character as CHRIST's Spouse should have been developed, thrusting from her those in whom she should have seen her LORD. She has stood forth a grand and inexplicable anomaly, with a practice most notoriously contradicting and opposing her theory. The Protestantism of the one has been for some purpose or other suffered to darken the Catholicity of the other. Population has gone on multiplying day by day, and yet she has made no proper efforts to expand herself, and unfold in tender embrace her daily increasing progeny. She has been boasted of, and toasted as the Church of the Poor, who, alas! have been driven from the sanctuaries by crimson-cushioned pues, in which the purse-proud have comfortably worshipped. In few churches are there daily prayers; in still fewer a weekly celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice. Her Catholic Prayers have been preached from lofty reading-desks, and her formularies mutilated to suit individual taste, and square with individual theories; whilst her quenched lights have symbolized the sad condition in which she has been. Much has been done to chill, little to cherish, warm devotion; much to discourage, little to evoke, the generous feelings of pure and undefiled religion. In a word she has been crippled, and chained, and fast-bound, by influences to which she should have been superior: she who should reign has been the subject. To this fact, however humiliating the reflection, must be attributed the present awful condition of a heathenized people.

What then shall be done? If the remarks we have made with not a little pain, be consistent with truth, it is evident that the only remedy which can be applied is that of doing what should have been done long ago, namely, developing to the full the Church's system, and none other. That which would have prevented the evil will, we doubt not, be effectual to cure. It has been said, and truly, that we must direct our attention to the proper education of the young. Education is the preventative of crime: that education, we mean, which, to use the forcible words of Mr. Bennett, shall "sustain, nourish, and cause to grow to perfection the moral affections, not the intellectual only; but the moral affections as being the source of a man's life," which shall "correct their natural evils, check their tendencies as far as they are merely animal, and shall shape, mould, and guide their bias towards the benefit first of ourselves, and secondly of those in the intercourse with whom, as social beings, we are called upon by Providence to live." And this education must be based upon the principles of our Church, commencing with Holy Baptism, as the season at which life itself commenced. The recipients of it must be taught to "love the Church of their Baptism, and to cling to her through evil report and through good report. They must know and feel the blessed privileges that result from communion with her, and through her, with the entire body of the Church Catholic; they must be shown that it is their

duty to obey her, and in unquestioning faith and childlike obedience to receive her teaching in all humility; that so they may see how she would kindly lead them in holy paths from the cradle to the grave, and prepare them, by fast and festival, and by frequent communions, for that kingdom of which they have been made inheritors. Thus would they be taught to live as Christians, and we might well expect that God's blessing would rest upon our labours, and gift the Church with an army of holy, zealous, self-denying men, who should stand fast in the faith, and quit them like men, and be strong. If the disused catechetical instruction on every Sunday afternoon were restored, and schools multiplied, and able masters supplied, under Clerical supervision, the Church's children would be provided for, and the young taken care of before they are guilty of sin, and not after."

One addition only would we suggest further: the consciences of the young must be taught to seek more frequent spiritual counsel and advice. Without some such system we are more and more persuaded, the English Church will never bring her people to any ripeness or perfection in Christian living: and this, if they were properly trained from early youth, the people themselves would speedily discover, and be forward to demand it at the hands of their pastors.

But this is only one part of the vast encounter which lies before us: it is prospective, a future rather than a present good. One worthy our unceasing exertions, but yet not one which should absorb all our energies, and employ all our time and thought. Whilst this is being developed and worked out, thousands will daily die in sin, unheeded, unwatched, and without the benefit of religious advice. Whilst, then, all due attention is paid to the young, the up-grown must not be neglected. If they are, on whose head will their blood be?

But it may be contended that these have been already provided for, and the many new churches that have recently been built may be pointed to as signs of increased life, and an evidence of a desire to perform duties long neglected. Far be it from us to undervalue the generous labours of those who have devoted themselves, their time and talents, to this branch of the subject. They are worthy of all honour, and should receive our most hearty and cordial support. A blessed thing it is to place in a heretofore neglected district a house of Prayer, with its bell to sound a note of warning that earth is not our home, and that there are more momentous interests than those of time and sense. And yet we are free to confess that this does not seem to us to meet the evil. What we desiderate is that some vestiges of holier times should be brought back, and the Priest, accessible to his people, and living among them, should be able to comfort the desponding, strengthen the weaker, and direct the lowly, and broken-hearted penitent.

But this cannot be so long as a single priest is placed over thousands of people, for whose souls he must hereafter give account, and yet whom he cannot know, however desirous he may be to prove himself a faithful guardian of the LORD's sheep. The Church ever intended that her means of usefulness should be in proportion to the wants and requirements of the people. Whilst her system, and the holy truths she inculcates, remain the same, her means of operation should be fully developed. What is sufficient for one age, is sure to prove inefficient and meagre for another. should keep pace with the population; and in such sort that all her children may enjoy her blessed offices, and receive those privileges to which they have a claim.

She

A conviction of this now universally prevails. Men of the most opposite views have come to the same conclusion, that some great measure must soon be devised, and receive effect, or the people will be for ever lost. In this agreement there appears to be something divine; and we might almost hope that this general stirring of men's inmost souls is but paving the way for the time when the Church shall gird on her armour, and come forth strong to conquer, and to save. An increase of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, is called for on all hands, and the restitution of the Diaconate to its due subordinate position is demanded. This is a question which affects the general well-being of the Church, and one into which we need not enter here. We have simply to do with parishes, large, overgrown, unwieldy, heathenized parishes, and having stated the case, we would now suggest the remedy.

