system is too brief perhaps to warrant any very decided opinion on this difficult subject, though it appears to be generally admitted that greater influence and responsibility should be given to the bishop, and that possibly the diocesan nominator might be dispensed with.

There are about 1,380 incumbencies in Ireland, including the cathedrals and district chapels, and the incomes under the diocesan scheme vary from 80l. to 700l. per annum ; only 389 exceed 2007., including those appropriated to the deaneries and livings in the large cities and principal towns. Of these there are 146 from 300/. per annum and under 400/. ; 52 from 400l. per annum and under 500/.; 13 from 500l. per annum and under 600l.; 7 from 600l. per annum and under 700/.; and the one solitary fat living of Templemore, attached to the Cathedral of Derry, which is worth 700l.

About twenty parishes in all Ireland have no provision whatever. The proposed incomes for the future Episcopate of Ireland, comprehending twelve sees, vary from 1,000l. to 2,000l. per annum, but the greater part of the necessary capital has still, as in the case of the parishes, to be realised by voluntary subscriptions. The only bishopric which is at present re-endowed being that of Derry, for which 2,000l. per annum has been provided out of the present Bishop's composition balance.

It is satisfactory, however, to find from the Report of the Representative Body, published in the present year, that the contributions received for Church purposes from members of the Church residing in Ireland have increased during the year 1876 by a sum of above 11,000l. The Stipend Fund, which must be always the basis of the entire system of diocesan finance, has also, the Report affirms, substantially increased. We find from that useful book, The Irish Church Directory, that since January 1, 1870, no less than 136 gentlemen have been ordained, who are now beneficed in the Irish Church; whereas the number of curates ordained since the same period does not exceed 196: this will give a large proportion of young men as holding cure of souls in the various parishes. There are no means of learning accurately how many of those who have been ordained since the beginning of the year 1870 are graduates; but there is no doubt that the majority of those who obtain Divinity Testimonials in Dublin go to England, and that a very considerable number of the men ordained in Ireland, including some Dissenting Ministers, have not taken their degrees. This is to be regretted, and the more so as it would appear that the standard has been in consequence

somewhat lowered; but at present unavoidably so. It has been sometimes said that one reason why the best educated of the youth of Ireland are disinclined to enter the ministry of the Church of their fatherland arises from their dislike to the Revision movement which has obtained so much notoriety during the dissensions of the Synods. There may be some truth in this statement, for generally the rising generation in Ireland are higher Churchmen than their fathers; but the better prospect of promotion in England than in Ireland, not only as regards the Church, but in all other professions, is perhaps the predisposing cause for this preference, rather than any theological considerations.

4. Revision. This may be the proper place to say a few words on that much vexed subject the Revision of the Prayer Book. After seven years' wrangling in the General Synod, we may at last congratulate ourselves that we have seen the end of this controversy; and although the old Prayer Book cannot be said to have come entirely unscathed out of the fray, yet we may thank God that no essential part has been touched, and that if the new book is far from an improvement, it is chiefly in the new preface that what good Churchmen will generally agree to disapprove, is to be found; for it would seem, in the words of the Bishop of Derry, to be there taught, 'that opposite doctrines are equally true, and equally recognised.' We may in this connexion note how deeply the Church is indebted to the wisdom and moral courage displayed by the Archbishop of Armagh in the character which he could have so little anticipated of Primate of the Synod of a disestablished Church. In the book itself the most objectionable alterations. appear to be the omission of the Absolution in the Visitation for the Sick, for which that from the Communion Office is substituted, and the omission of any Rubric for the use of the Creed of S. Athanasius; this last, however, is a minor evil in comparison to what was at one time threatened, and actually passed the serious mutilation of the Creed itself! And as it is still to be left in its old place in the Book of Common Prayer, and as the Revisionists prefer to call it the hymn 'Quicunque Vult,' one would suppose that there can be no possible objection that the choir should chant it on the great festivals on which it was ordered by the old Rubric to be used.

As to blots of the second order, such as the puerile substitution of the word presbyter for priest, the excision of the texts derived from the Apocrypha in the Communion Service, and many other minor alterations, while no doubt deplorable,

they affect no vital principle; and although no orthodox Churchman can do otherwise than say 'the old ways were better,' still we cannot deny the right of a National Church to use its lawful and newly-constituted powers, and (shall we say?) to amuse itself with the exercise. It must also be admitted that if there are many things to be regretted in the new Irish edition of the Prayer-Book, there are also some to be approved. The service appointed for Harvest Festivals, and for Consecration of Churches, cannot but be gratefully accepted by Churchmen. It is to be regretted, perhaps, that a service in honour of S. Patrick has not also been added to the Irish Book of Common Prayer; it could not, one would suppose, but have been acceptable to an Irish Synod. We cannot conclude without acknowledging the improved tone which has characterised the later proceedings of that assembly. The seven years' debate has not been without this advantage--that laymen, for the most part profoundly ignorant of Ecclesiastical subjects, have felt the necessity of study, and have in fact 'educated' themselves to a somewhat better understanding of the doctrines of their own Church.

