But we have now come to another very important matter, which adds new force to what we have said of the Ecclesiastical Independence of the twenty-nine provinces, concerning which we are about to speak. According to Zosimus, (Lib. vi, cap. 5, 6,) the whole Præfecture of the Gauls, including the Spanish, Gallic and British Dioceses, revolted from the Roman dominion in A. D. 408; and the weakness of the Empire was such that the Emperor Honorius, obliged by the invasion of Alaric, to concentrate all his forces in Italy, wrote letters to the cities of Britain in A. D. 410, exhorting them to provide for their own security. (Zos. ut sup. cap. 10.) This was a virtual recognition of their independence; and it took place, be it observed, twenty-nine years after the second General Council, twenty-one years before the third, and forty-one before the fourth. There were at that time in Britain ninetytwo considerable towns which had grown up under the protection of the Romans, and among these thirty-three cities, two of which were Municipia, nine Colonies, ten Latii jure donate, and twelve Stipendiaria of eminent note. (Gibbon Decl. and Fall, chap. xxxi, vol. v, p. 361, note.) What proportion of the inhabitants were Christians, we have no means of ascertaining. That they were numerous may be gathered from incidental notices, and from the fact that three Bishops sat and subscribed at the Council of Arles in 314, a year before the new arrangement of the Empire under Constantine. Two of these Bishops, Eborius and Restitutus, were from the Metropolitan cities of York and London. It is inferred, therefore, that the city of which Adelfius was the Bishop, was also Metropolitan, though its position is unknown. The relinquishment of jurisdiction by the state, at this early period, involved a corresponding independence with regard to the subsequent ecclesiastical arrangements of the Roman Empire. Whatever influence, therefore, the enactments of the Council of Chalcedon may have had upon those parts which preserved their allegiance to the Emperor, they could have none over the Island of Britain, where the ancient provincial privileges remained as they had been left by the provisions of the Nicene Council. So little connection had the British Church with Rome, at the beginning of the seventh century, that Augustine, the Missionary of Gregory the Great to the idolatrous

* See the signatures in Hard. Concilia. vol. i, col. 267, among those of the Gallic prefecture. There were eight Bishops, one Presbyter, and seven Deacons of Gaul; three Bishops of Britain, with one Presbyter and one Deacon; and from Spain, one Bishop, five Presbyters and three Deacons.

Saxons, was surprised when he learned that the Britons were Christians. In the interview which he had with their Bishops, he required them to receive him as their Archbishop, to celebrate Easter and to baptize in the Roman manner, and to preach the Gospel with him to the Saxons. "But," says Bede, "they could be moved neither by prayers, nor exhortations, nor threats." Augustine treated them with insolence, and because they refused to acknowledge his authority, turned against them the arms of his new converts. (Bedæ Ven. Eccl. Hist. Lib. ii, cap. 2.)

At the Reformation, the Church of England, while she acknowledged the doctrines of the first four General Councils, merely resumed the persia, the original privileges of the British Church. She returned to that independence which by the ancient Canons belonged of right to her Provinces, and which had been taken from her by an unjust usurpation, and the weak concessions of her princes. In the re-construction of her ritual, she did no more than was done by Augustine according to the sage advice of Gregory: "Choose carefully whatsoever you find in the Roman, or Gallic, or any other Church, most pleasing to GOD, and that which you can collect from many Churches infuse into the Church of England." (S. Gregory Op. Ed. Bened. vol. ii, col. 1152. The whole passage, with a few various readings is quoted by Bede, Eccl. Hist. Lib. i, c. 27.) In the renewal of her Provincial Councils, following the analogy of primitive practice, she adapted their forms to the Constitution of the State. Her Convocations were divided into an upper and lower house; the Archbishop and Bishops forming the one, and the representatives of the Clergy in the several Dioceses, the other; the assent of both being necessary in the enactment of Canons, and the consent of Parliament as a Lay-Synod, being also required, according to the great principle laid down by Hooker in the eighth Book of his Ecclesiastical Polity. On this point we have given our views in our last number, and they need not here be repeated.* We shall only observe, that no sacrifice of worldly prosperity can be too great, to relieve the Church of England from her present bondage to the State. Happy will she be, if in the present eventful struggle, she can be restored to the freedom wherewith CHRIST had made her free.

If Britain, once a part of the Roman Empire, has been emancipated from the thraldom which Imperial interference

* See the article on " Dr. Hampden, and Church and State," in the July Number.

first created, it would be in the highest degree absurd to suppose that the United States of America should ever come under the dominion of an Italian Bishop. "Quid Romæ faciam? Mentiri nescio." Freed from all embarrassing union with civil government, the Church is here, as it was before the days of Constantine. Her external form is according to the earliest pattern of Ecclesiastical discipline, when Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons were known by no other title. At first a feeble flock, the United States constituted one vast Province. Our General Convention differs from the ancient Provincial Synods, chiefly in being adapted, agreeably to the analogy of ancient practice, to our peculiar civil institutions. But the time is fast approaching when a more exact conformity to Apostolic arrangement will become necessary. Our Dioceses must be smaller; our Bishops more numerous; our Provincial Synods more frequent, while our General or National Synods will not be convened oftener than once in seven or ten years. New England will be by itself, a compact and convenient Province; New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, Virginia, and the larger states, as the numbers of the Clergy and laity increase, must be divided according to the ratio of souls, rather than of territory. To prevent inconvenience, the Bishop of the first See, may at the Provincial Synods, have the precedence of honor, but never of power. Whenever a National Council is called, an election of its president in both branches will be expedient.

