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alone during a number of Sessions, know to their cost how nothing but the intervention of the House of Lords saved them from a similar tyranny.

BISHOP COPLESTON AND THE C.M.S.

ECENT tidings from Ceylon will probably effect a

R revolution in the ideas of many English Churchmen

with reference to the condition of the Missions

founded and sustained in foreign lands through the instrumentality of this branclr of the Church Catholic. The painful distractions of the Church at home, the suicidal folly of professing Christians, claiming membership with her, yet spending their lives in a desperate struggle to sever all that links her to the vast, world-pervading, timeless Unity of the Mystical Body; the narrow, short-sighted, and irreligious policy of Bishops, whose Pope is the Prime Minister, whose "Summa Theologica" is compiled from the Sibylline leaves of popular clamour, strung together-if at all-by private judg; ment, and guarded by a world of Negations; the insolence and blasphemy of the surrounding sects, who scale the walls of the Church by treacherous aid from within ;-these things goad the loyal and sensitive Christian and compel him to look, away from this scene of renewed Crucifixion, as often as not to the mission-field of the Church, where the very lives of Bishops and Clergy are jeopardized for the advancement of God's glory, and for the extension of the Cloak of Christ over the nakedness of heathendom. The very atmosphere, he argues, of pure self-devotion must preserve the Church from legislation repressive of Public Worship, from false-consciously false-interpretation of Rubrics, to gratify a depraved Fanaticism, from the herding of blasphemous mobs in public Halls, where their worst passions are stimulated to serve the ends of interested demagogues, and where-as in Anti-Confessional Meetings-the spirit of Anti-Christ manifests itself in unparalleled iniquity.

But in thus contrasting the condition of the foreign mission Churches with that of the home Church, we have been apt to take an exaggerated view of the case. Under the violent mental pressure to which we are subjected by the many glaring evils of our home Church system, we are apt to draw conclusions which the è silentio nature of the argument does not warrant. True, the faith of Missionary Clergy is not taxed by internal dissensions in so great a degree as is that of those who stay at home; but, from the revelations which from time to time enlighten us with reference to individual Missions, we may conclude that a large proportion of the foreign Churches of our Communion do suffer from analogous evils in varying degrees. The news from Colombo affords us an insight into the nature of some of the difficulties with which our Missionary Churches have to contend. But a few months ago, one of the ablest of the younger generation of Oxford men was consecrated Bishop of Colombo, and forthwith sailed for his Diocese. Judging as the world judges, or, rather, as man must judge, from all cognizable circumstances, the sacrifice which was involved in his acceptance of the post, was one with but few parallels in the history of the Church of these days: we will only say that all who knew Mr. Copleston, his position, influence, abilities, character, and consequent prospects, must agree with us in this matter. And what was to be the reception of one, who went out in all the confidence of an unbounded faith, by those to whom he was to be the chief spiritual Ruler? Within a few brief months, he found himself in a position of which it is not so difficult for English Churchmen to realize the painfulness. Let his own words, carrying with them the unmistakeable voucher of calm truthfulness, describe the situation :—“ A sad trouble has come upon our Diocese. No less than twelve of our Clergy, members of the Church Missionary Society, among them several of our best and most devoted, are excluded-I trust it may be for a short time-from officiating in the Diocese, by the sentence of the Bishop. My authority, in certain important points, having been first resisted and then openly and repeatedly denied, I felt it necessary to withdraw the licences of those who thus resisted, in order, by showing the utmost firmness from the first, to ensure the recognition of authority, which I believe indispensable to the welfare of the Church, an authority to which each of my predecessors has in turn laid claim. The Clergy

of the Church Missionary Society have long claimed to be independent of the Bishop in the management of congregations and the appointment of Catechists-matters in which his authority is fully recognized by every other clergyman in the Diocese-and treat as ultimate authority a Lay Committee in London. These Clergy, whose licences are withdrawn, are, I believe, doing what they think to be their duty in maintaining the long-tolerated, but never-acknowledged freedom of their Society; I, on the other hand, believe that my duty is to compel them and their Society to submit. Our negociations, painful as they have been, have, thank God, been throughout conducted without anger and in a spirit of prayer and charity." Upon this letter we have but few remarks to offer. The case is stated by the Bishop with absolute truthfulness, as we happen to know from private information from Ceylon. A correspondent of a leading daily paper has tried to raise a prejudice against the Bishop, by asserting that this systematic insubordination of the Clergy of the Church Missionary Society has been tolerated by previous Bishops. Will he venture to add that it had their sanction or approval, without which his letter is as void of any intelligible argument as it is of Christian charity? As a matter of fact, former Bishops have been unable or unwilling to undertake the very arduous duty which Bishop Copleston, aided by the favourable circumstances of youth and physical energy, has nobly taken in hand. Of course, it was a very serious matter for a Bishop to adopt a position of necessary antagonism to an old, and in some respects venerable, Society: hence the monstrous compromise, which the present Bishop is determined to bring to an end, was tolerated, after feeble protests on the part of each of those Ceylonese Bishops who have so rapidly succeeded one another in the office-tolerated because it could not be abolished.

