The king multiplied Bibles, but cut off Bible-readers.

After Henry and his stormy ways, came pious and gentle Edward VI. to the throne.

The English Bible was read by Lessons at Morning and Evening SerThe Liturgy was translated and said in English. The vice, as now. creed of the Church was packed in forty-two Articles, afterwards reduced to the famous thirty-nine.

After him came the pious but gloomy and unhappy Queen Mary, who strove to bring the realm of England back to Rome. She caused persuasive fires to be kindled for the good of dissenting souls. She did what she could; but she could not undo the Reformation. Parliament and

CHURCH.

A lecture on the Episcopal Church by the Rev. Thomas K. Beecher, brother of the notorious Mr. Ward Beecher, and of the still more notorious Mrs. Beecher Stowe, preached at Elmira, N.Y., Jan. 9, 1870, and published with the author's permission, has recently been reprinted at the expense of an energetic and liberal American Churchman, now residing at Torquay, and published by Mr. Cockrem, of that place. An American Bishop says of it:-"A commendation of the doctrine and practice of one body of Christians by a Minister of another so unqualified, so hearty, and so vigorous as this, is an extraordinary occurrence. In that regard the Sermon is, perhaps, without a parallel in the history of preaching." Mr. Beecher's lecture stands out in favourable contrast to the uncharitable misrepresentations of the Church of England, which are constantly falling from the lips of English Dissenters. We all know the deep hatred which Mr. Spurgeon bears to the Church, and the bitter words which he loses no opportunity of using against her. Dr. Binney, another great Nonconformist Minister here, uttered the atrocious sentiment that "the Church of England had lost more souls than she had saved." We wish all Dissenting Ministers were as fair as Mr. Beecher, and we as heartily welcome his lecture, as we thank his benevolent compatriot for having presented it to us in an English dress. We now proceed to give copious extracts from it. Our readers will, of course, perceive several Yankee expressions. The text was Proverbs xxvii.-2:

The Episcopal Church in America is in fact a continuation of the Church of England. As gardeners lay down a branch of a vine and stake it fast and cover it till it takes root, and then cut it off and leave it to grow by its own roots; so the Episcopal Church in this land was a branch of the Church of England, which was laid down and rooted; and, by our Revolutionary War, was cut off to grow ever since with roots of its own.

The Church in America differs from the Church of England in those matters, chiefly, that must needs have been changed because these States ceased to be colonies, and became a nation with differing political constitution.

The American Churchman omits, too, the Athanasian Creed, which is long and true, but has a dry and funny rattle to it that makes irreverent people smile.

Of all Protestant Churches, the Episcopal best deserves the name, REFORMED. She preserves so many of the usages and excellences of the Roman Church, and so few of her errors, that it is quite easy to perceive that she is a reformed Church. All other Protestant Churches seem revolutionary rather than reformed.

The Reformation in England was more than two hundred years long. There were no volcanic convulsions; no one brilliant Fourth of July day in which the great reform was proclaimed. Nor was the Reformation purely and disinterestedly religious.

When the Pope (Urban V., 1365,) demanded large sums of money in payment of tribute long in arrear, Parliament gave willing ear to the reformer, Wickliffe, who denied the authority of Rome, and so excused the nation from paying its debt. Afterwards (1380) this same great man finished a translation of the Latin Bible into English. He wrote tracts for the people. He revived preaching to the people. His disciples went diligently up and down the land, teaching and preaching the truth and the authority of Holy Scripture.

from running into extravagance and cruelty.

After Mary came Elizabeth, who caused Roman Catholics at one extreme and Puritans at the other, to feel her scorn, and suffer fines, imprisonment, and death.

