sentiment upon which the real patriot of Ireland may found a fair expectation of the moral regeneration of Ireland, and a hope that the new-born nation may yet strangle, with an Herculean effort, the serpent that now coils around its cradle. The uniform points of our experience in all these places have been,

"1. An universal desire among the people for the education of their children.

"2. An equally universal removal of the jealousy of Protestant interference, where the Irish language is employed as a medium.

"3. An almost universal anxiety to hear and learn the Irish Bible.

"4. As a very general result, the aged becoming pupils in the schools.

"5. There commonly follows a comparison between the Irish and English versions, both Douay and Protestant, the removal of prejudice, a suspicion of the priests' veracity, and a determination to abide by the study of God's word.

"6. Every where after this step follows the demand for English Bibles, chiefly those with marginal references, as the Irish editions contain none.

"7. Very commonly succeed meetings to study the word of God, which are commenced with prayer, and are usually attended by Protestant clergymen. On the other hand, we observe the following process to exist:

"8. Universally, the persecution of the popish clergy, always producing the effect of disgust at spiritual tyranny. This is generally attended by an effort to obtain mental emancipation, often followed by the persons abstaining from Roman Catholic communion, and not unfrequently by throwing themselves into the arms of a purer Church."*

III. Protestants are more alive to their duty now than they have ever been; and corresponding results may be expected. It cannot be denied that Ireland has for a long series of years been strangely neglected. It seems to have been thought that, because Protestantism was established by law, it had nothing to do but to take root and flourish, and, as a matter of course, all would become Protestants. The measures pursued by government rather served to counteract than foster the fair influence of Protestant principles. Favour, not theological attainments, was the passport to the possession of the highest ecclesiastical offices; and the consequence was, what Bishop Jebb so feelingly deplores, "that men who were conscientiously desirous to undertake the sacred office, but who possessed not the spirit of martyrs, were withheld from burying themselves in

Eighteenth Report of the Irish Society, pp. 17, 18.

the hopeless dungeons of the Church." This great mistake has been discovered, and a new order of things has arisen. The clergy, as a body, are actively exerting themselves. They are becoming daily more and more distinguished for their piety, their talents, and their strong attachment to the Church to which they belong. Every day is adding to the number of those who, undeterred either by the poverty or the persecutions to which they must be exposed, put their lives, Jephthalike, in their hands, and go forth boldly to preach the Gospel.

IV. The word of God must finally prevail. Babylon must fall. Popery, as a system, must come to an end. Even now it appears to be shaking to its very centre, although it is making desperate efforts to retain its position. Every engine, likely and unlikely, is brought into action to maintain its sinking credit; but (like the giant struggling to retain the breath which is fast leaving his body, and which his very efforts tend only to shorten) its own ruin will be accelerated, its downfal will be even more rapid; soon shall the darkness of superstition yield to the meridian influence of Gospel truth.

V. But, lastly, what has already been done warrants the expectation of a still more abundant harvest. Many converts have already been made, and many more are diligently reading the Scriptures, who are not yet prepared to throw off the yoke of popery ; there is a "shaking among the dry bones;" and the day seems not to be far distant when they shall "stand upright on their feet, an exceeding great army." Many of the priests have already forsaken their Church, and many more are preparing to follow their example, whenever a favourable opportunity shall occur. Of the former class I may mention, as recent instances, Nolan, author of "Reasons for leaving the Church of Rome," and now curate of Athboy; O'Leary, formerly one of the priests in St. John's Lane chapel, Dublin, and now in England; Swayne, of the Carmelite chapel, Whitefriars' Street, Dublin, who has, since his conversion, gone to America; M. and W. Crotty, of Birr, who, although they have not conformed to the Established Church, have for ever left the Church of Rome: the same remark may be applied to O'Croly, and, lastly, Bourke. From the labours of such men as these we anticipate much. Their faith in the doctrines of the Church of Rome must have been giving way for some time previous to their taking the decided step of coming out from her communion, during a part of which time, at least, they must have been instilling better and

Jebb's Life, vol. ii. p. 482.

