that the New Testament contains a complete code of directions for the Christian Church. The student of history is well aware that as the number of believers was multiplied, so were strange and erroneous doctrines and practices brought in, which called for new definitions and statements to refute them. Not only so, the Holy Ghost poured out at Pentecost for the first time in rich abundance on the Church, became thenceforth an enlightening Teacher, according to our Blessed Lord's own promise; so that doctrines which before were not apprehended, became vital truths. As Christianity separated from Judaism, Church Services assumed a more settled form, and with increased wealth and learning among the believers, were rendered more gorgeous and elaborate. Mr. Blenkinsopp traces very carefully and learnedly the growth which took place, wisely distinguishing between healthful and legitimate development on the one hand, and debasing corruptions on the other. In the first Chapter of the Second Part he shows the gradual development to be found in the New Testament from, for example, the narrative character of the Gospel of St. Luke to the dogmatic doctrinal teaching of St. John. At the commencement of this Gospel we have, he says, "a string of Theological dogmas of the Incarnation; no history, but doctrine." Though the New Testament contains the rudiments, so to speak, of the Faith, it is evident to the student that a superstructure was intended to be raised, as it has been, upon the statements contained in it. Until the outpouring of the Holy Ghost the Church did not exist as the enlightener of the world, and it was in fact sometime after Pentecost before the mystery of salvation being intended to be equally offered to the Gentiles, was revealed to the Apostles. Our author remarks that while it was taught by a special revelation to St. Peter, and apparently further revelations were made to St. Paul on the same subject, the question as to whether the Gentile converts were bound to obey the Mosaic ceremonial law was decided in a wholly different way; and his remarks on the subject have so direct a bearing on questions of the day that we shall extract them :— In the latter case there were no revelations, but the questions were decided by an authority equal to a revelation-by a Council of the twelve and of the Elders and Brethren. Here the questions were argued; there was much disputing, both sides were heard; a regular order was observed; St. James as Bishop of Jerusalem presided; probably a vote was taken, and the majority decided the points in dispute, the President gave judgment, according to the decision of the majority, and the decrees were published. Now, had the Apostles been individually infallible, or had they been individually fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that they could not err on all matters connected with the truth; had they had a complete revelation of the will of God on all subjects connected with the Gospel they were commissioned to preach, there could have been no need of a Council; no need of hearing both sides; no need of argument; any one of them might have spoken, and the Church would have at once received the decision as that of the will of God. (P. 177.) That very erroneous notions prevailed among the earliest Christians, with regard, for example, to such an important doctrine as that of the Resurrection, and also as to the end of the world, affords strong evidence that the teaching they received was not so clear at first as that afterwards bestowed by the Apostles and their successors through their gradual enlightenment by the Holy Ghost. Indeed, anyone who considers carefully our Blessed Lord's statement of the object for which "The Spirit of Truth should come, must perceive that He pointed to a development of knowledge as His work. Though Churchmen generally are ready verbally to assent to the statement that it is the province of the Church to teach the Faith, there lurks in many minds an idea that the Bible is in some way the source of the Faith, so that instead of its being acknowledged that the Bible is a true record because the Church has preserved and witnessed to it as such, they rather assert that the Church is right because it agrees with the Bible. This our author shows to be a wholly erroneous notion, inasmuch as it was only after the Church had grown strong and spread itself widely abroad, that a final decision was come to as to what constituted the Bible. So that, in fact, the early Christians had not got a Bible by which to examine Church teaching, as is now-a-days the fashion. He says: Nowhere do we find that the Bible professes that it contains the whole Faith, that it, and it alone, is the deposit of the Faith of the whole He Church. Nowhere does our Lord appoint the Bible to this office. never said to the Bible, Go thou into all the world, and teach all nations." On the contrary, we do fiud that He gives His commission to a living body; we do find that He gives a special commission to a certain order of men in that body, on whom He bestows special gifts of His Spirit, to teach the truth and to convert the world. (P. 195.) He proceeds to show the insufficiency of Holy Scripture to declare the Faith, inasmuch as every body of heretics has professed to accept the Bible, though rejecting the Creeds of the Church, and drawing out most erroneous doctrines from the Bible. It is not a little remarkable, as Mr. Blenkinsopp points out, that though the second Table of the Law is three times mentioned in a way which