the direction of chance or folly, will terminate in ruin and confusion."We fully coincide in this decision, because it is a conclusion which every one must unavoidably adopt, who looks beyond the mere superficies of society, and balances the secret influence of the adversaries of our church against the ostensible pretexts which they put forth for the promotion of their views, and the spread of their peculiar tenets. Not, indeed, that we would insinuate aught against the claim of conscience or the freedom of profession; but, we fear not to declare, that, when any religious tenets are insisted upon more as points of political feeling than as opinions of conscientious dissent, we feel ourselves fully warranted in de nouncing that feeling as "pregnant with mischief" against the constituted order of things, both in church and state. His Lordship having marked the sources from which he conceives the different currents of opposition to the Church of England to have flowed, thus proceeds : "Under these circumstances, I am almost embarrassed by the multitude of subjects which seem to solicit our notice; and should perhaps altogether refrain from adverting to topics particularly relating to the concerns of our order, or the interual regulations of the church, if I were not impressed with the conviction that every measure which tends to improve the condition, or increase the influence, of the clergy, to place their discipline on a more respectable footing, or facilitate the discharge of their duties, is of material benefit to the community, by promoting the attainment of those ends, which were contemplated by the wisdom of our ancestors, when they confided the interests of religion to the care of a National Church. "Under this persuasion, I shall briefly touch, in the first place, on the great Jegislative measure of recent enactment, entitled, "An Act to consolidate and amend the Laws relating to Spiritual Persons, &c." and shall thence proceed to the consideration of other matters, which concern the members of the church in general, no less than its ministers in particular." This Act of the Legislature the Right Reverend Author considers as embodying the scattered provisions of former acts in regard to the duties of residence, and the mutual relations of incumbents and curates, and intended to supply the defects, to remove the inconsistencies, and invigorate the operation of existing laws."-Such a result is doubtless a consummation devoutly to be wished; and so long as the nice discrimination and patient inquiry which his Lordship is well known to exercise in the application of the various clauses of this act to the cases that are referred to his adjudication, form the tenor of every diocesan's decision, we can have no apprehension of this legislative measure being either misapplied or perverted. The following observation, with which, in his accustomed considerateness, the Bishopcloses this part of his Charge, does the highest honour to his heart as a Christian and a man. Wretched indeed would be the state of the diocese, in which the clergyman's performance of his duties was measured by the letter of the statute. The great majority of the clerical body have a surer guide in their own bosom: in attending to immutable duties, they are safe under the directions of conscience; and in matters of order and discipline, the obligations of canonical allegiance ensure, more efficaciously than penalties, their compliance with the injunctions of authority." After thus dismissing this important question, his Lordship enters into a very eloquent description of the causes that have produced the late abomina. tions of a blasphemous and infidel spirit, which has aimed at casting down in the very foundations of all religious character and devotional feeling, the general mass of the population of this country. The wide range of evil that such iniquitous conduct must necessarily take, cannot but fill every reflecting mind with the most unqualified abhorrence of the motives which have suggested it. The excellent remarks contained in the Charge upon this evil prevalence, are too just to be omitted. tion of the public, the serpent has shrunk into his den, where in darkness he ruminates his plans, and improves his capacities of mischief. But if our ears are no longer assailed with the hiss of defiance or menace, we must not too readily infer an abatement of malignity or venom. The machinations which openly threatened des truction are still continued in secrecy. Of the detestable blasphemies which of late were proclaimed with the sound of the trumpet we hear no more, but publications of the most pernicious tendency are still in circulation, adapted to the taste and capacities of all descriptions of men, from the superficial Sciolist, who derives from partial knowledge enough of confidence to be led into danger, enongh of acuteness to be entangled with the flimsiest sophistry, to the grossly vulgar and illiterate, whose appetite requires the stimulus of treason and blasphemy in their rankest forms." There is so much truth in this and in what follows, that he must have lived in utter seclusion from metro. politan intercourse, who does not in stantly recognize it in his own daily contemplation of the proof. "The obvious purpose of these proceedings is the extinction of morality, and the extirpation of religion in the country. But, since it has always been found that plans of enormous iniquity, when distinctly avowed, are regarded with horror, and defeated by the zeal of their advocates, the agents of evil, while they carry on the main work of corruption in secret, direct their efforts with