CONSTITUTION OF THE PRIMITIVE

CHURCH.

LORD PETER KING, who wrote well on this subject, was born at Exeter, in 1669. His mother was a sister of the distinguished John Locke, by whose advice Peter was sent to the University of Leyden. He was afterwards called to the bar. In 1699, he obtained a seat in the House of Commons, as one of the members for Beeralston. In 1708, he was chosen recorder of London, and was soon after knighted. In Nov. 1714, a few months after the accession of George L., he was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; and in June, 1725, was appointed Lord Chancellor, and raised to the peerage. He died at his seat of Ockham, in Surrey, July 22, 1734. He was a man of great mildness of disposition, a sound judgment, and considerable learning. Of his valuable work on the Church, during the first three hundred years after Christ, Mr. Wesley, no mean judge, speaks thus: "Jan. 20, 1746, I set out for Bristol. On the road I read over Lord King's Account of the Primitive Church. In spite of the vehement prejudices of my education, I was ready to believe that this was a fair and impartial draught; but if so, it would follow that bishops and presbyters are essentially of one order; and that originally every Christian congregation was a church independent of all others." Nearly forty years after this he wrote, "Bristol, Sept. 10, 1784. Lord King's Account of the Primitive Church, convinced me many years ago, that bishops and presbyters are the same order, and consequently have the same right to ordain." We shall more than gratify our readers by giving a few extracts from Lord King's volume.

A CHURCH.A particular church is a society of Christians meeting together in one place under their proper pastors, for the performance of religious worship, and the exercise of Christian discipline. In the general, they were called the elect; the called and sanctified by the will of God; and in innumerable places they are called brethren, because of their brotherly love and affection; and the faithful, in opposi tion to the pagan world, who had no faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, nor in the promises of the Gospel.

ONE CHURCH TO A BISHOP.-Having shown that there was but one bishop to a church, we shall evidence that there was but one church to a bishop, which will appear from this single consideration, viz., that the ancient dioceses are never said to contain

churches in the plural, but only a church, in the singular. So they say, the church of the Corinthians; the church of Smyrna; the church in Antioch; and so of any other place whatsoever, the church of, or in such a place.

CHURCH CENSURES.-All the people of a diocese were present at church censures, as Origen describes an offender as appearing "before the whole church." So Clemens Romanus calls the censures of the church, the things commanded by the multitude. So the two offending sub-deacons and acolyth at Carthage, were to be tried before the whole people.

ELECTION OF A PASTOR. When the bishop of a church was dead, all the people of that church met together in one place to choose a new bishop. So Sabinus was elected bishop of Emerita by suffrage of all the brotherhood. So Fabianus was chosen to be bishop of Rome, by all the brethren who were met together in one place for that very end.

ORDINATIONS.-At the ordination of the clergy, the whole body of the people were present. So an African synod, A. D. 258, determined, that the ordination of ministers ought to be done with the knowledge, and in the presence of the people; that the people being present, either the crimes of the wicked may be detected, or the merits of the good declared; and so the ordination may be just and lawful, being approved by the suffrage and judgment of all.

MANAGEMENT OF CHURCH AFFAIRS.——— The whole diocese of the bishop did meet altogether to manage church affairs. Thus when the schism of Felicissimus, in the bishopric of Carthage, was to be debated, it was to be done according to the will of the people, and by the consent of the laity. So also, when they were to send a messenger to any foreign church, all the people could meet together to choose that messenger.

PRESBYTERS AND BISHOPS. Presbyters were the bishops' assistants, and so inferior to them in the actual exercise of their ecclesiastical commission: yet notwithstanding, they had the same inherent right with the bishops, and so were not of a distinct specific order from them. Presbyters were different from bishops in degree; but yet they were equal to them in order. Whatever a bishop did, the same did a presbyter. Originally they had one and the same name, each of them being indifferently called bishops or presbyters.

DEACONS. Their original institution, as

in Acts vi. 2, was "to serve tables," which included these two things: a looking after the poor, and an attendance at the Lord's table. As for the care of the poor, Origen tells us, that 'the deacons dispensed to them the church's money, being employed under the bishop to inspect and relieve the indigent." As for their attendance at the Lord's-table, their office with respect to that, consisted in preparing the bread and wine, in cleansing the sacramental cups, and other such like necessary things; whence they are called by Ignatius, "Deacons of meats and cups," assisting also, in some places at least, the bishops and presbyters in the celebration of the eucharist, "delivering the elements to the communicants."

