commonly find themselves, on attaining victory, fettered by previous declarations, from which a false shame forbids them to recede. The more discerning minds in ancient England were won over, probably, to acquiesce in the use of a foreign liturgy, by an anxiety to terminate completely those animosities which long had separated the holders of a common faith. Such a spirit of compromise is, however, not infrequently very far from safe. It has, indeed, an obvious tendency to weaken outworks which may guard important principles in their full integrity. Hence those who value their own souls, and the souls of such as may be affected by their decisions, are especially bound to pause when religious questions are argued upon the deceitful ground of expediency. Their duty plainly calls them, upon such occasions, to seek counsel from the recorded "oracles of God." Who will thence learn to follow as the conveniences or prejudices of the passing hour may lead? Rather will the Christian reader see, that he is invariably to take as the pole-star of his earthly course those principles which came from heaven, and which are calculated for eternity. The danger of abandoning this unbending steadiness of purpose is exemplified abun dantly in England's eventual relations with papal Rome. Norman theology gradually weaned the great majority of our fathers from "the traditions which they had been taught." They ceased to regard our blessed Saviour as the "rock" upon which his holy Church was built. A large party among their clergy zealously strove even to wrest from the crown its ecclesiastical supremacy. With the With the progress, however, of such innovations, this undertaking has no concern. Its object is accomplished in shewing that our ancestors, in thus admitting an alien jurisdiction, forsook "the old paths, the good way," in which earlier generations had securely and honourably trodden. PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF SERMON III. 66 EGO dico tibi, quia tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram ædificabo Ecclesiam meam. Metaphorice ei dictur Super, hanc petram, id est, Salvatorem, quem confessus es, ædificatur Ecclesia, qui fideli confessori sui nominis participium dona vit. Et portæ inferi non prævalebunt adversus eam. Portas inferi hæreticam pravitatem nominat, sive vitia et peccata; unde mors ad animam venit. Et tibi dabo claves regni cælorum. Id est, discernendi scientiam potentiamque qua dignos debeas in regnum recipere, et indignos secludere. Et quodcunque ligaveris, &c. Hæc potestas sine dubio cunctis datur Apostolis, quibus ab eo, post resurrectionem, dicitur generaliter, Accipite Spiritum Sanctum, &c. Nec non episcopis et presbyteris, et omni Ecclesiæ idem officium committitur; quamvis quidam eorum, non recte intelligentes, arbitrentur se posse damnare innoxios, et absolvere reos; quod nequaquam possunt: sed tentantes semetipsos concessa potestate privare." (Ven. Bed. in loc.). The same doctrine is taught by Raban Maur De Universo, lib. IV. Opp. tom. I. p. 82. "Paul is the thirteenth of this heap, (i. e. number, or society.) He was not bodily with Crist, 2 while he was alive; but he chose him afterwards from heaven, and he is ordained equal to St. Peter for his great merits and labours." From the Ho Mrs. Elstob's mily In natale unius Apostoli. Transl. (Pref. xl.) where also may be seen the original Saxon, as likewise, with a Latin translation, in Whelock's Bede, p. 289. Mrs. Elstob well observes, as usual, after Whelock, that king Alfred appears to have thought no less highly of St. Paul's position in the Christian Church. Bede calls that Apostle, Ille cœlestis exercitus præcipuus miles. (Eccl. Hist. p. 95.) The following is the royal translator's paraphrastic version of these words. Se mærta cempa re hýhrta Sær heofonlican peopoder. The greatest soldier, and the highest of the heavenly army. It can hardly be supposed that this language proceeded from one who looked upon St. Paul as inferior to St. Peter. In a metrical Latin hymn, with an interlinear Saxon version, found among a volume of such pieces in the Bodleian library, being a transcript by Junius, (MSS. Junii 107.) the equality of these two great Apostles is plainly stated, and their respective pretensions are thus treated: "Est Petrus janitor cœli, Et Paulus doctor orbis; Et vera lumina mundi." Ir petne geatpeaɲd heofonan· And paule laɲeop ýmbhpýrftes· And hi rýndon deman peoɲulde samod And rode leoht middan-eard. |