intimates that its obligation is perpetual; the first Table is wholly omitted, and this he considers to have arisen from the change of circumstances having removed the necessity for its stringent provisions. Idolatry had ceased to tempt the Jews from the time of the captivity, and the Incarnation having set before us God in the likeness of our flesh, there could not any longer be an inclination to represent Deity by debased forms of vile creatures. The end of the Jewish temple worship marked also the term for which the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was binding. trine in the Church, and the manner in which it was defined In the next chapter he considers the development of docand enunciated by General Councils as occasion required; so that when from the gradual rise of a doctrine, error with regard to it became prevalent and heresy was likely to arise, by timely definition the Church built up the true Faith. The whole matter is most ably dealt with in this chapter, and the true growth distinguished from some modern additions which are shown to be without foundation. The subject is carried on under the head of Theological Science in the succeeding chapter, where the need of using correct terms to express doctrines is pointed out, and the difficulties arising from the want or misuse of them. Development of Liturgies and Forms of Prayer, with a consideration of the growth of Conventual Life, affords matter for two most interesting chapters, after which Mr. Blenkinsopp takes into consideration the spurious developments resulting from Protestantism. His observations on it remind us of a remark we recently heard made by an Anglican preacher; speaking of the worship by the Israelites of new and strange gods, he drily added, as we should say now-a-days, they went to Dissenting places of worship." Mr. Blenkinsopp says:— or The various forms of Protestantism are all essentially new forms of Christianity, having no connection with the older, and this followed properly from the idea that the Church down to the time of Luther was not only a necessity but a duty. It was now Christianity which was to the Babylon of Scripture, and the Pope Antichrist. Separation became be believed, a system of doctrine which is to save mankind; it was no longer a communion with Christ through His body the Church, and by between Christ and his members, but it was held that the individual means of the Sacraments in the Church, as channels of communication Christian had direct communion with Christ by an act of his own mind which he called Faith, wholly independent of the Body of Christ-the Church. (P. 302-3.) He then proceeds to consider the causes of this change, and we deeply regret that space will not allow of our making more extracts. The book is throughout most ably written, and we would urge its careful perusal upon everyone. Without undertaking to support every statement contained in it, we can assure our readers that it will not only please them by its lucid style, but afford them a connected and rational guide to understanding many of the difficulties which beset the Church at the present time, and perplex so many among us. Such works must do much to terminate the miserable ignorance and misapprehension by which at present the Body of Christ is torn, and the sheep led astray from the Fold; within which, may God of His Mercy, keep us all. Literary Notices. The Union Review for March (London: Hayes) contains five articles, some cuttings from the R.C. Vatican, and a limited number of "Literary Notices." That on "The Life which tends more than anything to hinder the Unity of Christendom. It is not sufficient to know that "the Church is disunited, and the world unconverted;" it is the duty of all good Christians to pray God to heal these divisions, and to restore the charity and faith of His Church to its ancient purity and brightness. The Way of the Cross (Macintosh) is an enlargement of the tract "He hath borne our griefs," very prettily reproduced as a little book. The tract having reached its twentieth thousand, is a sufficient proof that it, and others by the same and valued. and Letters of F. W. Faber, D.D.," though a pleasing review author-for Lent, Good Friday, and Easter-are widely known of Father Bowden's well-known volume, contains nothing very Pharisaic Proselytism, by R. F. Littledale, D.C.L. (Hayes) is a very characteristic little brochure, in which the writer gives Ultramontane 'verts some sharp stabs under pretence of sketching the way in which the Jews in the early days of Christianity endeavoured to draw the Christians from their Faith, by pointing out the completeness and dignity of the Jewish ceremonial and worship, contrasting with it the want of definite rule among the Christians. We have pleasure in noticing A Village Sermon entitled The Holy Church throughout the World, and wish it a wide circulation, for there is a vast ignorance on the subject, Daniel and his Three Friends (Wells Gardner). This is a plain, practical Series of Lectures, drawing an excellent parallel between the lion's den, and the enemy of our souls, his friends by a miracle from utter destruction, can alone save and shewing that faith and prayer, which saved Daniel and us from eternal death. Daniel's fearless fulfilment of his duty to God is well brought out. 66 How I was Nursed. By an Ex-Patient. (Oxford: Mowbray and Co.) We feel sure that every medical man would endorse the argument of this pamphlet, for in general nothing in the way of charitable institutions is more needful