no sure indication of want of rectitude of heart. We should suppose all persons religious who profess to be so, unless their practice is inconsistent with their profession; and we should suppose all satisfied that they are embraced in the Church of God, who are attached to any communion of Christians, and regularly attend its worship and ordinances. Therefore we should be far from being dissatisfied with them, when they honestly endeayour, by the best arguments they can use, to convince us of the superior excellence of their religion; and to persuade us thereby of the advantages we should gain by renouncing error and embracing truth. In doing this they act benevolently and consistently. So far proselyting is no evidence of meanness or narrowness of mind; but is an indication of the exercise of some of the best affections of the human heart. Where no artifice is practised; where no misrepresentations are made; where no advantage is taken of weak and uncultivated minds, to lead them from the Church to which I belong; I will never complain. I will fairly meet every argument brought against the institutions and doctrines of my Church; and if overpowered by my opponent, in the judgment of those concerned, will leave them without complaint, to follow wherever the dictates of their consciences may lead them. I know that others may be as honest in their belief of what I conceive to be error, as I am in what I believe to be truth. I frankly confess, satisfied as I am of the divine institution of the ministry of which I partake; of the truth of the doctrines of the Church to which I belong; of the propriety of the worship it has enjoined; and the duty of obedience to its authority; I will honestly and fairly use all the arguments in my power to persuade others of the truth of these things, and will most earnestly beg of God to bless my endeavours in this good work. But, in doing this, I will likewise beseech him to preserve me from all artifice and misrepresentation; from all means that may lead to an undue regard, or to any degree of alienation of affec tion, from those who differ from me. It is not merely personal attachment, or personal alienation, that the faithful minister of religion seeks; but attachment to his Master, his Church, his doctrines, and his precepts. Still, as we are all subject to err in these things, we must assume no claim to infallibility, but teach that concerning them which we sincerely believe (after due investigation,) to be true; and while we lament our unhappy differences, treat with respect and kindness those who are inculcating doctrines very different from our own. I have laid these sentiments before you, to guard you against the danger of embracing yourselves, or leading others to embrace, loose and erroneous ideas respecting the nature of that religion which alone can reconcile us to God. This I have done, in fulfilment of a duty I owe you, as persons committed to my particular charge by the great Head of the Church. Should you suppose that in this I have erred in judgment, you will yet do me the justice to believe that I have sincerely endeavoured to direct you right, If you teach true and correct principles of religion to those you have undertaken to instruct, you will do much good to yourselves, to those committed to your care, and to the community at large. While thus teaching poor children, and unlettered adults, you are engaged in an employment that witnesses to the world the goodness of your hearts, and are fairly entitled to the esteem and praise of every virtuous mind; and if practised from right motives, it will secure to you the approbation of God. What stronger motives, therefore, can be laid before you, to influence you to be careful to teach nothing but what is right; and to persevere in the sacrifice of your convenience and ease, in leading the poor and ignorant in the ways of righteousness and peace? On the fulfilment of this duty you may now reflect with pleasure; and the remembrance of it will brighten your prospects on the bed of death. As you advance in life, you may have the pleasure of seeing some of these poor children you are now instructing, rise into usefulness and respectability in society, and pouring upon you their benedictions for the kindness you are now bestowing upon them. But this is not all, nor the best you may hope from your pious labours. You are now introducing these children and unlettered adults to the knowledge of God's holy will and commandments. As far as you teach them true religion, you set before them the reasons, the measures, and the rewards of those duties, by means of which they are not only to prosper now, but to be for ever happy hereafter. Go on then, thus guarded, my friends and children, with patience and perseverance in your labour of love; and may the blessing of heaven attend you! May you now reap some part of your reward in the sweet reflection of contributing to the present and future well-being of your fellow-creatures! May you thus soften for your reception the bed of death! And may your happiness be consummated at the resurrection of the just, by finding that you have been instrumental in turning many to righteousness; and of thus qualifying both yourselves and them to shine forth in the kingdom of our heavenly Father, as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever! establishments, in Church and State; his Lordship's speech upon the question of granting additional privileges to the Catholics, was distinguished alike for its temperance and for its power. We could only have wished, that this masterly and convincing protest had been given to the public in a more legitimate form than in that of a newspaper report. Of his labours in a diocess, which had been too long, as we fear, abandoned to its fate, it is out of our province to speak; but, that his lordship, in the course of but a few months, had accurately acquainted himself with all the local and peculiar circumstances under which his Clergy were placed, the Charge before us will afford the most convincing testimony. We cannot, however, refrain from expressing our hope, that the papers of questions which his lordship has drawn up and printed for the use of his candidates for Holy Orders, could become publici juris. As a neat and compendious test of orthodox principle upon every leading point in theology, they are unrivalled; they present the readiest means both of examining the opinions of others, and of analysing our own. In these days especially, too much caution cannot be exercised in the admission of candidates into the sacred profession. A learned and a scriptural Clergy are, at all times, the best bulwarks of a Christian Church; but at a time when the most destructive errors are propagated under the disguise of the Gospel, and the sacred Volume is perverted into the minister of the rankest fanaticism, it is more than ever incumbent upon those who are intended for Holy Orders, to make themselves masters not only of the doctrines and of the spirit, but of the language also of Scripture. Insulated passages, and disjointed texts