NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. The text of Mr. Grueber's Declaration shall appear in our next. C.B.C.-You must meet the danger either by influencing the Council, or by withdrawing from the Society, and so not participating in the policy you so righteously and rightly characterize as "dangerous and fatal." A.P.B.-(1.) The foolish movement of appealing to the worst-educated and least-influential is a very Hibernian mode of fighting the battle. (2) Of course the Letters were written for them. (3.) It all depends on what you mean by a "working-man." The term is vague. A.B.C.-The Report on Vivisection" costs 4s. 4d. It can be ordered of any bookseller. "R. G.'s" Poem shall be inserted. Dr. W.-The Postage of one Copy of the PILOT to Canada is 3d. As a rule, we must decline to insert both personal attacks of every sort and kind, and anonymous letters. If people want to ventilate their opinions (and a newspaper is certainly a proper vehicle for such action,) they must be good enough to sign their names to communications forwarded. We beg our correspondents and supporters to address all Letters relating to the literary portion of this paper to The Editor of THE PILOT, 376, Strand, London, W.C.;" and all communications regarding the sale and advertising, to Mr. J. H. BATTY, Publisher, at the same address. "Has not all our misery, as a Church, arisen from people being afraid to and bells, and wore them with consummate and amusing art. The Protestants, Orange as well as Liberal, were defeated by 127 votes to 87. For ourselves, we believe that Pro estant "Ladies' Schools" want a deal more investigation than any Convents, whether Roman or Anglican. THI HE appointment of Mr. (now Dr.) Mylne to an Indian Bishopric by Lord Salisbury merits special commendation. Old men, half worn out by home work before they are sent to India, are almost sure to die off or become indolent. Young men should be sent out who own a little enthusiasm and zeal. Dr. Mylne, who is of Mr. Keble's school, possesses considerable theological powers, as his 66 paper on Theodore of Mopsuestia," in the first number of the Church Quarterly, abundantly proved. We are very glad to learn that when Her Majesty (as is reported) objected both to Dr. Mylne's youth and college, Lord Salisbury was enabled to speak of each with favour and approbation. At presen we may congratulate ourselves that Christianity is not tabooed at Keble College. No one, however, can say when "Liberal Reform" may not secularize that Institution, like the others at Oxford, and bring to nought its founders' intentions and plans. Ο WING to the remissness of some of our contemporaries, of whose silence we can offer no explanation, it is not known so generally as it should be, that the Bishop of Tennessee is in this country on a mission to collect funds for look difficulties in the face? They have palliated acts, when they the extension of "the University of the South," which has should have denounced them And what is the consequence? That our Church has through centuries ever been sinking lower and lower, till good part of its pretensions is a mere sham; though it be a duty to make the best of what we have received."-P. 274-" HISTORY OF MY RELIGIOUS OPINIONS." BY VERY REV. J. H. NEWMAN, D.D. D AY after day for the last month the Times, leading the other Liberal papers by the nose, and apparently inspiring them, has filled its columns with the most "feeble fooling" with reference to the titles of "Queen" and "Empress;" until people are utterly sick of reading it. German philologists from Oxford have played the dull game of hair-splitting, and briefless barristers from the Temple have aired their wearisome crotchets. But all to no purpose. The House of Commons, however, having discussed the question raised, settled it and then the House of Lords somewhat languidly proceeded to do the same. Lord Shaftesbury's Resolution was as feebly and ill-supported by Lord Selborne's far-fetched arguments as by his own: nor did the trotting out of Lord Roseberry's isolated joke serve any good purpose. The division was crucial and triumphant. and there's an end of the matter. If the Liberals have no better tactics than these, and such as these to pursue, they had better sit still and desist from their artificially-made noise. SI IR THOMAS CHAMBERS, the Liberal member for Marylebone,-vice Mr. Newdegate resigned,-led the aggression on Convents this year. The debate took place last Friday week, and was mainly remarkable for the important change effected by the introduction of the word "character in the proposed Resolution, which ran thus:"It is expedient that an inquiry be undertaken as to the number, rate of increase, character, and present position in relation to the law of monastic and conventual institutions in Great Britain." This additional "improvement" afforded a fine field for the Protestants, whether malignant, ignorant, or both, to air their stupid bigotry. It is worthy of note that Lord Percy, for the first time, both voted and spoke against the motion. It is also worthy of note that Mr. Shaw and Dr. Smyth, two Irish Protestants, did the same;-the latter truly enough maintaining that Sir T. Chambers's proposal was "utterly reactionary and totally inconsistent with the princip es of civil and religious liberty." The six R. Catholic speakers who addressed the House spoke admirably-with force, fire, and frankness; more especially Sir G. Bowyer and Mr. O'Malley. Mr. Whalley, as usual, assumed the cap been founded at Sewanee, Tennessee, U.S. The history of this project is a remarkable one: before the Civil War, when the South was in the full tide of its prosperity, a large capital in bonds and subscriptions had been promised, a Charter of incorporation had been granted by the Legislature, and some portions of what were to have been handsome and substantial buildings had been erected. After the war it was found that the buildings had been destroyed by fire, that the capital was gone, and that the whole South was so impoverished as to be unable to replace what had