somewhat less of reserve to another point, through which they must necessarily pass to their ulterior objects, the demolition of the National Church. In this enterprize, they are actively aided or feebly resisted by men with whom they have little in common, in principles, temper, or design; by some among the dissenters, whom the prejudices of educa tion or their own speculations have taught that establishments are subversive of Christian liberty, and hostile to the advancement of truth; and by a few, perhaps, even among the members of our own church, dissatisfied with our ecclesiastical system, because in its present administration it is unfavourable to their particular notions and favourite views. If these ❤bservations are just, our dangers will appear to originate in impiety rancorous and inveterate, in hostility to the religion of the state, and in a morbid irregularity of pious affection, which is distinguished from genuine piety, by tendency to faction, contempt of authority, or deviation from sobriety and reason. From the latter years of Queen Elizabeth these causes have always been working with an activity sufficient to shew the necessity of perpetual vigilance in the protection of pure religion and order. The agitation, in ordinary times, like the occasional murmurs of subterranean fire, seems rather a warning of possible calamity, than a symptom of immediate danger. reality of the danger has been proved But the by dreadful experience; the mightiest kingdoms have felt in their turn the burst of explosion, reducing to atoms the existing establishments, and shaking the frame of society to its foundations. In our own country religious enthusiasm, though not, perhaps, the primary mover, was the ostensible cause and immediate instrument of convulsion. In a neighbouring country the demon of mis-rule appeared in his natural colours, and in the more terrrible form of impiety, produced all the excesses of evil which men who have renounced their allegiance to God can inflict, or men who have disclaimed his protection can suffer." But his Lordship does not allow himself to think that he has done his duty the malady; he goes farther, and preby merely describing the diagnostics of scribes the remedy-and we are too well acquainted with the earnestness of our national clergy not to feel a confidence in their readiness to fulfil the duty which he has enjoined, and in their talents to accomplish the labour which it comprehends. behold the same causes in joint opera"With these examples in view, we now tion; and, with too much of confidence in the virtue and sense of the country to be alarmed for the ultimate result, we perceive the necessity of applying of precaution and defence. Attacks on with vigour and promptness the means morals and piety can only be repelled with effect by the weapons of righte endeavours to eradicate the principles ousness and truth. If the adversary of virtues, and to subvert the bulwarks of religion, our best security will be found in redoubled exertions to make the people unfeignedly Christian in doctrine, sentiment, and practice. And this is our appropriate business, the task enjoined upon us, by God and our country, as the authorized dispensers of truth, the guardians of the national faith: appointed by the State to watch over its spiritual interests, and commissioned by the Saviour of mankind to preserve the purity of Divine Revelation, and conduct our brethren through the mazes of life to the realms of eter nal glory. We are thus responsible to God and to man for any detriment which may fall on religion, through our neglect of duty, or mal-administration of our charge. It will neither avail us to say that our efforts would have been fruitless in the prevention of evil,-for it is our's to act with fidelity, and leave the event to God;-nor shall we be exempt from the imputation of guilt, though the evils to be apprehended from our delinquency should be averted through the mercy of heaven, by the intervention of other causes. There is, however, humanly speaking, little reason to doubt that the issue of the struggle against the powers of darkness must, under Providence, mainly depend on the exertions of the clergy. Such, at least, is the persuasion of our adversaries, who systematically act on the principle of decrying the use of our ministration and our conduct as ministers, and depressing our influence in society and such appears to be the conviction of the Legislature, and the impression on the mind of the public, if we may collect their opinion from the measures which have been lately adopted by the wisdom of Government, and the zeal of individuals, for extend ing the means of public worship, and providing instruction for the children of the poor, according to the doctrines and discipline of the established church." This estimable diocesan, evidently anxious to leave nothing unsaid or undone which the substance of his charge, in his conscientious view of its objects, might include, proceeds to notice the late enactment of parliamentary authority respecting the building of new churches, for the purpose of supplying sufficient accommodation for public worship; in this part of his episcopal address, he describes the causes and the necessity for the measure, with that truth and earnestness which fully comport with his well-tempered zeal and pastoral faithfulness. We sincerely wish that we had room for extracting all his sentiments upon this head, but we must content ourselves with directing the attention of our readers to that part of the Charge, (p. 17, 18, 19,) which contains his very sensible remarks upon this measure, enforced by