Down to the Revolutionary War, the Church in this land was under the care of the Bishops of London. Shortly after the Revolution, an application was made to Parliament to allow an American Bishop to be consecrated. But the Puritans and Presbyterians opposed the proposition, and so Mr. Seabury the candidate, had to put up with a second-rate consecration (?) at the hands of certain Scotch Bishops. But at last, in 1787, Parliament allowed the Archbishop of Canterbury to consecrate three regular, first-class (?) Bishops for New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia respectively. Since then the holy unction has not been allowed to fail. With pious care it has been propagated. And the Episcopal Church in these United States stands to-day as truly and regularly in the line of Apostolic Succession, as the Church of England herself. After this mere outline of her history, it remains that I note some of her excellent uses and beauties.

1st. The Episcopal Church offers for our use the most venerable liturgy in the English tongue. The devotional treasures of the Roman Catholic Church are embalmed and buried in Latin. But in English there are no lessons, gospels, psalms, collects, confessions, thanksgivings, prayers-in one word, no religious form-book that can stand a moment in comparison with the Prayer Book of the Episcopal Church in the twofold quality of richness and age.

The proper name, because truly descriptive, for this Church, would be Church of the Prayer Book. As is the way with all other Churches, so here, the Church champions and leaders have many wise things to say about the Church and her prerogative. But the pious multitude that frequent her courts, are drawn thither mostly by love of the prayers and praises, the litanies and lessons of the Prayer Book.

And, brethren of every name, I certify you that you rarely hear in any Church a prayer spoken in English, that is not indebted to the Prayer Book for some of its choicest periods.

And further: I doubt whether life has in store for any of you an uplift so high, or downfall so deep, but that you can find company for your soul, and fitting words for your lips among the treasures of this Book of Common Prayer.

In all time of our tribulation; in all time of our prosperity; in the hour of death and in the day of Judgment; Good Lord deliver us. As a consequence of the Prayer Book and its use, I note :2nd. The Episcopal Church preserves a very high grade of dignity, decency, propriety, and permanence in all her public offices.

In nearly every newspaper you may read some funny story, based upon the ignorance or eccentricity or blasphemous familiarity of some extemporizing prayer-maker. All of you here present have been at some time shocked or bored by public devotional performances. Nothing of this sort ever occurs in the Episcopal Church. All things are done and spoken decently and in order.

And so, too, of permanence and its accumulating wealth of holy association,-no transient observer can adequately value this treasure, of a birthright Churchman.

To be using to-day the self-same words that have through the centuries declared the faith, or made known the prayer of that mighty multitude, who, being now delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity:

To be baptised in early infancy, and never to know a time when we were not recognised and welcomed among the millions who have entered by the same door :

This curious king, having married his brother's widow by special permission of the Church, by and by applied to that same Church to declare the marriage unlawful; and when the Bishop of Rome would not grant this required divorce, Henry, the head-strong and hearty, declared it himself, married again, laughed at his own excommunication, caused himself to be proclaimed supreme head of the Church of England; and to prove that in all these steps he was quite right, he cut off any man's

To be married by an authority before which kings and peasants bow alike, askingbenediction upon the covenant that, without respect of persons, binds by the same words of duty, the highest and the lowest :To bring our new-born children as we were brought, to begin where we began, and to grow up to fill our places :To die in the faith, and almost hear the gospel words soon to be spoken over one's own grave, as over the thousand times ten thousand of them who have slept in Jesus:

In short-to be a devout and consistent Churchman, brings a man through aisles fragrant with holy association, and accompanied by a long procession of the good, chanting as they march, a unison of piety and

3. The Episcopal Church furnishes (to all that need such comfort) the assurance of an organic and unbroken unity and succession, from Jesus Christ through the Apostles, by a line of authentic Bishops down to Bishop Huntingdon, of this Diocese. King Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth, with their proclamations and parliaments, are so conspicuous and fill so much space in the merely political history of the English Church, that many able writers deny that the river of Apostolic Succession, so dammed by them, could ever get around the dam, and flow along again pure and uncontaminated. I cannot decide this question absolutely.

