somewhere, or the selfishness of our nature would soon break out into endless disorder. Above all, then, must it be so in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.'"

p. 23.

We say that we do not think this appended argument, derived from utility, perfectly conclusive; because, though we believe in this utility as fully as our Right Reverend friend, there are others who do not; and they would urge that things are done as "decently and in order" in the Lutheran Church, or the Church of Scotland, as in the Church of Rome or the Church of England. Nor is the argument derived from family and patriarchal authority conclusive; for domestic government is-and very properly, in the right sense of the word—despotic, and is therefore either a curse or a blessing according as it is exercised. But very different ought to be the regimen of public authority over men arrived at years of discretion—men who contribute to the burdens of the state, and who are not made for their rulers, but their rulers for them. Even in a village, a constable is not invested with authority for his own sake, but for the purposes of public order and good government; and the Divine right of all lawful civil ordinances we trace to the same source. His Lordship says that "supreme controul must, under God, be lodged somewhere;" but it does not follow, of absolute necessity, that it must be lodged in a Bishop. A Presbyterian in the North would think it quite as well lodged in a General Assembly of the church; and an Independent would doubt whether, in matters of religion, it is safely lodged in any human hands, except in the sense in which it is lodged in his communion, in each particular "church." We doubt whether even many of the best Churchmen would willingly lodge "supreme controul" in a bishop: certainly our Church does not so lodge it; for it always supposes the bishop to be assisted by his council of presbyters; and till the State took away its houses of Convocation, because they had misused their powers, it exercised a strong controul over each bishop, not only by means of his brethren, but also through the presbytery, and, circuitously, through the laity also.

From the general question of Episcopacy his Lordship proceeds to shew the duty of conforming to the Church of England. He says:

“Those who withdraw from a National Church because of the necessarily general language of her offices-or because of the accidental change, by the lapse of time and the current of modern theological language, in the signification of a single term, regeneration or because of decay, at times, in that which no platform of discipline can ensure, the personal piety of her ministers-or because of supposed defects in the mode of her connection (so salutary in itself, though not essential to her as a church) with the state which protects it—or because of the greater or less extent of dioceses, or the mode of apportioning support to the clergy-or on account of indiscreet and exaggerated and really false admissions of individual writers, unauthorized by their superiors-appear to me not to understand the grounds of communion with a visible church of Christ; which, whilst her doctrines and confessions remain untouched her primitive ecclesiastical polity, her scriptural Articles, her devotional and sublime Liturgy, in a word, all that constitutes a pure visible church of Christcan never be safely deserted for such defects as spring from the corruption of man, and the infirmities and imperfections of all he does, and which no changes of merely ecclesiastical polity could remove. To advance such objections, is merely to say that our church is not a perfect one. Before the members of it can consistently withdraw from its communion-and, by withdrawing, aid, however unintentionally, to overthrow it a case must be made out, something resembling that of our Reformers when they came out from the Church of Rome; That her doctrines, once simple and scriptural, have been changed by public authoritative acts and documents; that she has introduced as articles of belief tenets and usages which partake of the nature of idolatry; that she has undermined the foundation of faith by setting up the authority of tradition as co-ordinate with that of holy Scripture; that she has virtually introduced other mediators besides the only Mediator and Saviour Jesus Christ; that she has set up a claim of infallibility and exclusive salvation; that she has indignantly spurned at all attempts, however discreet, to restore her to her original principles and confessions; that she persecutes and silences all who differ from her; and that, in

stead of retracting, she has openly confirmed and made her own the accumulated errors of ages.

"Here is a case clear, strong, palpable. But for individual Christians to begin by speculating abstractedly on their natural rights; to magnify errors and inconveniences and abuses incident to all schemes of church polity; to draw up theories of possible improvements; and to launch forth on a voyage of discovery, as it were, after forms of ecclesiastical discipline-as if nothing had been settled by the experience of eighteen centuries, and nothing was due to the testimony of antiquity as to matters of fact is surely to bring in interminable confusion. A man might almost as well pretend to act thus as to his subjection to civil authority. All society, civil or religious, implies a partial sacrifice of our natural liberty for the common benefit. And no individual should disturb the peace of Christ's flock till he is prepared to reply to these two questions: Is he ready to subvert altogether the existing order of church government?-and, Is he sure that he has a fair probability of substituting another decisively better? Till he can answer these fearful questions in the affirmative, the far wiser course is to give himself to prayer for that grace of Almighty God which alone can set right the disorders, whether of nations or individuals; and to seek to remedy, in the unity of the church, particular evils as they are discovered." pp. 24-26.