In plain language the scandal is this: the Clergy of the C.M.S. in Ceylon (with, we believe, only one exception), though licensed by the Bishop, claim to be responsible for their general religious system, not to him, but to a mixed lay Society consisting of so-called Churchmen and Dissenters. This virtually amounts to the Bishop's giving his Episcopal carte blanche to an irresponsible Association of a hybrid character. No amount of ingenuity can gloze over these extraordinary facts: no authority or Christian principles can justify them. The whole fault lies not with the Missionaries, but with the C.M.S., whose aversion to the whole theory of Episcopacy is notorious. And it cannot be doubted how the matter will end. The C.M.S. will be compelled to yield. The fact that eleven out of the twelve licences have been restored is not yet fully explained; but what is certain is, that Bishop Copleston will never abate one jot or tittle from the line which he believes to be faithful to the Church of God.

We conclude with an extract from the Bishop's letter:"I do not ask you to think me right, or to 'support' me in the world's abuse of the word: I ask you to support me, and those who are opposing me, and all our Church, by your prayers. Support us all by winning for us the spirit of love and wisdom now, and in God's time the blessing of peace." Can such an appeal need to be seconded by another voice?

Reviews and Notices of New Books.

CATHOLIC ESCHATOLOGY AND UNIVERSALISM: An Essay on the Doctrine of Future Retribution. By Henry Nutcombe Oxenham, M.A. London: B. M. Pickering. 1876.

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HIS volume is founded on four papers contributed by the author to the Contemporary Review in the early part of the present year. We note that they have been revised, amended, and considerably added to. four re-arranged articles are here divided into five chapters, thus respectively headed: "1. Difficulties and Misconceptions. 2. Witness of Reason. 3. Witness of Tradition. 4. Witness of Scripture. 5. Conclusion." A Preface of 40 pages is prefixed; and there stands an Appendix on Transubstantiation at the end of the fifth chapter. There is likewise a "Postscript on Professor Mayor's Reply,'" which, together, make up a closely-printed volume, small octavo in size, of about 230 pages. We will now proceed to give our readers some detailed account of it.

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Numerous are the difficulties and misconceptions noticed or refuted in the first chapter. Within the compass of forty pages Mr. Oxenham manages to embody a very large amount of information. The persons whose heresies and novel opinions he sets forth and refutes, cannot but acknowledge that the intricate work has been done with painstaking care and remarkable patience. Of these, Sir James Stephen and Mr. F. D. Maurice-the latter one of the most muddle-headed and obscure writers who ever put pen to paper-are dealt with at some length. After which the ordinary and popular Universalist writers are specially considered, and some of their chief misconceptions traced to the German heretic Calvin. One of these is the actual nature and duration of punishment, pœna damni and pœna sensûs, and the other is the exaggerated and wicked assertion of Sir James Stephen, an amateur theologian, that the Christian scheme "is supposed to consign the vast majority of our race to a future state, in which woe, immeasurable in amount, is also eternal in duration." Mr. Oxenham points out with much force that the foreign Reformers so violently distorted the Catholic doctrine of Original Sin, not simply to "splendid vices," but, as Luther declared, to "mortal sins"-thus making the damnation of the whole heathen world a natural corollary of the above fundamental heresies. He then quotes Fathers Lacordaire and Faber as to the probability that a large number of mankind will be saved and not lost and further proceeds to dwell with especial force on the loss which has been sustained in England by the practical abolition of Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead; pointing out truly enough that this doctrine is a most helpful and consoling, most fruitful, most suggestive and most indispensable truth-a truth, in contradicting which, the Reformers contradicted the instincts of Natural Religion as well as those of God's Revelation. The whole of the facts, arguments and deductions, from p. 26 to the end of the chapter, are worthy of very careful attention. For they most ably and exactly hit the defects of popular Church-of-England theology; and serve to provide thoughts and reasonings on the subject, of the greatest possible use to all who desire to teach the whole truth. Mr. Oxenham's arguments are both eloquently and forcibly put, and cannot fail to exercise considerable influence upon all careful and impartial students of them.