purer principles into the minds of their flocks. Besides which, it is evident, as it has been well observed, that "clerical converts from their Church command the attention of Romanists with much greater facility, in the first instance at least, than a clergyman ordained in the Protestant Church can hope to do. This may appear strange to persons unacquainted with the popish system. The mystery, however, vanishes when we recollect that the catechism in common use among the Roman Catholic laity teaches them that 'holy orders' in their Church imprint a character, impress a mark on the soul which can never be defaced.' Hence they imagine that the ministry of a once-ordained priest must always have some efficacy in it. But they are also taught that there cannot be a valid ordination out of the Church of Rome; that all not ordained therein have no pretence to be regarded as the deputed of Christ. This is the great secret of the curiosity which exists to hear the reformed priests. It must be obvious, likewise, that they are, generally speaking, more aware of the prejudices of the Romanists, and, of course, better skilled in overcoming them."

Viewing all these circumstances together, we have, I think, every reason to hope that the moral darkness in which great part of Ireland is enveloped is giving way, and a brighter day dawning. May the time speedily arrive when she shall be indeed "great, glorious, and free;" a nation fearing God and working righteousness; when domestic broils shall be ended, and Christian charity firmly rooted; when they shall no more teach every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; but all shall know him, from the least to the greatest.

RECOLLECTIONS OF A COUNTRY PASTOR.

No. VIII. The Workhouse.-Blind Grace Bennett. My next cure was that of a considerable market-town, the incumbent of which held another piece of preferment, and was almost entirely non-resident. He was a man of very sickly and nervous temperament. His other living was a retired country village, in another county, where he constantly resided; and where, I must say, I have always understood he did to the utmost of his power for the spiritual and temporal welfare of his flock. The parish of to which he had but just been presented, he entirely made over to me. He acted liberally in all respects as far as pecuniary arrangements were concerned. I resided in the parsonage-house; and his purse was always at my command for the furtherance of any good work. I saw but little of him. He only preached twice while I was curate. I am not now standing up for pluralities, neither am I condemning them. The vicar certainly made little or nothing by the living; and I always wondered why he retained it. The rectorial tithes were in the hands of a wealthy neighbour, who never, to the best of my knowledge, contributed one farthing to the spiritual, or even temporal, improve

ment of the people. I need not in this place enter into the incalculable evils which have arisen from the property of the Church being thus alienated from its original possessors.

One part of my parochial duty was to visit the workhouse, which, to the credit of the parish-officers, was always kept in a clean, tidy, and comfortable state. indeed were wont to grumble; but the weekly bill of The allowance of provision was ample. Not a few fare was good. Provisions were exceedingly dear at the time; poor-rates enormously high; yet the poor in the workhouse were well attended to; and I am not aware that there was any lavish expenditure of the parish-money on the part of the overseers. I believe that the reports of such expenditure have been grievously exaggerated. When I entered on the curacy, I found that the reading of prayers once a week, and the occasional visit to a person dangerously ill, was all that had been required from the curate-that is, all that was required in the sight of man. But my views of clerical responsibility, I am thankful to say, went much further; and I felt it my duty to devote as much of my time as I could to this portion of my flock. Alas! a workhouse, even under the best management, and the most liberal treatment, is a poor refuge for a suffering, and perhaps aged, fellowcreature; and if there be any of my brethren, who view their attendance at a workhouse as a grievous task, I can only say, that I have often found within its walls many most deeply interesting cases, and have spent many most profitable hours, even to my own soul, in conversation with the aged poor; and I would most affectionately suggest to my brethren, who shrink from this no unimportant part of their ministrations, to search diligently their own hearts as to the motives which led them to enter on the ministry. The change in the poor-law system has led to an important alteration, and, it may be hoped, improvement, in the reonly suggest to the consideration of those whose right ligious instruction of the poor in workhouses. I would it is to elect chaplains of unions, that they should select men of a kind and benevolent spirit, as well as of fervent piety and devoted zeal.

with respect to the workhouse of my new cure caused no The line of conduct which I felt it my duty to adopt little offence to many of the inhabitants, and to one of the overseers. It was regarded as an uncalled-for innovation, as savouring of Methodism or Dissent; and it was actually proposed by one of the general vestry, that an application should be made to the vicar that no other religious instruction should be given than what might be obtained from attendance on the day when the service was read; and that, if he refused to interfere, the matter should be laid before the bishop. The chief mover in this was the lay rector, to whom I have already adverted, and of whom I shall hereafter have occasion to speak more fully, with whom the former vicar had been on the most intimate terms. I had, however, but one line of conduct before me, which I had strength vouchsafed to me to pursue through good as well as evil report; and my endeavours to impart religious instruction to this too-often neglected portion of our parishioners were encouraged by the other overseers, and fully sanctioned by the incumbent.

