recalling into existence the idea of a common christian priesthood, he combatted the false distinction which had been drawn between the clergy and the laity. Having called upon the members of the congregation to aid their spiritual pastors by working together with them, he says-' Now that ye know the greatness of our labour, assist us with your prayers, your zeal, your earnest desire, your love. Laymen and ministers, let us imitate pastors, such as were Paul, Peter and Moses; for each member of the community may become a pastor to his friends, to his servants, to his wife, and to his children.' Again -'Let no one say I am a layman, I have no ministry to perform. Though a layman, with one talent only entrusted to thy charge, labour with the entrusted talent, and thou shalt receive an equal reward with the appointed teacher.'....We have already observed the great great disadvantage arising from an imperfect perception of the original christian idea of a universal priesthood, and of the universal spiritual character of all christians. The spirit of christianity had given to all men a higher law, and a higher principle of life. It admitted not of a distinction between clergy and laity, between ordinary and higher life, but glorified the whole life of mankind, as holy and consecrated to God. In opposition to that spirit of christianity there had been drawn a distinction between priests and laity, ecclesiastics and men of the world; between perfect christians-christian philosophers or monks, who had withdrawn from an intercourse with mankind—and ordinary christians engaged in public and domestic life. While the ideal of christian perfection was held to be exhibited only for the one, the requisites for others might, it was deemed, be considerably lowered. The purpose of christianity to make all the relations of life forms of manifestation for godliness, was in this case quite forgotten; and worldly people, who looked up to the rigid life

of Moses, who had withdrawn from the world, as to an unattainable height, knew how to excuse all that was bad in themselves under the plea of living in the world, of having wives and children, and of a holy life not being therefore required of them. They thought that the sermon on the mount contained chiefly ideals, or the counsels of christian perfection for those who had withdrawn from the world not rules of life for believers. It fell particularly to Chrysostom to observe the pernicious influence of this unchristian view upon the lives of men in the great cities wherein he ministered; and he held it to be very important to work against it, by reviving the original christian conviction of a universal spiritual character of all christians-and by endeavouring to shew that through christianity all things were made spiritual'..... He frequently called attention to the different form of religion in the Old and New Testaments with respect to a universal priestly calling, as when he says sometimes no difference is made between priests and laymen, as for instance, in a participation of the Holy Supper, for of this we are all equally thought worthy, not as in the Old Testament, where the priest ate one thing and the layman another, and where it was not permitted to the people to partake of the same things of which the priest partook. It is not SO now. One body, one cup, is offered to all; and the people take a

is

part in the prayers. Common prayers are offered up both by the priests and the congregations for those possessed of evil spirits, and for the penitents; and all say the same in which the divine prayer, mercy invoked. Again, after the consecration of the sacred elements the priest prayeth for the people, and the people for the priest. For the answer of the congregation, peace be with thy spirit, signifieth nothing more than this, have said these things in order that every one among us should be watchful, that we may learn that we all form

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one body, not differing one from another more than one of our members differeth from another, and that we may not cast all care upon the priests, but that ourselves may be solicitous for the whole church as for one common body.'

Dr. Neander well observes that Chrysostom in enunciating these sentiments contradicts himself, for it is well known that on other occasions he is a most ardent advocate of the heresy of a human priesthood. His treatise "On the Priesthood" has already been examined at length in the pages of the Inquirer, and it is obvious from that treatise that Chrysostom much contributed in his generation to promote the superstition of a vicarious religion-that woeful superstition which has leavened the whole lump of professing Christendom, and, in direct opposition to the gospel, made men believe that there are different degrees of access to the Deity, and that the clergy are nearer in place and privilege to God than the laity.

When, therefore, we find Chrysostom occasionally advocating the priestly functions of all christians, we are by no means to suppose that he had clear views on the subject, or that he was disposed to repel the continual encroachments of the sacerdotal order-all that he aimed at, in these his self-contradicting episodes, was to rouse the worldly laity from their torpor, to stir them up to greater zeal, and to assure them that God expected them to be as holy as the clergy-a vain attempt to cure the evils of the great heresy! For when christians are once divided into clerical and lay classes, the inevitable consequence must be that a vicarious religion will produce a vicarious holiness, and that sanctity will be considered a clerical attribute beyond the sphere of the laity.

THE CATHEDRAL AT CALCUTTA.

