upon such a basis, be admitted, when in opposition to that authenticated history, which, by Divine favour, we possess."

Note referred to in p. 455.

As Mr. Lyell has confessed that the mammoth was probably found in England, when the temperature of our climate was not different from what it is at present, we presume he obtained his information from the following account, furnished by the Rev. James Layton to Mr. Fairholme, and published by the latter in his first work. Speaking of the fossil deposits on the coast of Norfolk, Mr. Layton says, "In a compact blue clay is a stratum of wood, exhibiting the appearance of a forest overthrown, or crushed in situ. At Paling the stumps of trees seem now to be really standing: the roots are strong and spread abroad, and intermingled with each other. Were a torrent to sweep away the mould from the surface of a thick wood, leaving the roots bare in the ground, the appearance would be exactly the same. The phenomena occurs again at Hasborough, the line of crushed wood forming a bed of peat, that extends just above water-mark. About this stratum are found numerous remains of mammalia. The horns and bones of four kinds of deer; the ox, horse, hippopotamus, rhinosceros, and elephant. These are found at Hasborough and its vicinity: at Mundesley they are found in the cliff. The greatest mine is, however, far in the sea, some miles from land; where there is an oyster-bed on a stratum of gravel, about six fathoms deep. How far the bed extends, I cannot pretend to say; but in 1826 some fishermen, dredging for soles on the Knowl, a bank twenty miles off shore, brought up an entire tusk of an elephant, now in my possession. It is nine feet six inches long, one foot nine inches in its greatest circumference, and weighs ninety-seven pounds it is cornuform, and resembles exactly the tusk of the mammoth, said to have been found in the ice in Siberia. I have at least seventy grinders of all sizes, from four lamine to twenty. The oysterdredgers reported that they had fished up immense quantities, and threw them into deep water, as they greatly obstructed their nets. Amongst the fossils from the oyster-bed are some supposed to be a species of whale. In 1820 an entire skeleton of the great mastodon was found at Horstead, near Norwich, lying on its side, and stretched out between the chalk and gravel." Upon this description Mr. Fairholme has well observed: "We have every thing we can desire in painting the effects of a great diluvial eddy, collecting in its vortex a mixture of floating animal, vegetable, and marine productions, from every climate under heaven; and we are thus led to a period in the history of our native land, when its soft and chalky surface, for the first time, showed itself above the level of the waters, and when its valleys and basins became the depositories of what we have so long speculated upon in darkness, under the guidance of a false and theoretical philosophy."

ART. XI.-A Sermon. By EDWARD, LORD BISHOP OF NORPreached at his Installation. Norwich Fletcher.

WICH.

1837.

2. A few Observations on Religion and Education in Ireland. By the Rev. EDWARD STANLEY, A. M. Rector of Alderley. London: J. Ridgway and Sons. 1836.

IN entering upon the inquiry which the mere perusal of the titles of the two performances prefixed to our paper unavoidably suggests, we feel that the topic is a very delicate one; but however painful it may be, it is much too important for the "Church of England Quarterly Review" to pass it over without observation. We must speak out with a degree of plainness, from which we should gladly have been excused. That such as deny the necessity of an apostolic succession in Christ's ministry will be glad to witness any procedure on the part of Government, which, in its direct results, must lower the character of Episcopacy in the estimation of the country, is what we can readily imagine; but, with that exception, we are quite persuaded, that true Englishmen are unanimous that the several Sees should not be made the baits and the prizes of carnal, and possibly unorthodox, partizanship, but be conferred on the most pious, learned, devoted, and dignified clergymen, whom the Church, at the time of issuing a congé d'élire, is able to produce. The venerable mitres of Taylor, Butler, Tillotson, and others, were never intended to dignify the brows of surpliced parasites. There is an elevated superiority to mere party politics demanded in the distribution of appointments of this solemn description; and no administration should be allowed to make ecclesiastical patronage the source of official strength, or the allurement to clerical obsequiousness and prostitution. Professional worth, erudition, and eminence ought to constitute the essential title for preferment in the Church; and the circumstance of having perpetrated a pamphlet in favour of "Justice to Ireland," however gratifying to the Lord-Lieutenant and his Secretary, must be a very sorry preparation, and a very unsatisfactory qualification for diocesan duties. We believe, that previous to the scandalous elevation of the Rev. E. Stanley above the eminent men whom he has left toiling behind him in unrequited and disheartening zeal, the author of the common-place Brochure, entitled "Observations on Religion and Education in Ireland," was wholly unknown to the Church, being undistinguished by a single excellence in any one branch of clerical accomplishment, save, what we are far from undervaluing, though in the church of England, thank God, it is no such rare and remarkable occurrence; we allude to that truly amiable and christian temperament, which, however ill directed, is manifest in the pages of the Rev. E. Stanley, and which, in whatever