Among the inmates of the workhouse, on my first arrival, was a very old and infirm woman, who had been blind from her youth; her name was Grace Bennett. I was struck with her very decent appearance the first time I saw her, as she entered the room in which service was generally read, leaning on the arm of the matron. Her manner was particularly devout during prayers; and though very coarsely clad, in the garments provided by the parish, there was an air of great respectability about her. Calling a day or two after, to speak with the matron on some business, I adverted to this poor woman, and found

that, besides blindness, itself a grievous calamity, she was afflicted with an accumulation of disorders calculated to render life almost intolerable; that, contrary to all expectation, she had lingered on year after year. "She is a patient creature," said the matron, "as ever lived; I never heard her utter a word of complaint. She is often confined for weeks, or even months, together, to her bed; but she never repines. A few benevolent persons in the town send her now and then a little tea and sugar, and such things as the house does not allow; and she always appears most grateful. I heard her, one day lately, when she did not know any one could hear her, expressing her thanks to God for having put it into the hearts of her friends to supply her with some little comforts, of which she acknowledged herself utterly unworthy. Poor creature," continued the matron, who was a benevolent woman, but without much religion," she is very badly to-day; she was the worse of attending service the other night. Should you wish to see her?"

"By all means," I replied.

The matron conducted me to a small room, apart from the large chamber in which the women generally slept, and here, on a small but not uncomfortable bed lay Grace Bennett. Her friends in the town had sent her an extra pair of sheets and blankets, and some little articles, which made the room tidy.

"This is the gentleman that read prayers night before last, Grace.- I beg your pardon, sir," said she, curtseying, "but I forget your name.- -He wishes to speak to you, Grace."

The matron left the room; and I entered into conversation with the poor sufferer, and found that, in addition to blindness, her bodily pains had been almost inconceivable. "I think," she said, "I cannot last long; but I will contentedly wait till my change come.” She told me her father had been a respectable man in trade in the parish, but had been entirely ruined; that he had died many years ago, and her mother had died when she was a child. One friend after another had been raised up to support her; but at length they had died also, and for eighteen years she had been in the workhouse. The former matron had used her very ill, appropriating for her own use the little articles that were sometimes sent to the inmates: but of the present matron she spoke as being very kind.

She

She was manifestly in great pain, yet she was very cheerful. I began to enter with her freely on spiritual subjects, and was surprised to find her so well instructed. Her Christian feelings and experience were obviously far beyond my own. She appeared well versed in the Bible, which the more astonished me, on account of her having been born blind; but she had, when able, been a constant attendant at divine service. had embraced every opportunity of listening to religious conversation; and, when it was possible, she used to get some of the inmates to read to her from a large Bible, which had been her father's, and which was the only vestige of his property which had descended to her. It was the most valuable legacy that could have been left. A kind lady, she told me, had expressed a wish to call occasionally, and read to her; but this had not been allowed.

I took many opportunities during the next eight months for at the end of that time she was removed to her rest-of reading to, and conversing with, this aged and suffering Christian. Whether she received comfort or instruction from my visits, I do not know; she seemed always heartily obliged to me for them: but of this I am quite sure, her sick-room and dying bed gave me a yet clearer insight into the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord than I had hitherto attained; and I learned from this poor woman more practical divinity than from my various studies. The power of the Gospel was wonderfully and beautifully displayed in the effect which it had upon her heart. Here she was cheerful amidst the rackings of

bodily anguish-for she could anticipate that land, where there is no more sickness, and no more pain : here she lay, a wretched and suffering creature, as far as the wasting of this sinful body was concerned; but the soul was ripening and strengthening for eternity. Her eyes had never beheld the glorious light of day, or the rich and varied beauties even of this fallen world; but God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, had shined in her heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; and by the eye of faith she could look forward to that glorious morning, when heaven's never-ending day should burst upon her enraptured vision, and she should behold fairer, and purer, and brighter scenes, than the eye can here behold, and the unchanging verdure of the paradise of God, and the passing glories of that city, which has no "need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof."