been lost. The Bishops of the Southern States have, however, persevered under all d'fficulties; and temporary wooden buildings having been erected, the University of the South has again started into life, but under circumstances which necessitate an appeal for help to the Churchmen of this country. There are several special reasons why this appeal should command the sympathies of English Churchmen. The University in question is to be conducted on distinctively Church principles, and will thus be a witness in the New World to that essential connection between the Church and the Universities,-between theology and general education, which the destructives of the Old World have so successfully effaced. When we consider how the revenues of our ancient Universities have been wasted over those who either do nothing in return, or else do mischief by the active propagation of a priggish infidelity, we cannot be too thankful that there comes from the other side of the Atlantic such a condemnation of the policy and notions which prevail in this country on the subject of University Reform. We would also point out that the University of the South, from which probably all the Clergy of the Episcopal Church in the outhern States are likely in the course of time to be drawn, must, in the ordinary course of events, re-act upon the Church and Clergy of England, and that the best results are likely to follow from the bond of sympathy which would be created by a recognition of the claims which the Church in the Southern States has upon the sympathies of Conservative Churchmen in England. A Committee has been formed to further the project, of which the honorary secretaries are the Rev. Dr. Tremlett and the Rev. Dr. R. T. West, to whom contributions may be sent. WH HEN next November arrives,-the time for the London School Board elections,- -we are quite certain to find that considerable deterioration will take place in the calibre and class of candidates. They are low enough already, as we are all aware but so many men of mark are reported to be about to retire, and so many common and vulgar aspirants are said to be putting themselves forward, that the future of the London School Board must cause some anxiety. At the last election, Churchmen failed to secure a majority; and now that so many Board chools have been set up, and so many Church schools shut up, it is doubtful whether any better fight can be made, or any less marked failure avoided. Heart-sickness at the present lamentable state of affairs is a prevalent complaint. Still, the attempt should be made; and we earnestly hope, therefore, that it may be found convenient to the National Society to become the headquarters of Churchmen for co-operation, defence, and bold activity. Immediate steps ought to be likewise taken to secure and utilize the Roman Catholic vote. Almost all the Dissenters will range themselves on the Secularist side. from us to withhold from the civil power, were it but the tithe of mint and cummin, that which justly belongs to it. But when to obey man is to disobey God, then our choice is soon made, and the time has come for this our decision to be avowed and acted upon. We Thus the struggle is forced upon us, and we have to consider how far we are prepared to meet it. The first requisite is to be agreed upon what we are to fight for; and we have now endeavoured to show clearly what this is. Our aim is identical with the prime demand of those barons and prelates who wrested the great Charter from the tyrant of 1215. We demand the restoration of the lost liberties of the Church of England. Nothing more nor less. demand it as our undoubted right. Have the Churchmen of our time become so dead to every suggestion of piety and T is a matter for thankfulness that Mr. Dixon's Bill for zeal that such a call as this can fail to arouse them? Surely universal Compulsory Education was defeated by so large not. Let us keep this sacred cause steadily in view; let all a majority as 120-last year it was only 91. Fut the pre-minor differences be sunk; let us, as one man, stand forth sent system of School Boards is so inherently bad, and the and challenge all opposers; let us stake our all for the financial pressure upon voluntary schools so severe, that, recovery of this-our rightful and ancient inheritance; unless the old principle be reverted to, or fairer play be given knowing this for certain, that our very existence, as a living to Christian schools, Paganism (i.e., Education without God,) branch of Christ's Holy Catholic Church is at stake. Thus, will be triumphant amongst us before we know where we are. then, we have our watchword, and it is one which should kindle a burning enthusiasm in the bosom of every Catholic in England. We fight for the Liberty of the Church of Christ. IT 66 N the City, if we may judge from what some of our most outspoken daily contemporaries assert, things are come to a pretty pass. The Hour,-which all to no purpose was once so largely subsidized by Protestants, has recently adopted a policy at once sensible and sound,-writes thus:-"Rotten financial schemes-in plain English, swindles-have brought the City of London to a pitch of unenviable notoriety which loudly calls for legislative interference, since the judges cannot put them down. If the author of every advertisement containing a false statement for the purpose of making sixpence gain were made liable to ten years' penal servitude, the moral atmosphere of the City would be immensely improved, and the carrion who now infest it could be effectually and cheaply dealt with. As things stand, swindling, lying announcements stare us in the face every day; and the victims too often prefer to bear their losses rather than put up with the enormous expense and delay of litigation. We hoped some little time ago that law-costs were to be greatly reduced, and that to obtain justice would no longer be the costly privilege of the great and the wealthy. Of course we were mistaken. Law-costs were never so high as they are at present, and, until this state of things is abolished, swindlers