him as most conducive to the renovation of that pure influence of regular worship which the want of parochial churches has much tended to diminish, by "compeiling those who would have continued within the pale of the church to seek the advantages of public instruction and prayer, in less perfection and purity, in the religious assemblies of dissenters." In the conclusion of his admirable Charge, the Bishop enters upon a very judicious exposition of the beneficial tendency of the national plan of education, as recently sanctioned by Govern ment, and adopted by the clergy of the kingdom. After describing its salutary efficacy, he makes some observations upon the popular objection to the plan on the part of the dissenting communities. What he says on this head is too just and too expedient to be omitted→→ "The only objection to these principles, as applied to national education, is drawn from their tendency to deprive the children of dissenters of their share in that instruction, which it would be confessedly desirable to extend to all. The inconvenience, (for such, though greatly exaggerated, I allow it to be) I sincerely lament, and wish any remedy could be found, which did not involve a dereliction of duty to our Heavenly Master, or a violation of justice to the professors of that pure faith which is taught in our Established Church. To the expedients hitherto proposed for the removal of the difficulty, I enter tain decided objections- Since we cannot agree on the mode, let us altogether abandon the substance: let letters and cyphers be taught in our schools, and religion be left, as the task of the Sabbath, to the care of the parent or the pastor.' It is my duty to lift up my voice against so injurious a compromise, which defeats the most beneficial purposes of instruction. Instruction of other descriptions is indifferently, according to its use, a curse or a blessing: but religion is eternally and immutably good; and by religion we mean Christianity pure and undefiled, as it is taught in the primitive creeds, and in the catechism of our Established Church. The political absurdity of countenancing a plan of instruction for the mass of the people, which avowedly excludes the national profession of faith, is abundantly clear; and infatuation must have fallen on the friends of the church, if they are taken in so gross a snare. But, if religion is any thing beyond a contrivance of state, or a crea ture of philosophical speculation; if it is a revelation from the Author of Truth, a rule disclosed by his mercy and wisdom for the direction of man through the twilight of this lower world, to conduct him in this life to the attainment of holiness, and to the perfection of happiness in the next; what apology shall be found for a minister of the church, if he lends his concurrence to any scheme of education which leaves the nurselings of his flock in ignorance of the creed, which he has solemnly promised to teach, and indifferent to its superior excellence? The purity of the faith is a matter of vital importance in the estimation of every honest Christian. Indifference to forms is undoubtedly reasonable, if revelation has nothing to teach but the precepts of morality and the deductions of natural reason and this, in consistency, should be the principle of those who exclude catechisms and creeds from their schools, supplying their place by selections from Scripture, in which are omitted all doctrines offensive to differing sects, or, in other words, peculiar to Christianity. The natural tendency of this vain and illusory scheme, on the one hand to unsettle the belief of the people in the fundamental truths of Christianity, on the other to create endless diversities, of error and falsehood, of dissension and schism, might easily be shewn. But, without advert ing to consequences, we have only to follow the suggestions of duty; and, by honest application of the ample and efficient means which Providence has placed in our hands, to instil into the bosoms of the young the elements of that primitive faith, which is embodied in the formularies of our church, and explained with authority by her ministers." If, after what has been said, and the ample quotations which have been made from this address, any farther proof were necessary of the liberality and Christian consideration of the Bishop of London, we might extract his sentiments upon the distribution of the Holy Bible among all descriptions of Christians. To this provision of pious concern he gives his unqualified assent, and follows it up with the most impressive recommendation; at the same time, however, he states, with irrefragable consistency of argument, the just pretensions of the Authorised Institutions of our Church to preference in the facilities which they offer for carrying on the great work of Christian zeal and spiritual instruction. "In the promotion of these and similar works of charity, I hold it almost indispensable in every clergyman to assist in the proportion of his ability, yet with scrupulous regard to the decencies of his function, and without prejudice to his duties of more particular and immediate obligation: and, with this salutary caution in view, I should advise him, for greater security, to form his connection with those Societies which avowedly enjoy the protection and confidence of the Established Church. Is he anxious for the diffusion of scriptural truth? The Society for promoting Christian knowledge will supply him to any extent with Bibles and Testaments, in simple translation, or illustrated with comments, and with an endless variety of useful publications abridged or extracted from