NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We have received" D." in reply to the Leading Article of our November Num. ber. It arrived too late for insertion; but if the respected author continue to be of the same opinion, we shall perhaps find room for it in our next.

"E. H." shall be inserted in our next-as also "T. K's." communication. And "J. P. D." on the Superstitions in Connaught.

We have to acknowledge the receipt of the manuscript Sermons of the Rev. C. Wolfe, and shall have great pleasure in inserting them.

Want of room alone prevented us inserting the Letter of our Sligo Correspondent. "Y." on the Thirty-ninth Article, has been received.

Our Poetical Correspondents have reason to complain of our not having inserted their contributions. We hope, in an early Number, to make up for our delinquency, which arises entirely from want of room.

We are requested to state, that the Prospectus and Rules of the Church Mission Society have received considerable modifications by the Board, and we hope, in our next Number, not only to publish them in an amended form, but to give some information on the subject of the intended operations of the Society.

"Considerations on the present aspect of National Affairs," has been received. We fear its tendency is rather too political for our Publication.

We regret that the conclusion of the Review of "Vaughan's Wycliffe" has been unavoidably delayed-it shall appear in our next.

Ir is with sincere pleasure, that we have to announce to our readers the formation of a Society in connection with the Established Church, and sanctioned by several of its Prelates, which, under the Divine blessing, will do much to counteract the evils that afflict our country-much to introduce the Gospel and its accompanying blessings to the peasant's cottage. We allude to the formation of the "Church Home Missionary Society," an association whose pure and disinterested anxiety to spread the light of true religion among our countrymen, will, we trust, be directed by corresponding discretion, and met by zeal on the part of all the members of our Establishment. Our readers will remember, that a short time since we introduced the subject to their notice, and endeavoured to press upon their attention the important means of reformation which had been too long neglected by the Establishment; we pointed out, that the National Church alone seemed to be ignorant of this means of extending the kingdom of divine truth; and while we rejoiced to see our Dissenting brethren active in the Lord's service, we were yet jealous that the body who owe most to Ireland, and who could do most in Ireland -who, in talent and information, were certainly not inferior, and in means and opportunity, certainly superior, to any other, had under the generally useful, but sometimes clogging, influence of discipline, relinquished its "vantage ground" of preaching, and suffered others to assume a position on the field of usefulness, that ought to have been peculiarly theirs. We rejoice to find that our suggestions have been acted upon, and that some of the Clergy of the Diocese of Dublin, in conjunction with their brethren in other parts of the country, have formed a Society to meet this peculiar deficiency in the operative machinery of the Established Church, and to connect the benefits of all that is so inestimable in her doctrines, with the aggressive spirit that is so essential in the present

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day. The best mode of introducing this Society to the public will be by publishing the Prospectus, which, being laid before his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, received, in all its leading features, the high sanction of his Grace's approbation :—

"At a Meeting of a few Members of the Established Church, on Thursday, the 30th October, at No. 7, Rutland-square East, the following Resolutions were entered into:

"That feeling that there is an especial responsibility upon us, as Members of the Established Church, to exert ourselves at the present moment in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ to all within the Country who are ignorant and out of the way;

"We form ourselves into an Association of Members of the United Church of England and Ireland, for the purpose of carrying into effect the above-mentioned object,

"That, being in the midst of a Roman Catholic population, we are ready to confess, that we have been verily guilty concerning our brethren, in that we have not plainly and faithfully preached to them the great truths of the Gospel of Christ, and that we desire now to direct our attention and exertions more particularly to our brethren of that persuasion.

"In furtherance of this object, it is proposed

"Ist. To avail ourselves of the occasional labours of employed and beneficed Ministers, who shall be disposed to devote a limited portion of time to the work of the Lord in this department of the vineyard, their places being supplied by men of such piety and quality as shall be approved by their respective Diocesans,

"2dly. To avail ourselves of the labours of pious and talented Ministers who shall be willing to devote their whole time to the work.

"That the labourers engaged in this work should not only preach in such pulpits of the Establishment as may be opened to them, but be prepared to address their Roman Catholic brethren in such other places as it shall be found possible to collect them.

"That the following constitute the Committee, with power to add to their number

Rev. J. H. Singer, D.D. & F.T.C.D. Rev. H. White,

Rev. William Cleaver,

R. Wilson, Esq.

Secretary and Treasurer-Rev. Denis Browne.

Subscriptions will be received by any of the Members of the Committee, the Secretary, or at the Bank of Messrs, J. D. Latouche and Co., if lodged to the credit of the Rev. Denis Browne's Separate Account, for the purposes of the Established Church Mission for Ireland; or at the House of Messrs. W. Curry Jun. and Co. 9, Upper Sackville-street.

To these resolutions a few others have been added, containing the detail of the arrangements necessary for carrying the plans into effect.