POWER TO EXPEL. As for the legisla tive, decretive, or judicatorial power, that appertained both to clergy and laity, who conjunctly made up that supreme consistorial court, which was in every parish, before which all offenders were tried, and, if found guilty, sentenced and condemned. The laity were members of the ecclesiastical court, and judges therein, being sharers with the clergy in the judicial power of the spiritual court. On the one side, the bishop could do nothing without the people; so on the other side, the people could do nothing without the bishop.

INDEPENDENCY OF CHURCHES. Every particular church had power to exercise discipline on her own members, without the concurrence of other churches.

A JEWEL OF A BISHOP.

Hooker, the author of "Ecclesiastical Polity," while a student at Oxford, took a journey on foot to see his mother. He was accompanied by a college friend. They took Salisbury in their way, that they might see Bishop Jewel. After dining with him at his own table, the bishop at parting with Hooker, gave him good counsel and his benediction, but forgot to furnish him with any of the needful. He accordingly sent his servant to desire the young pedestrian to come back. On his return, Jewel said to him, "Richard, I sent for you back to lend you a horse, which hath carried me many a mile, and, I thank God, with much ease." He then delivered into his hand a walking staff, with which he stated he had travelled through Germany; adding, "Richard, I do not give, I only lend you my horse be sure you be honest, and bring my horse back again to me on your return this way to Oxford. And I now give you ten groats to bear your charges to Exeter; and here are ten groats more, which I charge you to deliver to your mother, and tell her I send her a bishop's benediction

with it, and beg the continuance of her prayers for me. And if you bring my horse back to me, I will give you ten groats more to carry you on foot to the college. And so, God bless you, good Richard."

EQUALITY OF RIGHTS.

The form of government, whatever it may be, whether social, civil, or religious, that does not practically adopt, or that practically violates the principle of universal equality in rights and privileges, is radically deficient or radically wrong; it is unjust and unjustifiable; it is oppressive and intolerable. It interferes with the freedom of thought, by withholding the impulses that ought to stimulate the mind to action, or by inspiring that dread of consequences which prevents its free and full expansion. It interferes with the freedom of speech, by the absolute injunction of silence, or by the arbitrary prescription of imperfect discussion. It interferes with the freedom of action, by the literal imposition of physical restraint, or by the confinement of its exertion within the limits of an interested, a circumscribed sphere. All such vile forms of government ought to be absolutely prevented, or eternally abolished. The noblest use of partial freedom is, to secure the invariable permanency of its perfection. The soul that is not absolutely enslaved, and virtually annihilated by that thraldom, ought to emancipate itself from the bondage imposed on its intellectual and moral powers. The voice that is not eternally hushed into absolute silence, ought to vindicate its prerogative by the loud and fearless assertion of its right to audible exertion. The powers of execution, that are not virtually neutralised by irresistible constraint, ought to be employed in the destruction of all that impedes perfect rational freedom of action. No length of time, no extent of prevalence, no combination of specious or incidental advantages, can justify the adoption, continuance, or restoration, either in part or in whole, either in name or in fact, of such vile, unjust, oppressive systems of government. Neither parents, nor masters, nor magistrates, nor monarchs, nor priests, have any right to exercise such an iniquitous, intolerable, abominable jurisdiction.

DANIEL CHAPMAN.

A SOCIETY INCURABLE. Ill success hath always attended every proposal for reformation addressed to the clergy. To abandon usurped power, to renounce lucrative error, is a sacrifice which the virtue of individuals has on some occasions offered to truth; but from any society of men no such effort can be expected.-DR. ROBERTSON.

FRANCESCO AND ROSA MADIAI.

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The following letter will inform readers of the issue to which the prosecu. tion has been brought, in the case of these humble but noble Christian confessors. They will read the sentence as we ourselves have read it, with no surprise. Romanism is the State religion of Tuscany. The civil courts and all the institutions of the country act under its control. Rome

is ever true to her instincts, ever consistent with herself. She is the unchanged and unchangeable, the inveterate and inflexible enemy of the Bible, and the intolerant persecutor of all who love it. Her malice never dies, her resolution never flinches. Give her power, place her on the throne, or the seat of judgment, and her ancient tendencies to injustice and cruelty, however long they may have lain dormant, exfoliate again, with the freshness of a fower in spring. But while this iniquitous sentence is no more than might have been looked for, it will awaken sentiments of righteous indignation and abhorrence in every British mind:

Extract from a Letter, dated Florence,
June 9, 1852.

