day following the second, by universal acclamation, | where to stop in a course which began in peaceably its conduct was committed to Archdeacon Mac- depriving the manstealer of his prey, and then adkenzie, with the resolution of seeking to place him vanced along what to the actors seemed to be the over it as a missionary bishop. He, with the simple inevitable course of a righteous resistance to inand courageous earnestness by which his character tolerable wrong. was so strongly marked, accepted, without hesitation, the dangerous dignity, and, as head of the mission, began to raise the funds needful for its maintenance. In this work he visited with the utmost diligence most parts of England, hastening, if it might be, to carry out in that very year his distant mission. On the difficulties which delayed his consecration at home we shall not here speak, because the subject is far too important to be noticed incidentally. It is one which the liberties and the efficiency of the Church of England alike require to be thoroughly dealt with; and looking at those who are committed to such a dealing with it, we cannot doubt that such a sifting it will ere long receive. To prevent delay a compromise was effected, under the terms of which the Archdeacon was sent out to Capetown, with a recommendation from the Upper House of the Convocation of Canterbury to the bishop of Capetown and his suffragans to consecrate him bishop for missionary service in the Zambesi district. On the 1st of January, 1861, Mackenzie was consecrated to his high office by the metropolitan of Capetown, and the Bishops of Natal and S. Helena, and on the 8th he embarked on board the steamboat Lyra for the scene of his labours and his death. We shall not enter upon the detail of these, because the Central African Mission has just published an account of them full of the deepest interest, and which we recommend to the perusal of our readers. Suffice it to say that he reached the highland range which Livingstone had pointed out as fit for European life; that he planted there the standard of the Cross; that around it at once broke out the fierce antagonism of the accursed Slave Trade to the Gospel of man's freedom; that a number of delivered captives formed the first trophy of the Cross, and the first nucleus of a population through whom hereafter the Gospel may be preached to all the neighbouring tribes; that for the time the Slave Trade is extinguished all around the Mission: that in the encounters to which this gave birth the Bishop took personally an active share. For this he has already been very severely censured. We are disposed ourselves to think that, at all events, in going beyond the very strictest line of defensive operations, to secure those who had entrusted themselves to him, he committed a grave error in judgment. But we cannot forget how easy it is, in the security of home, and in the calmness of a critical retrospect, to censure acts only half seen, and the motives for which we scarcely know; whilst those who were plunged in them were led on step by step, hardly knowing At this momentous crisis of the Mission, with which his name will be for ever identified, his life was lost through what man's imperfect language styles an accident. The oversetting of a canoe, the loss of all necessary medicines, and the daring spirit which would not appreciate the inevitable danger of tarrying, even so, to widen the basis of his missionary labours, brought on in its strength the fever which recent discoveries have taught us how to baffle; and on the distant island of the Shiri, repeating words of calm Christian hope, so long as his tongue could frame or his failing brain dictate articulate sounds, fell asleep in Jesus the first English bishop of the Shiri river in Africa, Charles Frederick Mackenzie. These are perhaps the last entries on paper, stained everywhere by the water of the river, from the island where he died :-"I have my hopes in my own mind that our being here in this way may be intended to prepare this village for being one of the stations to be worked by our missionary steamers (the university boat), for which I hope to write by this mail. So matters stand at present. Business is very low, and we have no quinine, which we ought to be taking every day. But He who brought us here can take care of us without human means. If we should both be down at once Charley (the native) will take care of us. The texts in Greek which we have learned day by day have been Rom. viii 38, 39:-'I am persuaded that neither death, &c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Good-bye for the present. How blessed a farewell!" He was a man of great abilities, of a most singular simplicity of mind, of a most gentle and loving temper, with a purpose of the most entire resolution when it had been absolutely formed. When he left Cambridge, one of its greatest sons pronounced on him the sorrowing eulogy that never had he with so much regret parted for missionary work with any son of the University. He went on his errand of love in the most ungrudging spirit of self-sacrifice. It was at Cuddesdon Palace that he was invested with the office of Archdeacon to the distant Colony of Natal. Six years later he