justifying cause. For let us not be deluded by an empty rigmarole phrase: let us say plainly, The old times referred to, generally speaking, with regard to the mode of carrying on the worship in our churches, were not good, but bad. Laxity, carelessness, irregularity were lamentably prevalent in the latter half of the last and the early part of this century and even where things were in a better case, the other offices of the Church were often scarcely esteemed as more than subordinate preludes to the sermon. I will not dwell here on this matter; but I will add, on the strength of my own observation, confirmed by the evidence of every person with whom I have spoken on the subject, that great improvements, improvements acknowledged to be such by all the respectable members of the congregation, have been effected in this respect in a number of parishes within the last ten or twenty years. In proof of this let me cite the following statement from the Charge which the excellent Bishop of Salisbury delivered at his Visitation in 1842. Few things that I have read of late years, bearing on the condition of our Church, have seemed to me so cheering. "In this Diocese there are now two services on the Sunday in forty-two parishes, in which there was only single duty at my last Visitation; in sixty-five parishes, in which there was only one sermon, there are now every Sunday either two sermons, or,-what in country parishes is perhaps better,-instruction is given at one of the services catechetically, or by a lecture upon some portion of Scripture; the sacrament of Baptism is administered publicly during divine service, either always, or on certain definite occasions, in eighty-nine parishes, in which this used not to be the case; in many parishes the Holy Communion is celebrated much more frequently than formerly,

the administration of it occurring six, eight, or ten times a-year, or in many of the larger parishes, and in some even of the smaller villages, once in every month; there is an increasing sense of the propriety of distinguishing by their proper services at least the more important seasons of peculiar solemnity in the Church,-Ascension Day and AshWednesday I may name as instances of days till of late, strange to say, almost universally neglected, and now, I trust, in the way of being before long universally observed; while in no inconsiderable number of parishes all the days specially appointed by the Church to be kept holy are markt by their appropriate services, and in some the full order of the Church in the daily service is maintained. I find too that in many quarters increasing efforts are being made to effect that most important as well as difficult object, the retaining the younger members of our flocks under the influence of religious instruction beyond that age, unhappily almost always a very tender age, at which they quit the daily school." The Bishop adds, "In some of the matters to which I have referred, I have been rather stating facts than giving advice; as I much prefer that changes, which must be deemed more or less experimental, should originate from the free will of those who are convinced of their advantage, rather than from any suggestions given by myself. Nor indeed am I prepared in my own judgement to lay down any rule in some of these points as of universal application." And he fully acknowledges that even these "are but the forms of godliness," and that, without the spirit of holiness, they may be merely "the savour of death unto death." Still we may reasonably cherish a hope that, when such improvements are made, and activity of this kind is increasing, the Spirit of Grace

will bless the work. At all events the passage shews that, where the work of improvement is carried on in the right method, not by a summary edict, but with a considerate adaptation to the wants of each particular parish, and where the alterations relate, not to frivolous externals of posture and vestment, which it is ever a stumblingblock to the pious and simplehearted to see raised into significance, but to matters of plain practical utility and expediency, such as may be recognized by the better part of the congregation, who always on the long run exercise the chief influence in it, a great deal may be accomplisht by quiet, unobtrusive, judicious perseverance even in the space of three years. And a like encouragement, as well as warning, is held out to us by the whole history of our Church. When its rulers desire to exert their authority for the furtherance of that which is felt to be morally and spiritually good, the hearts of men, as it were, leap up to meet them, and answer them readily and joyfully but when the anxiety is only displayed for the upholding of outward unmeaning forms, this very anxiety gives offense, as having a savour of superstition; and the hearts of men recoil and resist.

At present a multitude of voices from all quarters are calling somewhat impatiently for a settlement of the questions which are disturbing the Church. Similar demands have found utterance every now and then for some years past; but they are now become louder and more frequent. Well, what do they mean? The unhappy issue of the attempts which have already been made to bring some of our minor differences to a settlement, proves that the demanders in point of fact want to have everything settled in their own way. However much they may differ from

each other, they join in this, every one desiring to have his own will, his own notions, his own fancies, set up as the law of the Church. If they can gain this one pet point, it matters not how, whether by persons possessing a rightful authority, or by persons who have none, whether by a Convocation, by a Synod of Bishops, by the Queen in Council, by an Ecclesiastical Commission, by an Act of Parliament, or by the suffrages of the people. Even the Pope would be tolerated, if he would consent to echo the wishes of the Pope within each man's breast. But let us ask a further question. To what end are these differences to be settled? In order that we may be at peace. Doubtless many a self-constituted legislator, when the winds are rushing along in their fury, or the waves are roaring and dashing beneath the violence of the storm, would gladly call in some charmer to lull them to rest. Many have thought that the world would be much happier and better, if the winds and waves could be husht down to the rustle and ripple produced by a lady's fan. And what would be the result? That which is the only possible result of uniformity, stagnation. The storms of the winds and waters are necessary to the purificatory processes of the universe. The father of poetry has taught us, that, even though all the winds were tied up in a bag, and entrusted to the keeping of the wisest and craftiest of men, who strains all his faculties in steering the vessel with unflagging vigilance day and night, sleep will some time or other come over him by the order of nature; and then his mischievous comrades let out the winds, which hurl the vessel away from its destined haven. It is only the aid of a higher power, that will avail motos componere fluctus and for this we must wait patiently, each doing his duty in his

appointed station. Or, to take a page out of history, more than two hundred years ago it pleased King Charles, acting by the counsel of Bishop Laud, to declare his Royal will, that "in these both curious and unhappy differences, which have for so many hundred years in different times and places exercised the Church of Christ, all further curious search be laid aside, and these disputes shut up in God's promises, as they be generally set forth to us in the Holy Scriptures." No doubt Charles had often thought, and it is not impossible may have been reminded by Laud himself, what a wise lesson Canute set to kings, when he shewed them how powerless they are to arrest the tide, even for an inch or an instant. Yet they deemed they could arrest a fiercer tide, which had been rolling, as they confess, for many centuries, under the sway of laws no less mighty and irreversible. This proclamation was issued in 1627, with what success the history of the next thirty years proves and such will ever be the end of attempts to settle religious controversies by the interposition of authority.

One mode of settlement might indeed be beneficial, if there were any way of obtaining it, and any prospect; a settlement I mean, which, following the example of the Apostolic Council, would give an authoritative sanction to diversities. Still better would it be, though still less to be expected, if measures could be taken for expunging that hateful clause from the Act of Uniformity, by which its framers, of set purpose, drove the Puritans out of the Church. Much too were it to be wisht, that certain double forms of prayer might be introduced here and there for the relief of scrupulous consciences, painfully wounded by having to read offices which presuppose a totally