In the general substance of this argument we heartily concur; but the latter part of it, like the last paragraph in the passage before quoted, appears to us overstrained. The argument of authority is pressed in a manner too unrestricted, and, if carried out to its full extent, would render the corruptions of any church perpetual. When St. Paul said, “I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say;" he certainly recognised the liberty and duty of Christians to try every question by the word of God; and not to be deterred from so doing by being told that they are not to speculate abstractedly upon their natural rights." Our argument for the Church of England is, not that it is built upon human authority, but upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone;" and we have no fear as to the effect of discussion, if the discussion be fairly conducted. We are persuaded that our Right Reverend friend does not differ from us in this sentiment, but we think that he has overstated his meaning; not intending to repress the most ample investigation, but only to check that pride of heart and indocility of mind which prevent an inquirer from honestly seeking out and embracing truth.

The Bishop of Calcutta agrees with his Right Reverend predecessors, and with all the missionaries of our own communion, and some of others, that our National Establishment is peculiarly adapted for nourishing the infant churches of Eastern Asia. He says:

"The native converts can never stand safely alone. A general Christianity would soon be no Christianity at all. A scriptural Liturgy; offices for the sacraments; a well-regulated ministry; a presiding helper and overseer, that is, a bishop; and the protection of a Christian state, are most needful for their stedfastness and growth in Christianity. Amongst the possible forms of church government, then, surely our own would have a claim to consideration, even if she had not set her foot in India. Her mild paternal discipline, her tolerant spirit, her moderate and wise and scriptural doctrines, her simple affecting Liturgy, well qualify her to give solidity and permanence to the young and feeble religion of Asia. But she is already amongst us, and is gradually diffusing herself by her chaplains and missionaries. She makes, therefore, a peculiar demand on the allegiance of those who profess to be her members. Nor do I doubt that she will take her full part in the mighty enterprise of illuminating the heathen around her, and thus become a blessing in the Eastern, as she has long been in the Western, world." pp. 27, 28.

The first sentence or two of this passage are too strongly expressed; and "never" is a word of illimitable range; but the conclusion is as sound as it is important.

We must now present to the consideration of our readers his Lordship's cheering statement respecting, humanly speaking, the probable prospects of Christian missions in India. We trust that the perusal of it will gladden many hearts and strengthen many hands-and we may add, open many purses and awaken many prayers.

"Be encouraged by the thought, that there never was a moment when a missionary went forth with such reasonable hope of success as in this region of the globe at the present time.

"The power entrusted to the arm of Britain is unexampled. About a sixth of the human race may be now subject to her sway, or united with her by alliance, or under her beneficial influence. A greater population probably owns her sceptre in India, than any of the four ancient monarchies, which claimed to be universal.

"The equity and mildness of England's use of this power; her fidelity to treaties; the purity of her administration of justice; the benevolence and honour of her chief authorities, civil and military; the fame of her inventions, of her arts and sciences, and of her civilization, have long surpassed those of preceding dominant powers in India.

"At the same time, the unnatural institution of castes; the impure rites of an idolatry unsupported by any one evidence of a Divine authority, and hostile to the welfare of man; and the fierce but irrational claims of a prophet who founded his imposture on the sword, are tottering with their own weight.

"The native press, again, and schools for literary education, are beginning to diffuse general knowledge, and to lay the foundation of historical and geographical truth. For they are doubtless awakening a spirit of inquiry; and if this secular knowledge be conjoined with fixed moral and religious principles, the native mind will soon be prepared for receiving evidence aright, and listening with humility to the proofs of Christianity.

"The protection of the British power thrown around the missionary in his civil capacity, whilst he conducts himself discreetly and peaceably (which I trust all before me will never cease to do), is a further advantage in pursuing his humble labours.

"The refutation, by lapse of time and the evidence of fact, of the prejudices against peaceful attempts to diffuse Christianity—as if they could be mistaken by the natives of India for a violation of compacts and treaties-has now long been admitted, and places the enterprize of the missionary on a vantage ground of unspeakable importance.

"The growing piety and zeal of many of the civil and military servants, both of his Majesty and of the Honourable Company, is removing one grand obstacle to the progress of Christianity-the unholy lives of professed Christians-and is raising up active friends in various quarters.

"The wide diffusion of the translations of the Scriptures in most of the languages and dialects of the East, more especially in the Chinese, however imperfect many of those translations may be, is a most important preparation for the conversion of the heathen.