left it again to venture all for Christ on the yet more distant Zambesi; and before going he wrote out as his remembrance the words, "The Lord is at hand, be careful for nothing." They were the simple utterance of his soul, and they were soon fulfilled in their utmost sense. His body rests beside the African river. Heavily its fever-loaded mists settle down at nightfall and dawn on that distant grave. But he has left behind him a track of burning light. His works do follow him, and his Lord, ever near at hand, has taken to His own rest His faithful confessor. Musical Development. T has been often stated, and we think justly, that the English people have become of late years more musical than they were in the former part of this century. Certainly, if we may judge from the number of choral societies and harmonic associations which have arisen all over the country, we shall be strongly induced to agree in this opinion. Moreover, it is also unquestionably true that as a nation we can do justice to, and duly appreciate, the compositions of the great masters of the art of sweet sounds to a much greater extent than any other people, excepting only the Germans. And not only is this improvement in our national taste apparent in the case of secular music, it is also very marked in that of the music of the Church. In fact, there is now going on a sort of musical Church-revival, as is evinced by the many choral festivals which are now almost of every-day occurrence, and more especially still by the various diocesan choral associations which have begun to exercise so beneficial an influence on the music of our parish churches. The number of churches in which choral service has been adopted, either wholly or in part, during the last ten years, is indeed wonderfully great, as compared with what was the case at any other period since the Reformation; and to all who duly value music as a handmaid to devotion, and as an important part of our National Church service, the musical aspect of our parochial churches is most cheering. When, however, we turn to our cathedrals, where the most perfect models of choral service should be found, we must, alas! in the majority of cases, be struck with the conviction that they have not kept pace with the general musical advance of the day. Now with whom does the fault lie? How can the evil alluded to be best corrected? Who are the persons to set the reform going? What hope is there of a satisfactory result? These questions, and others like them, can best be answered by showing not only what a cathedral service ought to be, but also in what respects it falls short of the proper standard. Now, it is probable that not a tithe of those who frequent our cathedrals have a just idea of what they ought to expect. Some prefer such a service simply because they are fond of music, and like to have their ears tickled. Some like it from association, or because they admire the architecture of the building, or because they like the preaching, or because they can be seated comfortably. But comparatively few come in order to have their devotions quickened, their attention riveted, their interest sustained, their thoughts ennobled and elevated, by the sublimity and solemnity of the sacred strains they hear and yet that is in truth the real and true advantage-and a most unspeakably great advantage it is-which is derivable from the cathedral service, when it is performed as it ought to be. And it seems as though the general ignorance of this, which so unfortunately prevails among our cathedral congregations, were the chief cause of the flimsy and degraded style of music which is so frequently substituted for the genuine solid compositions of our grand old Church writers; for the persons who select the music to be performed, knowing what is expected and preferred by those who form their congregation, choose such as will gratify the ear simply, rather than study to select only that which will conduce best to the glory of God and the edification of the worshippers. Thus does the evil react on itself. If prettiness were to give way to sublimity, and sprightliness to solemnity, then indeed those who only come to have their ears tickled might perhaps complain; but, on the other hand, those who really come for devotional purposes would really get what they are in search of; and assuredly they are the persons who best deserve our consideration, for they seek to worship, while the former seek a concert: these love Church music as a means to the noblest of ends, while those merely affect it from, at best, a purely artistic point of view, as if it were the end, not the means; and that too in a very unsatisfactory and unwholesome manner. Besides, sublime and solemn music, if judiciously introduced, would, in the end, be appreciated by a large number of those who are now unable to comprehend it (for in many instances merely the habit of hearing it is wanting); and who can tell what a good effect might be wrought on the character of the devotions of such persons, when once they had really felt the true influence of the highest species of sacred song? Sublimity is the highest walk of every art, and pre-eminently of music. Our cathedrals ought to set forth the highest