What I say is this: The Apostolic Succession in the Episcopal Church can be traced back so many hundred years into the dim past, that it is no shame to any man to say, "I believe it to extend back to Peter, Paul, and John" and he who verily believes that the ordaining or confirming hand of the Bishop of this Diocese is electric with the spiritual life that proceeds from Jesus of Galilee, will find it a hand of virtue and worth. He who doubts it will find it a hand of form and ceremony.

And so, without stopping to decide the question whether our Bishop is really a successor of Paul or John, I say that the Episcopal Church affords so much evidence that she has in her Episcopate the true succession, that it is no shame to any common man to believe her. And if he believes in his Bishop he will get from him all the benefit that can come from Bishops. Brethren, many needy souls are not able to lay hold upon God one by one. They cannot appropriate a gospel promise to themselves. Like Job of old, they say: If I had called and He had answered me, yet would I not believe that He had hearkened unto my voice (viii. 16).

Such extreme and exemplary humility asks for and needs a Church ark, and the humble place and privilege of a private passenger. The ark of God that shall outride the deluge! The Church of Christ, in which is found salvation.

I say, then, that the claims of the Episcopal Church to be such an ark of God, or Church of Christ, endowed with sacraments, absolutions, and profitable authority, are for all practical purposes valid.

He who for years has been a Churchinan, and yet remains ill-grounded in Scripture, shows himself an unworthy son of a very faithful mother. This Church makes a distinction between her creed as a Church, which all her officers must subscribe, and that much shorter declaration of faith which she expects from her children.

This Church never vexes converts with profound questions in theology. Of those who would receive the Lord's Supper she requires "that they repent them truly of their former sins, steadfastly purposing to lead a new life that they have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, and a thankful remembrance of His death, and that they be in charity with all men."

To any and to all such, asking no further questions, this Catholic and most generous Church approaches, and by the hand of her Priest, gives the consecrated bread with benediction: "The body, &c." And with like words the consecrated wine.

Citizens and Christians, all! Because this Episcopal Church is a reformed Church and not revolutionary; because her book of prayer is rich and venerable above all in the English tongue; because her ritual promotes decency, dignity, prosperity and permanence: because her historic union through the Apostles with Christ comforts and satisfies so many souls; because she adopts her infant children and provides for them education and drill; and because with large hospitality she proffers her sacrament to all true believers of every name; therefore from her own Psalter let us take the words wherewith to bless her: "They shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls and plenteousness within thy palaces. For thy brethren and companions' sakes I will wish thee prosperity. Yea, because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek to do thee good."

Fragmenta et Miscellanea.

VESTMENTS, COPES, &c., TEMP. ELIZABETH. III. (After the date of the Advertisements). 1564-5. Copes worn in Canterbury Cathedral. "The Common Prayer daily throughout the year, though there be no Communion, is sung at the Communion-table, standing north and south [i.e. altar-wise] where the high altar did stand. The Holy Communion is ministered ordinarily the first Sunday of every month through the year. The Priest which ministereth, the Epistler and Gospeller, at that time wear COPES." [Certificate of the State of the Church of Canterbury, Strype's Life of Parker, p. 183.]

1564-5. Varieties in Service and Administration used. "Administration of the Communion. Some [Minister] with surplice and COPE, some with surplice alone, others with none." [Burleigh Papers, Vol. 8, No. 16.]

[1565. The Reforming Bishop Bentham, though copes and vestments existed in his Diocese, did not forbid them in his Visitation Articles of this year, any more than did Parker in 1563-1569, &c.]

Copes and Vestments.

1565. But, Bernard, I pray thee tell me of thine honesty, what was the cause that thou [a Minister] hast been in so many changes of apparel this forenoon, now black [i.e. in cassock], now white [i.e. in a surplice], now in silk and gold [i.e. in a cope or vestment], and now at length in this swouping black gown, and this sarcenet flaunting tippet, &c." (A pleasant dialogue between a soldier of Berwick and an English Chaplain. Vide Strype's" Annals," vol. I, part II., p. 169.]

1565, Dec. Copes at St. John's Coll., Cambridge.