There has been no truly General Council since that of Constantine; and whether there will ever be another, must depend upon events which are still hidden in the womb of time. The fourth great monarchy has crumbled into ruins, and will hardly be re-established. The abortive attempt of Charlemagne fell from the hands of his feeble sons. Transferred to Germany, it continued its turbulent existence, hating and being hated, till an Italian, a soldier of fortune, sought to transfer its diadem and its sceptre to his own brow and hand. He perished upon a rock in the ocean without having even seen Rome; and his infant offspring by a German Empress, named in his cradle, as if by mockery, "King of Rome," passed from the earth, unheeded and unknown. The last feeble remnant of the House of Hapsburg has this year fled from his Capital, and a war of races has begun. We are no prophets, but the sons of herdsmen ; and we wait on the issues of Omnipotence with awful stillness. The LORD JESUS CHRIST is the only universal king; the HOLY GHOST presiding invisibly over the Church his only Vicegerent, until He shall come again to judge in righteousness the world He has redeemed.

THE ORIGIN AND USES OF THE CREEDS.

ART. II.-An Exposition of the Creed. By JOHN PEARSON, D. D., late Lord Bishop of Chester. With an Appendix, containing the principal Greek and Latin Creeds. 8vo. pp. 616. New York: 1844.

The Christian Faith explained and vindicated, in several Sermons on the chief Articles of it contained in the Apostles' Creed. By ISAAC BARROW, D. D., Vice Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. Barrow's Works, 3 vols. 8vo. New York: 1845.

The Primitive Creed, examined and explained; in two parts. The first part containing sixteen discourses on the Apostles' Cred; designed for popular use. The second part_containing a dissertation on the Testimony of the Early Coun cils and the Fathers, from the Apostolic Age to the end of the Fourth Century, with observations on certain Theologi cal Errors of the present day. By JOHN HENRY HOPKINS, D. D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Vermont. 12 mo., pp. 415. Burlington: 1834.

NEW editions of standard works on Christian doctrine, and the appearance of new treatises upon the same subject, we hail as most favorable indications. Three centuries have now passed away since Bishop Pearson gave to the world his immortal Exposition, and yet editions almost numberless have since appeared, and will, we venture to predict, continue to appear, while the English language shall be spoken, and while the incomparable theological literature of the age in which he flourished shall excite the admiration, enrich the minds, and form the piety of Christian scholars. We frankly acknowl edge ourselves to be great admirers of this venerable treatise, for without intending to disparage other learned and approved laborers in the same important field, we are compelled to regard its author as still standing unrivalled. An eminent clergyman, now no longer present with the militant Church, when asked how he passed the leisure hours of his Diaconate, replied, "In studying Bishop Pearson," a practice which can not be too strongly recommended to all ranks of ministers, especially to candidates for Holy Orders. In saying this, we do not forget that Pearson on the Creed is a Text Book in our General Seminary, and that it is there most carefully and thoroughly taught by the honored Professor of Systematic Divinity; but we desire to see it adopted and used, not mere

ly in the way of occasional reference, but in that of regular recitation of every portion, in all our theological schools. Even the biographer of Richard Watson, the Wesleyan preacher, can appreciate the merits of Pearson; much more should every true son of the Catholic Church. "The profound, original, and orthodox views of revealed truth, which that incomparable work contains, would have served to settle Mr. Watson's mind, and fix his theological principles; the perfect simplicity and rugged terseness of its diction, would have corrected that taste for excessive rhetorical ornament, into which juvenile minds are apt to fall; and the ample body of notes with which it is enriched, would have called forth his classical learning, and have been an excellent introduction to the study of ecclesiastical history, especially in regard to Christian doctrine."

With Bishop Pearson, Dr. Barrow was contemporary, and accordingly we might suppose, that in writing upon the same general subject, there would be between them very many points of close and marked resemblance; and yet there can not easily be found two authors of the same period and language, and above all of the same profession, who are so dissimilar in style, in manner, in arrangement, in illustration, in short, in every thing which is characteristic of authorship, as are these two distinguished divines. We can not perhaps better express our own estimation of the difference between these Christian expositors, than by comparing Bishop Pearson to an experienced traveler, who, on undertaking a journey, takes with him no more apparel and apparatus than will be absolutely essential to his safety and comfort; while Dr. Barrow is more like the man, who for the first time in his life venturing forth from his home, fills his trunks and valises with numerous articles, which, though possibly useful under some circumstances, he finds from actual experience he does not need; not that his entire outfit is altogether superfluous, but that with fewer accompaniments he would move more rapidly and pleasantly. Some persons may be ready to judge, that since Bishop Pearson and Dr. Barrow, and other divines of the Church of England, have written so much at large upon the Creeds, it was quite unnecessary for an American theologian to essay the same subject. But if, after reading these older authors, they will give Bishop Hopkins' work an attentive perusal, they will, we think, be of another opinion. Every passing age of the Church has its peculiar errors; and hence the necessity of making new books, to defend old truths against the assaults of modern heresiarchs. This the Bishop of Vermont has done