and best models. Therefore sublimity should be the leading characteristic of the music chosen to adorn the service within their walls. But let it not be supposed that because sublimity should be the leading feature of cathedral music therefore beauty and variety need be excluded. On the contrary, if it be true that the most perfect beauty results from a perfect fitness and congruity of different parts, then surely it will be secured best by uniting the solemn words of our ritual to suitable and sublime notes. And besides this, it is one of the most striking perfections of our English cathedral. music that it includes more variety, and yet retains therewith a greater degree of unity than can be observed in the church music of any other country, or in any secular music whatever. This last point is specially deserving of consideration. It would appear that there are five stages or degrees, as it were, in the application of music to the adornment of our cathedral service. For, in the first place, we have the plain monotone (and on the best manner of executing this part a great deal may be said, for which we have no space in this article); this is the simplest mode, but one of the most important, for in truth the monotone is the Church's ordinary prayer-note. Then, secondly, there is the system of inflexions used in the versicles and responses, and most valuable for its antiquity, embodying as it does the ancient "plainsong" of the Church from the very beginning of Christianity. That much can be said on this branch of the subject is evidenced by the mass of interesting information on the point which is contained in Dr. Jebb's admirable Choral Responses and Litanies, a book which should be in the hands of all who desire to acquire a knowledge of this matter. The third degree or stage is the psalm-chant, concerning which there has unfortunately been a great deal of injurious controversy, through the conflicting efforts of two opposing parties, of whom one would assimilate it to the second kind or degree described above, while the other would fain make it as elaborate and florid as the next kind, which we must mention; while in truth the great beauty of the cathedral psalm-chant lies in its intermediate character between these two, as we hope, on a future occasion, to prove. The fourth degree is that in which the music appears in the form technically termed "services," consisting of regular, harmonized, and formal settings of the canticles, the Kyrie Eleison, the Nicene Creed, the Sanctus, and the Gloria in Excelsis, on which all our best composers have expended their most assiduous exertions, and in which they have excelled accordingly. This kind of music has had its own abuses also; solos, duets, and florid accompaniments have in too many instances deprived it at once of its solemnity and of its peculiar character, while on the other hand attempts have not been wanting to supersede it altogether, and substitute for it either the psalm-chant, or even music of the second kind already mentioned; but into this matter we have not space to enter at present. Lastly, there is the anthem, the legitimate field for the exhibition of every development of the highest art. In the repertories of our cathedrals we have an enormous stock of anthems by English composers, among which are a large number of compositions of the noblest type; and it is lamentable to think how often these admirable works are allowed to become obsolete, while their place is occupied by adaptations of the works of foreign writers-works often of high merit. in themselves, but utterly unfitted in style for our service, intended for other purposes, set to other words, in different languages, requiring female voices for their adequate execution, and completely murdered if shorn of the full orchestra with which they were intended to be accompanied. To render a cathedral service what it ought to be these five degrees or kinds of music should each be kept perfect and distinct; in each of them sublimity should be aimed at, and a devotional character maintained; and above all those who execute them should be efficient as vocalists, devout and real as worshippers, and sufficient in numbers to save the service from that reproach of meagreness and weakness which has been too often and too justly cast at it by the ecclesiastical musicians of other lands. Our cathedral choirs have been cut down to so scant a complement of voices that anything like a grand choral effect is of the rarest occurrence; and to make matters worse, the clergy of our cathedrals, in too many cases, either cannot or will not sing, as they surely ought to do were the theory of cathedral establishments duly carried out. All these matters need to be reformed. Is it too much to hope for a speedy restoration of the choral element to its proper condition, now that so much is being done to the fabrics wherein the glorious sounds of musical praise should be efficiently upraised? Let us hope the best, for there are many influential persons who are beginning to see the question in its proper light. Let us not despair. Deus providebit. Architectural Development. HE hasty criticism which amateurs so much love to pass on the works of artists are often, no