quarter we meet with it, commands our sympathy and approbation. In thus giving credit to our right reverend author for good intentions, we are bound to add, that, like those consciences his Lordship has taken under his Episcopal wing, his intentions would seem to be excessively refined, and exclusively political, and to sadly require to be enlightened. That we are not singular in our opinion is evident, from what occurred at the dinner with his clergy after his Lordship's inaugural address for the benefit of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. This discourse was delivered before three hundred of the assembled clergy in the cathedral of the diocese, of which he has become the chief pastor,-and, after a most attentive perusal, we are bound to deliver our opinion, that, to say the least, it was very unsuitable to the occasion. It indicated the beginning of a new state of things, whereby dissent, already sufficiently prevalent in Norwich, should henceforth become rampant; should bask beneath the genial smiles of authority, and be rooted in the delusion by Episcopal countenance; that schism signifies simply uncharitableness; and that the most discordant sections of the church of Christ hold the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace just as much as the Apostolic churches, who were under the same government, and "of one mind." When his Lordship declared, that "by many pious and well-intentioned persons it has been considered that no education ought to be encouraged, unless religion is absolutely identified, and that with such I presume to differ,"--when he further added, "I hail as a national blessing every attempt towards a mental advancement of the great body of the people, in whatsoever shape, in whatsoever form, in whatsoever aspect it presents itself,"-could the clergy, could any christian auditory, feel otherwise than shocked that such a notification should issue, ex cathedrá, from the lips of a christian Protestant Prelate? Could the words have been uttered under an enlightened sense of the obligation of his eminent station-of the awful majesty of the Being before whom he spake? What! would the Bishop of Norwich not object to the "form" of the French Encyclopædia? Would not absolute ignorance be preferable to the writings of La Mettrie and D'Argens in favour of atheism, and their lectures in praise of immorality? In the days of D'Alembert, Buffon, Condillac, Diderot, Duclos, Helvetius, and Rousseau, there was no branch of "mental advancement" without its representative, and its teacher, and its disciples; and no part of literary profligacy left unexplored. And what did it all end in? Why, the progress of infidelity was most tremendous; whilst the sophistry which it employed, like the Whig-Radical plausibilities of the present day, revealed its insincerity. Atheism sought to conceal its deformity under the most specious illusion of benevolence. Materialism wept over the ills which it imputed to necessity;

