the "preaching of Christ crucified," not merely sacramentally, but by the oral inculcation of the doctrines and duties of the Gospel in the congregation, fails to be upheld according to its Scriptural importance.

ON CO-OPERATION AMONG CHRISTIANS OF DIFFERENT

DENOMINATIONS.

For the Christian Observer.

We are not displeased at some friendly animadversions with which we have been favoured, respecting our remarks upon the practical difficulty of Christians of various denominations co-operating for the furtherance of religious objects. Our queries to Mr. Grinfield were in no unfriendly spirit; but as he intimated that for clergymen to deny themselves "the occasional privilege of hearing Mr. Hall" was a mark of" ecclesiastical prejudice,"it was but fair and amicable to ask our reverend brother whether thereisnot something due to consistency and example; something to honest views of scriptural truth, and even of due church discipline. The just celebrity of Robert Hall induced many clergymen whose views of ecclesiastical regularity were not in general lax, to attend his ministry, when occasion offered of so doing; but we think that most even of these would have reconsidered the subject before they arrived at "fifty sermons." And with regard to co-operation in religious undertakings, we see no occasion to change our opinion;-first, that Christians may and should rejoice in each others' works of faith and labours of love, even where conscientious considerations limit each body to those operations in which it can labour with unconstrained faith, hope, and confidence; secondly, that where conscience presents no serious impediment to practical union, the broadest basis is to be preferred; but thirdly, that, in point of fact, there are few religious objects-scarcely any one, it appears to us, except the circulation of the inspired word-in which various bodies of Christians can unite with the full tide of their affections, and in the healthy exercise of their spiritual understanding, so as for all to act with vigour, consistency, and assurance, without any unscriptural sacrifice. simply state our sorrowful conviction. Would that experience testified otherwise! But we are told that experience does testify otherwise; and we are pointed to the liberal example of the Rev. T. Mortimer, and the cogent arguments of the Hon, and Rev. B. W. Noel; the former as exhibited in a recent speech at the anniversary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and the latter at that of the City Missionary Society. There is so much to honour in the piety, zeal, and affection of both our indefatigable and eloquent friends, that there will remain no ordinary mass of excellence, even though something be subtracted on the ground that sound conclusions are not always co-extensive with good intentions. We are quite willing to quote their statements, and will do so.

We

The following is that part of Mr. Mortimer's address which bears upon the matters in question. We omit some other portions of his speech, with the same friendliness of intention which on a former occasion induced us to pass by his Cambridge apologetic sermon for Archbishop Laud. We then thought he oscillated too far one way, as we now think he has vibrated too far in the opposite direction; but believing him to be a sincere seeker after truth, we doubt not he will come right in the end. He said, in the address which has been sent to us :

"I did yesterday what I never did before,—what I have never done since I have been in holy orders, now more than a quarter of a century. But the high Tractarian men force us to come and declare our sentiments. We cannot help it. I went on Thursday to hear the President of the Conference at the Centenary-hall. I got between two windows, in order to be shaded from the light, thinking I should not be known; and when they began a good old Methodist hymn, it did my heart good, and I could not help singing it. When I got home, and told my children, they said, ‘Papa, why did you not let us go with you?' I said, 'Well, we'll see.' Now, on Sunday I had two charity sermons at my own chapel, and I knew I should not be wanted in the morning, and I therefore went with my family to Queen-street Chapel, where the proceedings gave joy to my soul; and when I got home, my children said, 'Papa, our organ was nothing to their singing.' Now, don't take this for flattery. All that I hope for the Wesleyan Methodists is, that they will be true to those holy sainted men who have gone before them; all that I hope is that they will never become worldly-minded;-all I hope is, that they will remember those who, through faith and patience, now inherit the promises."

The above statement proves, what we have often remarked, that Tractarianism would cause a revulsion; that while it engendered in some men the bigotry of Rome, it would by its exaggerations repel others to an opposite extreme, and in the end cause confusion instead of scriptural order.

Mr. Noel's statement refers to matters which have been often considered in our pages, and upon which therefore we need not now repeat our opinion. We have the greatest possible repugnance to speci fying difficulties in regard to anything that is good in itself, or good to a certain extent; but in laying down principles, the Christian is bound to follow that way in which he believes most good can be done, and with the least mixture of what is not good; and with no sacrifice of truth or conscience. Our reverend friend's phrase "denominational knowledge,' may mean as much, or as little, as each man pleases. The Socinian would call the doctrine of the atonement "denominational (or sectarian) knowledge;" but we are not prepared to admit that in upholding episcopacy, or the dedication of children to Christ in Baptism, or in conscientiously adhering to the doctrines and discipline of the Anglican Church, we are acting as sectaries and schismatics. But we will not withhold Mr. Noel's argument.

"I wish explicitly to declare, that religion may exist, and religious instruction be carried to a very high extent, where denominational knowledge is excluded. We have a diversified and large experience, proving that it may be so. The Religious Tract Society has done as much as almost any institution in this country to diffuse sound religious knowledge throughout our population, and that Society has systematically and constitutionally excluded denominational instruction. It has been thought, while this might be done carefully in books, it could not be done by a living instructor, without the danger of constant collision. But it has been done. The London City Mission is at this time doing as great a work for the instruction of the most neglected and the least instructed portion of the population of this metropolis as any other institution whatever; and its agents have conducted its operations with constant fidelity to the principles it has avowed, giving all that knowledge which abounds in the Book of God, to which there is reiterated reference in that book, and which is calculated to make us wise unto salvation; while they have systematically excluded denominational knowledge. If, then, religion does not consist in that knowledge, but, on the other hand, may be communicated and diffused without it, then we may apply this doctrine to the formation and maintenance of schools; and in schools, all the religion that is needed, to make a creature wise for eternity, and happy for time, preparing him to fulfil his duty to his Creator, his neighbour, and his family, may be taught where denominational instruction is excluded."

There is another particular which has been pressed upon us; namely, that we have been corrupted by the contagion of Tractarianism, so as, perhaps unconsciously, to urge points of ecclesiastical discipline more