England.

(From our own Correspondent.)

LAST month was unusually fruitful in Ecclesiastical Conferences, and every day we heard more about the Church than we did about the State. The resolutions arrived at by the Conference of Bishops at Lambeth have been published by authority. The resolutions are thirteen in number, the first two treating of the notification of new sees, and commendatory letters for clerical and lay members of the church in distant dioceses. The remaining resolutions refer to the issuing of a pastoral address which appeared before the resolutions were published; to the authority of synods, their relation and position; to the present condition of the Church at Natal; the constitution of a spiritual tribunal, to which questions of doctrine may be carried; to the authority of metropolitans, the election of bishops, missionary bishoprics, and the jurisdiction of missionary bishops.

Out of doors considerable discussion took place upon the Natal question, Dr. Gray having made it understood that the Pan-Anglican Synod approved of the appointment of a second bishop. The fact, however, was that the Synod had simply appointed a committee "to consider the best mode by which the church may be delivered from the continuance of this scandal." The Synod left the question just where Convocation left it, and Bishop Colenso is still Bishop of Natal. It has been stated that fifty of the bishops in their individual capacity signed something like a sentence of excommunication against Dr. Colenso, and that the Bishops of the South African Church are now prepared to take upon themselves the responsibility of consecrating Mr. Butler as bishop over Churchmen in Natal. Mr. Butler, however, can hardly be consecrated without the consent of the Crown, and that consent could only be given in the face of the decision of the Courts as to the revenues of the see of Natal.

The Church Congress at Wolverhampton attracted a large number of clerical visitors; many prelates from the British Colonies and from the

United States being amongst them. The general objects of the Congress were the promotion of the spirit of union and the habit of co-operation, and to assist the formation of opinion. Several im portant discussions took place, a very genial one being upon the best means of bringing Nonconformists into union with the Church. The dis cussion is reported to have been most courteous as far as Nonconformists were concerned. Increase of lay agency, provision for enabling congregations to get rid of incompetent clergymen, the abolition of the Athanasian Creed, or at least the excision of its damnatory clauses, and some modification even of its doctrinal definitions, more varied services, opportunity for freer spiritual communion— these were among the principal recommendations suggested. The debate on Ritualism was not so interesting as was anticipated. The ultra-Ritaalists were allowed the larger share in the debate, and they repeated their usual arguments in de fence of their proceedings. On the last day of the Congress they were nobly answered by Viscount Sandon; who, in a most telling speech, and in a strain of indignant eloquence, denounced that "priestly feeling" which was stealthily at work in the midst of us, and which, he said, would lead to the extinction of learning among the clergy; to the inordinate multiplication and the burdensome infliction of rites and ceremonies; to the extermination of all who differ from the priestly body; to the establishing of another master in the household, in the place of the hus band and father, and to the establishing of a human artificial barrier between man and his God. Altogether the discussions and speeches at the several meetings of the Congress, especially those at the Working Men's Meeting, were of a very earnest character. The attendance was large beyond precedent and everything is reported to have passed off extremely well.

The Congregational Union held its thirty-sixth Annual Session in the city of Manchester, and about eight hundred ministers and delegates attended. The assembly, while not neglecting the ecclesiastical controversies of the day, paid special attention to questions of immediate practical interest to their own denomination.

National

education, especially, formed the subject of an important debate; the question being whether the Congregationalists, many of whom have long stood out against Government aid under any conditions whatever, should now help in securing the best and least harmful methods of using the public money in the work of popular education. The debate on both sides was of a spirited character, staunch voluntaries still protesting against Government aid; but it is believed that the practical issue of the discussion will be that many promoters of day schools will apply for the Government grants.

The Baptist Union held its Autumnal Session at Cardiff, and the meetings were of a very interesting character. Thirty sermons were preached, and were heard by tens of thousands. There were also special meetings for fervent and united prayer, and these were largely attended. Papers were read on questions of practical importance, and one entire day was devoted to the subject of Foreign Missions. A committee was appointed to consider and to report upon the question of National Education.

The Ipswich Conference was attended by about two hundred lay and clerical visitors. The Chairman's address turned upon the Report of the Ritualistic Commissioners, and the efforts of the Romanizing party in the Church of England, and several speakers followed in the same vein. The Rev. J. C. Ryle's paper on Evangelical Religion was one of the most elaborate and practical read upon the occasion. Recognizing three parties in the Church, Broad Church, Ritualistic, and Evangelical,―he defined Evangelicism as insisting upon the following points:-the supremacy of the Scriptures, the doctrine of human sinfulness and corruption, the paramount importance of the work of Christ, the inward work of the Holy Spirit, the outward and visible work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men. A short discussion followed, in the course of which it was remarked that the Evangelical clergy must be determined to resist innovations which were calculated to lead to very serious evils.

excessive development of Ritualism." On the general church question, he reminded politicians that the disendowment of the Irish Church would gratify but not satisfy the Roman Catholic clergy, whilst it would, on the other hand, give intense dissatisfaction to the Protestant inhabitants of Ireland, "whose loyalty and attachment to existing institutions is one of the best guarantees for order and prosperity in the country." The Bishop of Cork (Dr. Gregg) also referred to the Irish Church question, expressing his conviction that it would be impossible to maintain a tenth part of the churches and ministers in Ireland if the Church property were taken away. As to Ritualism, he asked, "What meant the miserable men in England in disturbing the minds of the people with their frippery in doctrine and their trumpery in dress? It was to feed their vanity and to gratify their pride. They had incense for their noses; but their offence was rank, and all the perfumes of Arabia would not sweeten it." The Bishop of Ripon (Dr. Bickersteth) condemned the revival of obsolete vestments, and the Anglican theory of the Real Presence in the Eucharist. He was thankful that there had been few instances of ritualistic extravagance in his own diocese, and hoped that, where such extravagance did exist, the clergy would be induced voluntarily to give it up.