No

A few days before she died she expressed her desire that I should have her father's Bible at her decease. It was a common copy, which bore many marks of having been often and diligently read. Her own birth was registered in it. I buried her next to the grave in which her father and mother lay. It was a pauper's funeral; the coffin of plain wood; no inscription to mark the name of its inmate. It was borne on the shoulders of aged men, in their coarse workhouse dress, and followed by one or two aged women. outward mark of respect was testified to the body; the soul was with the ransomed, on the hills of the heavenly Zion. The sexton, a worthless, dissipated character, made some remarks, which I overheard, and which, to the credit of the parish, led to his expulsion. There was no sad heart around that grave; and no tear bedewed it. My own feelings were those of gratitude for her release. I have adverted to this in my first paper as the most joyous ceremony I ever performed. The name of this poor woman must be almost forgotten, even within the walls of the workhouse of which she was so long an inmate; and no stone marks the place where her weary body has ere this mouldered into dust; but a most vivid and grateful recollection of the hours I spent at her bedside is present to my mind; and when asked what I regarded as the best practical commentary on the Bible, I have been sometimes induced to say, the faith and patience of blind Grace Bennett.

THE LAWFULNESS OF A CHURCH

ESTABLISHMENT.*

OBJECTIONS are often urged against the Church of England, which are levelled not merely at its details, its forms, its ceremonies, its services, but at its principle of existence. There are those who denounce an establishment in no measured terms, and brand the alliance between Church and State as, in its very nature, antichristian. It appears to me that he who professes to venerate the Scriptures, should be cautious how he arraigns a system which, they tell us, existed for many ages by God's immediate authority. Under the Mosaic economy, Church and State were connected by the closest bonds. I am aware there is an answer ready. The Jewish polity, it is argued, was different from every other-it was a theocracy. But this is, in point of fact, no valid argument; nay, it is an argument against those who use it. For what

From Liturgica. By the Rev. John Ayre. 12mo. Seeleys. A work which, in a popular form, sets forth the excellence of our Scriptural Liturgy.

+ Vide Jones's Biblical Cyclopædia.

CHURCH HISTORY.

From the Restoration until the present time.
[Concluded from Number XLV.]

IT has been remarked, that the anarchy and confusion into which the state affairs of England were thrown by the usurpation of Cromwell, affected in an equal degree the interests of the Church. Indeed, religious opinions were so blended with the political differences of this period, as to give a marked character to the war on both sides. At an early stage of the disturbances, the struggle was between the Episcopalians and Presbyterians, greatly to the advantage of the latter; but as the violence of opposition to every thing like a settled form in government increased, and when the appearance of Cromwell gave to the war a new and more uncompromising aspect, a third religious party came forward, in unison with the rising spirit of civil innovation, which agreed with the Presbyterians only in persecuting the friends of Episcopacy, and differed from them in every particular wherein that party was willing to embrace moderate measures. The state of the Church, therefore, presented a subject of the greatest difficulty, and called for the most prompt attention, on the restoration of monarchy (A.D. 1660). Oppressed and straitened by a powerful opposition from without, she nevertheless retained that internal purity purchased for her at the reformation by the blood of the good and virtuous; but she had yet to learn, in the rough school of human experience, that the greatest of all gifts the one most essential for her conformity to the likeness and character of her divine Founder,is charity. Thus the struggles of dissent were needful, since they taught the Church rightly to estimate the high privileges of toleration; and those blessings which liberty of conscience, properly so called, is calculated to confer on a nation.