doubt, valuable in the stimulus they give to the artists, though they are sometimes, it is to be feared, very damaging to the tone of the critic himself. Even when they are hastily and thoughtlessly made they compel careful work, and the endeavour after so complete a mastery of the subject in hand as shall leave no point open to attack. No artist ought, therefore, to regret for his own sake the habit in which all the world now-a-days indulges, of criticising unmercifully everything that is done; but rather he should be thankful to find so much interest taken in his work as to lead to criticism of any kind. Few classes of men, however, seem to us to have to bear such criticisms more frequently than our architects. They are charged by one critic with being mere copyists, by another with refusing to copy, by a third with never attempting to develope, and by a fourth with pretending to be artists when they find it impossible to invent a new style. And yet, in the midst of all these charges, it is the fact that, owing to the successes achieved on the continent by some of our leading Gothic architects, our English reputation in this branch of art has rapidly risen of late, out of that slough of despond in which the vapid dulness of three centuries of classicism had immersed it. Nor is it to be wondered at if our architects make themselves a reputation, when we think for a minute on the enormous work which the English Church has been able to give them to do during the last fifteen or twenty years. In no other part of Europe has the same opportunity been afforded; passing over Spain, Naples, the States of the Church, where nothing has been done, and Bavaria, Prussia, Austria, and the rest of Germany, where a good deal of work of only moderate merit has been produced: let us see what is the case in France. Here, since the accession of the Emperor, much has undoubtedly been achieved, but the state and the state only has been the employer, and the architects employed have been few in number, and all of them trained in the narrowest academical traditions, and without that healthy freedom of rivalry which has done so much in every way for us. In France the revival of the old form of architecture has been, to a very remarkable extent, a purely archæological and antiquarian revival. It has been an attempt to repeat exactly what has been done before and in the same country. | French architects seem to be careless to study, even Now, no style of architecture ever has been invented, or ever can be invented. Style in architecture is a gradual growth, a gradual working out of principles of construction. But no new principle of construction has been discovered for centuries, and we believe, with Mr. Ruskin, that no such discovery is possible. The men, therefore, who spend their time in aspirations after a new Victorian style, are pursuing a shadow, and trifling with their work. They affect to see bondage and servility in the study of ancient art, and no scope in it for the development of fancy, invention, or artistic skill. How wrongly they argue is best proved by the fact that the noblest works of our time, are all done by men whose voices are never raised in these vain laments, and whose skill has all been gained in the worshipful study of their forefathers' works. Originality and invention are, in fact, as open to us at the present day as ever; but there is no royal road to success in art, and patient study and earnest purpose are as necessary in her domain as in that of science. That study ought to be, first and above all, of the art of our own country; next, of that of all foreign countries, so far as both of these are not opposed to that principle of truth which is the first essential of success; and, finally, that study should be zealously devoted to such portions of ancient buildings as are themselves pure and good for ever, even though their surroundings are impure or effete. Such, for instance, is the sculpture which adorned the Greek buildings, and which is as perfect as any the world will ever see. The human form is the same for ever, and the noblest type of the Greek is equally the noblest type for us. The inventions and improvements in construction, which have taken all life out of Greek architecture, have left Greek sculpture fortunately unscathed, and we are able to look at it with almost as much pleasure as at those exquisite works of the Middle Ages, which, founded on the same studies, and approaching often to the same degree of excellence, are at the same time full of a religious, poetic, and chivalric sentiment which endears them to our inmost intelligence, 3 Unfortunately, it is plain to any one who will look at the works of our architects that those among them who seek to make architectural developments possible by such studies as we have indicated are in a minority. But with all our power we urge others to follow in their steps. Let them compare the works of those who are the best known for their studies of old buildings with the works of those who look on such studies as loss of time, and they will see where the greater originality is to be found. That a school which dispenses with originality, or objects to development, can live is an impossibility, and