saints. They prescribe fasts, like Papists, and from them have taken into their books the fasts of Lent, Vigils, Ember days, and Fridays," &c. &c. Thus safely can the Romanist retort on the Anglican, so does he blunt the arrows of the best equipped controversialist. They must be clean, who bear the vessels of the Lord: the physician must first heal himself: first cast out the beam that is in thine own eye. These principles which come from Rome, lead to Rome: but especially the grand central doctrine of the priesthood, which is the essence of Popery. In this source of ordination-power, which England received from Rome, and which she still recognizes, in Rome, we find the grand source of conversion amongst her consistently sacramentarian clergy. They say only one Church can have the Comforter with it; the power of conferring sacerdotal consecration, on which the saving efficacy of baptism and other rites depends. Therefore, they look for such a Church; and find that Rome, (from which England has accepted so much,) is also by England recognized as having this present divinity, and therefore from the leadings of the English Church, they find rest in the Romish communion. This is the condensed history of all clerical conversions. This true Church, which has authority conveyed down from the beginning, to confer these wonderful priestly gifts, is what all these men grope after as the converts plainly declare. The Rev. W. H. Anderton, in a farewell letter to his late parishioners, (of St. Margaret's, Leicester,) professes to have found the source of the sacramental Nile;-or rather, the true fountain of healing waters of which all the clergy aim to drink at ordinations, and there fill their pitcher with gracious powers for their spiritual functions of baptism, confirmation and absolution. This fountain, poor Anderton finds under Peter's chair, whence it flows through all valid ecclesiastical channels; to exude from the fingers of a bishop, and distil from the lips of a priest so qualified. If this unfortunate gentleman seems madder than his late Anglican brethren, it is only because he is more methodical;-a more logical lunatic: they trust to moonshine, but he thinks a trip to the moon, more healing and safe. We are not disposed to follow him, on the contrary, we are anxious to remove the balloon which periodically carries these deluded passengers. But we must defer the conclusion of this subject to our next number: in which we shall notice some manifestoes of the converts from England to Rome. Meanwhile we may observe that these converts to Rome from the Church of England, will not do as a Roman doctor magnanimously ascribes to Luther,—drag down with them more than a third of the stars of heaven;-the movement back to Rome, will not at all disturb the current of society; it reaches not to the masses of the people: it forins no fearful and attractive vortex to force all the vessels within the sweep of the horizon to dance around this whirlpool, and finally to become engulphed. It all depends upon churchmen themselves, to frustate this movement; by listening to their true friends. We trust that it will simply lead people to wake up and wonder how these men found their way to Rome; and finding that they have only followed a thread which the Romans left behind them, along which thread these poor men have groped with a marvellous purblind consistency, we shall have simply to cut the thread;-to dissolve the connexion for ever;-and reverse the state of things which allows four and twenty prelates to declare in the face of all Protestant England-that "the Church before and after the Reformation is undoubtedly identical."* It must no longer be identical; Rome must no longer be allowed to hide her leaven in the Protestants' three measures of meal. We are told that the cuckoo, whose note is so cheerful and captivating, is after all a cunning and cruel bird; laying eggs in the nests of our true British songsters, to be first hatched by them, and then to destroy their foster parents and the true progeny. We must remove those seeds, which Popery has thus left behind; entirely "cast out the bondwoman and her son," that we may not all be brought into slavery. In other words, we must have a complete BIBLE REFORMATION. We must no more remodel the Mass Book, and cry out against those who are more consistent to the remnants of Popery than their neighbours. We cannot remove the men, till we have removed the principles: they argue from the Prayer Book, we must take away their premises, or we cannot gainsay their conclusion. We condemn Puseyites, let us abolish Puseyism; and then we shall be consistent. Let Churchmen be assured, that if they set down these undoubted truths to the bitterness of Dissent, they will lose the grand advantage of this crisis; and instead of preserving their Church as a bulwark against Rome, they will build up the citadel of Romanism in the Church itself, till all places of honour and emolument being in the hands of Puseyites, and a