"Yesterday, at three o'clock, with closed doors, sentence was pronounced against the dear Madiais. Fifty-six months of the galleys and hard labour for Francesco, and forty-four months at the ergastolo, the female galleys, also with hard labour, for his wife! Besides this, all the expenses of the trial, and three years of surveillance from the police, after they have finished their punishment. That history may render justice to the chief actors in this trial, I will tell you that Nervini was the president of the Court; Cocchi, the interrogating judge; and Biechierai, the public prosecutor. The trial began on the 4th June, and lasted four days. Rosa, Madame Madiai, was pale, and trembled with emotion on entering; Francesco, her husband, appeared happy to see his wife again, and press her hand. All were surprised and moved with their tranquillity and firmness.

"At the commencement of the trial, Francesco was asked if he was born in the bosom of the Holy Mother, the Roman Catholic church. Yes,' he answered, but now I am a Christian according to the Gospel.' Who has made you such, and does there exist an act of abjuration amongst those to whom you are united?' 'My convictions have existed for many

years, but have acquired strength from the study of the Word of God. It has been a matter between God and my own soul, but which was outwardly manifested when I took the communion in the Swiss church.' Rosa replied to her interrogator, that she had not changed her religion lightly, nor to please men, as in that case she would have done it when in England, where she lived sixteen or nineteen years; but after having read the Word of God, and contrasted with it the Romish doctrines, she was convinced, and having abandoned that church, had made a public confession of faith, by partaking of the Lord's Supper, at a time when the laws gave and protected religious liberty to the citizens. The audience were struck with the simplicity and sincerity of the Madiais. Then, on the two following days, the witnesses were examined, and the defence was heard, made by the advocate Maggiorani, with much warmth and feeling, and finally the summing up of the public prosecutor. The fourth day, the Court remained long in consultation; the votes were divided, and one vote decided the question,-two being in favour of acquittal, three of condemnation. The Madiais listened to the sentence with the greatest firmness and dignity. The voice of the presiding judge who read it, trembled; the public were indignant at the sentence and the judges, but displayed sympathy for the Madiais."

Letter from Madame Madiai to her

Husband.

The following letter was written from prison, June 7, 1852, after the judge had concluded the condemnation :-" My dear Madiai,-You know that I have always loved you, but how much more ought I to love you, now that we have been together in the battle of the Great King,-that we have been beaten, but not vanquished! I hope that through the merits of Jesus Christ, God our Father will have accepted our testimony, and will give us grace to drink, to the last drop, the portion of that bitter cup, which is prepared for us, with returning of thanks. My good Madiai, life is only a day, and a day of grief! Yesterday we were young, to-day we are old! Nevertheless, we can say, with old Simeon, 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.'

"Courage, my dear, since we know by the Holy Spirit that this Christ, loaded with opprobrium, trodden down and ca

lumniated, is our Saviour; and we, by his holy light and power, are called to defend the holy cross, and Christ who died for us, receiving his reproaches, that we may afterwards participate in his glory. Do not fear if the punishment be hard. God, who made the chains fall from Peter, and opened the doors of his prison, will never forget us. Keep in good spirits; let us trust entirely in God. Let me see you cheerful, as I trust, by the same grace, you will see me cheerful. I embrace you with my whole heart.

"Your affectionate wife,

"ROSA MADIAL"

Reformers, 47,578 members of society, and on trial, 1,547. The number of preachingplaces returned is, 1,481, which are supplied by 2,588 preachers, and 45 paid circuit missionaries. There are 3,139 leaders of classes, and 610 Sunday-schools, containing 11,012 teachers, and 61,734 scholars; and there are also 100 tract societies, with 1,088 distributors, and 59 benevolent societies.

POPERY IN ITALY.

NO BIBLE-I made many inquiries there for a Bible, but without success. The people have no Bible. They know nothing about it. An intelligent man of fifty told me that he never saw one. Multitudes of the priests know nothing about it. And when asked why they have none for sale, the booksellers will tell you that it is prohibited. Captain Pakenham, once a banker in the city, and a most respectable gentleman and devout Christian, is now in banishment for circulating the Scriptures there during the short existence of the Republic.

WORSHIP OF MARY.-What the Prophet is to Mohammedanism, the Virgin is to Romanism. To her are given names which belong only to God. She is called "Mother of God,"-"Advocate of Sinners,"-" Refuge of Sinners," "Gate of Heaven,""Most Faithful," "Most Merciful;" and in the Psalter of David, as reformed by Bonaventura, we find this sentence: "Come unto Mary, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and she shall refresh your souls." Churches are built to her honourher shrines are crowded with devotees, and are hung with votive offerings. Her name is the first which the infant is taught to lisp, and the dying are directed to look to her for mercy. The soldier goes to battle under her banner, and the brigand plunders under her protection. In Italy and Spain, robbers wear a picture of Mary, hung round their neck by a ribbon. If overtaken suddenly by death, they kiss the image and die in peace. And while apostles, martyrs, saints, and relics are not forgotten, Mary is the divinity of Romanism. The city of Lyons erected a pillar to Mary for saving it from the cholera of 1832. When Pio Nono fled from Rome, he threatened the city with the vengeance of Mary: finding her rather tardy in her movements, he prayed France for aid, which, being more propitious than Mary, sent him 40,000 bayonets! Why, sir, while Mary is in the mouth of everybody, the common people do not know enough about Jesus Christ even to swear to him. Mary is to the Romans what Diana was to the Ephesians. Rome, as a city, is given to idolatry.