In the second chapter the author meets his opponents on common ground, stating, however, at the outset of it, that he does not profess to prove the doctrine of Eternal Punishment on à priori grounds, but from Revelation. He, however, shows with great felicity and force that it cannot be dis-proved on grounds of reason. Here he meets Mr. Andrew Jukes, and his book "The Restitution of all Things," with a series of arguments of some subtlety but great cumulative force. Eternal damnation, as is so well pointed out here, is no arbitrary infliction of a vengeful Deity, as scoffers, blasphemers and maundering pietists are so fond of putting it, but it is simply that God Almighty Himself has at length deliberately withdrawn from His rebellious creature that care and gracious aid, which for so long a time has been steadily and pertinaciously despised. "The blessing comes from God: the curse from the sinner himself." Then the soul misses the final end of its creation through its own fault, having chosen self instead of God, and so remains for ever miserable. Eternal damnation then is the eternal loss of goodness and of God. Heaven," as Dr. Newman put it years ago, "would be Hell to an irreligious man." The false and spurious charity of the Universalists is well described on p. 63; while the exact statements of the Fathers (showing expressly what was the Faith of the early ages) are of great value: "What can be more grievous than Hell?" asks St. John Chrysostom. "Yet nothing is more profitable than the fear of it," he replies, "for the fear of Hell will bring us the Crown of the Kingdom." At the same time the fallacies, slipshod arguments, prejudices, and exaggerations of the insidious, dangerous, and specious heretics who abound, are treated as they deserve. Few modern writers could have dealt with them so wisely or so well.

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The "Witness of Tradition," comprised in the third chapter, is a piece of writing of great breadth and power. In many respects (specially as regards grasp of truth and capacity for philosophic dissertation,) it is a masterly production, and of leading interest: though of course somewhat tough and stiff to master. After asserting truly enough that

Revelation must be accepted or rejected as a whole, Mr. Oxenham proceeds, by a careful exposition of Pagan opinion, to show what the solemn teaching of conscience has been according to the general consent of antiquity-indicating the opinions of the ancients with point, patience, and force. The denial by a recent Universalist that the doctrine of the eternity of punishment can be classed under the quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus, is also discussed with breadth and ability (Pp. 77-79). Then come detailed statements of the obvious belief and convictions of the early Christian martyrs (Pp. 82-84), and afterwards an allusion to the obvious and enormous value of the Athanasian Creed in this controversy. Step by step Mr. Oxenham points out the fallacies and perversions of Church history in which the Universalists indulge, and this by details of the greatest moment in the records of early Councils regarding the controversies on Origenism, which are brought out and set forth most adroitly. The outrageous misrepresentation of some of the greatest Fathers by Mr. Jukes is proved beyond a doubt -so much so that our faith in that controversialist's literary honesty is somewhat shaken. St. Irenæus, St. Chrysostom, St. Augustine and St. Jerome are shown to have taught something very like the exact antithesis of that with which Mr. Jukes has endeavoured to load their sacred memories; while as to the current opinion of the divines of the Reformation period, there is scarcely room for a doubt. They maintained the doctrine of the Athanasian Creed without reserve and without explaining it away so that the tradition of fifteen centuries, carefully expounded, remains unbroken.

The fourth chapter is taken up with "The Witness of Scripture;" and is a chapter of very great interest and importance. Mr. Oxenham, at the outset, asks two very pertinent questions of the Universalists. First: If Christ had intended to teach the doctrine of Eternal Punishment, could He possibly have taught it in plainer or more direct terms? Second: If He did not intend to teach it, could He possibly have chosen language more certain à priori to mislead (as the unbroken experience of eighteen centuries proves a posteriori that it always has misled), the immense multitude of His disciples? And then the author reminds his readers of Hooker's well-known assertion that "where a literal interpretation will stand, the furthest from the letter is commonly the worst," and proceeds to apply it. After which Mr. Oxenham draws out a parallel between the explicit statements of our Blessed Saviour regarding the doctrines of the Real Presence and Everlasting Punishment respectively. This portion of his argument is put with singular felicity and point, and cannot fail to make a deep impression on all who read it. Then follows a dissertation in detail on the antithesis of Everlasting Death, viz., Life Eternal (Pp. 113 et seq.), a dissertation which is conducted with great calmness, good judgment, and much ability. Facts and reasonings are ably marshalled. Mr. Oxenham goes to the root of the disputed questions, and illustrates his comments and conclusions with much varied and wide learning. We have no space to follow him but his remark, whether direct or indirect, are always forcible and to the point, and his dexterous ability in impaling his opponents on the horns of a disagreeable dilemma is constantly called int operatior. What is involved in rejecting the doctrine of the Athanasian Creed on the subject under consideration is indirectly pointed out. Categorical statements of Holy Scripture have to te explained away by objectors, maintained to be interpolations or spurious, or proved to be either metaphorical or false. The doctrine of the personal existence and active energy of evil spirits, and by consequence of angels, must be rejected-a clean sweep must be made of the fact of the temptation of our first parents, of original sin, the fall of man, and all its consequences. In fine the origin and existence of evil must be altogether and totally denied.