will continue to flourish; and London will still be the haunt of scoundrels who live on the credulity of poor people-scoundrels of high and low degree. who have made the honour of the British merchant a byword and a reproach." Of course, the intentional and deliberate weakening of the Christian principle THE HE first article of Magna Charta," says Dr. Lingard, "regarded the Church of England, to which John granted that it should possess all its liberties, whole and inviolate; and to show his readiness to maintain them, boasted of the charter of free election (of Bishops) which he had signed." From this it is clear that the truc principles of religious liberty were better understood in 1215 than they are now. We, as Churchmen, have, in fact, to learn our rights and duties in this matter, and we must commence with its very A B C. Charity begins at home, so does liberty. The hurch of England is the mother of the Constitution of England; and if the British Government owes liberty to any religious body, she owes it to the true mother of us all. Establishment or Disestablishment have nothing whatever to do with the question. There was a concordat between Church and State in England in 1215 as there is now. In other words, the Church was then established as it now is; but though it was established, that is, recognised, as a distinct body, it was not then, as it now is, swallowed up alive. The Church, in fact, is not now recognized as a distinct corporation. Nay, it is not even regarded as a quasi-corporation as the Wesleyan body is. Originally the three estates of the realm were Clergy, Lords, and Commons, and nothing which touched any one of these estates could be enacted without its own consent. Just as the Commons granted their aid in their own chamber through their own representatives, so the Clergy granted their separate and distinct contribution in theirs. The Commons could not tax the Clergy any more than the Clergy could tax the Commons. This shows how completely the Church's distinct corporate existence was acknowledged and acted upon. But we have changed all that. By degrees every attribute of individuality has been stamped out of the Church. The House of Commons has not only absorbed the powers of the Lords, but those of the Clergy also, and by a perfectly similar process. The way in which this has been done has been by an application of the power of the Crown to swamp the other branches of the Legislature, by creation the practice of which is our most pressing need-is a long of new members, so as to secure conformity with its will. step towards ignoring God Himself: and this seems to be With regard to the Crown and the Lords this exercise of what is rapidly taking place. "Liberalism," so-called, has power is their own affair; but, as it involves the Church, it been deliberately, of purpose, and for years, loosening the concerns every member of the same. The result is, as we bonds of Christian principles amongst us, and now all classes have remarked, the extinction of every mark of distinct indi-high, commercial and low, are finding out that man's vidua ity from the Church as a corporation. We know the greatest curse is to be left to his own miserable devices, process by which it has been effected. We see the result without the guidance and protection of the Almighty. itself before our eyes The work was completed by the passing of the P.W.R. Act. And now the question is whether Churchmen are, in fulness of bread and blindness of spirit, about to acquiesce tamely in such a state of things. If not the time has fully come for determined and united action. Englishmen are proverbially backward in preparation for a state of resistance. Churchmen especially are reluctant to oppose in any way the powers that be. But that backwardness and that reluctance must give way to the call of duty. The most vital interests, the most sacred duties, combine to urge us on to the conflict. For a conflict is inevitable. Cæsar demands the things that are God's. Far be it in education, in legislation, by the secular press and by so much perverted Public Opinion,-can only result in a steady moral deterioration. The impracticability of the Hour's suggestion that people can be made honest by Act of Parliament is only equalled by that of the extreme waterdrinkers, who hold that drunkards can be made sober by the same infallible authority. The ignoring of our duty to God THE Bishop of Melbourne, who (after the manner of to the Prayer Book and its most obvious statements, we should term the Unbeliever (and so we maintain would the Bishop) a very slovenly writer and not a very honest man. WE E have received from Mr. Grueber the Declaration he has felt constrained to make to his own Diocesan and to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England. Its main purport is to assert its author's inability "to accept the recent decisions of the Judicial Committee," and to declare to the Bishop of Bath and Wells that "I feel submission to be a thing forbidden me." As might be expected from Mr. Grueber's learning, research, and powers of close argument, the reasons which he gives for these conclusions are most weighty and unanswerable. We say "All honour to him for the brave stand he is making, and for his explicit and unambiguous declaration of inability to accept the recent decisions of the Judicial Committee. O si sic omnes!" Mr. Grueber is not the first who has taken this step, for the "Reasons for disobeying, &c.," of Mr. Wagner, which we recently published, were put forth some seven years ago, just after the Purchas Judgment; but Mr. Grueber is, so far as we know, the first English clergyman holding a benefice (and not individually threatened with prosecution,) who has declared to the above effect publicly and unambiguously since the passing of the Public Worship Regulation Act. He must, however, pardon us if we venture upon one or two friendly criticisms. In the first place Mr. Grueber bases his Declaration entirely upon the demerits of the decisions themselves, and says nothing concerning the claims