Scripture, or composed by able divines for the advancement of practical piety or sound doctrine. Is he zealous for the conversion of Pagans? The missions of this Society have been established for more than a century with distinguished reputation in India: and if we look beyond the Atlantic, the existence of a Protestant Episcopal Church on the continent of North America,-I might almost say, the existence of any regular Christian worship among the aboriginal savages, or the Protes tant colonists, within the wide range of the British dominions in that vast coun try,-may, without exaggeration, be attributed to The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. This Society has also turned its views to the East, and is preparing to act with effect under the advice and direction of the Bishop of Calcutta, in the diffusion of Christianity over the regions of Southern Asia. la short, whatever is your immediate aim, the promotion of Christian knowledge at home, or the propagation of the Gospel in foreign lands,-you will find, in the one or the other of these SisterSocieties, an auxiliary of your pious beneficence, effective and sure, though without ostentatious pretensions, or bath ambition of popular applause. In the mean time, you will have the satisfaction of acting in concert with Churchmen, the friends of authority and order, in the spirit of soberness and truth; and will perceive with conscious pleasure, that, in extending the influence of these lustitutions, and augmenting their abilities of exertion, you contribute lustre and dignity to the Church, which directs and encourages their labours." With a short reference (expressed in all that kind heartedness so worthy of him that makes it) to the Establishment for the Education and Maintenance of the Orphan Daughters and Sons of the Clergy of England and Wales, his Lordship concludes this his Second Charge, second, however, to none that, in the course of the last thirty years, has been delivered by any Bishop in these Realms. And we now lay down our pen with reluctance, regretting the narrow limits to which we are confined by the usual space allotted to this department of our Miscellany. As members of the Church of England, we cannot but return the Right Reverend Author our cordial thanks, for the gratification experienced by us in the perusal of a Charge, to the superior merits of which we now add our sincere and impartial testimony. In Motive, it is purely Christian; in Duty, it is faithfui; in Sentiment, just; in Style, polished and perspicuous; and, in Argument, most impressive; in short, it is what a Charge from a Metropolitan Bishop ought to be, and what, from such a man, we might well expect it to be.-H. G. W. Considerations on the Sea. By the Rev. James Rudge, M. A. F.R.S. Domestic Chaplain to his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent. Foolscap 8vo. pp. 69. WHEN pastoral industry and unfeigned piety distinguish the efforts of any Minister of our Established Church, we feel that he makes out a strong claim to our reverential regard. This feeling, we rejoice in every opportunity to acknowledge and express, in the most respectful mention of the individual, as an unqualified tribute of esteem. The Reverend Author of this Discourse has long shewn himself to be a labourer in the vineyard, undismayed by the toils of service, and always prompted to exertion by the consciousness of duty. His motto seems to be, "Instant in season and out of season;" and in the exercises of his hallowed function, as a Preacher and a Parish Priest, he uniformly proves himself to be actuated by the highest sense of the solemu responsibility, under which he anxiously strives to acquit himself of his sacred obligations. Through the medium of the press, Mr. Rudge has given permanency to many of his addresses from the pulpit, and has evinced a considerable degree of talent as a Writer. There is an affectionate earnestness in his style, which cannot fail to strengthen that impression which his preaching had previously made; and, in truth, we cannot but feel that he thus takes the most efficacious method of rendering this impression lasting, as well as profitable, in the best acceptation of the term. In the Discourse before us, there are many very judicious allusions to the sublime subject of it; and, throughout all the sentiments, a spirituality of feeling is conveyed which provides the Christian mind with much salutary contemplation. When, indeed, we first took up this publication, the title and the text naturally called to our recollection that beautiful Sermon of Bishop Horne's "the Sea is His, and He made it." We were struck with the similarity of thought, but were quite satisfied with the manner in which Mr. Rudge has improved upon his great original, by the enlargement which he has given to the spiritual inferences; and we presume to think that it is no little praise to any Ecclesiastical Writer of the present day, to assert that he has, in any degree, given extension to the pious ideas of so able and conscientious a divine as Dr. Horne. And should this observation appear, in this instance, to detract from the originality of Mr. Rudge's composition, so well do we know this Reverend Gentleman's sincerity, that we are quite sure the qualification which we have given to our remark will be far from displeasing him; but, on the contrary, will convince him, that if Dr. Horne has done his duty, he himself has not been wanting in the accomplishment of his own. In his Preface, Mr. R. informs us that these Considerations on the Sea were written at Hastings, and with little or no alteration were preached in the |