and a soi-disant philanthropy-a miscalculating liberality—an unbounded toleration, and most unlimited concession and conciliation, became the fashion and the law. We again ask, in what did it end? Why, in the perversion of knowledge, which is exclusive of religion; and the consequent abuse of that power, which, whether for good or evil, knowledge implies. The mental illumination of France, being unsanctified by righteousness, all the knowledge and talents of her Encyclopædists, economists, savans, literati, proved vain and worthless; and the voice of her distress was as inaudible to heaven, as that of one groaning under a nightmare." Our Fathers have declared unto us" the " shape," the "form," and the "aspect," in which the attempt towards the "mental advancement" of France presented itself, and we all know the catastrophe. To return, when, on the imposing occasion we have alluded to, the Bishop of Norwich proceeded to signify his opinion, that "no man should think his neighbour a schismatic, because he is not in outward conformity with their church;" when his Lordship affirmed, "that he who separates only because he thinks it a painful duty, is not guilty of the sin of schism;" and ("addressing," to quote his own words, "a vast congregation of all ranks and gradations, of all denominations too, if I mistake not,") could exhort "to purify our own sanctuary, so as to leave less ground for such internal schism," (in allusion to his previous accusation of churchmen "creating feuds, and scandals, and divisions in the church of Christ,")" and separation." . . . when such conciliatory language was employed, could one of that electrified auditory misconstrue its meaning, its inuendos, or its overtures? In the one hand he proffered protection and countenance; in the other he held out the fasces of severity and rebuke. Whatever his own fold may apprehend, "dissenters of all denominations" doubtless anticipate, that, under the rule of Edward, Lord Bishop of Norwich, "the crosier will be an easy sceptre." But what churchman who was present, or what Romanist could imagine for an instant, that his Lordship knew any thing of his sacred profession; or that he was acquainted with any history, but that of these radical times? Under such circumstances no vote of thanks could have been conscientiously given by the clergy to the Bishop; and they judged it best for the public, and infinitely more kind to the Bishop himself, and at the same time more becoming to their own character, to make no request that a sermon, mainly political, and obnoxious to so much objection on other accounts, should be printed. Is it not evident, if, at their instance, such a discourse had been given to the world, that their approval would have been implied; that they must have been implicated in the opinions and doctrines it advocated? They, therefore, in our judgment, exercised a sound discretion by remaining silent. But we find, that Archdeacon Glover, in

his zeal for the political honour of his new superior, rose, and accused his brethren of an omission in their demonstration of respect and duty towards the new Bishop, in not having thanked him for his promised support of education free from religion; and for declaring schism to be no schism in those who sincerely followed the dictates of their private judgment in matters of christian doctrine.

Now really, to our thinking, there could be hardly any more fruitful source of schism opened than the maintenance of these two principles,-of moral education without religion, and the unlimited exercise of private judgment in matters of christian doctrine. It were to let loose the flood-gates of heresy and schism with a vengeance. The Rev. Lord Bayning,-well knowing that the formularies of the Church were in accordance with Scripture, and that it was wrong to encourage the rejection of them on slight grounds, since it would be rending and tearing unnecessarily the body of Christ, which is the church of the living God,-immediately rose and said, "Gentlemen, the omission of the request is intentional, and I avow it, for this reason; because I cannot be supposed to identify myself with, or to sanction opinions such as those contained in the sermon. We hold the Rev. Lord Bayning in high honour for having spoken out in this decided way; and we are satisfied, after diligent examination of the sermon, which has been since published at the request of the Mayor and Corporation, that his Lordship and his Rev. Brethren were fully justified in their conduct.

We cannot find any warrant in Scripture for the latitudinarian indifference and comprehensive catholicism of the Bishop of Norwich. The doctrine, that "all churches, sects, and parties are united under the designation of the Church of Christ," goes, in its direct results, to the subversion of all ecclesiastical primitive authority. If that doctrine be correct, Christ ordained not only no form, but no substance of church government at all. We believe we recognise the line of demarcation in the writings of the Apostles, but the exposition of our Right Rev. Theologian, if followed out to its consequences, would erase every distinctive feature of the fold of Christ, which would be made to include all classes of the rational creation-Jew, Gentile, Christian, and Mahometan,-all who " act according to the dictates of conscience" would be alike entitled to their footing on this tesselated pavement, without cement; this novel ark of diversified mosaic. Alas, for our Episcopal reformer! If his visions were feasible, his diocese would be common property-if he could only accomplish his scheme, he would be no longer a Bishop. But on so solemn a subject it behoves us to be serious, even to sadness. We agree with Salvian, that human nature is liable to err with an upright intention and pious design;* but it

Salvian de Gubernat. Dei, lib. v.