"From the necessity of raising stipends for our ministers by pew-rents, and from other causes also, our new buildings are seldom what our parish churches used of old to be-the equal home of the richest and the poorest. These are great practical evils, especially in a state of society like ours at present. The tendency of all things round us is to break our people into separate and unsympathizing classes, and thus to sow amongst us broadcast the deadly seeds of intestine discord. The unity of the Church's worship, in which the rich and poor might mix together freely, would be a blessed safeguard from this danger. Their separation there, is one of its greatest aggravations and to remove this, we must build largely, and endow new churches, and we must open our closed pews and give back the poor their rights."

deacon Wilberforce for the following discriminating remarks on this subject.

"In a mere clamour against pews, if by pews are meant fixed seats of convenient construction and just allotment, I am not disposed to join. I have no sympathy with views recently put forward with great ability by a writer on this subject, who would remove from our churches all facilities for sitting. That our fixed seats were one consequence of that Reformation for which we can never be too deeply grateful to Almighty God, is with me no discredit to them. With the great men who, in the 17th century, did resist their novel formation, we shall do well to object to their abuse, and not to their existence. Wholly unsuitable as they no doubt are for a worship which consists chiefly in gazing upon the official devotion of another, they may assist the common prayer' of our Reformed Church, they are suitable to our national character, they tend to foster habits of family religion, and, by preventing the inconvenient confusion of different classes, they may, whilst they protect his rights, be even more welcome to the feelings of

*

are

also accustomed to more of reserve and privacy in their intercourse with their neighbours, than most other nations; and if the Bishop's throne and the Archdeacon's stall are not unlawful, we do not think that absolute uniformity of arrangement is scripturally required in the accommodations of a parish church. The ferment which some are raising against pews, as such, is extravagant; or rather it is one of the many devices in progress for "unprotestantizng England;" for more is meant than meets the eye or ear. We are thankful to Arch

"There is too little attention in

many churches," said the Rev. R. Cecil,

who was no advocate for luxury or indulgence, "to man, as man. I would consult his convenience in all lawful points. If he could sit easier on cushions, he should have cushions.

I

would not tell him to be warm in God's service, while I leave him to shiver with

cold."

the poor man than of the rich.”

rity, expressing a determination to prevent unwarranted alterations in parish churches. False taste, pa

rochial stinginess, and of late, still worse, pragmatical fancies, and an affectation of imitating what our Reformers called "mass-houses," have sadly injured many of our churches. The late Dr. Adam Clarke, during an excursion in Ireland, in visiting the parish church. of the place of his nativity, found that the tomb of his relatives, which was formerly within the church, was now in the churchyard; the reason of which was, that the building needing repair, would be the cheapest course to cut the parish had decided that it off a part of it by a cross wall. We could mention instances not less preposterous in England. The due exercise of episcopal and archidiaconal power will, we hope, in future prevent all improper alterations;

and most of all those which are designed to tractarianise our sacred edifices.

The Archdeacon says that "Before any alteration whatever is made in a parish church, the concurrence of the Ordinary must be obtained." This is strongly expressed; and the popular books which clergymen and churchwardens are accustomed to refer to, limit the statement. Thus Williams, in his "Laws relating to the Clergy," says, referring for his authority to Johns. 163; and Ayl. Parerg. 484: "Where the increase of the inhabitants renders it necessary to erect more pews or galleries, if the incumbent, churchwardens, and parishioners, do unanimously agree as to their erection, it is not necessary to obtain the Ordinary's licence for the same." But we believe the Archdeacon is right; and there is good reason for the reference to the Ordinary; for under the pretext, or even with the laudable intention unskilfully carried out, of improving or enlarging the accommodation for public worship, much that is unseemly or inappropriate may be perpetrated. We may quote Bishop Gibson both as authority and for the reason where he "If the churchwardens make any new additions in, or about, the church, they must have the consent of the parish, otherwise they have no right to a rate. And if it be within the church, the licence of the Ordinary is also to be obtained, lest some inconvenience should thereby arise, to render the church in any respect less fit for the performance of Divine service; of which the Ordinary is judge. And whatever is added by licence of the Ordinary, becomes from thenceforth a necessary part of the church, and is to be repaired at the charge of the parishioners." Codex. Tit. ix. c. 4.

says:

We alluded, in our review of the Archdeacon's former Charge, to a plan which he proposed, of con

densing all the subscriptions for church objects into one fund, to be collected in each parish, and to be reported at the visitation, and allotted by the bishop, archdeacon, and clergy, to such objects as may be agreed upon. The impracticability of carrying such a plan into effect has led him to withdraw the proposal.

