matter of grave inquiry how far an alteration of the present law may not bring in other evils worse than those now complained of.

At his Ordination the Priest enters into a deliberate covenant with Almighty God, ratified by the Church and recognised by the law of the land. In consequence of this deliberate covenant, made under circumstances of deep and affecting solemnity, he acquires a spiritual status, which brings with it temporal conditions. It may surely then be said, that there can be no intrinsic hardship if the Church and the State claim their right to appoint the terms upon which they will recognise the character acquired by virtue of this contract with God. By the proposed alteration of the law, the attitude with which the Church would regard the unhappy man who shrank from fulfilling his vow is not to be affected. She would point to primitive authority and to her 76th Canon, as indicating her sense of the impropriety of putting hands to the plough and then drawing back. But it is the attitude of the State that will be changed. The recognition the Civil Power has hitherto given to the obligation laid upon the ordained ministers of Christ not to forsake their calling is to be swept away, in order to relieve men of unstable mind of the consequences of their own acts; and while the Church may record the offender as a schismatic and excommunicate, the State will say to him-You have done no wrong; take the censure for what it is worth. How, then, will the withdrawal of the civil recognition affect the spiritual censure inflicted by the Church?

If the Church of England were unestablished and unrecognised by law, such a state of things might be not only fit and proper as regards the State, but also consonant with the interest of the Church. If, however, the complex character of the Church be considered, and the temporal accidents that have been entwined around her spiritual things be fairly weighed, it will be found that new considerations demand attention, while fresh conditions are imposed upon our inquiry.

No doubt it may be argued, in the abstract, that a purification of the ranks of her Ministers could redound only to the advantage of the Church; but, then, care must be taken that the conditions shall not be such as to inflict a deadly wound upon the moral status of their more faithful brethren, and that the vindication of purity of teaching is not hastily obtained at the expense of consequences more important than even the principle vindicated.

The melancholy experience of the Divorce Court convincingly shows that tampering with solemn contracts is attended with grave risk. The valuable returns moved for by Mr. Malins

that the establishment of the Divorce Court has been followed by an increased commission of adultery; and it is thereby evident, that when the sanction of the State is withdrawn from the ties which are made in the name of God, and obligations deliberately contracted are put aside as nought, a great temptation is thrown in the way of men to think lightly of the nature of the contract, and of the consequences of its infraction. Many couples who would have quarrelled and been reconciled under the old law of marriage, have been drawn further into sin by the possibility of being released from the marriage-bond; and it is to be feared that the analogy will hold good in the case of Holy Orders, and that men will think lightly of their ordinationvow when the State ceases to enforce it, and holds aloof in contemptuous indifference. The existence of facilities for escaping from a position is, to some, a suggestion and temptation to make use of them.

The admission by the State, that the category of men anxious to be relieved of the temporal consequences of an act spiritually irrevocable is so large as to demand special legislation, would no doubt suggest to many a clergyman of scrupulous mind doubts and difficulties which a sense of his present position keeps far from him; and as, under the provisions of the Bill, the indelible character which is to be withdrawn from the State conception of Holy Orders is to be transferred to the registered rejection of them, it will not be possible, the step once taken, to gain readmission to the altars deserted, or to recover the pri vileges too hastily abandoned. To refuse a place of repentance to a clergyman seeking readmittance to the exercise of the functions of his ministry, is to place narrow limits upon the discretion of the Church; and such a provision would, undoubtedly, be taken as a practical denial of the permanent character imparted at Ordination. It is said, with truth, that a man who acts as a clergyman to-day, and as a layman to-morrow, ought not to be formally recognised as a clergyman on the third day. But this argument tells with fatal effect against the whole of the proposed legislation and alteration of the status of the individual seceder.

It is the interest of the Clergy to maintain a high standard of clerical character, but the interest of the Clergy, in this matter, is insignificant compared with those of the Laity. The unworthiness of the Minister hinders not the effect of the Sacraments; yet a slothful, half-hearted, and worldly Clergy inflicts grievous injury on the Mystical Body of Christ. At present, no man can take Holy Orders without feeling that he is taking a step irrevocable alike by the law of the Church and the law of the land, in the kingdom of Nature as well as that of Grace: he,

accordingly, makes up his mind to devote his whole life to God, and the ministration of His Word and Sacraments. The solemn nature of the consequences, no doubt, deter some from giving this pledge; and many who give it without a full sense of all that it implies, yet by diligent attention to their duties, and from a conviction of the settled destination of their lives, correspond with grace given, and become faithful shepherds of the flock. Who will be the gainer if the State recognition of the irrevocable character of this vow to God be altered and withdrawn? The Rev. A. B. or C. D. may be enabled to practise as a physician or lawyer, or engage in extensive agricultural pursuits; but how will the alteration of the law of the land tell upon those young men who, at the outset of their careers, are determining to which state of life God has been pleased to call them? Lower motives for taking Holy Orders will increase in force when the countervailing responsibilities are minimised. A consciousness that want of success or change of convictions will no longer debar him from abandoning the sacred career and seeking a second start in the race of life, will not increase his sense of the awful nature of the duties he is taking upon himself. If the State and the Legislature see no reason why Holy Orders should not be judged by the same earthly standard as military or legal occupations (so some may argue), surely I am not wiser than those who have altered this law; and I may anticipate no discredit without or disquiet within, as a consequence of such an alteration of my destination in life. Serjeant Talfourd (May 2d, 1849) uttered a very forcible warning: If every young man is permitted to take upon himself Holy Orders as a mere experiment, not with regard to his ultimate fitness for 'the office, but as to his success in that as in any secular employment, there will be withdrawn from the entering on Holy Orders that check which required the gravest consideration 6 upon the part of those who were candidates for them not to 'take a step from which they could not draw back, without weighing all the consequences.'