The Irish Roman Catholic hierarchy have issued a manifesto upon the assumption that Government and Parliament are preparing a copy of the Resolutions to which they have agreed to deal by law with the Irish Protestant Establishment. They refuse to receive State-endowment in any form whatever, not even out of the revenues of the Irish Protestant Church. They suggest that the best mode of dealing with the ecclesiastical property of Ireland would be to distribute it for the benefit of the poor. The endowment of the Protestant Church with the money which rightly belongs to the Catholics they declare to be "the fountain head from which spring the waters of bitterness which poison the relations of life in Ireland, and estrange from one another Protestants and Catholics, who ought to be a united people." They then repeat their maledictions on the mixed system of education, and end by warning their flocks against secret conspiracy or open insurrection against the Government; though they express their "profound conviction that peace and pros

Ireland till the Protestant Church is totally disendowed, education in all its departments made

the Rev. Dr. Pringle, one of the ministers of the United Presbyterian Church. Dr. Cairns, of Berwick, preached on the occasion, and the leading members of the denomination were present from all parts of Scotland. The Established and Free Church places of worship were placed at the disposal of the promoters of the movement, on account of their greater size. To Dr. Pringle was presented one thousand guineas, a silver salver, and a gold watch.

Many readers will be sorry to learn that the Rev. Dr. Lee, of Edinburgh, has been obliged to get eight months' leave of absence from all pastoral work, in consequence of the state of his health. He intends to repair to the continent, from which the Rev. Dr. Candlish has just returned in invigorated health after a three months' leave of absence. The Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod, and the Rev. Dr. Watson, of Dundee, are understood to start from Marseilles about the 6th November on their mission to India.

Ireland.

(From our own Correspondent).

THE troubled sea of Irish questions having for the time flung up to the surface the question of the churches, the action of churchmen on all sides is keenly watched. It is a question that has never before been so thoroughly discussed as it is certain to be during the winter, and the opinion of the country is likely to be broadly, if not quietly, evoked. The Primate, in charging his archdiocese of Armagh, passes quite by "the arguments in defence of our Establishment," by referring his clergy to the parliamentary debate of last session and to the forthcoming report of the Irish Church Commission. The noblest defence of the Church will be found in a faithful pastorate. He has no need even to concern himself with Ritualism, since it is not met with. He confines himself to "the high dignity and weighty office" of the ministry, the character of preaching (insisting especially on plain-speaking and on preaching Christ), teaching from house to house, the development of the Sunday-school, and a greater reliance on lay agency. At the consecration of Dr. Alexander, the Bishop of Derry, in Armagh Cathedral, Archdeacon Lee, who preached, elaborately developed the theory of apostolical succession, and applied it to the case of the Irish Church. Apostolical succession is the continuation in the Christian church of natural succession in the Jewish, and affords the same

securities to the faith. Out of the glorious crisis of the Reformation the Anglican Church has been developed into a unique strength and beauty, because she has jealously preserved the great gift of apostolical succession. It is her possession of this endowment that explains the peculiar hostility of the Church of Rome. "It is the uninterrupted inheritance of apostolical succession which constitutes the title of the Established Church of these kingdoms to the allegiance of all their inhabitants, and renders the intrusion of a Roman episcopate and of a body of Roman clergy on any principle uncatholic and schismatical." The principle that would justify the overthrow of the Church of Ireland would therefore justify the overthrow of the Church of England. Immediately after being enthroned in his own cathedral of Derry, Dr. Alexander himself took occasion to address those present. The real object, he conceived, of this union of Voluntaryism with Ultramontanism was to undo the good of the Reformation and weaken Protestanism. The Established Church is a layman's question. He spoke strongly against Ritualism, urging the noble teaching of the Reformation, and that, if the Ritualists were right, the Reformers were wrong, and the fires of Smithfield had blazed to no purpose. The Bishop of Cork in his charge maintains that the State has no right to alienate the property of the Church, and that so great a wrong would eventually recoil on its author. He did not believe there was any destruction impending over them, for they had friends inside and outside parliament, troops of friends in England who valued the Irish Church for what it was. He was still dissatisfied with the nonresidence of some of his clergy, and urged ministers to be careful in their conversation and conduct. He spoke against baptismal regeneration and the dangers of Ritualism. "The heathen worshipped their gods in wood and stone, and some that in the present day were called Christians worshipped their God in baker's bread. Call that Christianity! Out upon such stuff, which confounded sense and reason, body and spirit, truth and error, heaven and hell! What meant the miserable men in England in disturbing the minds of the people with their frippery in doctrine and their trumpery in dress? It was to feed their vanity and gratify their pride. They had incense for their noses, but their offence was rank, and all the perfumes of Arabia would not sweeten it." Some of these expressions gave offence at Queenstown in the diocese, and a meeting of Roman Catholics was held to vent their indignation. The