The authorities at St. John's College, Cambridge, about this year seem to have introduced Genevan novelties of all sorts, and to have brought most of the scholars to such a pitch of mutiny as that they would not wear their surplices. Emulating the conduct of certain of the Prebendaries of Worcester Cathedral who had divided the silver plate among themselves in 1563,* they likewise intended to divide the copes and ornaments, and had done so, had not some of them being unmarried, resisted." "The Master [of St. John's] Mr. Fulke, and a few more of the disordered Fellows, priced and sold among themselves [in 1565] the College COPES for £xiv., for the which there was offered in Doctor Pilkington's times above fifty pounds by the pricers and other [s] and [who] were [however] by [i.e. in favour of] keeping little or nothing impaired."

În Fulke's Sermon at his third collation, 1565, "his mentioning of COPES at that time moved some so greatly, that rather than they should abide any longer among us, they made Robin Hood's pennyworth of them, being amongst themselves both merchants and chapmen."

In the Articles against Mr. Richard Longworth, President, and Mr. Fulke, sent by Richard Coortesse [afterwards Bishop] to Cecill, Charge

No. 25 is

"That a COPE of red tissue praised at 50s., is and hath been these two years lacking, only he and Master Carter then having the keys of the re-vestry." No. 26 is "that all such things as in our former Articles sent by Master Bohun are mentioned concerning the making away of other COPES, vel potius, dividing them betwixt the same being buyers and sellers, viz., the Master, Mr. Fulkes, Mr. Buckleye, Mr. Carter, Mr. Hambre et alios, without the consent or presence of President, the Senior Bursar, and other Seniors-are true and triable by the inventories

4 and 5 R."

made by Mr. Pilkingtoune, then Master in annis,

Cecil, 11 Nov., 1566, wrote to his "loving friend Dr. Beaumont, ViceChancellor, and to the rest of the Heads of Colleges in Cambridge." He said "Forasmuch as in common opinion of the best, the lightness and disorder of your youth, as well in apparel as in other behaviour, is not only a great hindrance to learning and a token of great negligence in their overseers; "-therefore, he continues-"these may be to require you all, not only in every one of your several houses, but you also, the rest publicly assisting the Vice-Chancellor to see all such lightness and disordered behaviour repressed fully and good order hereafter continued," &c. Order in apparel, &c., seems thenceforth to have been restored, for we hear no more of the matter.

[State Papers Domestic, Eliz., vols. 38, 39, and 41.] *State Papers Eliz., vol 28.

1566. Copes, Albs, Vestments by Law.

You think that the small number can excuse them; as who they say were so few as you would have them seem to be. COPE, Surplice, starchbread, Gospellers, pistlers, kneeling at communion, crossing at baptism, baptism of [i.e. by] women, cap, tippet and gown. Item, BY AUTHORITY OF PARLIAMENT, albs, altars, VESTMENTS, &c. These few things are more than may be well borne with."

[An Answer for the Time, &c., p. 54, 1566.]

By the former Book of King Edward (whereto the Act of Parliament referreth us) an Alb is appointed with a Vestment for [or?] a cope, for the administration of the Sacrament, and in some places the Priest at this day weareth an Alb," &c.—Ibid, p. 115.

1565-6. 7-8 Eliz.

"Paid for dressing a COPE." This shows copes to have been here in use. [Churchwardens' accounts, Great St. Mary's, Cambridge.]

1566. 31 May, eighth of Eliz, Will made. Proved 15 Nov., 1566. Roger Dalison, Doctor of Divinity, a chanter of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln [died 24 July, 1566, æt. circ, 68]—

"Item,-I give and bequeath to the poor people of Haxay three pounds, and the [parish] Church of Haxay a COPE.' [Probate Office, Doc. Commons.]

versary Public Meeting of the LONDON FREE AND OPEN CHURCH ASSOCIATION, will be held at Lower Hall, EXETER HALL, on WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 11TH, 1870, at half-past Seven o'clock precisely.

