cernment; and nothing remained, but to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisals, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures of the world.' We may well estimate the force of this passage, by considering how impossible it would be for any observer to make such a statement of the prevailing tone of society in the present day.

"In 1738, Archbishop Secker writes: An open and professed disregard to religion is become, through a variety of unhappy causes, the distinguishing character of the present age. This evil is grown to a great height in the metropolis of the nation; is daily spreading through every part of it; and, bad in itself as any can be, must of necessity bring in all others after it. Indeed it hath already brought in such dissoluteness and contempt of principle in the highest part of the world, and such profligate intemperance, and fearlessness of committing crimes, in the lower, as must, if this torrent of impiety stop not, become absolutely fatal. And God knows, far from stopping, it receives, through the ill designs of some persons, and the inconsiderateness of others, a continual increase. Christianity is now ridiculed and railed at, with very little reserve, and the teachers of it without any at all.'" 1

Such, then, was the result of the first experiment of the kind. The "Puritan party" was "put down," and the Church herself lost, thereby, almost its whole life and energy. A similar experiment, if tried in our own day, would produce one further consequence. Surrounded, now, by enemies on every side, the Church, thus deprived of her innate life and energy, would speedily perish, as a national institution.

A further proof of the probable results of any attempt to follow Mr. Gresley's advice, may be seen in the more recent history of our Church. Mr. G. says,

"Perhaps the most formidable of all the instruments which the modern Puritans know so well, by constant practice, how to use, is the society-system; by which extensive funds are obtained from benevolent persons, and placed at the disposal of leaders of the Puritan party, who make use of them for their own party-purposes.”—(p. 35.)

And his remedy is this:

"But peace can never be thoroughly restored until some decided measures be taken with regard to those societies which are at present the principal organs of the Puritan party, and usurp or control the authority of the bishops; examining, appointing, and withdrawing ministers almost at their own discretion. These societies ought to be put under the efficient control of our ecclesiastical rulers; and those energies which are now directed to increase the influence of a party, should be employed for the welfare of the Church at large." (pp. 61, 62.)

Gladstone's Church Principles, pp. 454, 455.

Now we are glad that Mr. Gresley has referred to "the Societysystem," inasmuch as nothing can more strongly prove, than the history of our great religious societies,-the truth of our assertion, that "the Puritan or Evangelical party" is the life-blood of the Church.

The "Society-system" is not an invention of the Puritans; for "the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge" at home, and "the Society for Propagating the Gospel," abroad, were commenced by high-churchmen more than a century since. But very faintly were they supported. After an existence of more than a century, the whole annual income of the Christian Knowledge Society, from subscriptions, donations, collections, and the sale of books, in 1802 was only £6636:17:2. And the subscriptions and donations of the Gospel Propagation Society, in 1798, amounted to no more than £700: 15: 1.!

It was at the beginning of the present century, that the "Puritan or Evangelical party" felt strong enough to begin to form societies of its own. It has now its Church Missionary Society, with an income of £100,000 a year; its Jews' Society, with £30,000 a year; and its Pastoral Aid Society, with £20,000 a year. And the emulation it has excited in the elder Societies, has raised their incomes, also, to some ten or fifteen times their former

amount.

Yet Mr. Gresley distinctly puts forward the growth of these Societies as constituting a considerable part of " the real danger of the Church." We, on the other hand, only see in this circumstance, one more proof that "the Puritan or Evangelical party" is the life-blood of the Church; and that in proposing to "put down or thrust out this party, Mr. Gresley is, in fact, proposing to replunge the Church into all the gloom and torpor of the eighteenth century.

We sum up, then, the whole matter, thus:-Mr. Gresley himself takes a strong party view. He well knows, that in assuming, as a certain fact, which it is "heresy" to question, that “the "mass of our population had grace given to them at baptism,"he is assuming what Cranmer and Latimer did not hold; nor Jewell, nor Whitgift, nor Hooker. He renews, in fact, a proposition which we have heard brought forward at various periods during the last thirty years, to set up a new test in the Church,-to establish a further standard,-to add a " fortieth Article of Religion,"-for the express purpose of excluding those (who are not excluded at present) who cannot believe that upon every infant over whom an ordained minister of the Church reads the baptismal service," the Holy Spirit lights like a dove," conferring on him "the new birth,"

and making him a " regenerated being," "a child of grace," "an heir of salvation." And he makes this proposal with the knowledge that it would, and with the settled purpose that it may, cause the secession of many who at present belong to the Church, but who, he well knows, could not continue in her communion on such terms.