The "Conclusion" arrived at in the last chapter is not merely a summary of those which stand before it, but a careful and concise setting forth of various independent points and considerations which clinch the arguments already adduced, and serve to remove certain difficulties previously hinted at rather than explained. Here the mystery of evil, the justice of the Almighty, the fact that wickedness perpetrated by men lives after them, together with other details bearing on the author's leading enquiry, are consideredmany words of wisdom, and sentences rife with profound

thought, being set forth for the edification of the reader. Here are some of Mr. Oxenham's forcible sentences:-"We cannot pretend to trace out in detail the harmony of a vast system, of which only a portion, and, for aught we can tell, a very small portion, is as yet disclosed to us. Meanwhile we do know that, in order to arrest the progress of that tremendous conflict initiated by the perverse will of the creature, the Creator vouchsafed to submit Himself to the laws of His own creation, and to die a malefactor's death" (p. 144). "It must be remembered that, while the blessing is from God, the curse is from man himself." "The fiat of eternal death issues from the will, not of the Creator, but of the creature, who has preferred darkness to light, and has deliberately rejected the love that wooed but failed to win him" (p. 145). "Varieties of character, and circumstance, and position, are all but infinite, and the sin which fixes the aversion of the soul from God, and seals its final destiny, may assume ten thousand forms. It may be the monster ambition which wades through torrents of blood to an imperial throne, or the petty but conscious dishonesty which looks God full in the face and then asks a halfpenny too much for a pound of sugar. The profit of all alike will be lighter than vanity when weighed in the balance of the world beyond the grave, and all alike are so far decisive of the eternal future, as they express the ultimate condition and settled character of a soul that has 'forgotten God"" (p. 148).

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To members of the Church of England the Appendix, consisting of a careful dissertation on Transubstantiation, will be read with great interest. Mr. Oxenham defends with ability and power the position taken up about six years ago by Mr. G. F. Cobb, of Cambridge, in his remarkable treatise, The Kiss of Peace," adding much that is at once pertinent and forcible to the arguments of that truly valuable volume. The comments on p. 163 and those which follow on the heresy of Consubstantiation-or an objectionable theory of Impanation, a kind of Sacramental Eutychianism-which has been popular with some High Churchmen who ought to have known better than to have adopted it, are deserving of serious attention; as are also the pointed comments of Mr. Oxenham on the Zuinglianism of some of our Church periodicals.

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The most brilliant piece of writing we have read for some time is the " Postscript on Professor' Mayor's Reply.'" We have not the remotest notion who Professor Mayor may be, or what he "professes "-whether it is conjuring, hairdressing, patent medicine-compounding, or book-making (for there are such numerous "Professors" of all these important arts now-a-days)-but, whoever or whatever he may be, we do not envy him his sensations on perusing Mr. Oxenham's scarifying criticism, which is as amusing and thorough as it is brilliant, pungent, and well-deserved. The "Professor must have often winced, capered about and screamed, on reading this crushing exposition of his misconceptions, errors, and mistakes. "I do not remember," writes the author, "to have ever met with before, the narrow intolerance of a Calvin with the arrogant disregard of all authority other than of his own reason, which distinguished Socinus, nor with a writer whose theological antipathies appear to be keen and unmeasured in proportion to his inacquaintance with theology." Our own reflection on reading Mr. Oxenham's "Reply is this-If these "Professors" are the people who are allowed to instruct and illuminate the prejudiced and ignorant on subjects of the deepest moment, what must be the literary degradation of those dazed persons who read, and are led by, such lumbersome lucubrations as the "Professor" wrote ?

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Two passages from the earlier part of the book are worthy of special notice. Referring to certain distinguished Catholic authors who have asserted that in great probability the majority of mankind will be saved, Mr. Oxenham thus writes:-"We may gladly take comfort in the many considerations which seem to point that way. But the subtle operations of the human will, in contact or conflict with the pleadings of supernatural grace, must ever continue to elude our keenest scrutiny" (p. 25). "The causes of the revolt against the doctrine of everlasting punishment are well described as the neglect or denial amongst Protestants of another great Christian truth, attested by heathen philosophy and tradition, no less than by the teaching of the Church, and of which it may, indeed, be said with terrible emphasis