of the Court to exercize jurisdiction in the subject-matter of those decisions. Mr. Grueber's demolition of these on their merits is masterly and complete; yet he is by no means on such sure ground in adopting this course, as Mr. Wagner was in disputing on first principles the claim of the Judicial Committee to decide spiritual causes. If a Court really possesses jurisdiction in any cause, it is extremely doubtful whether it may not exact obedience, even if its decision is not founded on right and justice. The true argument against the Judicial Committee is, not that it has decided in contravention of the principles of the Church of England, for to raise this issue is to make each individual the judge of the Court; but that the Judicial Committee can show no authority, either from the Bible or the Church or from any religious source whatever, for entertaining ecclesiastical suits at all. Had this issue been raised and effectively urged during the past seven years, the state of things would now be very different from what it is; and the matter in debate would have been much more intelligible to Churchmen than the intricate, and to ordinary minds unintelligible quotations from Canons, Rubrics, and Injunctions, which are necessitated by the discussion of the decisions of the Judicial Committee on their merits. We fully appreciate the service rendered by Mr. Grueber in his exposure of the injustice, ignorance, bad faith, and manifest contradictions which characterize these decisions. That this Declaration will have any effect upon those in authority we can hardly expect. The facts and quotations which Mr. Grueber has so ably put together are not new, and must have been well known to those whom they concern for a long time past. The contest is not one in which sound arguments or undeniable facts are intended to prevail; and it is because they do not sufficiently recognize this fact that men like Mr. Grueber and Mr. Wagner do not have the weight and influence which they ought to possess. The time for argument and verbal protests on their part has passed. What is wanted is that they should organize and announce a definite and consistent line of action for the future, in the face of impending eventualities, which nothing but a supernatural intervention can avert. THE present Custos of the Sacraments of the Church of England-by the grace of Drs. Tait and Thomson (one only of their suffragans dissenting)-is, as we now all know, the Right Hon. Lord Penzance, overruled by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. He can order the parsons either to give or to withhold. This illustrious peer is mainly known as having for some years been employed in abolishing the Christian injunction regarding matrimony "Those whom God hath joined together let not man put asunder." The Court of Divorce at Westminster has long been a sink of loathsome filth, often attended by some spectators who go to revel in dirty details, to contemplate fly-blown characters, or to wallow in the foulest mire. The effect on the public morals of this institution (which to his everlasting honour and credit Mr. Gladstone did so much to oppose,) is being experienced in every grade of Society. Divorces are more frequent than ever: conversations regarding them, and reports of them in the newspapers, are most demoralizing: while the clergy, who are supposed to be set as watchmen on the walls, are-with the exception of Mr. Miller of Harlow, who tried in vain to stir up the S.P.C.K.,-simply as dumb as the grave. To show how the contagion for moral dirt spreads throughout the country, let the Lincolnshire Chronicle for last Saturday week be a witness. There was a nasty casehyper-superfine in its nastiness-recently tried at Lincoln, and this is exactly what is reported to have happened:"Conspicuous in the gallery during the trial of some most. offensive cases were a number of young girls, who sat through everything, hearing the full details of cases which were so disgusting that strong men shrank away from the Court, ashamed that such things should have to be made public, and that even the accused party said he would not allow his daughter to come into Court to hear! Who these young girls were, or how they came to be in a place where no careful mother would allow a daughter to be seen, we know not. But can we wonder at the absence of chastity and modesty in our county, at the sad private histories that so frequently come to our ears in these days, if young creatures are allowed to have their minds defiled by hearing what these poor girls must have heard, and even, when ladies were requested to withdraw, sitting on and listening to what was unfit for any modest woman to hear?" Surely we may well ask-what Judge was it who permitted their presence? But the demoralization of the whole country is surely proceeding at a prodigious pace; and now that Religion is made a laughing-stock, because the exJudge of the Divorce Court is our Parliamentary Chief-laybishop, demoralization must become still more triumphant. AS S regards the meeting at Exeter on behalf of founding a new Bishoprick for Cornwall, we earnestly congratulate Mr. Galton and Mr. Toye on their vigorous and outspoken speeches. The sentiments expressed by them are very generally held,-more so, perhaps, than many persons imagine. Archbishop Tait's Erastianism is efficiently sickening even all moderate men,-while the isolation of the Church of England is seen to be mainly secured by reason of the State bonds in which the English Bishops are bound. Release them, and the chance of securing Corporate Reunion with other parts of Christ's Family will be increased an hundredfold. LENT, we are glad to note, is being observed with more outward decorum than is usual. Here, as in other points, the broad influence of the Catholic Revival is apparent. There are fewer parties, balls, and concerts; the churches are better attended; while even politicians postpone their party-gatherings until after Easter. The Lyceum Theatre (the best-conducted in London, and where the ablest and most intellectual