or less thought of than those for training nurses to attend the sick at their own houses. It is strange it should be so, for as the writer says, "these institutions would at once open a large sphere of occupation and remuneration to the now unoccupied middle classes, of whom we have heard so much of late, besides being of so great a benefit to the community at large," and the scheme is a feasible one, bearing in mind first the supply and then the demand." Again, "from the universal nature of suffering, its existence in all places and at all times, it does seem passing strange, that while all other institutions abound, there should be so few which profess to send out trained competent Nurses to the sick in their necessity: yet have we not one and all heard the Doctor say in an extreme case, which we have been anxiously watching, the patient's recovery depends now fully as much upon the nurse's care as upon any skill of mine. The success of our Nursing Sisters is an evidence of this urgent need which is so inadequately met at but their numbers are limited and sick people innumerable.” present, though so ably fulfilled by them-as far as may be Correspondence. (The Editor is not responsible for the opinions of his Correspondents.) THE STANDARD ON THE ARCHES' JUDGMENT. the enclosed letter, has at any rate had the courtesy to comply with a SIR, Your Conservative contemporary, though too cautious to print somewhat unusual' request that he would return the communication if rejected. As yours is a professedly Tory print, I doubt not that you will insert this if you think it calculated to do good. I have been greatly scandalised, and somewhat alarmed, though, at seeing the ominous word Conservative so frequently in your late issues, and still more at two Conservative attempts to hold up the private conduct of distinguished individuals, living and dead, in the persons of the late Bishop of Manchester, R.I.P., and the present Prince of Wales, whom may God preserve, to public reprobation through the medium of your columns. I have alluded to the distinctive power of Protestantism, and I cannot better exemplify my statement than by reminding you of the debt we owe to the Bishop and Pastor of souls (sic.) of Exeter, for the one good turn which he has done to the Catholic faith by his masterly exposition, in his place in Convocation, of Luther's teaching as developed in Essays and Reviews. He has shown us that to Luther premises infidelity is the logical sequence. Surely the ways of God's providence are wonderful, and past finding out. Yours, &c., N. B. WHITBY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE "STANDARD." DEAR SIR,-If you can by any means find room for the enclosed you will greatly oblige the writer and some other Conservative Churchmen who look with well founded alarm on the combinations at present at work to Revolutionize the constitution in Church and State. The Protestantism of the present day is not a protest against Roman usurpation, but against all constituted institutions. The same spirit which would turn the Church Altar into a Dissenting table, would do the same destructive office for the Royal Throne, by changing it into the Presidential chair. It will not allow that there can be a 'raison d'etre for the existence of anything which does not commend itself to its limited understanding. Yours very faithfully, N. B. WHITBY. (ENCLOSURE). SIR, I cannot help thinking it singularly unfortunate that an article so full of inaccuracies as the one on the recent Arches' judgment in the cases of Sumner v. Wix, and Elphinstone v. Purchas, should have been allowed to appear in a journal so honourably distinguished for its fairness as the Standard. Without for one moment wishing to impute wilful dishonesty or even a disingenuous intention to the writer of that article, I am compelled in justice to state that every statement relating to Mr. Wix's case is incorrect. It was not, however, merely to point out your article-writer's inaccuracies or the unfairness of his comments, but to protest against his undisguised attempt to induce the Judicial Committee not to declare the law, but to usurp legislative functions by making it; or, failing that, to pave the way for er post facto legislation. He says, "Should the Judicial Committee deem it incumbent upon them to affirm the decision of Sir R. Phillimore, the only result would be a demand for a sweeping revision of the Rubrics, the effect of which would be to cut away the ground from under the feet of the Ritualists altogether." Surely we have had scandal and mischief enough of this kind already. If the sham conge d'elire stinks in the nostrils of all unprjudiced Churchmen, the Privy Council, as an Ecclesiastical Court of Appeal, is not much more savoury, and, as one of your daily contemporaries remarked only a short time ago, "a little more tightening of the bands, and the High Church school is lost to the Church of England for ever." Your article-writer appears to rely upon even the most ardent Ritualists having a great tenderness for the Low Church party in general, and the Islington Clergy in particular (why the latter should be singled out for especial pity I cannot conceive), and in that he shows his thorough knowledge of the spirit which animates the High Church school; but still they are but human, so they do think that there ought to be reciprocity, at least to this extent that if their Low Church brethren are to be left in peace to break the Church's law, à discretion, they should certainly be allowed to