the fate Eof our architects from the time of Wren is the best evidence we can derive of the fact. Let then none be deFterred by the occasional protest of a zealous archeologist from the attempt to be as original as possible in his works. We are all paying our national art a much higher tribute - when we attempt to improve on it than when we attempt to stereotype it, and it is a claim of strength, not a confes=sion of weakness, to assert that this is our proper function. Those who sneer at architectural development, and who raise their narrow cry for mere imitation of medieval works, show us that they do not appreciate a tithe of the : truth which it teaches: for medieval work was-if ever any in this world was-extraordinarily personal, and the result of vigorous self-reliance and individuality in the =artist. These are the qualities which are still required; and it is not too much to say that in some degree they exist among us, when we see the rapid strides which we are already making in the direction of a real good and -genuine development founded upon our old national art. Windermere. Bowness is threatened with gas-works, as, for the first time since the flood, shares are subscribed for in some Manchester gas undertaking that is to poison the fish and make Windermere smell. But with all this, and with more that is threatening, Windermere is yet unapproachable, though she has been got at by coarse tastes and unpicturesque crowds. The prevailing phenomena of the Lakes are the rain and the Dissenters; but they may both be sufficiently met by an umbrella and a Church revival. It is our experience that, whilst the Lakes of England cannot be really known in a life-time, something may be seen of them all in a week. There are plenty of execrable guide-books from a shilling upwards, and Miss Martineau's clearly carries off the right to be known as the longest and the worst. But if any one new to the country will sanction us to show it him, and has only some ten days on his hands, we will undertake to lead him, if not with any of the selfsatisfaction and fine writing of the guide-books, at least with the undertaking that we will not mislead him with any of the enthusiasm that is to be had from sixpencesoiled copies-up to all prices as the season advances. Bowness has paramount claims as a starting-place, and Saturday evening is perhaps, of all, the evening that we would rather get there. would rather get there. Sunday at Windermere sets out all the harmonies of nature supreme, and rest unbroken, as it seems to us, we only see them there; and if the Lake is to be fished or seen on Monday, the business of chartering "Jemmy Walker," and his boat "the Tory," should not be put off beyond Saturday night. Those who do not care to patronize Nonconformity, where there is at least no schism in the wild loveliness of a surpassing scene, will profit by the caution not to come to any bargain before "the Tory" and its owner are found, for half the preachers in half the conventicles let out "safe and commodious boats ;" and an interpretation of "the gospel," with some ILSON used to draw melancholy pictures novelties, is not unlikely to be offered without any extra enough of Windermere invaded by a Cock- charge by the native, who has his scruples about orthoney host. host. But he probably was relieved of doxy in the Church, but none about orthodoxy when it some agony on behalf of the Queen of may be touted into his boat at two shillings an hour. It Lakes when he overlooked the present unsympathetic is impossible not to see that the Church is doing nothing visitation of Liverpool excursionists. Liverpool has throughout the whole of the Lake district. Dissent is clearly every right to get the air it likes the best; but it is strengthening itself only because there is nothing to meet it; equally open to others to avoid meeting Liverpool when it and people go to hear the preaching grocer, or the unattached is abroad in the act. Those hills were reared up there schismatic, because the parish Church puts out no real inbefore "cheap trips" were organized at Euston Square; vitation. There is no Church in the country of the Lakes and those who knew them when there were no railroads that, to our knowledge, is not in the hands of the "Evanmay, without being supercilious, reasonably object to have gelicals." Church work in the loveliest place in England to face the contrasts of garden and city-nature and com- means a dreary observance of a sublime liturgy twice merce-Windermere and Liverpool. There may be those every Sunday; and, at Windermere at least, it cannot be to whom life amongst the Lakes is something new; and a reproach to Churchmen that they have brought up the The "Evanschismatic "missions" that there swarm. to them we may indicate a special reason for going north this autumn time. Windermere, we understand, has not gelicals" have had all the "souls" to themselves from the been given over this season to the sandwich-eating citizens, first; and the Church is only powerless because where who come to "do" her, in a "business-like way," with a her services are not travestied she is herself betrayed. "return-ticket." The Exhibition at Brompton has hap- Half a century ago there