Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

THE REV. WM. THEOPHILUS BLACKBURNE, M. A.-Aug. 27, at Dover, aged 42, the Rev. Wm. Theophilus Blackburne, M. A. son of the late William Blackburne, M. D. of Cavendish-square, London, and afterwards of Eastcot House, near Wells, in Somersetshire. The deceased was a person of eminent virtue, piety, and learning; but above all, he possessed a will resigned to that of his Heavenly Father, whom it pleased to afflict him with long and painful illness, which he bore with true christian meekness and patience. He was formerly a Student of Christ's College, Cambridge, where he took the two degrees of B. A. and M. A. At the usual time he entered into holy orders, and was an enlightened and zealous friend of the Church, from whose sacred offices, next to his constant study of the Scriptures in the original tongue, as well as in our excellent translation, he derived his chief consolation and support; though the infirm state of his health for many years before his death obliged him reluctantly to retire from the active duties of the clerical profession, and to decline preferment.

THE REV. FRANCIS BARNES, D. D.-The late Francis Barnes, D. D., Master of St. Peter's College, Cambridge, and Professor of Casuistry in that University, whose death at the great age of ninety-three we lately announced, was a native of Lancaster, or its neighbourhood, and was early remarkable for his acuteness and aptitude for learning. At a very early age he went to a school at Kellet, and afterwards to Silverdale, both in Lancashire, and having possessed himself of all the book-learning which it was in the power of those masters to teach him, he was removed to Eton School on the strength of the ability he displayed. Tradition relates, and the fact serves as an illustration of the nature of travelling in those days, that the (afterwards Master of St. Peter's) performed the journey to Eton, mounted behind his father, on one of the stout nags employed on the farm. In this way, proceeding by easy stages, young Barnes was safely deposited at Eton, where he pursued his studies with such ardour and success, that after a few years he was transferred to Cambridge, where he resided for the rest of his life, and where he was highly esteemed for his courtesy and hospitality to all with whom he came in contact. His reputed great wealth was an exaggeration. He left small legacies to a nephew and his children at Bolton, but his property generally to collegiate purposes and collegiate friends. Dr. Barnes was considered one of the best Greek scholars of the day.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

OBITUARY.

SIR JOHN NICHOLL, KNIGHT.-The Right Hon Sir John Nicholl, Knight, was the second son of John Nicholl, Esq., of Llanmaes, Glamorganshire, by Elizabeth, daughter of James Havard, Esq., of Herefordshire. He was born on the 16th March, 1759. In 1765 he was placed at the free school, Cowbridge, and from thence sent to Bristol school. In 1775 he was entered at Oxford, where he was immediately elected to a Founder's Kin Fellowship at St. John's College. He was intended for holy orders, but his destination being changed, he was admitted, in 1785, as an advocate at the bar of Doctors' Commons. In 1787, he married Judy, youngest daughter of Peter Birt, Esq., of Wenvoe Castle, who died in December, 1829. By her he had issue five children: Henry John, who died an infant; Mary Ann; Judy, married Charles Franks, Esq.; John, married Jane Harriet Talbot; and Catherine married Charles Scott Luxmoor, Dean of St. Asaph, and died November, 1830. Sir John rose rapidly into very extensive practice : in 1791 he was appointed a commissioner to inquire into the state of the law in Jersey, with the late Sir William Grant and the late Mr. Partridge, King's Counsel. In 1798 he succeeded Sir William Scott (afterwards Lord Stowell) as King's Advocate. In 1802 he was elected member of parliament for Penryn, and sat successively till the dissolution after the Reform Bill for that borough, Hastings, Rye, and Great Bedwin. In 1809 he succeeded Sir William Wynne as Dean of the Arches and Judges of the Prerogative Court, and was made a Privy Councillor and a Lord of Trade and Plantations. On the death of Sir Christopher Robinson, in 1834, he was appointed Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, by Lord Grey's government, though known to be politically opposed to it. In 1835 he resigned the office of Dean of the Arches and Judge of the Prerogative Court, but he retained the Judgeship of the Admiralty to the period of his decease. The county of Glamorgan is indebted to Sir John Nicholl for the introduction of the National system of education, and the Savings bank at Bridgend; and also for the Glamorgan District Committee in aid of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. Blessed with an excellent constitution, he attained a green old age, and he closed his long and useful career in his 80th year, with his faculties unimpaired, full of religious hope, and accompanied by the respect and esteem of all who duly appreciated his public merits and private duties.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

THE FOLLOWING WORKS Plain Conversations concerning the Church of England, and "The Sayings and Doings" of her Enemies. By a Lay-Member of the Church.

The Parochial System. By H. W. Wilberforce, M. A.

An Introduction to the Critical Study of Eccle

siastical History. By J. G. Dowling, M.A. The plain English Churchman guarded against the Priests of Rome. By Hon. and Rev. A. P. Perceval, B.C.L.

Microscopic Illustrations. By Andrew Pritchard, M.R.I.

Companion to the Book of Common Prayer.

The Order of Baptism, &c. By Rev. T. M.
Fallows, M.A.

How do you do?

[blocks in formation]

NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We are obliged for the friendly observations of "A Country Clergyman," and assure him we prefer "plain English" to "delicate hints." An article would be highly acceptable.

us.

"J. O. Z." We were not aware of the demise of the party, till our Correspondent's letter reached But we always did think him essentially wrong in his doctrinal opinions, and find a contemporary of the present month estimating his writings at about the same value as ourselves; and therefore trust the "roughness and asperities" of our remarks, of which we were unconscious, will be pardoned.

"R. P." We request particular attention to the letter of " R. P." and hope to have a satisfactory reply to his question before our next publication.

