WHEN subjects of vast importance to the Church, and of special interest to the Parochial Ministers, are occupying public attention, it is but reasonable that I should avail myself of this occasion to give you information, and offer remarks on their character, tendency, and proceeding. I, therefore, draw your attention to one which affects the Clergy exclusively, and to another in which the lay as well as the ordained members of the Church, must equally feel an interest.

The first is the present state of Church Discipline. A question has been raised whether the present laws supporting the authority of the Bishop over his Clergy, are sufficient. It is generally believed, (and I do not contradict it,) that the system as it now stands is tedious, expensive, and too involved to be of practical utility. But in touching such a question, it is of the utmost importance to the right judgment of it, to discriminate between the powers now exercised under consent of the State by Ecclesiastical

Courts, as such, and the authority of the order of Bishop.

The proceedings of the English Courts, where Ecclesiastical or Spiritual causes are tried, are subject to peculiar regulations, founded on Canons and on custom; the latter arising from a long course of circumstances, referrible to the system of jurisdiction which the laws of the land have even previous to the eleventh century recognized and supported, thereby evincing the acknowledgment of Episcopal rights, and regard for Episcopal authority in its proper sphere, which the page of history bears witness the kings of England have, from the earliest days, studiously manifested and constantly required. Our Ecclesiastical Courts, then, being established in their present form by the civil power, are of a mixed character; whence, on the one hand, results the anomaly that causes are conducted, and even adjudged in them by laymen, the sentences pronounced have respect to matters of a purely civil nature, and that appeal to temporal courts is sanctioned; but, on the other hand, witness is borne to the fact, of some importance to be noticed in the present day, that the State of England has been wont not only to lend its protection to the English Church, but to entrust to Episcopal superintendence her interest in every matter referrible to Ecclesiastical sentences and Church decrees; and openly to avow her acceptance of Ecclesiastical ordinances, and her acquiescence in Ecclesiastical discipline, by investing the Courts Christian with power to add temporal

penalties to spiritual censures, reserving to herself, as is just and reasonable, the right to hear and to judge upon appeal.

But I leave the general question of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, for that one point to which our attention has of late been very forcibly drawn; I mean the depriving or deposing criminous Clerks. The administrator of such discipline is now embarassed in his proceeding by forensic terms, (useful and necessary in their way,) and he is involved in the web of intricacies, which time has woven over nearly all matters which, to the commendation of our body be it spoken, have long lain dormant, or at least been seldom moved in Bishops' Courts. We cannot wonder that the temper of the times should call for change, nor need we hesitate to admit, that even where the Courts work well, a preference must be given to a discipline more primitive in its character, and more summary in its process; for, in truth, the real authority of the Bishop has been lost sight of, choked by the multitude of processes of law by which the subject-matter of Episcopal jurisdiction in both its branches, contentious and voluntary, is controuled. His Court has spiritual authority, but in name derived from the Canons of the Church and the Ordinances of the Realm. It is true, that all criminal proceedings in these Courts are invariably declared to be pro salute anima; but, in the words of an eminent civilian, " however high sounding some of the expressions may be, as touching and concerning your soul's health, and the lawful correc

tion and reformation of your manners and excesses; yet the effect of a sentence is often purely secular, and coupled with the temporal question of costs.

The Bill for regulating Church Discipline, which appeared last year in Parliament, is now abandoned, and we are allowed to hope that a plan will supersede it, receiving from our Bishops general support, which will at once simplify the proceedings, and reduce their costs; uphold the rightful authority of each Diocesan, without losing that of equitable appeal, or incurring the ruinous proceedings of a passing through a variety of Courts. Wait we then for the public announcement of this measure, believing that its provisions have been carefully drawn up, and that the principles on which it is founded are such as we may well approve.

The attaching the weight of civil authority to the lawful pretensions of the Church, has caused the mixed jurisdiction of which I speak; the continuance of which is desirable, in proportion to the extent to which the Government of the country avows its adherence to the fundamental principles of Ecclesiastical polity and Church government, and supports her Discipline, her Services, her Orders; and, as I shall shew, a part of her Discipline is the instruction of youth in the principles of our faith, a subject interesting to the laity equally with ourselves. It has long been the care and study of the Church, to impart sound religious instruction in a definite form to all her members. To provide a Catechism in English for the instruction of all, and more espe