liberal or latitudinarian Government being in power, first, Catholicism will be established in Ireland, and secondly, acknowledged in England. Then cometh the end-in such a convulsion as will shake down all the battlements of tyranny: then will liberty and conscience know their enemies; and the slowly but surely gathering forces of light and truth,—the education of centuries; in which alone a nation comes to years of discretion-will be seen in grand (it may be terrible) collision with the consolidated hosts of tyranny and bondage: such a crisis would be dreadful, though the issue cannot be doubtful. For the world still moves on, and man must be free. May this advance be peaceful, let there be no vain but irritating impediment, lest the waters of this river collecting there in resistless force, where they seem to have been checked, should suddenly as with a flood" carry away all the mounds of false authority, and create a new earth, by the desolation of the old. * See the Address of the Prelates, in our last number: "Mene, Mene, &c." STATESMEN'S RELIGION. "EVERY PLANT WHICH MY HEAVENLY FATHER HATH NOT PLANTED, SHALL BE ROOTED UP."-(Matt. xv. 13.) In those who think a national Church right, dissent is a sin; in those who think it wrong, silence is a shame. CHURCH EXTENSION. The following modest recommendations, having been presented by the Church Commissioners; we beg to present them to our readers, with the comments of Publicola, published in the Weekly Dispatch, May 11th, 1851. The courteous reader is requested to form his own judgment, both of the text and the sermon. Both are worthy of preservation. A MODEST PROPOSAL; PAROCHIAL EXTENSION. The following is a copy of the address on parochial extension, presented to her Majesty by the Archbishop of Canterbury, April 14th, 1851 :TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. The humble Address of the undersigned Prelates, Lords of your Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and others, Members of the United Church of England and Ireland, SHOWETH, That in many parts of England and Wales, where the population has outgrown the provisions originally made by the Church for the religious instruction of the people, there is an absolute and immediate necessity for an extension of the parochial system. Great as the undertaking may be, and difficult as it may seem to make the parochial and ecclesiastical system adequate to the exigencies of the times, the Church, it is believed, possesses in her temporalities, and in the wealth and liberality of her members, resources sufficient, if properly drawn out and applied, to afford spiritual instruction to the whole of the nation, insomuch that in a few years there need be "no sheep without a fold, nor any fold without a shepherd." It has been ascertained by your Majesty's "Commissioners appointed to enquire into the practicability and mode of sub-dividing all densely-peopled parishes in England and Wales," that there is a pressing demand for the erection of 600 new churches, which should, in most cases, have parishes assigned to them, and these, of course, involve the appointment of one clergymen at least to each; 600 additional churches, therefore, with as many clergymen attached to them, is the first great want towards rendering effective our parochial system. It is estimated by your Majesty's Commissioners that these Churches would cost, on an average, £3,000 each, if built in that simple ecclesiastical style, both internally and externally, which suits the dignified simplicity of our reformed worship. The total cost of those 600 sacred edifices would, therefore, amount to £2,100,000. The Commissioners are of opinion that if a sum of about £1,000,000 sterling could be supplied from some general fund, local subscriptions and the liberality of Churchmen (as experience hitherto has shown) would supply the rest. Again, to provide every clergyman with a stipend of £200 per annum, would require an income of £120,000, and to endow every church with £50 a year more, for the maintenance of the fabric, would require an additional yearly sum of £30,000; £150,000 a year, therefore, must be provided for the support of the 600 new churches and their officiating ministers; but, further, it would be desirable in all cases, and in some, necessary, to attach residences, or parsonage-houses, to the new parishes. In many cases, where the labours of a faithful pastor were duly valued by his flock, it might be expected that a residence would be provided for him, but taking each parsonage-house to cost, on an average, £800, a sum of £120,000 (supposing a like sum were granted by the bounty board) would be sufficient to make a grant of half the cost of each parsonage, leaving the rest to the liberality of the congregation. The founding of schools for the poor in every new parish and district will follow as a matter of course upon the erection of the church and the appointment of a minister. For this important object, the Committee of your Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council on Education, will be 'ready to contribute its aid; and with the help of local resources and other contributions it might reasonably be expected to see, in a few years, increased school accommodation for more than 200,000 children. An important class of men, which has lately been introduced into the Church with the sanction of the bishops, will not be omitted in any scheme for extending parochial efficiency; the Scripture reader is now acknowledged to be a valuable auxiliary to the clergyman-his salary is from £50 to £70 a year; and if even there were no public funds available for introducing 1,000 such men into the new-formed parishes, it might safely be left to the laity, in their respective districts, to furnish the small stipends required for these useful agents. From the same source would flow free-will offerings sufficient to maintain with food, shelter and clothing, godly women who might be disposed to undertake to visit the dwellings of the poor, to soothe the hours of sickness, to take the neglected children by the hand and conduct them to the school, and to supply what is wanting in our district visiting associations. We do not undertake to set forth at any length the resources by which these important objects may be accomplished; the intention of this paper is mainly to lay before your Majesty the wants of the population. At the same time, we may properly refer to the two reports recently issued from the two Royal Commissions, one of which was appointed to enquire into the state of the property of the Church, the other into the means of increasing its efficiency. These reports suggest several measures, too complicated to be here stated in detail, by which a large amount of money, both in capital and revenue, might be obtained for the purposes contemplated. In the first place, it is proposed, that the patronage of a portion of the benefices in the gift of the Lord High Chancellor of England should be resigned in favour of the proposed new parishes, and the value of the advowsons applied in successive years to the erection of churches. Should this be considered inexpedient, and the whole of the Lord Chancellor's patronage be retained, the undersigned would humbly express a hope that some other mode may be devised by the wisdom of your Majesty's Government, for giving the Church, where her ministrations are needed, the full benefit of these resources. It is also shown, on the same authority, that by a better system of managing Church property, not less than £500,000. per annum might be obtained, in the course of a few years, for the support of the additional clergymen which our crowded towns and widely-extended parishes require. The overwhelming duties which now devolve upon some of the bishop's (owing to the enlarged population and the happy circumstances of an increase also in the number of clergy,) appear to make it desirable that there should be a corresponding increase in the episcopate; and if your Majesty in your wisdom should see fit to recommend such a measure, revenue and residence of the deanery, in some places might be made available, where fitting circumstances concur. the The foregoing suggestions however, for the extension of the parochial system, look not only to the actual resources of the Church, but to the liberality of her members. It rests with your Majesty's Government to set the scheme in motion, it will remain for the people to press it forward; and if, in the localities where these contemplated churches are to be founded, one-half of the first cost should be supplied or procured by the congregations, it would be in accordance with the spirit of the Church Building Acts of Parliament, that, if it were desired, the subscribers to a certain amount should have a voice in the nomination of the ministers, but in such a manner as to avoid the evils of a popular election. If the blessed truths of the Gospel, and its civilising influences, can be brought within the reach of the great masses of our labouring population, no slight objections, arising from mere secular considerations, should arrest the steps of a Christian Government; and no sacrifice should be considered too great to be made on the part of a Christian people. The undersigned, in presenting this humble memorial to your Majesty, are far from presuming to take upon themselves the office of advisers, nor would they be understood as expressing an opinion on all the details of the recommendations of your Majesty's Commissioners; but they respectfully submit that the suggestions embodied in this address may be worthy of your Majesty's consideration, and they humbly offer their loyal cooperation with your Majesty's Government to promote those measures, and draw forth those resources of benevolence which cannot fail, by GOD's blessing, to confer an inestimable benefit upon the spiritually-desti tute thousands of immortal souls. Archbishop of Canterbury Duke of Bedford VOL. I. M 2 Duke of Manchester |