Still we cannot but hold with the Archdeacon of Dublin that the laity, while in all matters concerning temporalities they are distinctly in their place, still have no right to interfere in spiritual matters; and that it is therefore deeply to be regretted that the proposal which he made in the General Convention, and afterwards withdrew, that every question relating to doctrine, if not discipline, shall be reserved for the consideration and decision of the Bishops and Presbyters of the Church,' was not adopted.

But the new Prayer-Book, such as it is, is now a fact, at least, in manuscript, for it is said there are difficulties about the printing; and certainly, considering the innumerable editions of the old book, from the goodly folio to the minutest 48mo., and that it can be had well printed for the sum of 2d., we imagine that this Hibernian volume (which nobody seems really to like) is not a tempting speculation, or likely to be a commercial success, and that the great majority of Irish Churchmen will be content with their old books.

Indeed, it may well be doubted whether there has been at any time much genuine feeling in favour of revision in any part of Ireland. It is true a clique of Ecclesiastical demagogues of the Plymouth Brethren schism, abetted by certain members of the old school, who arrogated to themselves the name of Evangelicals, took advantage of the situation,' and thought to eliminate from the Prayer-Book all traces of the

doctrine of Sacramental Grace; but this, spite of the scars of conflict which the new book bears, they have conspicuously failed to achieve, so that some of them have left the Church in consequence; a result which perhaps is calculated to strengthen rather than weaken the National Church.

5. Romish Aggression.--With regard to the point whether the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has been more or less aggressive since the Act of 1869, it is to be observed, that although it may have been the dream of some amiable persons that a better feeling would be produced between the discordant elements of Irish society when the Church Establishment was laid in the dust and the Ecclesiastical property confiscated, the result must certainly be disappointing. The Protestants, perhaps, could hardly, in the imagination of any politician, be supposed to be conciliated, but the Romanists might be reasonably thought to be at least satisfied, but it does not appear to be so; the great bulk of the people has been always indifferent, except that there was a very general impression that after the Church was deprived of its endowments there would be no more payment of tithe rentcharge. Not finding this pleasant result accruing, they now express themselves generally sorry that the clergy have been deprived of incomes which at all events were spent amongst themselves. As to the priests, when the Church was asleep, they were content also to be inactive; they now keep themselves more aloof from the Protestant gentry, and busy themselves more with local politics, when they find it possible to edge in any Ultramontane influence. They were perhaps not prepared for the vitality which the Church has proved itself to possess, and are many of them certainly disappointed at the result. We say many of them advisedly, for there were, and are, some Roman Catholic priests who take a very different view, and, like a very large body of the respectable Roman Catholic laity, would have been better content to leave the Church as it was.

6. Vital Religion and Prospects.—As to the present state of vital religion in Ireland we may venture to speak at least hopefully, though it cannot be said that recent legislation has in any degree contributed to allay the dissensions between Roman Catholics and Protestants. The Church would appear now to be beginning to recover from the shock of 1869, and there are not wanting signs of true progress. Thus the rite of confirmation would seem to be received by the rising generation in all parts of Ireland with increased The number of communicants has increased,

reverence.

there are a greater number of services in the churches, the great Church festivals are better observed, more choral and harvest festivals, clerical meetings for the discussion of sacred subjects are held oftener than of yore, and in most dioceses inspectors of religious education have been appointed; on the whole, there is better organization in Church work, the natural result of Diocesan Synods and Councils. The society of Home Missions' is now said to be conducted on Church principles, no mission being allowed in any diocese without the consent of the Bishop, or in any parish without the consent of the Incumbent. The use of the offertory, which, in the absence of poor laws, was in the old days, after a fashion, universal in Ireland, has been of late extended, and made the medium of collections, not only for the poor, but for ecclesiastical purposes, and, as one would expect, with great advantage to the Church; and there have been not wanting, here and there, attempts to substitute eleven o'clock instead of twelve o'clock, at which time the so-called morning service is generally held in Ireland.

On the other hand, it is to be feared that in some places, in consequence of financial difficulties, pew rents have been resorted to, but are now again generally given up. In those parts of Ireland, especially where Churchmen are sparsely scattered through the country, and where the landlords have not done their duty by subscribing to the sustentation fund, the burden of supporting the Church presses very heavily on her poorer members, for the English reader should remember that, subject only to the life-interest of the clergy appointed before the Act, the Irish Church has been stripped of all that she possessed, with the exception of a sum of half-a-million in lieu of private endowments; to this sum, it is true, must be added what is received by the voluntary act of these same clergy, who are allowed to compound for the value of their life-interest, leaving one-third of the sum for the future benefit of the parish; certain portions of the glebes are still to be left to the parishioners, but both house and lands must be bought by subscriptions, or rented until they are paid for. The churches no doubt, were not confiscated, but, considering their origin, and that they had been built and re-built by Protestants many times since the Reformation, it would have been impossible to act otherwise; and, of course, for the future, the whole expense of their repair and restoration must fall upon the parish. It is sometimes difficult to make the Irish tenant understand that the tithe rentcharge still to be paid by him does not go into his landlord's pocket, but into