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neglectum sui ulciscitur. I mean the doctrine of Purgatory and Prayer for the Departed. It is certainly a strange Nemesis on those who for upwards of three centuries have been inveighing against this doctrine as a Pagan superstition, to find themselves constrained suddenly to turn round upon us with the charge that we are, in the courtly phrase of Anglicanus,' teaching 'horrible' and infamous doctrines, and are no better than priests of Moloch' if we decline to accept at their bidding an universal Purgatory for everybody" (p. 26). The Reformers, who, as Mr. Oxenham remarks, were much in the habit of acting as though they were the chosen depositories of a new revelation from on high, made short work of Purgatory and Prayer for the Dead; yet, eloquently remarks Mr. Oxenham-"There must always have been many who, like Dr. Johnson, interceded privately for their lost ones, while many more, who dared not rebel against the tyranny of a false tradition, groaned in secret under the perverse refinement of superstitious cruelty, which, in the hour of darkness and desolation, when all earthly lights are darkened, and the stricken heart instinctively turns to God, sternly forbade them to name before Him mother. wife, or child, or beloved friend, whose name, till then, had never been absent from their daily prayers. It is customary with Anglicans to talk of our beautiful Burial Service,' and beautiful no doubt it is, so far as language goes; naturally enough, for nearly every word of it, not contained in the text of Scripture, is taken from Catholic sources. Its fault is not of commission, but of omission; but the fault is a radical one. It has often been my lot to hear that service read over the graves of those very dear to me, and at such times I have never been able to escape a bitter sense of the unreality of a ritual, however musical in expression, which consigns their bodies to the earth without one syllable of intercession for their parted souls. A service for the dead which omits to pray for them is, indeed, to use the hackneyed simile, like Hamlet' with the Prince of Denmark's part left out (p. 30). Passages like this, marked by masculine vigour and obvious justice, are common throughout the volume.

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We have written enough, we feel confident, to induce many of our readers to procure for themselves this able and timely volume. It deals thoroughly with errors now ripe and popular; and it deals with them by a masterly method and in a most orthodox and reverent spirit. A theological treatise, written in a stiff and scientific mode, might have secured a limited circle of students: here, where theology is set forth learnedly, attractively, with apt illustrations, and so popularly, from one whose reading has been wide and whose scholarship and philosophy are at once exact and thorough, we venture to predict that its readers will be numbered by thousands. There are, we regret to note, several unfortunate misprints in the book which no careful printer should have passed.

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ECCLESIASTICAL DISCOURSES, Delivered on Special Occasions. By Bishop Ullathorne. London: Burns and Oates. 1876. OST active must be the life of every Bishop in these days, (whether Anglican, Roman Catholic, Protestant Episcopal, or Colonial,) if he would do his duty at once to his Master and his flock. Amongst Bishops of the Roman Catholic Communion in England, no one has deservedly obtained a higher reputation for wisdom, prudence. and zeal, than the pious, energetic, and respected Prelate who fills the important See of Birmingham-(one of the most important in England)-where we are happy to know that his Lordship is looked upon with regard by many external to his own particular Communion, and where his reasonable and legitimate personal influence is very considerable with all classes. The Bishop has not been a great author. His account of the Establishment of the R.C. Hierarchy, however, is of real historical influence; his exposition of the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady was very timely and singularly able; while his Reply to Mr. Gladstone's pamphlet on Gladstone's pamphlet on "Vaticanism," so-called, was singularly able and quietly crushing. His most important volume is the book before us, which consists of Twelve Sermons, some of them of considerable length-rather concise Treatises than ordinary Discourses. They appear to have been delivered at various intervals within the last quarter of a century; and are called "Ecclesiastical Discourses," as the Bishop intimates

in the first sentence of his Preface, because they either treat of ecclesiastical subjects or were addressed especially to Ecclesiastics. Four of them were preached before the Diocesan Synod of Birmingham; three before the assembled Clerics at St. Bernard's Seminary; two were addressed to the Provincial Synod of Westminster; one was delivered upon the occasion of the consecration of the Bishops of Salford and Amycla; one at the opening of the First Provincial Chapter of the Dominican Sisters of the English Congregation of St. Catherine of Sienna; and another on the festival of All the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict. A few have already been published separately; but these have undergone a very careful revision.

The first Sermon, preached in 1853 at his Lordship's first Diocesan Synod, is a very touching and able discourse. Remembering that England has professed to adopt the principle of Civil and Religious Liberty, we never could understand why the insanity of the "Papal-aggression "-people-with Lord John Russell at their head-was not at once repudiated by all sensible and fair-minded Englishmen. Roman Catholics had every right to avail themselves of the "Civil and Religious Liberty "-principle, just as much, at least, as Wesleyans, Jumpers, Shakers, or Quakers. And we are not very sorry that they did so. The considerable increase in the numbers of R. Catholics since 1850 has proved how much Diocesan Bishops were required for their Communion; and, though that increase is considerably indebted to the Oxford movement and to secessions, it largely helps to intensify the beneficent influence of Christianity in England. Of course, we have never been able to appreciate the force of R. Catholic arguments, that the line of St. Augustine certainly came to an end with Pole and the death of Thomas Watson, Bishop of Lincoln. If all the Prelates ceased to be, why did not the Pope order the immediate consecration of others to fill the acknowledged vacancies? Yet the old Sees were filled up as of old; the old titles remained; there was no such evident guidance and dogmatic assertion from Rome as to the Church of England not being any part of the Family of God as to clear up every difficulty: and so the remedy was not forthcoming, nor vouchsafed for three centuries and more afterwards. This by the way. We can quite enter into the Bishop's joy in the creation of a new Hierarchy, for the R. Catholics by their social influence, numbers, and religious importance sorely needed it.