performances are provided,) is properly closed during this Holy week-a point which our readers may be glad to be made aware of. For too many of the Theatres are carried on with but slender regard to sensitive Christian instincts or to ordinary delicacy. The press having practically taken the place of the pulpit-Church influence, in some ways, is certainly circumscribed. THE HE Vicar of Richmond is asking for a faculty for the erection of a mortuary chapel in the Cemetery there. Even this simple request is opposed by Mr. J. C. Sharp, a local Protestant banker-on the ground that Mr. Proctor "intends to have an altar in it!!" But, of course, no chapel can be consecrated without an altar, as the Bishop has already pointed out to Mr. Sharp. A chapel without an altar would be like a coal merchant without any coals, or a bank without any money. WE E rejoice to hear that a fund is being raised for the widow and family of Dr. Gauntlett, a distinguished Church musician, lately deceased. To the Doctor as originator, in conjunction with Mr. Kearns and Charles Child Spencer, his companions in travail, is due the restoration of Church song, metrical and rhythmical, to a healthier state, in this country, than it had enjoyed for many a long year. To him, indeed, the clergy who take any interest in the advancement of Divine worship owe a debt of gratitude, which is enhanced rather than the contrary by the multitude of agencies in the right direction which his work and teaching set in motion. We trust the appeal for assistance will not be made in vain. At the Archbishop of Canterbury's special suggestion, Lord Granville will reopen the subject of the "Burials' Bill" in the House of Lords soon after Easter. We hear that the Rev. A. B. Cotton, Vicar of St. Paul's, Bow Common, intends handing his Church schools over to the School Board. The Vicar of St. Philip's, Stepney, has already done so. The ex-Judge of the Divorce Court, now Dean of the pseudo-Arches' Court, has announced that he will not hear any new cases against "Ritualists" until the Privy Council has heard the Ridsdale Case. The fine old collegiate church of Holyhead, in the Isle of Anglesey, is to undergo the process of restoration, if £2,000 can be raised to meet £3,000, which have been offered, under certain conditions, by the Hon. W. O. Stanley, Lord-Lieutenant. We learn that the new Letter to Cardinal Manning, from the pen of “Presbyter Anglicanus ”—entitled "Do They Well to be Angry? ”—will be issued by Mr. Batty of the Strand in the course of Easter Week. We are informed, but can hardly credit the statement, that the Church Times has declined to advertize it. We learn, with regret, that the Rev. R. J. Webb, M.A., Oxon, recently Vicar of Hambleton, Rutlandshire, having resigned his preferment, has joined the Church of Rome. This step, as is pointed out in a printed Letter, has been mainly brought about by the resignation of their juris. diction to Lord Penzance by the English Bishops. The vacant Canonry of Westminster has been offered to Mr. H. White of the Savoy; but it is understood that he has declined it on the ground that the Rectory of St. Margaret's is legally attached to the Canonry, and he does not desire the responsibility of so heavy a parochial charge. The name of Dr. A. T. Lee, of the Church Defence Institution, is now mentioned for this vacancy. The Rev. C. F. Lowder, Vicar of St. Peter's, London Docks, having greatly improved in health, will this year conduct the usual out-ofdoor service on Good Friday afternoon, at which large pictures of the Way of the Cross will be used at each Station. This year there will be out-of-door services on the afternoon of Good Friday in the parish es of St. Paul, Lorrimore-square; St. John-the-Divine, Kennington, and St. Alphege, Blackfriars'-road. We regret to announce the death of the Rev. J. B. Dalgairns, M.A., | of the Oratory, Brompton. He was of Exeter College, Oxford, where in the year 1839 (in the same Class List with the present Bishop of Manchester, Mr. Jowett of Balliol, Dr. Kay, Dr. Anderdon, S.J., and Canon Estcourt,) he took a Second Class in literis humanioribus. He soon afterwards joined the Church of Rome. He was an earnest and able theologian; a thoughtful preacher, and a most loveable and accomplished man. His loss will be felt deeply both at Brompton and Edgbaston. R.I.P. THE LATE CANON HUMBLE.-It is proposed, as a memorial to the late Canon Humble, to complete, so far as may be, the adornment of the north and south walls of St. Ninian's Cathedral, Perth-an object he had much at heart-and to place a monumental brass at the foot of the altar steps. [We earnestly commend this proposal to the charity and sympathy of our readers.-ED.] PALM SUNDAY.-A very large number of churches were decorated with palms on Sunday: palms were carried in procession in many others; whilst thousands of persons might be seen after Morning Service carrying palms home. In some churches the blessing of the palms took place after the early celebration of the Blessed Sacrament. Owing to the length of the Gospel, the Morning Sermon was omitted in several churches. THE E.C.U.-The President of the E.C.U. has issued a statement to the members explaining the course adopted by the Council in the Ridsdale case. At the meeting on Thursday, the President remarked that the Council expressed no opinion as to the desirability of pleading in the "civil court:" but merely desired to show, by appealing against the judgment of Lord Penzance, that they were desirous of doing all they could "as loyal subjects of the Crown to avoid a collision with the civil courts, and to obtain peace for the Church." NOVEL LENTEN SERVICES.-On the Wednesday evenings of Lent the Vicar of St. Jude's, Whitechapel, has provided a series of lectures in bis "Theatres and Church, principally on social subjects. The last was on Novels," and was delivered by the Curate, who appeared to be in favour of both. The service consisted of a selection from the Creation, played on the organ, the singing of two hymns, and the saying of some Collects. The lecturer was vested in surplice, bood and stole. Some fifty men were present. During the day men bearing placards paraded the streets, the expense of which was 8s. 3d. The offertory collection amounted to 8d. ST. AGATHA'S, SHOREDITCH.