PHOENIX." In an Article which will shortly appear on Archbishop Lawrence's Bampton Lecture, our views of the doctrine of regeneration will be stated, and "PHOENIX" will find his communication has not been overlooked.

The Salisbury Paper arrived too late to be available.

"X." We regret that want of space prevents the insertion of "X.'s" Letter this month.

"E. B." Would it not be advisable to postpone the commencement of the valuable Translation of Theodoret till January, when it might be completed in one volume?

"T. C. E." St. Edmund's Hall. Further communications are requested.

Our friends will observe that we are endeavouring to bring up the arrears of Correspondence, hoping that they may be induced to confer further favours.

No communication will ever remain unnoticed in the Number subsequent to its receipt.

It is particularly requested that all proofs be returned without delay.

"N. Q." Dr. Hampden not having replied, the stigma rests entirely with him.

The offer of "A Friend" to forward Ordinations held in his city is thankfully accepted; we wish the example were generally followed, as our lists would necessarily be far more accurate.

"An Archdeacon of the Old School" in our next, as well as the accompanying excellent "Doxology."

The communication from the Rev. W. Bettridge, which arrived too late for the present Number, shall appear in November.

We have not seen the "Vicar of Wrexhill," and if the spirit be such as our Correspondent describes, we do not think it adapted for notice in our pages.

"W. B. C." has our best thanks for Physica Sacra, No. IV. Parts 2 and 3. We regret to be obliged to postpone the additional Note.

We wish our friends particularly to observe that it is quite impossible to insert any Articles or Notices of any description sent after the 24th of each month.

THE

CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER.

NOVEMBER, 1838.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

ART. I.-An Attempt to illustrate those Articles of the Church of England, which the Calvinists improperly consider as Calvinistical, in Eight Sermons preached before the University of Oxford, in the Year 1804, at the Lecture founded by John Bampton, M.A. Canon of Salisbury. By RICHARD LAURENCE, LL.D., Archbishop of Cashel ; formerly Regius Professor of Hebrew in the University of Oxford, &c. Third Edition, revised and enlarged. Oxford Parker. London :

Rivingtons. 1838. 8vo. Pp. xvi. 423.

WITHIN the three hundred years since the Reformation, few books have appeared which can compete with these Bampton Lectures of Archbishop Laurence in usefulness and importance. Every competent judge must see, on a candid perusal, that they have clearly and accurately fixed the sense of those Articles of the Church of England on which the greatest difference of interpretation has, at various times, prevailed; those, namely, which have more or less relation to the Predestinarian Controversy. Nor have these disputed Articles been causes of mutual dissension and reproach among those only who are within the pale of the Church; but those who are without that pale have often sought in them a ground for sarcastic contempt, or for fierce invective against the great body of clergy and laity. When the celebrated Lord Chatham could be so far deceived as to declare that the English Church possessed "a Calvinistic Creed, an Arminian Clergy, and a Popish Ritual," we may be assured that, from some cause or other, such a sense had come to be generally put upon the Articles as to justify the scandal so readily denounced by the

orator.

Admirably is it said by the Right Reverend Lecturer

Interpreting them according to the modern meaning of certain expressions, and disregarding the characteristical notions of the times in which they were first established, the Socinian and the Calvinist combine in giving them a sense

VOL. XX. NO. XI.

4 N

which they were not originally intended to convey; and then accuse us of departing from the creed of our ancestors, of disbelieving that, to which in this place at least [the University of Oxford] we have all subscribed.-P. 4.

These few words may serve as a clue to the whole of the Lectures, which all tend to prove to the utmost degree of moral conviction, that so far as they were influenced by external authority, the Thirty-nine Articles were strictly Lutheran, the single point of consubstantiation excepted.

The influence of Luther and Melancthon, and the other German Reformers exerted in their compilation, is most clearly shown to have been very considerable, by direct testimonies, drawn from a variety of works connected with the times of Cranmer, the copious quotations from which add no small value to these thoroughly admirable Lectures; on the other hand, it is as decidedly proved that the name of Calvin was hardly known at this early period, and that the controversies from whence that name ultimately became known, were not even in existence, the great battle being as yet one against the Church of Rome, and her strongholds, the scholastic philosophy, and not of protestants among themselves. The author well observes that Calvin's theory of predestination

At the period under review had not passed the controversial flame, from which, in the estimation of his zealous adherents, it came forth with additional brilliancy and purity. It was not then, as afterwards, the object of applause, but on the contrary, of disapprobation. For his doctrine of God's dreadful decree, which before had attracted little notice, was then beginning to give offence both within and without the territory of Geneva. Dreadful I term it, as being no less so to his feelings, than to ours; for the same strong epithet he himself applied to it. "Horribile quidem decretum fateor," were the precise expressions which he used, when shuddering at his own favourite idea of irrespective reprobation.—

P. 45.

One of the strongest proofs, however, against a Calvinian interpretation of the Articles will be found in the fact of repeated attempts at altering them into such a sense, made by Calvinists in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. For the alterations thus projected we refer our readers to the First Lecture.

It is evident, then, that the sense of our Articles, and especially of those which have been the most controverted, must be sought out by a reference to the controversies, not of Geneva, but of Luther and his fellow-labourers in the German reformation; and that the clue to the real design and intention of those controversies can only be found in a knowledge of the various dogmas of the schoolmen, against whose presumptuous decisions all the conclusions of the reformers were levelled. To apply such theological conclusions to modern controversies, to those which have grown up long after the original controversy has been almost forgotten, and without any accurate knowledge of the precise design with which their authors framed them, is only to fall into inextricable confusion and error. Nor must we merely understand the state of the controversies previously existing, to which alone these conclusions were

« ZurückWeiter »