Our readers will perceive that by the prospectus of this Society, it is essentially connected with the Established Church, the only body of Christians in this country who required such an association; they will likewise perceive, that it is calculated to call into actual exercise both the employed and unemployed talent connected with the Church,-accepting for a limited time the services of such Ministers as are engaged in parochial and other duty, and seeking to enlist permanently in its service such persons as would devote themselves to the obscure and toilsome, but important office of itinerating. Now the necessity of a Society of this kind is more decided, than would seem at first sight;-Popery in Ireland is too deeply rooted to fall by a few desultory efforts; its ministers are too well taught in their vocation, not to be able to meet the irregular exertions of isolated zeal,-and, in order to effect any thing, there must be a regulated, permanent, and persevering system of attack. The active parish Minister may be most usefully employed in his locality, and effect a great deal, in exciting enquiry, and promoting education; but his usefulness is limited, and it is not difficult for an artful Priest to inoculate his Roman Catholic parishioners with hostile feelings to him. Let individuals comparatively unknown, but whose rank, orders, and education are sufficient to ensure respect-let such, trained and practised in controversy-if controversy be necessary-but still more trained in wielding the spiritual weapons of the Gospel-let such bring the truths of religion, in a simple, sincere, and earnest manner, to the understanding and the feelings of the peasantry; let this be done, not by one or two, nor at remote periods, but by a succession of such teachers, and we shall find, under the Divine blessing, the doctrines of the Scriptures and the interests of the Established Church force their way, in spite of all the hostile exertions of the enemy.

Shall we add, too, that, as things have been, it was, humanly speaking, possible for the Roman Catholic Priesthood to render abortive all the exertions of the Protestant Minister?—If he was successful among the votaries of Rome, and that the Bible and the Tract were supplying the place of the suppressed school, and leading the young and the old to think, nothing more was necessary than to agitate. Let a demagogue be sent down from the Association; let his seditious harangues inflame the population, and for the time the exertions of the incumbent are rendered useless. Now, this is met by the Home Mission Society; it chooses the sphere of its labours-it avoids collision with politics-it scatters the seed of the Word, where the people are prepared to hearand it comes over when the demoralizing influence of party has passed away, and seeks to repair the evils which the demon of discord had inflicted. The parish Minister, who had been rendered, by the arts of the demagogue, obnoxious to his people, is thus given new arms, and new means of usefulness, when his brethren bring the attractions of novelty, and the power of truth to bear upon his district.

It may be said, that the Reformation Society could do all this; but we do really feel, that it offers work sufficient to employ the powers of a separate Association. The Reformation Society is well occupied in promoting religious discussions and exciting a controversial spirit. That very circumstance unfits it for the more spiritual and more sober operations of such a Society as this: independent of which, the Reformation Society has, from the known political opinions of some of its members, and various other causes, acquired a character with the Roman Catholic population, which, though it prevents not its most effective labours in other respects, renders it less calculated to attain this especial object. We shall add, too, that the Reformation Society, being composed both of Churchmen and Dissenters, there might not, perhaps, be that perfect unity of feeling, spirit, and doctrine, in all its agents, that is so essential to the carrying on of such a work as this, and in such times. We feel grateful that the Association is a purely Church Society; we feel grateful that many of our Prelates have opened their Dioceses to the operations of its accredited agents and ministers; and we trust, that in a short time many devoted servants of God, in connection with the Establishment, will preach the Gospel with simplicity and power to the perishing peasantry, and in places where the sound of that blessed message never has been heard before. We trust it is unnecessary to call upon the members of the Established Church to come forward and aid this object. We know that there are many who would deem the present an inauspicious time for such a work, when the public mind, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, is so absorbed by political considerations, and the public feeling so strongly agitated by political hopes and political fears. We think otherwise; and we rejoice that such an Association, calculated to sober and moderate political excitement—to give a direction to zeal, and furnish materials for exertion—has been established; and while we trust that the managers and the agents of the Society will make it the object of their prayer, to be saved from any manifestation of feeling as to the parties which divide this unhappy country, we expect that all those who are really hostile to Popery will avail themselves of this opportunity of giving her the most deadly blow. It is by "the Sword of the Spirit" that the Beast is to be slain; "the Man of Sin is to be consumed by the breath of His mouth, and destroyed with the brightness of His coming." May that blessed period, when all our worldly feelings and passions will be absorbed in the glories of the Messiah, find us employed in doing his work, whose servants the Ministers of the Establishment more eminently profess to be.

In concluding our labours for the year, we rejoice that we have to announce the formation of such an Association ;-devoted as our pages have been to the record of the spiritual progress of Ireland, and more peculiarly to the share that the Established Church has had in it, we are glad that so important a step, under such auspices, has been taken, and we look forward, we confess, to great and interesting results. We own that we wanted some such