-The Countess Cowper has laid the foundation-stone of a new church to be erected in Shoreditch, very close to the church of SS. Michael and All Angels in the same parish. Through the energies of the Vicar-Elect, the Rev. F. Wills, a good congregation has been collected in the small mission room now in use, but it would be miserably small in a large church. The result will be either that the new church will be thinly attended, or St. Michael's will be robbed of its already scantilly attended congregation. YORK MINSTER.-From the list Annual Statement issued by the Dean and Chapter of York, we find that, although the number of communicants or rather, communions made-during 1875 was the highest yet known at York Minster, yet the increase had occurred at the mid-day celebrations. The communions at the Early Celebrations, which had risen from only 332 in 1869 to 1,581 in 1874, declined to 1,567 last year; while at mid-day the numbers were 2,349 in 1861, declining to to 1,502 in 1874, and rising to 1,684 last year. The daily services had cost £2,285 83. 3d., towards which, from all sources, only £2,122 19s. 10d. had been received, including a legacy of £500. FUNDS FOR A SURPLICED CHOIR.-Mr. W. Watkins, of Kingston-onThames, has left 3,0001. Russia bonds upon trust, part of the dividends to be paid to the Vicar of St. John, Kingston, for his own use, so long as he causes his choir to wear surplices in all the services of the said church; and the remaining part of the dividends to go towards providing, washing, and repairing such surplices. If there should be any money over it is to be divided between the choir. In the event of surplices ceasing to be used in the services for three weeks the trust fund is to revert to the residuary estate. REMOVAL OF CITY CHURCHES.-At a meeting of Clergy of the Rural Deanery of Stepney, held to discuss the recent action of Sion College in favour of the removal of City Churches, unanimously resolved:That the Clergy of this Rural Deanery, having had under consideration the recent action of Sion College on the Union of City Benefices, desire to express their cordial approval of the scheme recommended and adopted by the general meetings of the Fellows of that College, held on December 14th, 1875, and January 11th, 1876." The plea for the destruction of the City Churches is that they do not attract large congregations; on the same grounds most of the churches in the Rural Deaneries of Stepney, Haggerston, Shoreditch, and Bethnal Green, might be removed, for few of them, we hear, are half filled. CHURCHES RESTORED.-The Bishop of Rochester has reopened the church of Westmill, Herts, after a satisfactory restoration; and among other churches reopened we may mention Gateshead, Canon Miller being the preacher; Aldington, near Hythe, known for its magnificent tower, built by Archbishop Wareham, and for its series of illustrious rectors. The chancel of St. Mary's, Holford, has been renovated. There is a new open roof and a Mary window in three compartments, the Crucifixion, with Mary Magdalene kneeling at the foot of the Cross, the three Maries on the north, St. John and St. Peter and others on the left. Above the altar is an alabaster reredos, with an inlaid cross of Devonshire marble, and with the vine, the wheat-ear, and the passion flower in the panels. The floor is beautifully paved with encaustic tiles, and the carved oak seats are massive and costly. The altar cloth is of crimson cloth and velvet, embroidered with passion flowers and white lilies. DEDICATION OF A FONT.-A beautiful new font has just been plaeed in the parish church of St. Andrew's, Norwich, and was dedicated on Thursday. The Holy Eucharist was celebrated at 9.30, Matins and Office for Holy Baptism, 11, Confirmation, 3 p.m. The idea that the doctrine of the Baptism rests on the authority of the eight writers of the New Testament is well worked out in the various details of the design. Cut in niches of perpendicular work around the columns are four statuettes, all of them chiselled by the hand of a master in art, representing the evangelists-St. Matthew, with the money bag and falchion, looking eastward; St. Mark, with the lion and a scroll in his hand, looking westward; St. Luke, with the ox and also a scroll, looking north; and St. John, with the chalice and serpent, looking south. The bowl is partitioned into eight panels, in which alternately the cross of St. Andrew and the emblems of the other four New Testament writers-St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Jude, and St James. An exceedingly fine moulding runs round the top of the bowl, and at each of the angles of the squares at the base is a cherubin in relievo. Water was placed in the font after the Second Lesson at Matins, when twenty persons, including several adults, were baptised. are AGGRIEVED PARISHIONERS.-Several members of the congregation of St. Saviour's, Chelsea, are much dissatisfied with the opportunities afforded them of receiving the Blessed Sacrament, specially that there are no early celebrations, and to the manner in which the services generally are celebrated. Mr. O. C. Fi'zRoy, a member of the Church Council, asked the Vicar in a courteous letter whether the choir could not be improved, whether the Psalms m ght not be chanted once on a Sunday, and whether there might not be an occasional early celebration of the Holy Communion. Mr. Weldon and his Council are amazed that any one is dissatisfied; and, passing by all the other suggestions, Mr. FitzRoy is told that "further correspondence is quite useless and cannot be entertained." Mr. FitzRoy, in a letter resigning his seat on the Parochial Council, says: "You state that the Council are surprised that I suggest the services of St. Peter's as a model for our own, but you assign no reason, and merely say that there is ample proof of the congregation being perfectly content with the present mode of conducting Divine service. The congregation, composed as it is chiefly of persons not residing in the parish at all, may be satisfied, but I re-assert that the parishioners do not attend the church, and the numerous vacant seats are a proof of the correctness of what I state, in addition to so many verbal statements made to me from time to time on the subject. What is the reason? Is it because the services of St. Saviour's are no better than those of a Dissenting chapel, and are not regarded as those of the Church of England at all?” THE STATUES at Bristol Cathedral.