"Nor is the success already obtained a small additional encouragement; for many have already been gathered in, as the first-fruits of the harvest. In the South, especially, as much as a hundred years since, numerous converts were made, and churches formed, by the labours of Ziegenbalg, Grundler, and the venerable Schwartz.

"The open acknowledgment by Great Britain of the duty of Christian missions, is most important. I allude, not only to the individuals who in private societies are engaged in the work; nor to the Society for Church Missions merely, now for more than thirty years prosecuting her task, and attracting the confidence of the Church at home and abroad; but rather to the national proceedings of the Incorporated Society for propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts-both by the collections at home under the King's letters throughout the kingdom for its support, and here by the noble edifice on the banks of the Hooghly, Bishop's College, which salutes the Christian eye as it approaches the capital of India, and testifies the desire of England to bless her Eastern empire with the knowledge of Christianity.

"Then, the esteem now generally prevalent for the cause of missions is a further encouragement to you. That esteem has risen, is rising, and will rise, I trust, yet higher. In fact, the more, my dear hearers, you value your own salvation, the more will you prize the means for diffusing that salvation among the heathen." pp. 32-34. We are unwilling to find or make exceptions; but why the novel phrase of " the Society for Church Missions," instead of " the Church Missionary Society?" His Lordship is not unaware that there is but one Society in the Church of England which is properly a Missionary Society to the Heathen, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel being confined by its charter to the British colonies-a most useful sphere of labour, but by no means superseding the necessity for a missionary society not thus restricted. We think we see in this expression, and in some parts of the discourse, and perhaps in the choice of some of its topics, the wish of the preacher to correct the error of those of his auditors, if such there were, who had credited the absurd rumour sent out to India, that their new

Bishop was not a sound Churchman, or a zealous friend of the older Church Societies. He needed not, however, have been very anxious on this subject; for we believe that public opinion is now very generally settling into the conclusion, that, whoever may be the enemies of the Church, such men as Daniel Wilson (his own best known and not least honoured name) are among its best friends and brightest ornaments.

Our remarks and quotations have been long; but we have yet one important topic more to advert to, and that is, the general question of Church Establishments; on which we find a note, the whole of which we shall transcribe, as being eminently seasonable at the present moment. We know not that we could any where find the main arguments so briefly condensed.

"In the sermon it was enough for me to say that no alleged defects in the mode of this connection could in my opinion be a valid reason for quitting the communion of a church, whilst all that which constitutes a Christian church remained, agreeably to Christ's institution.

"But it may be well to see how the argument stands: First, As to the bearing of Scripture history, and of matters of fact.

1. A prince or government is the parent of the people. As a father, then, is bound to provide for the religious instruction of his children, to repress open vice, and advance their spiritual and moral well-being, so is a prince.

"2. Accordingly, Abraham received a commendation for acting thus towards his children and household, which were a tribe or little state.

"3. Job declares it to be the acknowledged sentiment of men that idolatry was an iniquity to be punished by the judge.

4. The Almighty set an example of the strictest union of church and state, and of an ample national religious establishment, in the case of the Jews.

"5. The several kings of Israel and Judah are commended in proportion as they restored pure religion and repressed idolatry, and were zealous for the glory of God amongst the people, by supporting the national establishment-as David, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Josiah.

"6. King Solomon was the leader of religion in Israel, made the prayer at the dedication of the temple, and evidently thought it no invasion of the sacerdotal office to take the first part in acts of national piety.

"7. When God was about to turn the captivity of his people, he raised up public men, as Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, to join the civil and ecclesiastical functions, and induce the heathen monarchs to countenance and maintain the true religion.

"8. The prophets treat not only the Jewish people, but all the neighbouring heathen nations, in the aggregate, as communities amenable to God and represented by their princes.

"9. They also foretold that kings should be nursing fathers and queens nursing mothers to the church' under the Gospel dispensation.

"10. Our blessed Lord not only conformed to the divine law of the Jews, but also to all the pious human institutions of his country-the worship of the synagogues, for example—though be condemned openly the real abuses introduced by the Scribes and Pharisees.

"11. The inspired Apostles did the same.

"12. The first Christian Roman emperor established the pure religion, and discountenanced idolatry, with the approbation of the whole church of Christ, as a duty clearly deducible from the example of all pious princes under the Old Testament.

"13. In the sixteenth century the learned Reformers to a man exhorted and assisted the princes to establish pure religion wherever the opportunity occurred. "14. The Church of Scotland is an established religion.

"15. All the Reformed foreign churches, whether Luthern or Calvinistic, are establishments aided by the state.