keep it, and not that the law should either be falsified, or altered ex post facto, for the express purpose of compelling them to descend to the level of their brethren of Islington. Protestantism, like the Liberalism (so called) of the present day, is a destructive power, and experience teaches that the appetite of both is whetted by what it feeds upon. Once let the present law of the Church in matters of symbolism be altered in the direction of Iconoclasm in deference to the clamour of a small and constantly decreasing party or rather section of a party within the Church, and its open enemies without, and disestablishment not only becomes a necessary sequence, but an almost immediate consequence. Can any man in his senses suppose that if the precedent of levelling downwards be once set, the proscription of the symbol will not at once be followed by an irresistible demand for the condemnation of the thing symbolised. Surely we are not all of us, Protestant and Catholic alike, such mere children as to be elevating the cut of a vestment or the posture of a Minister, without reference to a great truth or untruth affected thereby, into a matter of life or death; consequently, to proscribe the symbol and retain the doctrine would be like Mr. Gladstone's statesmanlike "message of peace to Ireland, it would offend both parties and conciliate neither. Once fairly started on the downward course, there would be no stoppage until every vestige of Catholic doctrine (commonly called "remains of Popery," by the Islington Clergy and their congeners) was eliminated from the Prayer Book-a process which would not only "cut the ground entirely from under the feet of the Ritualists," but must inevitably result in the withdrawal, not merely of the whole High Church party, as it is called, but of all the Sacramental school of every shade and gradation, i.e., of all who can and do ex animo accept the Prayer Book as it is, leaving as a residuum the Calvinistic and Rationalistic parties only. What sort of an eviscerated Church of England that would be, and how long it would be likely to remain an establishment -in any sense of the word, I leave your readers to judge for themselves. If any one doubts of what manner of spirit Protestantism is, I would remind him of the recent proceedings in the Wolverhampton and Camberwell cases. "That things cannot long remain as they are, "I agree with your writer; but the Catholic school, notwithstanding all the annoyance and unseemly persecution and detraction of the last ten years, from the St. George's riots to the Mackonochie case, has never shown the slightest disposition to emulate the tactics of its violent opponents in reviving some of the most un-English and objectionable features of the Inquisition, or, indeed, in resorting to any other force than the constraining one of love and a generous emulation in the great work of winning souls. I confidently challenge any man to name any time since the Oxford movement, as it is called, commenced, when the High Church leaders have ever held aloof, or refused to make common cause with their Puritan brethren for the common good, or in defence of the common faith; this being so surely there is encouragement to hope that an eirenicon may be found. If the leaders on both sides cannot agree to compromise the matter by guaranteeing each party against prosecutions from their followers, so long as the Arches' Judgment in Martin v. Mackonochie is not exceeded, or some similar arrangement, and to avoid the necessity of any alteration in the existing Rubric, can not the "powers that be," following the example of the Scottish Church which allows the optional use of the English Prayer Book, though the old Scottish Rite (closely resembling the Liturgy in Edward's 1st Book) is the more legitimate use, authorise the use in England of Edward's 1st Prayer Book, with the Ritual and usages of the second year of Edward when desired, concurrently with the present Prayer Book in which the "Ornaments Rubric" might be supplanted by one legalising the optional use of the black gown during the Sermon, and the surplice, hood, and stole in place of the prescribed Vestments-or might not the difficulty be obviated by substituting the words "may be used" for "be in use" in the present Rubric? Is not comprehension better than compression? Is some compromise of this kind impossible? I think not. In many parishes some such system of alternate Service is working well, and I cannot see why the principle should not be applied legally to the Church as a whole with proper safeguards; e.g., that where one-third of the regular communicants petitioned the Bishop to do so he might be empowered to compel any Incumbent of an ordinary Parish Church to celebrate Holy Communion one Sunday in the month according to the "lower use," and to say Matins or Evensong or both Services every Sunday in the same way. On the other hand, any Incumbent to be at liberty, after complying with the Episcopal monition, to give supplementary Services according to the more Catholic use. These suggestions as to safeguards are, of course, only tentative, and do not pretend to be exhaustive either way. I have been waiting in the hope that some one of weight and mark, and any way better able than myself to do justice to this subject, would take it up; but as no one has done so, I cannot look on apathetically while that union which under God has been the great means of England's greatness in the past and is the earnest of her future acceptableness as a nation in the eyes