Our objection to his whole scheme is twofold:-First, that no man has a right, at this time of day, to propose a fundamental change of this kind, except upon the clearest proof, that the word of God enjoins it; and establishes its necessity. Myriads of all classes and degrees, have joined the Church of England upon the basis of the Thirty-Nine Articles; and they have a right to say, Nolumus leges Angliæ mutari.

Secondly, we object, that were it possible for Mr. Gresley to effect, in the most easy and prosperous manner, all that he desires, -he would only bring about, in the quickest and most certain of all imaginable modes, the utter destruction of what we now understand by the phrase "the Church of England."

A CATECHISM ON THE EVIDENCES OF RELIGION, NATURAL AND REVEALED. With an Introductory Preface. By the Rev. H. SHEPHEARD, M.A., Vicar of Thornton Steward, Yorkshire, and late Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.

6

"IF it may partly be expected of every Christian," observes Mr. Shepheard, "that he should be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh him a reason of the hope that is in him,' the imparting an ability to do so must certainly be a necessary part of a sound Christian education." Of this there can be no doubt, and therefore we have great pleasure in recommending to our readers the above valuable Catechism, the object of which is "to furnish some materials for this purpose." "The catechetical

form has been adopted, with a view to make the little book more especially available for schools and families: but," adds Mr. S., -and we entirely concur in the suggestion,-" it is strongly recommended also to more advanced learners :-Students at the universities would find it a valuable text-book and summary of argument."

Let us add to this brief notice the concluding question and answer of this useful manual.

"When once we have established Christianity as an authentic message from God, upon those historical and experimental grounds on which the reason and experience of man entitle him to form his conclusions, what alone remains for us to do?

"To make an entire and unconditional surrender of our minds to the substance of the message."

May such be the result-as, with God's blessing, it cannot but be-of a careful study of this little volume!

THE CHURCH AND THE CHURCHES: or the Church of God in Christ and the Church Militant here on Earth. By the Rev. H. MCNEILE, Honorary Canon of Chester, and Incumbent of St. Jude's, Liverpool. London: Hatchards. 1846. WE have read this book with real pleasure and profit, and give our readers a brief notice of it here, though we hope more fully to review it hereafter. It is a sound Protestant view of the Church of Christ, as comprehending the whole body of the elect and visible churches of Christ, written in a truly Christian spirit, and calculated to furnish faithful Christians with a needful and suitable armour against the many errors and dangers to which Tractarian and other modern corruptions have given rise in this day.

THE

CHURCHMAN'S MONTHLY

AND CHRONICLE.

REVIEW

APRIL, 1846.

THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN THE COLONIES AND FOREIGN DEPENDENCIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. By the Rev. JAMES T. ANDERSON, M.A., Perpetual Curate of St. George's Chapel, Brighton, and Preacher of Lincoln's Inn. London: Rivingtons. 1845.

"AFTER all the losses and gains of the last two centuries and a half, what is, at this hour, the extent of the British Empire? Is it not computed to embrace a seventh part of the earth's surface ?1 Does not the foremost of American orators describe it as " a power to which Rome in the height of her glory, was not to be compared,a power which has dotted over the whole surface of the globe with her possessions and military posts,-whose morning drum-beat, following the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain of its martial airs?" These words, assuredly, are not a vain hyperbole, the mere effusions of a glowing, yet unsubstantial, rhetoric they are words which, not less truly than vividly, depict the actual and ample circuit of our own possessions: a paraphrase, in fact, of the saying which was literally descriptive of Spain herself in the zenith of her power. Woe be unto us, then, if tokens of the authority of Christ

See Grant's Bampton Lectures, p. 11, and the Tables referred to by bim.

2 Webster's Speeches, quoted in Sir Richard Bonnycastle's Newfoundland, ii. 226. 3" As one saith in a brave kind of expression, the sun never sets in the Spanish dominions, but ever shines upon some part or other of them." Bacon's "Advertisement touching an Holy War." Works, vii. 123, 124.