We might quote the following passage for its eloquence, if we had not a much better reason in the momentous truth which it conveys: its well-timed allusion to the moral wants, the social disorders, and the heavy afflictions of the age; and the blessed adaptation of the Gospel of our Redeemer to supply those wants, to prevent those disorders, and to alleviate those afflictions.

"Never, surely, was there a time. when the hearty, earnest efforts of all who fear God and love their country were more loudly called for. The recent disturbances in one part of our land; the threatening aspect of society even now in others; the want of employment, the stagnation of trade; and yet more by far, as indicating a deeper root for the vilest purposes of gain, to poison of evil, the widely spread endeavours, the minds of the great mass of our working population; the want of coherence, and affection, and trust, between the various classes of society; our dissent, our distrust, our internal variance in the deepest things which stir the souls of men :-these are most alarming symptoms of our social as well as moral state. Surely they do declare that God has a controversy with us; that He is stirring us as a nation with these warnings of adversity, that we may repent and turn to Him before it be too late.

"It is, then, a time in which all who

fear Him should be watching and laverend brethren, should we who keep bouring earnestly; but chiefly, my reGod's watch upon the battlements of our land, chiefly should we, at such a time, be earnestly awake. All things round us call us to be ready: great powers, for good or evil, are struggling around

us, as in a confused uncertain birth, and upon our faithfulness the issue in great measure must depend. It is no escape from this truth to allege, that

so it has ever seemed to each succeeding generation in its turn; that seen near at hand the features of each pre

sent danger have always worn the most appalling aspect; that the Now has always seemed uncertain, always been fading into the coming, always threatening the endurance of all things; that dangers have ever been around Christ's Church; that always it has seemed she must be swept away by the great earthflood, and that with her all social peace and order would be utterly obliterated. No doubt this is true, for such is the law of our being: The judge standeth behind the door. Ever since He left this earth who ascended from the hill at Bethany, He has been returning some glow has ever rested on the eastern skies. But it is no less true, that as the time of His sure coming draweth nigh, these signs of His approach wax clearer and more definite. The gleaming streaks of a coming morning mount up the skies; the voices which usher in its presence are multiplying round us; the hum, and the crowd, and the tread of an awakening world rise in full tide upon the watcher's ears; all things that are shaken, holding themselves in an eager readiness for the new order of the coming day. It is ours to prepare all things for this issue; whether He comes speedily, or yet delay his coming, to do as our forefathers in the faith have done before us; to heal society round us; to prepare it for the unknown path on which it must enter; for the changes through which it must pass.

Each

"For such changes are inevitable. All national life is ever drifting on in a mighty current, which the strongest hand cannot for an instant stay. succeeding generation sees round it a new scene of circumstance and being. We sweep past the roots of mighty mountains, of which the distant tops were but just visible to long-sighted men amongst our fathers. New interests spring up; new combinations arrange themselves, and gather into solid strength. The whole face of society becomes altered round men unawares : they endeavour to act upon their old rules, and find, with surprise, from the unexpected issue, how mighty a transformation had passed upon all around them whilst they dreamed not of it. And it is one inevitable condition of all

such changes, that they stamp more and more deeply upon every usage of society

the brand and impress of selfishness, unless Christianity is ever present and ever active to redress the evil. And by redressing this, she becomes the great preserver of Christian nations, saving them from that destruction to which the mere

natural upgrowth of institutions amongst fallen men inevitably tends. For that

selfishness, which is always intertwining its poisonous presence with all human institutions, is a stifling, a corrupting, and a disjointing thing; it debases all national character in a thousand ways, and dissolves the very inner spirit which pervaded and held together the outer framework of society; and it is the very attribute of Christianity to strive from the first against this selfishness. And hence is there ever in the Church of Christ the truest power of prophecy, whereby she still interprets to men the ambiguous letters of present things, which the 'fingers of a hand' still trace upon their walls, and which, when read out, are the surest presage of the coming future. Thus it is that by an heavenly instinct, proportioned exactly to her faith and purity, she has ever met, and ever prevented, throughout Christendom, the emergent wants of society, which, if they are not thus met, are sure to break forth in those fearful convulsions which suddenly upheave and desolate the whole surface of political and social life.