The Right Hon. EARL NELSON in the Chair. Addresses will be delivered by the

Right Hon. Lord Wharncliffe; Lord Eliot; Robert Dimsdale. Esq., M.P.; Thomas
Hughes, Esq, Q.C., M.P.; Thomas Salt, Esq.. M.P.; John G. Talbot, Esq., M.P.;
Henry W. West, Esq., Q.C., M.P.; H. B. Grindley, Esq., of Liverpool; Octavius L.
Hills, Esq. J. A. Shaw Stewart, Esq.: George Edmund Street, Esq., A.R.A.; the
Rev. William Wallace; by Messrs. S. Brighty and Frd. Bruton (Working Men) and
others.
Hymns will be sung by an efficient Choir, and the Rev. G. B. Hodges will preside
All who wish for the Restoration to the people of the privileges of Public
Worship are earnestly invited to attend. Admission Free, by Ticket, which may be

at the organ.

had on application to

S. R. TOWNSHEND MAYER, Resident Secretary.

25, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C.

As we have elsewhere discussed the infamous Wife's Sister's Marriage Bill, we only add here the expression of our surprise that a statesman should treat the matter in the way Mr. Gladstone did. If Parliament is to deal with marriage merely as a matter of civil contract, it is evident that this Bill is quite out of place; for the State, when it ignores religion, must at once remove all the restrictions which arise solely from it, and incest of every degree must be allowed. The in which way the Prime Minister insulted our Church, and ignored the Roman Catholics, will, we hope, be noted by every Catholic. He is

Church by prophecies of disestablishment, and Churckmen who

would make the National Church a mere Episcopal sect by appropriating (as at present) in a parish, are equally helping on the Liberation Society to overthrow the Church. Every true Churchman will seek to save the Church by restoring the ancient

Parish Churches to the well-to-do minority-a tenth or twentieth-of the families

freedom of Churches to rich and poor alike, as in all other Christian countries; thereby alone regaining the electoral masses whom the un-Christian pew-rent system has driven into irreligion or hostility.

National Association for Freedom of Worship, 16, Northumberland-street,

Charing-cross; and Manchester. Subscriptions, 5s. Papers sent free.

The Church Herald.

LONDON, MAY 4, 1870.

The Week.

SOME incredulity is prevalent as to the reported attempt on the life of the French Emperor. The police in Paris are said to be clever at getting up tales for the glorification of their own acuteness and the Emperor's courage. There is, however, evidence elsewhere of ultra-revolutionary workings, and as Red Republicans are much given to setting up simultaneous movements, in the hope of saving their own necks, it is very possible that France as well as Italy may be destined to undergo a futile disturbance. The Emperor may not have the smallest claim on our support as to his right to rule; but there is only one possible way of regarding men who set at defiance every principle above the lowest desire of selfadvancement. "Irreconcileables" can only be satisfactorily dealt with by one contrivance—the gibbet.

Some further progress was made in the House of Commons, on Monday, with the Irish Land Bill. The principal point debated was the length of lease at which compensation for disturbance of holding should cease. Dr. Ball's proposition to reduce the period from thirty-one to twenty-one years was unhappily negatived. On the other hand, some improvements have been made in the Bill. The chief of these is the limitation of the right to claim compensation for eviction, to the term of twenty years from January next. This we take to be an admission on the part of the Government that their measure is unprincipled, and cannot, therefore, be permanent.

The abolition of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act is, it appears, necessitated by the Disestablishment of the Irish Church, and, so far as we see, is the only direct good we are ever likely to derive from it. A more useless measure is not to be found on the statute book, but we might have got rid of it by a less costly process.

Our Roman Catholic brethren are fortunate in getting out of the difficulty occasioned by Mr. Newdegate's recent victory with only a Parliamentary enquiry into the state of the law relating to monastic institutions. On the whole, we are glad that the matter has so ended. Although it is impossible to deny the right of the State to enquire into the internal arrangements of convents, any more than of workshops and lunatic asylums, with a view to prevent possible abuses, nothing could be more unjust or undesirable than partisan and inqui

lished Church in England, and the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, there was no religious body which made the maintenance of this particular prohibition a matter of conscience." Everyone can judge from the way in which all are obliged more or less to recognise the validity of the marriage of divorced persons, how debased society will become, even among Catholics, if the ignorant, depraved, and thoughtless are sanctioned by the State in incestuous unions.