Here is a passage, on that valuable step, of force and truth:

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The hierarchy! which arose amidst so wild an opposition; it mears that fertile organization which the Holy Ghost breathed into the Church from her earliest beginnings. It means the restoration of that discipline by which the Saints awakened and directed the energies of pastoral solicitude. It means an Episcopacy and Clergy imbued with the deep wisdom of the Sovereign Pontiffs, of the Fathers and of the Councils. It means the regulation of Ecclesiastical government by subordination of authorities, under the influence of that unity which is the secret of all strength. It means subjection to "precise rules both for Bishops and their Clergy, and obedience for those who govern in the Church as well as those who are governed. Study we'l that Provincial Council in all its features, or any similar one, and you will see that the Prelates of the Church bind themselves more strictly far than they bind their subjects." (Pp. 3, 4.)

This is a model discourse, full of wisdom and unctiondignified and stately in every sentence and exhortation.

In fact, there is not a Sermon in the volume which does not deserve a careful study. We recommend this book, therefore, with confidence to our own Clergy, because they will find in it much which they never hear at their own Conferences and Meetings-a great contrast to the too feeble and often platitudinarian utterances of the Bishops of the old Church of England-now so grievously Erastianized by the influence of designing and wicked men. Here Dr. Ullathorne uses language not to obscure but to enunciate his ideas.

Of the effect of the mission of our Lord's Apostles upon themselves, the Bishop of Birmingham thus beautifully writes: :

The fire of the Eucharistic grace caused their hearts to burn within them; and while thus ductile and impressible through the tenderness of His charity and the contemplation of His departure from them, He reiterates upon them stroke upon stroke, as with the sword of His spirit, "Ye are not of the world." He puts the word of His power into them; He sanctifies Himself for them; He prepares in Himself that sacerdotal grace which He gives to them as the principle of the sacerdotal virtues; and He sends them into the world armed with the adamantine shield of that imperishable prayer, in which He asks the Father to keep them from sin and secularity, Need we wonder then that the grace of the

priesthood is so strong a grace, and that it takes a low course of inward neglect and decay, or a violent course of rebellious resistance, before it is absolutely broken down, before the world is scandalized by a fall like that of Satan. (P. 20).

A few pages later on, the due relations between priest and people is admirably stated :—

It is impossible to love Christ and not love to save souls. A soul among created things is the noblest, and when pure is nigh unto God. What is the diamond of purest ray serene, compared with the lustre of that ray of light in which God constitutes a soul, and brings it into relationship with His intelligence? If we go to the skilful for a true redeemed it, not with gold and silver, but the precious blood of Christ, valuation of the jewel, God has appraised the soul of man, and ba3 as of a lamb unspotted and undefiled." And this soul, so dearly redeemed-I use the words of St. Gregory Nazianzen-God has placed on the earth to be alter angelus, cultor sui. If that soul has turned away from God, you are its illuminator. The more need have you that the light of God's countenance should shine upon you. If it hath sunk into uncle in mire, you are to rescue and redress that soul. The more need have you to be clean of heart. If like the light straw or idle feather, it tossed to and fro in the eddies of human opinion, your office is to bring that soul into the stability of truth. Oh what a mission is ours! What a prize we have in view to keep our courage up to earnest work! (Pp. 26, 27).

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The Sermon on Mixed Marriages is perhaps the ablest in the book. Here the discipline of the Church is set forth as luminously as words can set it forth: while the somewhat difficult subject of dispensations-all the more difficult since the notorious Ellon case scandalized so many in Scotland and England,—is treated by the pen of a "master in Israel." Scarcely of less interest is that preached on the occasion of the consecration of Bishops Vaughan and Weathers. Here (pp. 102-106) "the office and work of a Bishop in the Church of God" is set forth in words which none can fail to understand, and the point of which few will readily miss. Towards the end of this noble discourse his Lordship sets forth in eloquent words the true glory, honour, and privilege appertaining to the episcopal office now-a-days; then, as if affording him his key-note, he takes occasion to remark that what was said by an eminent orator to the revolutionary Assembly of France towards the close of last century is everywhere exemplified in this :-" Drive the Bishops from their palaces, and they will find refuge in the poor man's cottage; snatch their jewelled croziers from their bands, and they will grasp a staff of wood." (P. 113).