We believe that nothing but a return to the monastic principle can save us in our present need. Nor let any be alarmed. We do not mean monasticism with its vows, and oaths; but the principle of aggregation, as opposed to that of individual efforts. What can one priest do with ten thousand souls? How can he be ever among them, driving away all strange notions, and building them up in the holy faith? How can he, alone and unaided, celebrate daily prayers, and offer the Blessed Sacrifice on Saints' days, and Sundays? Unless endowed with more than human strength, his frame must yield to his enervating labours, and he must weep and mourn, that he cannot faithfully watch over the Baptized. Every large parish should have a College of Priests and Deacons, having all things in common, living by rule under the direction of the head; all being subject to episcopal authority. Would we could add, that there should be a Bishop also, who might himself preside over the community, and guide them by his fatherly wisdom, and his ghostly counsel. It would then be an easy matter for these, (who should be men of missionary zeal, and missionary habits, who should be content to labour constantly among the poorest of the poor,) to divide the parish into districts, and so be able to visit all who were entrusted to their care. Their number also would permit

that the Church should be ever open from morn to night, that so all might be enabled to join in holy services, and offer up their private devotions in God's own house. And there it is, in GoD's own house, that the people must be encouraged to come and open their hearts to their spiritual guides.

And as the Clergy became conversant with their people and gained a knowledge of their wants, it would soon be found that something more is required. Two different classes of persons would be brought before them; and they would learn also how necessary it is to attend to the social condition of the people. The classes to which we allude are the poor factory children who have no home of their own, but lodge oftentimes with the worst persons, by whom they are trained up in vice; and young men who come from a distance in order to become assistants in warehouses, banks, &c. These latter when beyond parental guidance are left to follow their own hearts' desire, and fall into sin: now provision should be made for the proper care of these; and there should be raised institutions in which they might live together under the superintendence of the Clerical Superiors. The young men, whose education is in general very good, might in this institution be trained for service in the Church; they could, after years of training, in which they had proved themselves worthy the office, be admitted to the Diaconate, and so be made the instruments of aiding on the great work, and producing the end we all desire to see. And whilst this was being worked out, due attention would be paid to the celebration of the Public Services, and a choir would be formed out of the others. There would also be at the same time an ample staff to manage and conduct the schools for the poorer children.

We have very briefly stated what experience has taught us is the best remedy of existing evils. The measure we believe is a Church measure, and one sanctioned by the example of other days. It is one which would secure all that heart could wish for, and which would be the means of restoring the waste places of the land. Funds must doubtless be required. But here we have no need to strike out a new path. The Church has within herself the means of her own extension. There is no need for subscription-lists, newspaper paragraphs, or charity balls. There is but only one way in which we should make our offerings to GOD, and that is by offering at the holy altar a tenth part of those possessions, be they great or small, with which God has blessed us. We are but giving Him of His own, and when we do we imitate Himself. For this, says S. Cyprian, "is to become really sons of God by spiritual birth; this is, by a heavenly law, to imitate the equity of God the FATHER. For the gifts of GOD are common for our use; and no one is excluded from His benefits and gifts, to the intent that the whole race of men may equally enjoy the goodness and bountifulness of GOD. Thus, for instance, equally for all does the day beam, the sun shine,

showers give moisture, the wind blows, the sleepers enjoy one sleep, and the lustre of the stars and moon is common unto all. And, according to this example of equality, the earthly possessor who shares his profits and gains with the brotherhood, being free and just in his voluntary largesses, imitateth God the FATHER." Were Churchmen as a body thus to act, we should not hear as now of wants which cannot be supplied. Were they thus to act they would convince people of their earnestness and determination, and doing the Church's work in the Church's way would take the place of talking about it.

If the lost are to be reclaimed and the wanderers brought home, it cannot be until the Church becomes faithful to herself; until her Daily Services are duly performed, in the rich tones which are her heritage; until Fast and Festival are allowed to teach their lessons of humiliation and joy; until her full doctrines are firmly maintained and her children are kept in the way of Christian holiness by ever-recurring Communion; until, in a word, she becomes strong instead of weak, healthy instead of being maimed and crippled, and she becomes intent on one object,-the salvation of souls. And this she cannot be until she is supplied with trained and disciplined Clergy, and the numbers of them are proportioned to the labour they have to endure. Then, but not before, will she sing the song of rejoicing over a land delivered from worse than heathen darkness.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

The Christmas Holydays in Rome, by the Rev. W. Ingraham Kip, M.A., Author of "The Double Witness of the Church," "The Lenten Fast," &c. Edited by the Rev. W. SEWELL, B.D. London: Longman and Co. 12mo. pp. 292.

THE strictures which we have elsewhere made upon Dr. Maitland's book are applicable here also. Mr. Kip's tone throughout his volume is captious and snarling, and its effect we fear on many minds will be precisely opposite to that which is intended by the writer. To find a person continually defending himself, when he has really no assailant, is by no means calculated to convince you that he is secure in his own position. It will generally be considered a sign of weakness rather than of strength, just as underbred persons are always found to be more punctilious and sensitive of affronts than others. Moreover, many of the charges which Mr. Kip brings against the Roman Church, are precisely those which the Puritans have long since urged against ourselves. It is curious that while "Paganism" is the charge which he most commonly imputes to that Church, he is himself so devoted an admirer of