The Pall Mall Gazette, under the heading of "Notes from Rome," said last week :-"It was discovered that the adoption of the Schema De Fide, in the face of eighty-three dissentient votes, is contrary to the usage of preceding Councils, and, by the advice of the Cardinal Legates, the Pope directed that the Schema should be submitted to another vote, in conjunction with some of the amendments, a proceeding which it was hoped would induce the minority to withdraw its opposition." If this be true, and we have not seen it contradicted, it affords a complete contradiction to those writers, Catholic and Protestant, who have been so busily affirming that the minority would be ignored as insignificant. Infallibility cannot thus be affirmed, according to the popular Ultramontane formula. It is stated that the Catholic sovereigns instructed their Ambassadors to support the note which Count Daru wrote, before going out of office, to the Roman Court. Under these circumstances it could not be withdrawn, but the French Government, it is said, informed the Nuncio at Paris that the communication was not to be regarded, and he telegrapbed accordingly to Rome. So much for the wiles of diplomacy! The wise man tells us that there is a fitting time and place for all things; unfortunately, men do not always perceive it. The Lincoln Diocese just now suffers because Bishop Wordsworth insists on riding his anti-Roman hobby wherever he goes; though the Diocese is noted, not for its extreme Ritualistic tendency, but for the slothful Puritanism which we had hoped to see him applying all his power and energy to eradicate. Surely one so learned does not think irreligion a less evil than credulity, if, as he would probably assert, our Roman brethren are credulous.

We rejoice to see that the Archbishop of Dublin upholds the soundness of teaching contained in the little book entitled, "Short Prayers for those who have little time to Pray," which an ignorant layman endeavoured the other day to induce him to condemn. The sectarian spirit is so deeply wrought in the Irish Clergy that we are not surprised to find a number of them in the Dublin Diocese protesting against the orthodoxy of their Archbishop, whose reply is a model of straightforward honesty.

It is curious to observe that the abuse of pew rents has made its way into the Roman Church. In Ireland seats are let, and, in a different form, the evil is as rampant in Paris as in London. There it takes the form of a charge for the seats used to kneel upon at Mass, or for sitting during a Sermon. In the last number of the Correspondant, M. H. de Cossoles complains that this exaction, which in Paris is three or four sous for each Service, keeps the poor people out of

Some of the Anglo-Roman Prelates are reported to have complained strongly to Dr. Newman that he has not more boldly and logically stated his reasons against the imposition of the proposed dogma of the Pope's Infallibility.

The Rev. Dr. F. G. Lee asks us to state that he will be deeply obliged to any person who will send him a copy of the second edition of his "Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven: Four Advent Sermons," now out of print, for which he will return postage stamps in payment.-6, Lambeth-terrace, S.E.

As exemplifying the "unhappy divisions" which exist amongst AngloRomans, there has just appeared a Sermon by Father Christie the Jesuit, condemning his old leader Dr. Newman in most unmeasured terms, for having sided with the anti-Infallibilists. This Sermon has caused some sensation.

Fraser.

The Rev. William Hornby, Vicar of St. Michael's-on-Wyre, a cousin of the late Earl of Derby, has been nominated to the Archdeaconry of Lancaster. The new Archdeacon is an Honorary Canon of Manchester and Rural Dean, both of which offices will fall to the gift of Bishop The Duke of Devonshire has contributed a thousand pounds to begin the fund for the erection of a steeple for St. Saviour's, Eastbourne. The architect, Mr. G. E. Street, has prepared designs which will cost about £3,000 to complete. Mrs. Manby has presented to the same Church a beautiful new altar cloth.