Again, in most forcible and eloquent terms he writes thus:

If ever a Catholic Bishop was strong, he is strong in this hour of the world's history. He is strong, because he is free. He is strong, because he leads a simple and frugal life. He is strong, because he is a Bishop, and nothing but a Bishop; strong, therefore, in the vivid conciousness of his high office. Strong he is in the affections of his people, of a people who hold the faith with the loss of advantage in this world, that makes the representative of that faith all the dearer to their souls. Strong, and vigorously strong is he, because more closely than ever united with the Apostolic Chair. Such is the Catholic Bishop of this nineteenth century. The arduous difficulties that beset his path but plume his courage. The heat and pressure of the combat with ignorance and error bring out his light to greater radiance. On so much has he to think, against so many things has he to guard, insomuch must he endure in the patience of his soul, so much has he to construct, so many affairs to set in order, that every spark and atom of his sacramental energy is brought into life and action. And if ever the essential qualities of the perfect Bishop were required, they are demanded in our day and circumstances. His learning is called for to withstand and confound the intellectual follies, to detect the sophistries and fallacies of writers, who constitute themselves the guides of men both for this life and the next; and to know how to steer the bark of the Church amidst the tempest of life. His virtue must be calm as it is firm and solid, as tender in compassion as unflinching in justice; upholding the Cross and bearing its reproaches with a martyr's spirit, a pattern to the flock in all the charity and patience of God. His wisdom must appreciate the circumstances of the times in a great spirit, among the blended elements of the new and old conditions of human life and society, discerning and holding to that in which the will and providence of God is made manifest.

Having said thus much in regard to the Episcopal dignity now-a-days, the revered Prelate adds:

Such is the Bishop whom the Church demands, and whom the world stands in need of in this latter part of the nineteenth century. And so let us all with one heart and voice pray to God that, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, such may be the Right Rev. Prelates who are this day consecrated to the saving of souls. (P. 114.)

Almost every detail of the active and spiritual life of a priest is dwelt upon or dealt with, wisely and powerfully. Dr. Ullathorne's words are always clear; his teaching is ever definite. The three sermons (Nos. VII., VIII. and IX.), “On Science and Wisdom," point his Lordship out as a theologian and Christian philosopher of merit and rank. They deserve to be carefully studied, and would be of great service to many

a country parson of the Established Church, as well as to every candidate for Holy Orders amongst us. Sermons such as these ought to be known at Wells, Chichester, Lincoln, Cuddesdon, and Salisbury; and if the estimable prelates presiding over those various seminaries would only study them, and have them read to the students, they would do well. The perusal of them would be more profitable than the consideration of "Little Sins " "or 66 Rome, the Babylon of the Apocalypse."

Here is a passage, at once practical and pungent, from the eleventh sermon, which touches up those preachers who sometimes allow short or bad tempers to get the better of them :The preacher is out of sorts; or something has crossed his calmer mood; or some vulgar emotion, love of affectation or suspicion, unpurged by self-discipline, takes the ascendant for the time; or, coming unprepared, he sees no clear line before him. Instead of looking calmly to God for light; instead of holding in peaceful hope and patience to his centre, where he would certainly find some edifying word for his people; instead of falling back as his final resource on those elementary doctrines with which he is always at home, the preacher yields himself up to his inward provocation, nurses the sore of his wounded fancy, gives the old Adam his way, lets his warmed imagination follow her unpleasant fancies, and breaks over his congregation in a distempered fit of scolding that damages himself and damages them. If he be vain as well as weak in spirit, he will imagine he has given a powerful discourse, and that the relief he feels at firing off his temper is a sign of the good he has accomplished. (P. 278.)

We have no further space at our disposal: otherwise we might both write and quote more. Ere laying down our pen we may briefly sum up our judgment of these Twelve Sermons, and say that there is a simplicity in their forcible eloquence, and a vigour in their stately sentences, which unquestionably attract and charm the reader. There is no straining after effect or grand sentences; the Bishop always writes easily and luminously. His illustrations from the Holy Scriptures are at once suitable and pertinent, while the numerous Patristic quotations, evidencing so careful a study of the Fathers, add immensely to the interest and value of the volume. miss the titles of the Sermons at the head of each page, which does not even, we remark, contain the respective numbers of the discourses. In the coming second edition this obvious and practical defect should be amended.

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THOSE of our readers who follow our advice by procuring Readings for the Sundays and Holy Days of the Church's Year (Bosworth), will perceive that we need not apologize for recommending the book; although it happens to have been written by a member of what is known, outside its own limits, as the "Irvingite" Communion. From all tenets which are peculiarly Irvingite we need hardly express our entire dissent; but no Catholic can afford to withhold a glad and thankful admission that a vast body of Catholic Truth is grasped by "Irvingites" with a firmness, and taught by them. with a fidelity, which might well put to shame many amongst ourselves. This book is, of course, arranged in accordance with the "Irvingite " Liturgy, and the reader will light here and there upon passages referring to the restored "Four-fold Ministry"; but these can scarcely be held to detract from the value of the work as a whole. We have no hesitation whatever in saying that we know of no book which so simply, so clearly, and so thoroughly sets forth the whole. rationale of the Church's Year. It is the very thing to put into the hands of otherwise well-educated people, who, nevertheless, need sound elementary religious teaching; whilst the better-instructed will not fail to find here much that is valuable. The author, who is evidently a man of wide theological attainments, clearness of intellect, and refinement of mind, has thoroughly digested materials drawn from Catholic sources, and reproduced them in a terse and compact form. Even in the very Readings " "where we are compelled to differ most widely from his views, as, for example, in those for the Fourth and Fifth Sundays after Pentecost, we still willingly admit the existence of much that is interesting and noteworthy. We cannot, within our present limits, pause to specify those passages which have pleased us most; although, as Tories, we may perhaps be allowed to express our particular satisfaction with that on "The Kingship of Christ," which incidentally shows how the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings to govern, is really a safeguard of the Divine Right of Peoples to be governed with law and justice. We must, in conclusion, just whisper a protest against the somewhat grotesquely Érastian theory, mentioned on page 257 of the