was not a Dissenter at Winderpily drawn off the supply, and the hotel and lodging-house mere; but, whilst there was a Church, there was no keepers heap up their anathemas on the "great shop" that Church work, and an exciting and attractive form of has taken all the world to see it. But the change is, after schism was fetched out of Scotland by a mole-catcher, who all, only one of comparison. The antagonisms of nature left the extermination of those things that throw up the and art are hardly to be watched without wondering where earth, to work on those who have long thrown up the the indecencies of buying and selling, and building and worship of their God under their own parish spire. The improving" everything will ever stop; and we would Church, whose foundation is on a Rock, was after this give nearly nothing for the soul of the man who only tells sort superseded by the chapel proprietary that has its that that Providence which set up the peak that foundation on a mole-hill. These are all the antagonisms kisses every cloud did not apprehend the capabilities of of the Church at Windermere-these are all her perilsthe site that was in such a manner lost to commercial pur- "inspired" rat-catchers, and extemporaneous mole-killers! poses, or of him who cannot look upon the mighty stone, Generations have passed by the old Church porch only crowned with the hallowed moss of centuries, without because, whilst the "business" of the day has looked like thinking of the cunning of the mason, and the work of an invitation to enter in, there has been no fervour standing the chisel. Windermere, that can never quite be spoiled, by to bring home to simple hearts the appeal. Can none is not the Windermere of those days when Christopher of the hopeful, cheering, Church revivals, that, thank God, North looked down upon her quiet loveliness from Elleray, are marking our own time, reach where God has made all and declared she had no equal. Rival companies have fought things so beautiful and fair? But nothing can be done till for the monopoly of her waters, and the jealousies of wood the fulness of the need is recognized. Churchmen must and iron have run high-and sometimes for nothing-be found before Churches are restored; and we have sufover some four unprofitable "steam yachts;" whilst ficient reason to know that the tenure of Dissent will be cr you a very empty pretence so soon as a Communion that is simply glorious ceases to be parodied, and so soon as those who go about their Master's business take thought that apathy with them is a mockery, and unfaithfulness a crime. The Church amongst the Lakes is scarcely known; and before the first advent of real Church labour the pretensions of Dissent would collapse, and the mole-catching succession would disappear. A counterfeit presentment of that which is nothing when mutilated is nearly all that is set before nearly all the congregations of Cumberland and Westmoreland. The Church is overlooked only because she is hardly palpable. There is scarcely a daily service throughout the diocese. Celebrations of the Eucharist are scarcely anywhere more frequent than once in six weeks. The poor complain that they scarcely ever see the parson. The Churches would be almost a scandal to Calvin could he come back to comment on their coldness; and whilst these are the signs by which alone the Church is known, the mole-killer well may put aside his trap to catch a sect, and the boatman insist that he has a "call." This is the situation that the Church must set herself to face in the North; nor has she ever had a greater work mapped out before her in any corner of this land. Something of Windermere, from end to end, may be seen in a day in "the Tory." Those who may be of our way of thinking will know better than go near the steamers. Although every form of poaching is in favour, as, for instance, taking pike with trimmers, and trout with an "otter," the fishing, which is generally of a sort to keep some families throughout the year, is better than good, we have reason to know, this season. Many a "big John" have we sent to scale, and whilst we have taken forty pounds weight of eels before breakfast, a pike of eleven pounds odd, and a trout of eight, we once over" scored a hundred pike in a month, and have known them run to twenty-one pounds, twenty-seven pounds, and forty pounds a-piece. It was one of these times that we drew out of the renowned "Jemmy Walker," who kills more fish than any two of his kind, that he "never knew a Dissenter in that country of any account when he was fairly bottomed up;" and many are the good stories that he has got to show it, but he must tell them his own way, and in his own words. Tuesday should be given to Coniston-which was one of the best of char Lakes till commerce set up signs on its banks and poisoned the fishreturning to Bowness in the evening, and setting by Wednesday for the first bit of Cumberland. The scenery all the way between Windermere and Keswick, never quite the same, at every turn is always magnificent; and the road is through a country that has not been even overdone by the most impressible rhymer. The way is by Ambleside, Rydal, and Grasmere, past Helvellyn's foot, and one of the smallest