HYPOCRISY OF PRIESTS.-They will multiply idols to suit a Chinaman,-they will

worship the Great Spirit to suit the Indian, -they will preach up greegrees and charms to gain the Hottentot. They will synchronize with any form of error to make friends for themselves, or adherents to their system, or to raise barriers against the progress of the truth. They will laud the despotism of Tuscany,-they will conseerate the trees of liberty in Paris,-they will shout hosannahs to democracy in New York, and to the most despicable despot that lives, the King of the Two Sicilies, at Naples. They will flout the British ministry for protecting British subjects from their wiles, and they will curse the King of Sardinia for permitting a Protestant church to be erected in Turin! Sir, it is my deliberate conviction, that if upon the face of the earth there is a class of men more destitute of principle than another, or less to be trusted than another, it is the priesthood of the Romish church.

St.

LYING WONDERS.-A man who insulted St. Agnes was struck blind by a flash of light. On being brought to the young virgin, she immediately restored him to sight. She wrought many miracles. Anthony was often assaulted by the devil in human form; was often beaten by him until almost dead, but always came off victor. He cured many diseases; but was especially famous for the cure of that disease which has taken his name, "St. Anthony's fire." St. Gudula, whose relics are in the church of that name in Brussels, lighted her candles by her prayers. Might she not have understood the process of making lucifer-matches? St. Theodosius, often miraculously supplied his many guests with provisions, and a woman was miraculously cured of a cancer by the touch of his garment,-a general going to war with the Persians, begged his hair shirt, and, wearing it in battle, gained a great victory, "by the protection of the saint through the pledge of that relic." St. Egwin, going on a pilgrimage to Rome, put on his legs iron shackles, and threw

the key into the Severn; but he found it in the belly of a fish in Rome, which enabled him to take off his shackles. The miracles of St. Hilary fill a whole book. St. Placidus fell into a lake, and was carried out by a current into deep water; St. Benedict saw this in a vision, and sent out St. Maurus to save him; Maurus walked upon the water without sinking in the least, and drew him to shore. St. Macarino made a dead man to speak, to convince an unbeliever of the truth of the doctrine of the resurrection. The relics of St. Francis of Sales raised to life two persons that were drowned, and have cured the blind and paralytics. St. Romuald drove several devils out of his cell, who were scourging him, by mentioning the name of Jesus, and calmed a tempest in the sea, and wrought many miracles. His order of monks wear a white robe, the idea of which was suggested to him by seeing them going up a ladder to heaven in white. He died in the year 1020 or 1030, and his body remained perfect as late as 1466. His relics have wrought wonders. St. Richard cured his son by laying him at the foot of a great crucifix, and his relics have wrought miracles. St. Stephen told others their secret thoughts, wrought many miracles, as also did his relics. St. Scholastica was the sister of St. Benedict. They met one day, and the sister insisted that her brother should spend the night with her. But the rules of the monastery forbade him, and he refused. She prayed the Lord to stop his going away, and immediately a most fearful storm arose, which compelled him to remain. The sister died in a few days after, and Benedict saw her soul from Mount Casino going to heaven in the form of a dove! St. John of Egypt was a prophet, foretold future events, and did wonders. He gave eyes to a blind girl, and spent a night, in vision, with a lady who wished to see him in the flesh. He miraculously cured a man of the Tertian ague by giving him a good vomit !-Romanism at Home.

The Free Church of Ancient Christendom, and its Subjugation under Constantine. By BASIL H. COOPER, B. A. Cockshaw. THE volume opens with a judicious sketch of the state of the Gentiles, the Jews, and the Samaritans, at the period of our Lord's advent. It is there shown, from the life and teaching of Christ, that he intended his Church to be spiritual and free. The next two chapters embrace the interesting

period from the Ascension to the death of John, A.D. 100. The remaining chapters conduct us to the council of Nice, A.D. 325. The history of the Church is thus touchingly traced in her conflicts and conquests. Like a spark on the bosom of the ocean, she shone with serenest splendour, and enlarged her circle when all the elements were battling against her. She triumphed amidst ten fierce persecutions. Again and again, like the fabled phoenix,