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second volume, being attributed to the Church of England. To whomsoever else it may belong, we defy anybody to prove that it is hers. Perhaps the author will see his way to modifying the language of this passage in that future edition of his book to which we sincerely hope it will attain. BOUND up with another and longer treatise of which more presently-are two shorter ones, entitled respectively John Wesley, an Unconscious Romanist; and Notes on a Suggested Alteration in the English Church Formula for Administering the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist to the Recipients (Pickering), both of which we have studied. The former consists of a stale criticism on the " Capel-Liddon controversy in the Times of twenty months ago. author fails to perceive the points at issue, and evidently knows extremely little of the philosophical bearings of the dogma of Transubstantiation, which, as held by Roman Catholics, and formulated by St. Thomas Aquinas, is based on the doctrine of the Realist philosophy with regard to "substance" and "accidents -a doctrine which our author, by the way, seems to think was first enunciated by John Locke. Hence, to make Transubstantiation de fide is clearly, by implication, to make the Realist theory as to "substance" and "accidents" also de fide; and consequently, as Dr. Liddon pointed out, those who cannot accept Realism cannot accept the Roman definition of Transubstantiation. In the passage quoted from Dr. Neale's book, that writer distinctly accepted the Realist philosophy on this point, and as distinctly accepted Transubstantiation according to the Roman definition of it. Hence the bumptious ignorance of a writer, who seeks to instruct Dr. Liddon and Mgr. Capel on these points (pp. 126, 127), is infinitely amusing. As to the concluding short treatise with the long name, it is noteworthy for the utter confusion and inaccuracy of thought in which the writer flounders from beginning to end, and which carry him perilously near to heresy. After reading the two shorter works, we cannot say that we had the patience to wade through the ninety-seven pages of large, and sixteen of small, type, in which is discussed the question, Sacrifice, or no Sacrifice? but we observe that it starts with an absurd and ignorant perversion of the Roman Catholic doctrine about the Holy Eucharist.

WE WE are pleased with the Oration by Father Ignatius (Lyne) on The Present Position of Ritualists in the Church of England, not alone because of its outspokenness, but because of its shrewdness, force, and eloquence. It is well worth reading, as the following forcible extract abundantly serves to show:

It is JESUS ONLY the Head of His Church, and only her Bishops and Clergy freely elected-not by the Prime Minister, who may choose Jews, Turks, infidels, or heretics-who have a right to govern her. Until the Church of England speaks by her canonically-elected Bishops and her Clergy properly elected in council, and abrogates herself the old service-books which she has sanctioned, I do not care for Privy Council authority in matters concerning God, in matters concerning the worship of the Most High. For, my brethren, see for one moment of what our Legislature consists. Does it consist of strict communicants of the Church of England? If it does there would be a little fairness in Parliamentary legislation in Church matters; but when I see that Parliament consists of men some of whom do not believe in the Ascension of Jesus Christ, and would not adjourn on Ascension Day for Divine Worship, though they did on the Derby Day for the races, I say they are not only a disgrace to common-sense, but to Christianity too. I doubt their religious scholarship as Liturgical Reformers. If we look at the principles of our Legislature, I say Christianity is not part or parcel of the requirements in a man who enters that House and takes the Constitutional oath. In the House of Commons are infidels, Socinians, Jews, unbelievers of every sort; and if these are the men who are to vote as to what is to be done by the Church of England, we poor Church of England people in this nineteenth century are in a most scandalous spiritual slavery. Is it fair that our Church of England, for which our martyrs have lived and died-is it fair that our Church of England, which has been the mother of so many saints-is it fair that our Church of England, which has been the admiration of the world for ages, and whose saints have filled the calendars of many foreign Churches-is it fair that our Church, which founded and organised the State-is it fair that we should see the State trample on her and rob her of her beauties, and then tell her to be thankful for the paltry pittance it doles out? Are we Christian Churchmen to allow it? Are we to sit tamely by and see our precious heritage parted with piece by piece? If you part with the symbol you will have to part with the reality before long.

UNDER the title of Reflections (Hodges), the Rev. Dr. Evans, the much-respected Rector of St. Mary-leStrand, publishes forty short addresses delivered during the

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