This warning is one of weight; but it will be urged, against such a remonstrance, that unfortunate men, whose convictions have changed, are debarred from gaining their livelihood in_a new career, and, therefore, have no choice but to starve. In answer, it may be said that a clergyman who, after some years of doubt, has arrived at a conclusion hostile to his continuing his labours within the Ministry of the Church of England, will most probably have attained an age at which it would be hopeless for him to embark in a new profession. The only pursuit for which he would be qualified would be literary labour, and from that he is not now debarred. But even granted, for the sake

of argument, that the law may press upon such with some harshness, it may be asked with force, what general principle which deals with a class does not, at some point or another, press hardly upon some of those with whom it deals; and if the present law acts as a real check and safeguard against levity in entering Holy Orders, which is entitled to the more consideration at the hands of the State-the earthly convenience of those clergymen who withdraw from their engagements, or the maintenance of the standard of clerical character throughout the whole Church?

The endowments of the Church, the prestige attaching to the position of a clergyman—all these lower inducements tell powerfully upon the human heart, and induce many a young man to turn his attention towards the Ministry of the Church. After great self-examination, and a full scrutiny of his conscience, and the weighty consequences of the step, both spiritual and temporal, he seeks ordination, and endeavours to act faithfully up to the promises deliberately made; but, withdraw the temporal disqualifications which defend and counterbalance the temporal inducements which operate on his mind, and you increase tenfold the chances of Holy Orders being sought as an experimental profession. A simple state of society demands only simple arrangements; a more complex order of things necessitates more complex machinery; and so, regulations which in one state of things might be superfluous, are imperatively demanded to maintain in its due order a more complicated economy.

To provide an easy machinery which shall bring home the censure of the Church to those men who abandon their profession, would no doubt be an improvement on our legislation; but this result might be obtained by a reform in the procedure of our Ecclesiastical Courts, and without a violent disturbance of their clerical character. Gold may be bought too dear; and we are not disposed to part lightly with any of those guarantees which have made the character of the English Clergy a just subject of admiration and regard, not merely to Churchmen or to Englishmen, but to all the world.

To consider the measure from another point of view, it may be said that it deals fragmentarily with the great question of Clergy Discipline. The time cannot be distant when the Discipline of the Clergy must receive the attentive consideration of Parliament and Convocation. At such a time, it would not be improper to consider whether the purity of the teaching of the Church might not be vindicated by some less costly expedient than a sacrifice of the temporal guarantees against the light estimation of Holy Orders. The Clergy may fairly claim that a matter so vitally affecting their own consciences shall not be

disposed of without their opinions receiving consideration at the hands of the Legislature; and it is for the Laity to think out for themselves the consequences that would follow the surrender of State recognition of the permanence of that clerical character, which affects all the relations of a clergyman with his parishioners—relations of reciprocal esteem and regard which have grown up under the existing system.

No one can pretend that the present law has been harshly applied to conscientious men. The case of Mr. Shore was such as to leave the Bishop no option. If a clergyman claiming to dissent from the teaching of the Church of England, wishes, nevertheless, to shelter himself under the authority committed to him by her, it is right that his true character and position should be judicially expounded. Mr. Baptist Noel and others, whose conduct showed the conscientious nature of their opinions, have been undisturbed. Clergy obtaining reordination from the Church of Rome are at present exempted from the disabilities they would otherwise incur.

If, then, the practical grievance upon those who seek relief be small in amount, theoretical in its character rather than practical, and demanded but by few, a heavy responsibility will surely rest upon those who, without due consideration, tamper with the homage which the State has ever paid the Church, and lightly forego the temporal sanction given to a solemn spiritual act. If, again, those who seek this relief are men who have forfeited their compact with God, care must be taken, in granting their prayer, to inflict no wrong upon those who remain faithful to that office and ministry to which they have all alike been dedicated according to the laws of this Church and realm. The hallowed privileges of a thousand years are not to be lightly relinquished, and pity for the fallen few who refuse to bask in the rays of the Sun of Righteousness must not lead us to break down the hedge and root up the Vine, which shelter and nourish the obedient people of God. It is not the reluctant ploughman whose conduct shall govern the hiring of his fellow-servants. The temporal prosperity of an unfaithful priest sinks into insignificance when weighed in the balance against the general welfare of the Mystical Body of Christ, and the spiritual restoration of its erring members.