chapels in England, to Keswick; and the Derwentwater hotel at Portinscale, at the head of Derwentater, is as good as even the guide-books represent it. The next day Borrowdale and Wastwater, Buttermere, Crummock Water, and Bassenthwaite may be "done," and Ullswater reached on Friday. Perhaps the way by Brotherswater, Kirkstone, and Troutbeck, is the finest in the whole district; and there is nothing else as fine as that turn where the depth of the valley below is at its greatest, and the supremacy of Windermere again asserts itself through the trees. In the six days thirteen of the Lakes will have been passed, and above a dozen of the highest peaks will have been seen. But, we believe with Wilson, that when it is all summed up, there is nothing quite like Windermere on all the earth besides-nothing like her when asleep she mirrors the majesty of the hills that stand round her, and nothing like her when she cannot rest. He was not merely fabled who said this, and had yet been up and down in the world. Let him who thinks we set this Lake of Lakes too high see them all this autumn time, and fairly tell us whether, though he may have fancied each in turn, he does not give, on coming back, unmixed allegiance to their Queen. Influence of the Clergy. HERE can be no dispute, even amongst its bitterest opponents, as to the fact of the vast increase of the influence of the National Church over all classes of the population during the last quarter of a century. That influence, moreover, is of the best and most legitimate kind. It is the offspring not of political party, but of religious conviction; it is due not to platform oratory, but to a steady improvement in the discharge of those offices which it is the part of a National Church to perform towards the nation. It would be impossible now to awaken from a London mob the cry which followed the coach of Queen Anne,-" We hope your Majesty is for the Church and Dr. Sacheverel. It would have been still more difficult to have wrung from the Churchmen of that period those munificent gifts, those sacrifices of time, and energy, and thought which have in our own day studded the land with churches and schools, each in its own district an ITEXμa of incalculable power, and by the multiplication of Colonial dioceses have brought the Anglican communion into direct contact with the most remote sections of Christendom. We can then thankfully acknowledge that the social influence of the English Church has increased, and is increasing; but there is another aspect of the question which is not so satisfactory. A large proportion of nominal Churchpeople have little or no intelligent hold of the doctrines or discipline of the communion to which they belong. It is necessary here to distinguish carefully between the influence of the Clergy and the influence of the Church. The personal influence of a clergyman is very great, especially in country parishes. A hundred causes contribute to this. His education, his social position, his free access to the highest and the lowest, his command of charitable funds, give him great and legitimate influence. It is remarkable how much of neglect and misconduct is required in a clergyman to destroy the respect with which the middle and lower classes in agricultural parishes still regard the Church Minister. Yet, with all the deference still conceded to the Parochial clergyman, it must, we think, be allowed that a large number of those who share fully in this feeling, and are as far removed as possible from any tendency to dissent, understand little of the distinguishing principles of the Church. They adhere to its communion, they frequent its worship, partly from habit, partly from a distaste for cant, yet without any clear understanding or firm grasp of its doctrines. Dr. Newman, in one of his post-secession addresses, tells us that it is impossible to form a conception of the Church of England divested of her snug parsonages and venerable sanctuaries; that she has no well-defined theory or principles, no distinct position on the great map of human thought and faith. The insinuation is utterly false. The Church of England system is as marked and tangible as the Romish. Yet practically there is some foundation for the sneer, for the bulk of her members have little knowledge of what that system is, and may be therefore little able to conceive of her divorce from the externals of her providential position. The Roman Catholic, however ignorant, has a conscious grasp of the peculiar doctrines of his communion; hence he is rarely to be drawn off to any other mode of worship. The Dissenter is crammed with specious reasons for his dissent; the mass of Church-people, if asked why they are such, would be for the most part unable to give any better answer than that they were brought up to the Church, and liked it best. Now we do not undervalue this instinctive, traditional Churchmanship-far from it. But we wish to inquire how it comes to pass that there is often amongst Church-people of sense and education so little knowledge of the constitution of the Church. It is the absence of this knowledge which renders the more earnest-minded of the lower, and lower-middle class an easy prey to all kinds of heresy. We |