of Almighty God, is imperilled by rash and mistaken, though I would fain hope well meaning partisans. I may plead in extenuation of my presumption in thus publicly broaching my crude proposals for peace, that I have had some personal experience of the practical working of such a compromise as the one I have indicated, having had charge of a parish where the Services were duplicated after the manner suggested, there being only one Church in the place, a small town; and the system proved a great success. I have carefully avoided approaching this subject in a party spirit; indeed, I think that the last thing which those who know me best will accuse me of is partisanship. I have officiated in Churches where every variety of Ritual was carried out, from the black gown to the cope and incense. But as regards my voluntary help, I have assisted a dozen times where a "low" type of Service prevailed to once in a Ritualistic Church, as it is called, and some of my strongest and closest friendships have been formed with Clergymen whose practice differs "by the whole story," from that of the Ritualists, as they are termed; and in my last sphere of work I joined with two of the most extreme Low Churchmen in the Diocese in opposing and helping to prevent the return of a High Churchman, and otherwise estimable man (one of the very last persons against whom I would willingly have acted), for Proctor to Convocation at the election of 1868. because he had declared himself in favour of disestablishment. completely ruined my health, and grievously impaired, if I have not altogether lost all my chances of personal advancement, outraged my staunchest friends, and brought upon myself all sorts of imputations; and would willingly do the same again to avert so grievous a national misfortune. Perish health, reputation, life itself, rather than that the severance of that holy alliance should be accomplished. Any sacrifice in such a cause should be welcome except onethe sacrifice of the Catholic Faith. Yours, &c., N. B. WHITBY, I P.S.-It is no longer a question between the submission of the many to the tyrannical domination and marplot hindrance of the few and secession to Rome. What makes the danger and probability of a rupture in the Church, and a secession of its best beloved in case of further unfair and one-sided coercion or ex post facto legislation, so great is the fact that there would be no lack of Bishops, probably of the Home, certainly of the Colonial bench, to head the movement; so that there would no longer be that necessity to submit to a foreign jurisdiction which has hitherto deterred so many from attempting anything in the way of an organised bodily secession. March 2nd. This letter was mostly written some weeks ago, but left *E.g. The junction of Dr. Pusey with Heurtley, the Colenso Case and the S.P.C.K. grant, University tests (Dr. Pusey even invited Wesleyan co operation), Dr. Temple's appointment, the London Mission, when although the original proposal emanated from the Cowley Brotherhood, and was first broached at a meeting at All Saints' Clergy House, it was at once resolved to hold the meeting at the National Society's Rooms, in order that the Evangelical Clergy might have the opportunity of meeting the promoters on neutral ground. unfinished owing to the pressure of my more legitimate work, and a fear A Non-resident Member of Convocation is anxious to express his great satisfaction at the prospect of the Vinerian Professorship of Common Law being restored to its former state of efficiency, and he ventures to suggest that such an alteration should be made in the existing examination statute as will require in every Oxford student a competent knowledge of the general principles of English law. Some attention may be due to the following considerations :-In former times, when due regard was given to the first principles of law. Acts of Parliament were few, simple, and perspicuous; at the present time our statute-book is disfigured by a heterogeneous mass of enactments, which scarcely deserves the name of legislation. In former times our Courts of Law were types of the great tribunal, where truth will be all in all; at the present time a tradition (so severely, but justly, condemned by the late Dr. Arnold: see Life by Dean Stanley, vol. ii., pp. 24, 91) desecrates the hallowed office of the advocate, and in zites him to sacrifice the love of truth to the apparent interest of himself and his client. Hence justice is polluted at its very fountain; juries are perplexed in returning their verdicts, witnesses are tempted to give false testimony, and a wide opening is made for the awful sin of perjury. attention, as tending to show how careful Parker was that the Bishop of Oxford should be consecrated and placed over his Diocese with the most scrupulous legality; it is also, I submit of value, for the reference to Bishop Barlow's election, "postulation," &c. Had Parker known that there had been any flaw in Barlow's consecration, or had his own ordination been faulty or invalid, it is hardly possible that he could have been so thoroughly precise, in his treatment of the subject of Ordination of Bishops, only eight years after his own elevation to the Primacy-as this letter proves he was-without at the same time drawing down upon him some contemporaneous rejoinder from the Papal party to the effect that as " those who were in glass houses should not throw stones," so those whose consecration was illegal or maimed, ought not to be over-particular in the case of other Bishops' consecrations. But no such coeval objections against the completeness of Parker's Ordination exist-while every year papers such as the one appended, come forth from the old Archives to still further strengthen the legitimacy of the great Archbishop's ecclesiastical status-and to show that Nag's Head Fables," &c., were calumnies invented long after the period to which they mendaciously referred. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, ARCHBISHOP PARKER TO CECILL. (October 5, 1567.) M. D. A. Sir, I have considered the contents of your letters, and think that it is graciously considered that the Bishop of Oxford elect [Coren *] should have a helper-a Coadjutor in his such impotency. As for such as be named by him, the first two and the third man, whom your Honor nameth, I cannot much allow of them being I fear, of such inclination, that neither they will serve God in good religion, nor do their duty to the Prince. Their contemplations be otherwise set. I must say to you that it is my daily prayer for such not to be put in place of Coadjutors; and as for the other three, they have no such livelihood of their own to it is intended. It were the best that this Coadjutor were ad omnem effectum be put to such travail, and therefore not to be stayed for the purpose as Coadjutor, as well to preach as to confirm children, and to give Orders in that his election is orderly passed, with the Queen's Majesty's Royal that Diocese-if any such can be found. When your Honour writeth Assent-so I think it will not be forgotten, that he must come hither by himself or his Procurator before he be stablished-for both Order and Law and the King's Patents † in the erection of that Church and Bishopric, exempteth him not either from oath or profession to the See of Canterbury-for his Election, or rather Postulation is but to be presented to the Queen's Highness to have her Royal Assent-and after that to be sent hither for his Confirmation in the jurisdiction spiritual. To come to another subject, the national poor have at this time a most The Archbishop of York [Young, 1] so passed, and the Bishops of just cause for complaint; poverty is virtually treated as a crime against Chichester [Barlow, 2], Hereford [Scory, 3], and St. David's [Richd. society. The union workhouse is neither a proper place for the employ-mitting the same to the tuition of God as myself. This 5th of October, Davyes, 4] went that way. Thus your Honor hath my opionion.-Com1567. Your Honor's alway, MATTH. CANT. Endorsed, To the Right Honorable Sir William Ceycll, Knight, Principal Secretary to the Queen's Majesty. In conducting Parliamentary elections paid agents are systematically employed, and hence we have gross bribery, and too frequently an entire disregard of the responsibility which the exercise of the franchise involves. ment of the industrious, nor a house of correction for the idle, nor an. asylum for the honest female, nor a fit place of education for the children: separate establishments are required for these purposes, but the nation does not supply them. (See "Suggestions on Popular Education," by the late Nassau Senior, Esq.) And under this head we must not omit to mention the unfair, and often oppressive way in which poorrates are collected. If we look in another direction, we see the extensive prevalence of commercial frauds, extortion practised, or attempted to be practised, by trades' unions, the needle-women "oppressed in their wages," debts wantonly incurred, unscrupulous acts of dishonesty in the payment of Cæsar's tribute, fraudulent bankruptcies, and the most imperfect views of duty in all cases where money transactions are concerned. Nor must we forget the sad scenes of drunkenness and of other immoralities which police reports present to our notice, nor the painful revelations of the Divorce Courts. Now it is respectfully suggested that these evils would at least be diminished if the University would carefully teach her scholars, and through them the people of England, those deep political principles which are concentrated in the maxims, rules, and traditions of the common law, and which, being inherent in the moral constitution of man as a member of society, form a part of natural religion, trace their origin to the bosom of God, and have their authority supernaturally confirmed by the great doctrine of the Incarnation. Oxford, March, 1867. [We shall be most happy to receive further remarks from Mr. Miller on this important subject.-ED. C. H.] ARCHBISHOP PARKER AND A SUFFRAGAN-BISHOP FOR SIR,-In these days when the revival of Suffragan-Bishops is no * Vide, State Papers, Elizabeth Domestic, vol. xliv., p. 25. In another hand :- "5 Oct. 1567. The Archb. of Canterbury to my Mr." [Master?] Bishop." CATHOLIC PROGRESS. SIR, Your article on "Catholic Progress" is a capital one; I hope it may do much good. Although the Ritual at my Church is what is called very advanced," yet I do my best to keep the matter of Confession well before the people, and, thank God, with some success. I make it known as publicly as I can by means of printed notices in the Church, and by a "Confessional" at the east of the north aisle, that Confessions are heard. Don't think that I am telling you this in the way of selflaudation. I write merely to confirm your remarks in the CHURCH HERALD. If you think that an extract or two from the Lent Paper sent * A congé d'elire was issued for the See of Oxford, 1st September, 1567, after the See had been vacant for upwards of nine years, and Hugh Coren, or Curren, or Curwen, LL D., was elected Bishop 26th September, 1567, had the Royal Assent to his election 8th October. He died in the latter end of October, 1568, at Swinbroke, near Burford, in Oxfordshire, and was buried there. Id est, King Henry the Eighth's Patents. 