On the right use of the early fathers; 2 ser. of lectures

his adhering in them to the plan which he originally laid down.

In pursuance of that plan, after pointing out in the first Lecture of the First Series " a few of the more undeniable tokens" of our Church's respect for antiquity, and the causes which led to its decline, he proceeds in those that follow to enlarge on the observation which he had made in the Introductory Lecture already referred to, that "we must be careful not to let our estimate of the worth, or worthlessness of the Fathers, be formed at second hand, from a mere perusal of such authors as Daillé and Barbeyrac, whose only object is to single out whatever imperfections they present, and place them before their readers in continuous succession, and without one lucid interval of merit." 2 The objections of Daillé are stated and answered in eight of the Lectures, and those of Barbeyrac more briefly in the two last. And as it had been urged that where the Romanist, the Puritan, or the Socinian are at issue with ourselves respecting the true interpretation of the inspired text, there is no better way of testing our respective opinions than by recourse to the Primitive Church;" the peculiar tenets of the Romanist are here tried by this test, and it is shown that however distasteful the testimony of the Fathers may have been to Daillé and to those whose opinions he represented, it is favourable to the Reformed Church of England, especially upon those points in which she is opposed to the Church of Rome.

But the more complete illustration of the advantages to be derived from the study of the Early Fathers is reserved for the Second Series. The first five Lectures illustrate their use as contributing to the Evidences; and the insinuations thrown out in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of Gibbon's History, are met by a review of their testimony to the early diffusion of Christianity, to the rank and character of the Christians, and to the nature, extent, and intensity of the persecutions they underwent. In the sixth, the evidence for the continuance of miraculous powers beyond the lives of those on whom the Apostles laid their hands, is considered. In the seventh, eighth, and ninth, the use of the Fathers is shown in determining the nature and constitution of the 2 First Introductory Lecture, p. 39. 3 p. 35.

1 On the Right Use of the Early Fathers, p. 4.

Church, in settling the Canon, and in ascertaining the text of Scripture. In the next five, which relate to the interpretation of Scripture, the Socinian and the Calvinistic schemes are compared with the language of the Early Fathers, and shown to be inconsistent with it, as that of the Romanist was shown to be in the First Series: while, in the concluding Lecture, the importance of a knowledge of the Fathers, to the expositor of Scripture, is further argued from the information they furnish on early heresies, and other points, obscurely alluded to in the New Testament; and a few instances are added of their use in the exposition of particular texts.

There is reason to think that some of the Lectures would have been enriched with additional illustrations, if the author had lived to perfect the work, and prepare it for the press, as he had intended. It is hoped, however, that its publication in the shape in which he left it, may serve to promote the design which he had at heart in composing it; by inducing the theological student to turn his "attention, next after the Scriptures, to the Primitive Fathers; not with blind allegiance, as authorities to which he must in all things bow, but with such respect as is due to the only witnesses we have, of the state and opinions of the Church immediately after the Apostles' times, and such as the Church of England herself encourages."1

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