"16. There is no example, up to the present hour, of any Christian country omitting to provide for the profession of Christianity amongst the people. The United States of America is no valid exception, as religious education is provided for, the Sabbath guarded by law, profaneness repressed, the army and navy furnished with chaplains, and a public establishment of religion, to a certain extent, retained in many of the States.

6

"17. Many learned and pious divines in England and Scotland, though differing from the Church of England in many points, have espoused the principle and duty of an established religion. All the old Nonconformists,' Bishop Stillingfleet says, thought themselves bound to communicate with the Church of England, and looked upon separation from it as a sin, notwithstanding the corruptions supposed by them be in it.'

"Dr. Chalmers thus defends both his own church and the Church of England: 'Let our ecclesiastical malcontents ascribe what corruptions they will to the Establishments of England and Scotland, we hold them to be the destined instruments both for propagating and for augmenting the Christianity of our land, and shall never cease to regret the overthrow of this mighty apparatus as a catastrophe of deadliest import to the religious character of our nation.'

18. It ought to be added, that there is no example of any heathen government without a national religion, which, however corrupt and idolatrous, still had some hold on the fears and forebodings of man, and responded in some imperfect manner to the interior voice of conscience, and laid the basis of obedience in a reference to a future judgment.

"Such is the stream of evidence as to the bearings of Scripture history, of matters of fact, and the opinions of the greatest names.

Secondly. As to the reasons for National Establishments.

"1. The corruption of nature is such, that no sufficient care would be taken by unconnected individuals, without a plan, without adequate funds, and without the protection of the state, for the propagation and support of Christianity.

"2. The out-places and the more crowded population of large cities would especially be neglected, even in the most wealthy nations, as uniform experience has proved. "3. Needful support being precarious, a learned, and pious, and respectable clergy would not be trained.

"4. Schools and Universities would fade, a learned preparation for the church being less insisted on.

"5. Vice, profaneness, desecration of the Sabbath, &c., which abound now, would be much increased the moment Christianity ceased to be part and parcel of the law of the land.

"6. The grand doctrines and facts of the Advent, Incarnation, Epiphany, Death, Sacrifice, Resurrection of Christ-of the gifts of the Holy Ghost-and of the mystery of the holy Trinity-would be less firmly incorporated with the first feelings of the common people, if there were no creeds, and no religious national services to keep them full before the consciences of men.

7. The doctrines of ministers and teachers of youth would be perpetually changing and declining, till Deism, or what is termed Unitarianism, a species of Deism, would probably, through the corruption of man, prevail.

"8. There would be no standard of public doctrine, and no subscriptions to articles of faith, to which the false opinions of individual ministers might be recalled by due spiritual authority.

"9. When general decays of real piety spread (which would probably soon be the case), there would be no principle of resuscitation within the nation-nothing left to fall back upon, and for the faithful few to appeal to.

"10. Public humiliations and thanksgivings, which are called for by Almighty God from every Christian people, would be less duly celebrated.

"11. The appeal to an oath, which is now the end of all strife,' and on which all distributive justice and all the safety of property depend, would be rendered insecure. "12. The royalty, tranquillity, and peaceableness of a people, founded on the fear of God, and nourished by the constant national prayers offered for the King and his government, would be less binding on the conscience.

"13. There would be no national profession of Christianity, no national acknowledgment of God, no visible national body of Christ, no recognised authorities in the church to receive the oaths of princes, nobles, and parliaments on their inauguration. "14. The principle of self-preservation, which induces all states to avoid what would displease a superior neighbouring power, which had sufficient strength to destroy it, would be violated as it respects that infinitely powerful and glorious Sovereign by 'whom kings reign and princes decree justice.'

"15. England having had a National Establishment from the date of its conversion to Christianity, and possessing it now in a reformed mode, though with confessed attendant defects, would hazard much more the anger of the Almighty in dissolving the tie, than if such a connection had not previously existed, and the question of national establishments was untouched.

"16. A moment of great political excitement is the most dangerous moment for rash innovations in matters of religion.

"17. In the propagation of Christianity in heathen lands, there would be no liturgy, no creeds, no ecclesiastical polity, no discipline, no authorized religion, to give permanence and security to the young and imperfect habits of the new converts.

"18. The ties of gratitude, loyalty, and union of interests could not be formed as Christianity spread-the diffusion of which would probably be the dissolving, not the drawing closer, the connection with the parent state.

"19. The decent and lawful veneration for ancient usages and prescribed forms would be destroyed--which in infant churches would set every thing afloat, and leave them to go in endless search of new discoveries in discipline and church order.