1. Young, elected from Bishopric of St. David's to York, 27th January, 1560-1, and confirmed 24th March. 2. Barlow, translated from Bath and Wells to Chichester, and received the Royal Assent 18th December, 1559. He received the Archbishop's confirmation on the 20th of the same month. 3. Scory, formerly Bishop of Chichester, elected to Hereford 15th July, 1559; he obtained the Royal Assent to his election 18th December following, and was confirmed in Bow Church on the 20th of the same month. 4. Richd. Davyes, translated from St. Asaph; elected Bishop of St. David's 18th March, 1560-1, and confirmed 21st May. St. Barnabas Vicarage, Leeds, March 8, 1870. P.S.-I will put the name of the CHURCH HERALD on our notice board in Church, recommending it to the "Faithful." G. G. THE EDUCATION BILL. SIR, I beg permission to make public the facts following, as bearing upon the Education "Bill. They are a sample of what is to be found, more or less, in a large number of the parishes of England. The parish of East Brent contains about 3200 acres, and is of the annual value of at least £10,000. The population has been stationary for the last 25 years, about 800 more or less, including outlying houses. There are four schools, all in my hands; a national school, two dames' schools, nurseries to the national school, and a small middle school; the last established by me in 1862 in premises of my own, bought and adapted to this purpose. The schools are-2. National school, on the books, 60; present at diocesan inspector's examination, Feb. 25, 1870, 48. 2. Dames' school, 18; 3. Ditto, 13; 4. Middle school, 13. Total, 104. The condition of admission to all these scholars is the having been baptised in the Church of England. I am not presuming to judge any of my brethren, but I cannot see my way to any other rule. Besides the children's pence, the yearly cost of schools one, two, three, is £51 a-year, more or less. The middle school has cost up to the present time about £400. The house, school, and garden are let by me to the to the master at £8 a-year. Towards this yearly expense of £51 a-year I receive subscriptions from landowners, £8 4s. The balance £42 16s. is paid by myself. If I was rated at 3d. in the pound, I should pay about £10 a year, and should subscribe nothing. East Brent, March 10. Faithfully yours, GEORGE A. DENISON. THE IRISH CHURCH CONVENTION. On Saturday week a debate arose upon a proposition of the Hon. and Rev. W. C. Plunket to omit the last clause of the following declaration to be required of Synodsmen :"I, A B, of do hereby solomnly declare that I am a member of the Church of Ireland, and a communicant of the said Church." Mr. PLUNKET said that words could not express the reverence and thoughtful love with which he regarded the institution of his beloved Master; but he found it hard to convey the distaste he always felt to that which was called the communicant test, and which, so far from exalting that ordinance, seemed to misapply, and thereby to degrade it. The Rev. Dr. M'ILWAINE asked whether the adoption of amendments would not be holding out a boon for negligence, distrust, and disobedience to their Master. All other communions required tests. The Earl of LONGFORD supported the amendment on the ground that it was in conformity with all recent legislation. The Dean of CLONFERT was struck with the poverty of the arguments by which the amendment was supported. Archdeacon STOPFORD regretted that the question had been raised. Mr. CARDEN asked if there were not a very large number of laymen in all classes of society, especially in the middle class, who lived as far as could be seen an irreproachable life, attended their Church and supported their Clergyman, and were valuable members of the Church, but who did not attend the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper? The Rev. Dr. REICHEL said what Mr. Carden had stated was true to a certain extent "There was an unfortunate word in a certain formulary which had discouraged hundreds of those who would be the best communicants from approaching the Lord's Table, but he could not think that a reason why they should abstain from requiring the declaration as in the draft. It would be a good argument for the removal of an obnoxious word in the Service, but it would be no argument to put the administration of the Church on a laxer footing than it should be. The office on which they were now legislating was a sacred office." The amendment was opposed by the Chancellor of Down, Sir R. Orpen, Dr. Cassidy, Lord Dunally, the Earl of Carrick, and others. The Primate then put Mr. Plunket's amendment, and it was lost. After some verbal amendment of the clause, a division by orders was taken upon it:: Ayes-Clergy Laity Noes-Clergy Laity On Monday a dangerous proposition as to the number of Synodsmen, which would have had the effect of giving them the chief voting powers, was lost by a majority of 10. An amendment by Professor Galbraith to put the power of summoning the Diocesan Synod in the hands of the Synod itself, instead of in the Bishop, was lost by 137 to 75. The Earl of Meath proposed that the appeal from the Bishop's veto should lie to the General Synod, not to the College of Bishops. The amendment, it will be seen, was lost by 1; the numbers being for Lord Meath's amendment: ... ... 