"And this inner power it is ours, my reverend brethren, to call into action. Not by becoming politicians - God forbid that we should so quit our proper calling!-but by cleaving closely to that calling; by walking more with Him whom the world seeth not;' by being men of a deeper piety, of more earnest prayer, of a keener insight into God's living word, and so into the hidden law of all things; by searching our own hearts, and thus knowing the hearts of our brethren; by being so dead to the world, that her sorceries cannot pass on us; and, therefore, that, seeing through her empty juggleries, we may proclaim to men where they may indeed find the great truths for which their thirsty spirits are vainly seeking amongst her delusions."

We do not know why the Archdeacon has altered the translation, or rather the reading, of James v. 9; "The judge standeth before the door;" to "behind the door." The Greek is unequivocal, nor are we aware of any various reading; and the sense also requires the ordinary text. A thief lurks, but a judge does not; and though both allusions are used in Scripture with reference to the day of judgment, they must not be blended, as each exhibits its own appropriate warning and instruction. A judge approaches from without; the trum

as a

pet announces his coming, and it may be so sudden and unsuspected that he "standeth before the door" before men are aware. The suddenness aud unexpectedness of the day of doom are also taught by the illustration of its coming thief in the night;" but its solemnity, its awfulness, and its judicial purpose, are represented by the approach of a judge to preside at a tribunal; and it destroys the whole force and propriety of the imagery to suppose the judge concealing himself "behind the door." We have quoted and remarked somewhat largely upon the document before us; but we cannot refuse to add to our citations the following passage with which it closes. It is due to the writer, to give every publicity to his testimony touching the matters therein referred to.

'Suffer me, my reverend brethren, to add, that if united action be indeed a thing of moment, it becomes us especially to guard against the introduction of new causes of disunion, which may add fearful bitterness to those which, alas, before existed, and widen breaches which we fondly hoped were closing up. Of these, there must be always danger proportioned to the vigorous acting of religious feeling. For, unless the individual will, so quickened, is at the same time softened and restrained by a deep humility, it will ever be breaking forth into some peculiarity of tenet or some eccentricity of conduct; and these will soon become, even in the best men, new causes of ruinous disunion in the Church. That such dangers now beset us, I am sadly and unwillingly convinced. Surely it must be so, if there has been amongst us a tendency to introduce into our sacred offices peculiar customs, uncommanded in our rubrics, unsanctioned by our fathers, unpractised by our brethren in the Church. Such conduct must, of necessity, put unity in peril.

if

For if they be points of moment, then, with no commission to warrant our so they be trifles, then, for the sake of doing, we gravely censure others trifles, we wantonly disturb the Church's peace, and provoke a mischievous reaction. And if, at the same moment, there is seen an inclination to depreciate all that is peculiarly Anglican; to exalt what, to say the least, borders upon those impurities of faith and practice, which, through God's grace, and in the strength of their manly Saxon hearts, our forefathers cast off, then is our danger greater still. But it is greatest, my reverend brethren, if there be growing upon any side a hankering after those corruptions of the faith which issued of old in the papacy itself; a longing for a visible personal centre of union as the condition of the unity of Christendom; a shrinking from the simple boldness of statement, which marks the declaration the inspired epistles; a tendency to conof the gospel of God's grace throughout found that faith, which alone justifies, with the crowning grace of charity, in the burning brightness of which faith should issue; if there be a studious inculcation of that which, in this most mistaken sense, some unhappily have learned to speak of as 'the great doctrine of justification by works;' if there be, lastly, a disproportioned care for the outer parts of our religion, combined with any inclination to depreciate its individual spiritual life in every heart in which it dwells;-surely, if there be but a suspicion of these things,-there is ground for watchful caution upon our parts: : a caution which should act, not in leading us to reject what we suppose are the peculiar views of others; (for all mere negative religion is a poor thing at the best;) still less in making us willing to suspect, with party readiness, those who differ from us, or to impute to them lightly, with party bitterness, such fearful errors; but in leading us to embrace for ourselves, with a more earnest hold, and to exhibit to others, in a sharper outline, that positive and substantial form and body of Christian truth which will be our safeguard from errors on each side, and which, of God's mercy, is so well set forth in our own Articles and Liturgy."

to Parliament last February, hoped that our differences with China "would be brought to an early termination, and our commercial relations with that country placed upon a satisfactory basis." These