-Dean Elliott has ordered the removal of the statues of the Latin Fathers and of the group of the Adoration of the Magi erected on the new no th porch, and workmen are engaged taking them down. The Exeter Gazette efers thus to the Bristol escapade :-"Let our Bristol neighbours do what they please with the statues that have excited such an extraordinary feeling, they cannot destroy the fact that it was St. Jerome who first translated the Bible into the language of the people, that it was to the preaching of St. Augustine and his assistant missionaries our Saxon forefathers owed their conversion from Paganism to the religion of Christ, and that it was.Gregory the Great who conceived the idea of Christianizing England, and sent to our shores the founder of the See of Canterbury. True, Gregory was a Pope, but every reader of ecclesiastical history knows how strongly he protested against the undue aggrandisement of the Roman See, and how widely different were his views of the Pontifical prerogatives and power from those insisted on by his later successors. As a fitting pendant to the Bristol affair, we may notice that 'images' of the Wesleys and of their most prominent followers have been set up this week-not on the exterior, but-in the interior of Westminster Abbey. This operation excited no indignation meeting.' Thus differently do some Englishmen regard the memory of men who built up the English Church and those of men who, admitting that they did a great work for religion, undoubtedly caused a grievous and most damaging schism in the Church of England." The Pall Mall Gazette says: "The last has by no means been heard of this affair. The statues cost over £100 each, but the money value of the imagery' is not considered by the restoration committee. Their contention is that, until the work was completed and handed over to the cathedral body, it belonged to the restoration committee; and it is believed that the right of the chapter to act as they have done will be tested in a court of law. Feeling is so strong against the action of the De n and Chapter that plenty of money would be forthcoming to prosecute such an inquiry." FRAGMENTA VARIA.-On the Feast of the Annunciation Lord G. Hamilton laid the foundation-stone of a parsonage for the parish of Acton. The foundation-stone of a new church, to be dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, for the Tything district, in the parish of Claines, Worcestershire, has been laid by Mrs. Pilkington.-A new hexagonal pulpit of open ironwork on a base of Caen stone has been placed in St. Paul's, Oxford, as part of a memorial to the late vicar.-The B shop of Manchester announces that during the six years of his Episcopate he has consecrated fifty new churches.-The Rev. J. R. Thompson, who has been appointed to succeed the late Mr. Hawk r as Vicar of Morwenstow, has died before taking possession of the living.-The Chancellor of the Diocese of London has granted a faculty for converting the burialground of St. George's-in-the-East into a flower garden. A large number of R. '.'s are buried there, and the Wesleyan burial-ground adjoining has been purchased by the Rector, the wall is to be removed and thus Churchmen, R.C.'s, and Dissenters will all lie in one ground.— Father Ignatius was to have held a mission in Trinity Church, Birkenhead, but at the request of a few parishioners he was inhibited by the Bishop of Chester. Consequently he held the services in the Music Ball, which was crowded At a meeting the Bishop of Ex-ter announced that the Home Secretary was so far satisfied with the progress of funds for establishing a Bishopric for Cornwall tha, he had instructed him to get materials for draughting the Bill, and he had no doubt it would be drawn before Easter.-The Rev. W. C. T. Webber bas resigned his office as succentor at St. Paul's Cathedral, and has been succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Simpson, the Librarian of the Cathedral.--On Sunday Prebendary Scrivener, the new Vicar of Hendon, read himself in. In a subsequent address, he observed that it was sixty-four years since the ceremony was last performed in that church.-At the annual dinner of the Hackney Conservative Association, it was stated that within the past six years upwards of thirty churches had been consecrated in the borough.-Canon Freemantle has been appointed to the Deanery of Ripon.-The Vicar of St. John's, Peterborough, having discontinued Evening Communion in his church and introduced monotoning the Offices, certain parishioners have complained to the Bishop, but his lordship declines to interfere, as he considers there is no necessity for the first practice, which he regards, though "not sinful or forbidden by law, as dangerously liable to abuse;" while the monotoning he learns has only been adopted so that the prayers may be better heard.-The Bishop of Minches er has signified his intention of resigning his See when he has held it twelve years. He was consecrated on the Feast of the Annunciation of the B.V M., 1869.-Archdeacon Phillpotts, as Chancellor of the Diocese of Exeter, has refused a faculty for reseating St. Paul's in that city, on the ground that the plan would do away with the central gangway.