When Charles ascended the throne of his father, the bishops had been forcibly driven from office for nearly twenty years. During which period all, with the exception of nine, had ended their days in the obscurity of private life. These were immediately reinstated in power, and the remaining sees filled up by the spring of the following year. All livings and other Church property, which had been illegally acquired during the late confusion, were also restored to their lawful owners. But these measures, however equitable and necessary, could not be carried into effect without great resistance. The present race of clergy, unfettered by any dependence, had by time acquired a degree of local authority, dangerous no doubt to the cause they should promote, but still too flattering to human pride to be quietly surrendered by the readmission of episcopal superiority. They therefore submitted to Charles a declaration of their grievances. To this the bishops replied; and to their reply an answer was returned by Baxter, the brightest ornament of the non-conforming party. But no good could possibly result from a discussion, in which charitable concessions were alike wanting on both sides. It was also owing to this unyielding spirit to the reasonable requests of each other, that the Conference at the Savoy proved of no avail in promoting harmony of sentiment; moreover, the Act of Uniformity, which was again brought into operation, greatly increased the number of dissenters, by declaring indifferently without the pale of the Church all those who in any particular refused to admit its provisions. With regard to Charles's religious sentiments, it can hardly be doubted that he was inclined to popery. But the contemplation of religion, under any form, could afford little satisfaction to one whose life was wholly spent under the delusive hope of finding tranquillity by procrastinating the duties of the present hour, and happiness in sensual gratifications.

However, the reaction in favour of the religion of Rome, which, but for the indifference of Charles's character, would have shewn itself in his reign, appeared with accumulated strength soon after the accession of his brother, James the Second, and with the most serious consequences. For the purity of their Church had been purchased at too dear a price for the Protestants of England quietly to surrender their hard-earned victory over corruption. Had James continued to govern on the same principles he professed on coming to the throne, he might have continued till death in quiet possession of it. The members of the Church were willing to remain by their sovereign, so long as he left unsullied their national faith; but they could not be bound to any measures by which their religious rights were invaded, and their liberty of conscience abused. Yet it was not altogether from his arbitrary conduct in religious matters, that James was compelled to abdicate the throne. Among other instances, when the six bishops were imprisoned for presenting their petition, an important civil right was invaded, which can justly be claimed by every individual in a free government. But James's main object was the re-introduction of popery; and in resisting this, his Protestant subjects acted under a full acknowledgment of an undeniable principle--that the first and most binding relationship exists between man and his Maker, the consequence of which is, that submission to the "powers that be" is only so far virtuous, as it is not subversive of this most rational obligation. It was James who erred in endeavouring to force those subject to him to a contrary line of conduct; and the history of this period can shew how earnestly many of the most distinguished churchmen endeavoured to avoid the extreme measure of their sovereign's abdication. William, prince of Orange, ascended the throne, vacated by his fatherin-law, in the year 1689. When the oath of allegiance to the newly constituted monarch was required, eight bishops and about four hundred of the other clergy refused to comply, from scruples of conscience; and for this they suffered deprivation of office.

For

The propriety of requesting such an oath, during the lifetime of James, is certainly questionable. These excellent men might, and no doubt would, have lived quietly under a government which interfered not with their plain duty of obedience to God; but what (they considered) could absolve them from the oath of civil allegiance they had given to James? Yet if their conscientious adherence to their pledged word be in this instance worthy of admiration, their subsequent conduct is, I fear, open to censure. they continued to exercise the sacred office after they were deprived of their temporal jurisdiction, and maintained in the Church a succession of bishops in opposition to those who were appointed by government. It is true that they had derived the spirituali ties of their calling from a source without the sphere of civil interference; but by acting as they did, they are in some degree chargeable with adding to the many schisms by which the Church was distracted. This resistance on the part of the bishops continued until the year 1779. The most important measure during the reign of William and Mary was that entitled the Toleration Act; by which full liberty, as regards religious worship, was granted to all Protestant dissenters, provided they did not deny the doctrine of the Trinity. Of all steps taken at any time to promote peace and tranquillity in the nation, none has ever been more effectual than this. The date of the act is 1689: since which time little important alteration has taken place in the Church. She arrived at this era in her history through the gradual development of important measures, intimately connected with the political welfare of England. It had been the will of God that the simplicity of the truth planted in our island, in the earliest days of the Gospel pro