The Univers publishes the following telegram from Rome, dated April 29:"The Council received to-day the official announcement of an early discussion upon the question of the Pope's personal infallibility. The first batch of the documents relative to the dogma has already been distributed among the Fathers of the Council."

With regard to the proposal to throw open Westminster Abbey to the public all the year round, it is stated that it would cost from £600 to £800 a year; and this is the great difficulty, for the present, in the way of the extension of the free access for many years provided to the nave and transept, and now on Mondays to the Royal Chapels.

There was a pleasing gathering of Church choirs last Wednesday in the fine old Church of St. Michael's, Sittingbourne, East Kent. There were 250 choristers present, the singing was good, the Sermon was preached by the Rev. H. Bailey, Warden of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, and the offertory to meet the expenses of the Festival was £13 ls. 2d. The Rector of Stepney, who was presented to the valuable Living a short time ago by his father-in-law, the Bishop of London, has just commenced evening celebrations in his Parish Church. On introducing this abomination he preached a Sermon, wherein, we are informed, he stated that he conld nowhere in the Bible find any authority "for administering the Lord's Supper in the morning!"

The Suffragan Bishop of Dover held his first Visitation at Folkestone on Thursday. The Holy Communion was celebrated at 8 a.m., and Matins were said at 11 a.m. A correspondent of the John Bull is very angry at the Celebration having taken place at the former hour. Eleven o'clock would have been more fitting, he says. After the delivery of the Charge, the Bishop and Clergy lunched together at the West Cliff Hotel.

The Board of Trinity College, Dublin, have decided to found forty new Scholarships of £25 a year each, tenable for two years, for the purpose of assisting students whose means are limited in pursuing their University studies until they procure the degree of B.A. Some members of the Board are anxious that Scholarships should also be founded to be competed for by girls at the examination of senior and junior classes. The Board is inclined to fund £1,000 for the purpose.

A Pastoral has been issued by the R.C. Bishop of Southwark, in which, after requesting the prayers of his flock for those working to secure Catholic education for Catholic children, and instruction and means of religious exercise for Catholic prisoners, he urges them to pray for "those whose duty it will be to defend our conventual institutions, and to satisfy our opponents how faithfully and how freely their inmates have forsaken friends and home, rank and fortune, for the service of God, and the love of their neighbours."

On Sunday morning, being the first of May, the "Maudeleyne Grace," or "Hymnus Eucharisticus," was sung at five a.m. by the choir of Magdalen College on the summit of the chapel tower. The morning proved a very fine one, but the crowd on the tower and in the streets was not as great as in former years, owing doubtless to the heavy fall of rain which took place on Saturday night when people were going to bed. Immediately the hymn was ended the bells rang forth a merry peal, which in a few moments made the tower sway to and fro most perceptibly. On the 21st ult., an interesting event took place at Little Burnstead, Essex-the presentation of a testimonial, a handsome black marble clock, together with an address on vellum, to Mr. Thomas Mayott, the Churchwarden, on the very remarkable occasion of his entering on his sixtyfirst year of office. The subscription was confined to persons living or occupying land in the parish, and all, poor as well as rich, rejoiced at the opportunity thus afforded of showing their regard for an old and valued friend and neighbour.

A Society, to be called "The Church Reform Association," is being formed "with a view to obtain certain defined powers in Church matters to the inhabitants of parishes." One of its chief objects is to establish a "Church Council" of parishioners in each parish; and it also seeks to abolish Clerical subscription. Among the promoters of the movement are-Mr. Cowper Temple, Mr. Thomas Hughes, and many Clergymen. Lord Lyttelton and Sir J. D. Coleridge have expressed their agreement with the main points of the proposal.