[To the Editor of the Inquirer.] Sir,-At a meeting of "The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge," held this present month, the following extract of a letter from the Bishop of Calcutta, dated August 4, was read by the chairman.

To me it seems a most instructive lesson of the confusion of thought produced in the mind of a Christian who does not understand the heavenly calling of the saints, and who consequently thinks and speaks of Christianity through the medium of Judaic views, suited only to an earthly Canaan. I send the extract as it was published in the 'Record" news

paper.

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Yours, &c.

M. M.

But the hindrance to persevering effort of any kind in India, is our prostrated strength, our paucity in number, and the excessive overdemand upon our time, from a thousand causes. We have only now twenty-four chaplains in the fields of labour instead of forty-one, which is our nominal establishment; and fiftythree which we ought to have in order to supply our urgent and increasing wants, O, when will Christian England maintain her character in her foreign possessions? When will she practically act upon the conviction that the faith and love of Christ our Lord, and the fear of an eternal judgment, and the awakened conscience, roused and guided by the Holy Ghost, are the only foundations of loyalty in the State, and justice in the administration of law? India is more dependent on the character of her civil and military servants than any other spot in England's widening empire; and yet we have not much more than half the number of chaplains we indispensably need. Hope, however, beams upon my heart. The magnificent grant of a lakh and a-half in money from the Hon. Company, and of two new chaplains, in addition to the site,

is worth to me the sum of four lakhs, and is a blessed augury that that imperial association, will, ere long, consult the spiritual and real, as well as the mere temporal and apparent interests of its servants. I trust, indeed, the venerable Society will be an honoured instrument of assisting to consummate this most glorious result.

"I shall deeply lament if my funds will not furnish me with painted windows, an organ, a chime of bells, a Gothic screen between the nave and choir, a fine East window, transepts, chapter-house, &c. &c. At the same time, no excess, no vanity, no useless extent of building-a modest, humble, Protestant cathedral is all I aim at; but one becoming the greatest of the Protestant nations in her most gorgeous possession. These external matters are indispensable, but quite subordinate. My object is the glory of Christ in his Gospel. My object is to found missionary benefices. My object is to carry on the establishment of our Church in India. My object is, after building churches (aided by your Society) up and down Hindostan, to urge the occasion of a new one being required in Calcutta, to enlarge its proportions, and erect it in a way that it may be the Metropolitan Cathedral of British India. My object is to have accommodation for two thousand souls. My object is to see six or eight holy and laborious clergy, Europeans, Indo-Britons, and native, educated at Bishop's College, and ordained in India, constituting a corporate and fixed body, for holding conferences with learned natives, for delivering lectures on the evidences of Christianity, for training schools of the prophets, for holding out the advantages of benefices to deserving labourers, and for exhibiting to the heathen the reverence we entertain for our religion. But with God is all success. To Him only I look up. His grace alone can bless such an undertaking, whether at home or in

India. I am I feel I am-unworthy of all His mercies; but whilst I go on tremblingly as regards myself and my successors (for I may be gone tomorrow), I tread firmly, and with faith, as respects the omnipotent power and infinite love of Christ my Lord. To Him I beg to commend the venerable Society; and entreating the benefit of their prayers, subscribe myself, their most faithful,

"D. CALCUTTA. "P.S. I hope to devote one half of the Society's grant to the endowments.”

ISAIAH LXV. 20.

"IT is well known that the original word in Hebrew, which ordinarily means 'to sin,' signifies, primarily, to miss, or, come short of the mark,' as in Judges xx. 16. The antithesis, as well as the allegory, requires that it should be understood in this sense in Prov. viii. 36, Whoso findeth me, findeth life; but he that misseth me, wrongeth his own soul.' In this sense also, it is used in Isaiah lxv. 20. Calvin perceived that longevity is the blessing here promised, but failed in explaining the last clause of the verse. Bishop Louth succeeded very partially in the attempt; but Doderlein first cleared up the passage, by simply reading, he that cometh short of,' instead of the sinner: 'He that dies an hundred years old shall be (reckoned) a child; and he that falls short of an hundred years shall be (reckoned) accursed :' i.e., shall be looked upon as carried away by a strange judgment."

This extract first appeared in an article entiled "Biblical Criticism," inserted in the Presbyteterian Review, for March, 1835, which was furnished by the late Dr. Mc Crie. It is taken from the notes to a volume by William Mc Combie, entitled Hours of Thought."