46 47-1 ... 95 21-74 On Tuesday with reference to the very close division of the previous evening, the Archbishop of Dublin intimated that the question would be reconsidered on Friday, and that if there was not a serious diminution in the proportion of the lay majority against it, and at the same time a serious decrease of the clerical minority against it, the Bishops would withdraw any further opposition to the motion. A number of arrangements as to Diocesan Synods were made, viz., giving them power to annex parochial districts to any Church, to appoint Diocesan Councils, &c., but a motion of Lord Courtown for the appointment of Rural Deanery Boards was lost by a small majority; while an amendment by the Earl of Longford was carried by 148 to 8 declaring that it was not necessary for a Churchwarden to be a communicant. It was subsequently determined that one of the Churchwardens should be appointed by the Incumbent, or his Curate in his absence, and the other should be elected at the Easter Vestry by the registered vestrymen of the parish. A motion for admitting women to vote for vestrymen, synodsmen, and parochial nominators, was rejected by 158 to 108, Sir W. Osborne making an amusing speech as to the inconvenience to which he would be subjected if his wife and daughters galloped all over the country to attend parochial meetings. The consideration of parochial organisation was then proceeded with. It was agreed that there should be a select vestry in every parish of not more than twelve persons, who should be elected annually by the vestry, and that to this vestry the charge of all parochial, charity, and Church funds in the parish should be committed. A register of vestrymen is to be made out immediately by the Incumbent and Churchwardens, and none are to be entered on the register who refuse to sign a declaration couched in the following terms:-"I, A B, of do hereby solemnly declare that I am a member of the Church of Ireland." An appeal is given from the decision of the Select Vestry to the Diocesan Council, if any person is aggrieved by thus refusing to place his name on the register of his parish. On Thursday the General Convention was occupied with the statute concerning the election of Bishops and on the appointment of Ministers to their Cures. The Earl of Carrick brought up the report of the Committee which recommended the appointment of a Board of Patronage, consisting of six nominators chosen by the Diocesan Synod, and five chosen by the parish. He considered it of great importance that the number of Diocesan nominators should be in excess of the parochial, in order that they might exercise a controlling power over any unfit appointment which found favour with the parish. The proposed mode for electing Bishops was that recommended by the Lambeth Conference In conclusion, he earnestly entreated the Convention to consider what was best for the honour and glory of God, and not to contend for the honour and glory of man. The preamble to the statute having been agreed to, Clause 1, which stated that a committee of patronage should be formed in each Diocese, was carried without discussion. On Clause 2, Dr. Reichel proposed an amendment to the effect that the Diocesan nominators should be one layman and two Clergymen, and the parochial nominators three persons selected by the vestry of each parish, and that this board of nominators should, at all its meetings, be presided over by the Bishop. The Primate, in explaining the principles on which the sub-committee on patronage had acted, said that they had borne these four principles in mind:-1. To endeavour to secure the election of the best Minister. 2. To give the Church in the Diocese at large an interest in the appointment. 3. To avoid all measures which might lead to discussion. 4. To secure the independence of the Minister, as well as the right influence of the people. The Committee thought that they had drawn up such a scheme as would satisfy these requirements. His Grace strongly objected to the Bishops having to preside at the selection of parochial Ministers, as it would involve them continually in parochial squabbles. He declared also that he had found patronage rather a heavy burden than a luxury, and that this filling up of a vacant parish often gave the utmost perplexity to the Bishop. After considerable discussion it was resolved that the Diocesan and parochial nominators should be equal. A motion for paying members of the Convention has been negatived. In the Convention on Friday there was an interesting debate on the 20th clause, relating to Diocesan Synods, the consideration of the Earl of Meath's amendment having, on the motion of the Archbishop of Dublin, been postponed to that day. On a division being called, a vote by orders was asked for, when there appeared :-For the Earl of Meath's amendment-Clergy, 101; Laity, 187; total, 288. Against it-Clergy, 62; Laity, 34; total, 96. The amendment being carried by a majority of both orders, was adopted. As this clause will have an important bearing in the future working of the Church we here give it in extenso:-"In case the Bishop dissents from the other two orders with respect to any proposed act of the Synod, all action shall be suspended until the next annual meeting of the Synod, when, if again affirmed by two-thirds of each of the other two orders present and voting, if the Bishop shall still dissent from the other two orders it shall be submitted to the General Synod, whose decision shall be final." |