The Synod of Argyll has come to a resolution in favour of the admission of the laity, on the proposition of the Provost of Cumbrae. The privilege is, however, to be guarded by the following provisos:-1. That our parochial system is to remain as at present. 2. That the privileges of the Upper Chamber and the General Synod are to remain intact. There was a third point which was but imperfectly apprehended. Mr. Mapleton, of Poltalloch, spoke strongly on the privileges of the Clergy, restraints proposed by the Provost of Cumbrae. but did not feel disposed to take a vote on the question after the

by a large number of the Dublin Clergy, protesting against his approval of the alleged Ritualistic sentiments contained in a book entitled "Short Prayers for those having little time to pray." The Archbishop says that there is nothing in the passages impugned which transgresses the fair limits of the teachings of the Church of England and Ireland, and he would a hundred times sooner cease from the office he holds than become the ignoble instrument of narrowing the limits of the Church, and making untenable in it the position of many of its most earnest and

The Archbishop of Dublin has replied to the address presented to him

devoted children.

Cardinal Cullen, before leaving for Rome on Sunday, issued a pastoral, in which he denounced Fenianism and Freemasonry, urges opposition to Mr. Newdegate's motion, and referring to the Land Bill says, "The statesmen who have displayed so much zeal for the public good and the welfare of Ireland by undertaking a work of such magnitude may be defeated by their opponents; but they deserve our warmest thanks, and the lasting gratitude of the country. In my opinion it would be fatal policy to do anything to weaken their hands or assist in driving them from power." The pastoral was read in all the Roman Catholic Chapels in Dublin on Sunday.

The following paragraph appeared in all the daily papers on Monday. Evidently it is an uninspired account:-" "The interview between the Bishop of London and the leading Ritualist Clergy of Bishop Jackson's Diocese took place on Saturday. It is understood that the various matters in dispute were fully discussed. Nothing, however, was definitely settled, but the Clergy present declined to make any further alteration in the manner of conducting the Services. It is stated that the Bishop would not be through the newspapers, but by way of private monition, said that if the Clergy should hear anything further in the matter it at least in the first instance."

An influential private meeting took place in the library of Chichester Cathedral last week, to hear the report of Mr. Gilbert Scott as to the restoration of the Lady Chapel. A few weeks since Mr. Scott came to Chichester, and under his direction the bookcases on the south side were removed, disclosing a double piscina and three sedilias, and in the recess of one of the latter there was the date 1740 marked in red pigment— the time, probably, when much of the defacement and blocking up occurred in the Cathedral. We understand £1,000 has already been promised towards the restoration, and that the executive committee appointed were highly gratified with Mr. Gilbert Scott's report.

On Tuesday the Bishop of Ely administered the rite of confirmation to fifty candidates in the Abbey Church of Thorney. The candidates assembled at the schools at three o'clock, and went in procession to the Abbey. Before the rite was administered the Bishop delivered an impressive address to the candidates, and asked them, in unison with the whole congregation, to kneel for a few moments in silent prayer to Almighty God that he would give them strength to keep fast the promises they were now about to make. The occasion was most solemn and touching, and coupled with his Lordship's very devout and impressive manner in administering the rite, appeared to have a marked effect on the whole congregation. Evensong was said at seven o'clock, when an instructive discourse was delivered by the energetic Curate, the Rev. J. W. Union.

The Right Rev. Dr. Stirling, the new Bishop of the Falkland Islands, has been paying a visit to the north. The episcopal palace which formed Bishop Stirling's residence when last in Terra del Fuego was an iron house 20ft. by 10ft. Its chief speciality was a most inconvenient chimney, which was built by an Irishman who was originally a gardener, then a tailor, but who afterwards turned his hand to bricklaying, and, having served his time as a tailor, ultimately took to constructing the Bishop's chimney. It is to be hoped that when Dr. Stirling returus to his Diocese he will still find this versatile Irishman willing to devote his many talents to his service. Two Clergymen connected with the North of Ireland have placed themselves under the Bishop's jurisdiction, the

Rev. E. Lett and the Rev. Robert Allen.

At a meeting of the Central Council of the Church Institution, in the Library of King's College, Strand, on Wednesday evening, a paper was read by the Rev. J. B. Courtenay, on "The Origin of Church Property