-The Chancellor of Lichfield has granted a faculty for the erection of a metal cross on the super-altar of the church of Sambrook, and for allowing a window to be filled with stained glass, to the memory of the Rev. Frederick Clement-Young, a non-parishioner. The Simeon Trustees have appointed the Rev. H. Chapman, Chaplain of the Lock Hospital, to the Vicarage of Christ Church. Cl fton, vacant by the resignation of the Rev. Flavel S. Cook. The E.C.U. has sen Mr. Cook £100 as a token of sympathy.-The Dean of Winchester has just placed a very effective reredos in the Lady-chapel of his Cathedral.— The Dean of Exeter has withdrawn his subscription from the fund for the new Cornish Bishopric, because at a meeting on Saturday a number of persons attending by design carried a resolution in favour of the people having some voice in the selection of their Bishops. Letters to the Editor. "As 'Brevity is the Soul of Wit' so short Letters are certainly more readable than long ones. In my judgment an Editor should not be pestered with any which are not brief, concise, well-written, and to the point; signed openly and honestly, with their writers' names.”—Charles Lamb. OF THE SOVEREIGN GOOD, OF JUS GENTIUM AND JUS CIVILE. SIR, I beg leave to submit to your notice some of my difficulties in reading your article "What is Conservatism? No. II." And if I do not pur them into the form of questions it is to suit my own convenience and the convenience of your readers. 1. "Law is the expression of that force by which society is held together." Society is held together by the different ties-of the State, of religion, of the general tie of humanity, and of such particular ties as marriage and labour. is not of the end of law but of the end of man. 2. "The end, or purpose of law is the common good." The question The end of man is not the common good but the Sovereign Good. God alone is both the beginning and end of man. Christianity, by teaching man the end of his creation, has given a clear idea of the law, which is a rule of his versal being," seems to be only a version of the platitude laid down by conduct, directing him towards that end. "The highest good of unithe Liberals of "the greatest happiness of the greatest number "—without defining wherein this happiness consists. The end of man is the Beatific Vision, and God has made our union with Him in which our happiness consists to depend upon the good use of our union here, which is to constitute our Society. And in order to unite men in society God has made it essential to their nature. The social state is the natural state of man. 3. "As to its origin; law is divine or human." All laws are based on the two great Commandments prescribing the duty of man to God and to his neighbour; and these again are derived from the double nature of man, of which God is the Author, engraven on the hearts of men by God himself. (Rom. ii. 14. 15.) Human law is, or ought to be, only an adaptation of divine law-that is, divine natural law. Civil law derives its obligatory force from natural law, because the duty of obeying civil law is essential to the existence of civil society, which is an institution prescribed by natural law. 4. "This is divided into jus gentium and jus civile." 66 'This" what? And you have given no definition whatever of jus gentium. How am I to know what the jus civile is without the jus gentium? So I was obliged to look it out in the Digest (Tit. 1. De justitia et jure and Lib. I., L. 9). Omnes Populi.—Gajus lays it down that all nations governed by laws and morals make use partly of their own peculiar laws, and partly of laws common to all men. For the law (jus) which each nation constitutes for itself is proper to that city (civitas), and is called jus civile ; but that which natural reason has constituted among all men is observed everywhere, and is called jus gentium, because all nations use it. Jus civile then is-quasi jus proprium ipsius civitatis. The Canon law furnishes the principle of referring law to an ultimate end:-Est igitur jus canonicum quod civium actiones ad finem æternæ beatitudinis dirigit. And, unless we are going to deny the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, it is best to keep the jus canonicum distinct from the jus civile. Here in England, by constitutional law, the two jurisdictions are put into different hauds, and the jus canonicum when converted into jus civile, is properly called jus regium. One jurisdiction is not to swallow up the other. Aualysis. 1. God designs the future union of mankind in the possession of their common end, -the vision which makes happy. 2. God begins to form a prior union here in the use of the means to the second uniou. 3. God has made the second union, which is to constitute their happin ss, depend on the good use of the first which is to constitute their society. 4. In order to unite them in this society He has made it essential to their nature. 5. As we see in the nature of inan (1) his destination not to "the common good" or "the highest good of universal being," whatever that may mean, but to the Sovereign Good, so (2) we shall discover in his nature his destination to society, (3) the several ties which bind him to it, and (4) that these ties which are consequences of the destination of man to the exercise of the two first laws of the Gospel, are at the same time the foundation of the particular rules of all duties, and the foundation of all laws. EDMUND HUFF. Little Calthorpe, Louth, 7th April, 1876. THE "THREE HOURS' SERVICE" AT SANTA MARIA At a time when the Good Friday Office, known as the "Three Hours' Service," was first re-introduced into England at St. Alban's, Holborn, I was permitted, at yearly intervals, to describe in the columns of a contemporary the scene to be there witnessed. Since that date, the example boldly and piously set by St. Alban's has been fruitful in good works. The devotion of the "Three Hours" is now an accepted form of secondary worship in numberless churches on the day in question. It is used by many clergymen who disagree widely with the teaching and practice at St. Alban's. Some, perhaps, might not care to be reminded to what church and to whose example they and their people are indebted in this matter, The Prayer Book Services are felt to be inadequate to |