leave the poor in Christ to the fortuitous exercise of benevolence, and to the dole of a legal pittance. The benevolence of Christians should be wise, well-ordered, discriminating, and bountiful. Such are the alms of the Church, ennobling the giver, but not debasing the receiver; because the love of Christ towards men becomes the effectual source and motive, the model and example, of the love of men toward their brethren. We are bound indeed to do good to all men, but there are those who have a special claim-the poor members of our Lord's body. He who has promised that to those who seek first His kingdom and righteousness all other things shall be added, and who does not see fit to work by miracle, has appointed the richer members of His Church as His stewards, to fulfil His promise by clothing and feeding His poorer brethren. True it is, that if we refuse He will still work for them, but we meanwhile shall lose our high privilege—the privilege of lending to the Lord, of spending our worldly substance for Him. For while worldly liberality gives to relieve the natural sensation of compassion, the beneficence of a Christian looks farther and higher. "In Christ's poor members faith sees her Lord, and love ministers to His necessities." He who died for us still suffers hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness. He pines with sickness and is oppressed with sorrow, that we may have the blessed portion of feeding and clothing,

of visiting and ministering to Him; and beyond a doubt, in proportion as our land becomes truly Christian, an antidote will be supplied to every ill even of this world.

Meanwhile the Church being once more loved and valued, as she deserves, by the mass of our population, we should no longer be distracted with perpetual assaults; with measures introduced and forwarded, not for any benefit (real or imagined), but only because by harassing and annoying the clergy, by undermining their influence or invading their property, the interests of some political party may be advanced, and a certain measure of popular support obtained. With a few honourable exceptions, statesmen are too prone to care for none of these things; they do not love the Church of Christ for the sake of her Lord, neither in general are they decidedly hostile to her, save when some holy rule interferes with their own selfish purposes. The assaults made upon her have been for political and party ends; and if her influence were so far restored, that they would serve these purposes no longer, we "should be left in peace to husband our strength for God, not to spend it in the wretched turmoil of secular strife;" we should be "left alone with our parishes, to follow our ministerial calling, without the agitation of perpetual change and rumours of change." For the same men, who now for political purposes assail the Church, would then be ready to honour her,

and fulfil the promise-" The sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and they shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel1."

1 Is. lx. 14.

SECTION III.

THE MEASURE OF LIBERALITY AND SELF-DENIAL, DEMANDED BY THE PRINCIPLES OF THE GOSPEL.

So great are the blessings which may reasonably be expected from the complete restoration of our parochial system, that we must prepare ourselves to hear men stigmatize the project itself as visionary and utopian. It is thus that we often reconcile ourselves to leave a great and good work unattempted. We acknowledge its greatness, not that we may gather to it all our force, but that we may discharge ourselves from the necessity of making an effort. And we must expect accordingly that men will reply to the proposals contained in the last section, that great blessings indeed might be expected if our whole land were divided into parishes of a moderate size, and if every such parish were provided with its church and its resident minister, and with the necessary institutions for the education of the young, the instruction of the ignorant, and the relief of the poor; but that, as it is hopeless that such provision should ever be made, we must content ourselves with other expedients.

They will admit that some new churches ought to be built, that some enormous parishes ought to be divided, but they will denounce it as visionary, to propose operations so vast as are requisite for the full developement of the parochial system; and therefore they have recourse to other measures more or less beneficial and expedient, but which must ever be wholly insufficient to remedy the evil.

And is this really the case? Is it hopeless that we should carry out a series of measures which would secure a blessing, and must we content ourselves to abandon the mass of our city population to the powers of darkness, and seek only to snatch from them one here and another there? God forbid! It were indeed visionary to imagine that by any measures we could provide that all men should with a true and sincere zeal discharge their several duties. No system will make every Christian or every Clergyman a man of faith and prayer, of self-denial and patient obedience; for the evil ever were and ever will be "mingled with the good," until the coming of the Lord to judgment. But although men will ever remain fallen and inconsistent, and in every branch of the Church there will be many unworthy members, it is possible that systems may be ever approximating towards perfection; and the attempt to bring them continually nearer to it, instead of being visionary or utopian, results from a wise practical sense of