are the missile wea pons of the enthusiasts; very wisely they do not attempt to bring into the field the heavy artillery of argument; they know from experience, that far more execution is done among the ignorant and unstable by these poisoned arrows, which, when barbed with Scripture phraseology, stick deep in the mind. But in this, as in many other cases, the wound can be cured only by a right application of those very arms, by the perversion of which it was inflicted. But, if proficiency in Scriptural knowledge is a point of such vital importance to the interests of the Church, orthodoxy in Scriptural doctrine is essential to its very existence. Neither a kingdom nor a church divided against itself can ever stand. If those are admitted within the walls of the sanctuary, whose principles are decidedly in opposition to the laws by which it is guarded and governed, the inevitable result will be confusion and ruin. That such is the case at this present time, we want no further evidence than that of the very men to whom we allude. We have not distinguished them, but they have distinguished themselves. They have formed themselves into a separate party, they have appropriated to themselves a separate title, they vilify and reproach those into whose territory they have intruded. So different, indeed, are the principles which they main tain, from those of our English Church, that there are many honourable and good dissenters without its pale, who, both in their belief and conduct, ap proach much nearer to its doctrines than those who, in defiance of any such qualms of conscience, have boldly enlisted themselves under its banner. Candidates of this description are daily increasing; and so artfully have they been drilled to conceal their real opinions during the time of examination, that they will often pass muster with those whose principles are in conformity with the Church into whose service they are about to enter. It is necessary, therefore, that a more strict and scrutinizing test should be applied, that the Bishop may know whether the doctrines of the candidate are in perfect union with the doctrines of the Church, and therefore, whether he is qualified for admission within it. We trust, that to a second edition of the Charge, this paper of questions, which are so arranged as to exhibit a connected view of the dealings of God to man under the New Covenant, could be subjoined as an Appendix. The ground which the Bishop has taken in his primary Charge, is altogether new. It has been hitherto customary for the diocesan to enter at large into general principles, and afterwards briefly to advert to any particular circumstances which might be thought worthy of the attention of his clergy. The Bishop of Landaff has adopted an exactly opposite method; he has dedicated the main body of his Charge to questions of more immediate interest; and at the conclusion, has shortly touched upon points of general instruction. Much as we ourselves must regret this disposition of his matter, we must, at the same time, allow that, to the clergy of his diocess, such an arrangement was peculiarly adapted. The majority of our readers may feel disappointed in the absence of those general observations upon the character, the events, and the signs of the times; which, when they proceed from a powerful mind, and a commanding pen, have much weight in the scale of opinion, and give a tone to the feelings of the public mind. And had this Charge been delivered to the clergy of any diocess near the metropolis, we should have thought that their disappointment had been founded in justice. But when we consider the distance of Landaff from the centre of public business, and when we remember how very contracted the opportunities of the clergy of so remote a diocess must-be of procuring the commonest information upon matters which most closely concern them, their diocesan is surely justified in calling their attention to particulars, especially when those particulars were of a nature the most important. An Act had just passed to consolidate, and to bring within one focus, all the various and scattered Acts which affected the interests of the clergy. All that could relate to their residence, to the discharge of their spiritual duties, and to the extent of their temporal engagements, was to be found in that Act, it was surely in the highest degree expedient that they should be made thoroughly acquainted, not only with the letter, but with the spirit and the reason of its enactments. It is also well known, that a considerable opposition had been raised against the provisions of the Bill, by a very respectable portion of their brethren, in a diocess not far distant, which rendered it still more important that the clergy should not only be acquainted with, but should also be reconciled to laws and constitutions under which they were to be governed. We do not, of course, enter into other reasons which might apply to the diocess of Landaff in particular; but we shall simply give it as our opinion, that the Bishop might have produced a more splendid, but he could not have delivered a more useful Charge. The Bishop, in the first place, congratulates his clergy that they have now a permanent, not a temporary law for the government of the Church; and that instead of consulting and comparing a variety of Acts, from the reign of Henry VIII. to this present time, they have now to refer to one single' and comprehensive Act. "But the greatest advantage to be expected from the present law, is that which relates to the welfare of the established Church, and therefore to the ultimate welfare of the clergy themselves. For the welfare of the Church is inseparable from the welfare of its ministers: if the Church should fall, the functions of its ministers would entirely cease, and its revenues be entirely withdrawn. To support the established Church, is to support, therefore, the clergy of the establishment. As soon, then, as we can ascertain what is necessary for such support, so soon must the clergy in particular, from considerations both of duty and of interest, be disposed to contribute by their individual efforts, to the attainment of so salutary an end. They will cheerfully submit to what might otherwise appear a personal inconvenience, when they reflect that, in the present state of the established Church, and the alarming increase of Dissenters from that Church, it is highly expedient that we should discharge our own duty to our respective flocks, lest our flocks be withdrawn from us; or, when we are unable to perform our own duty, that we make such provision for those to whose care we commit our flocks, that the respectability of the curate may be maintained on the one hand, and the exact performance of duty, both regular and occasional, be ensured on the other. If we disregard this rule, we not only neglect what, as pastors, we owe to our flocks, but we display a very short-sighted policy, even in regard to our private advantage. For, if by endeavouring to get our work done as cheaply as possible, we get it done as badly as possible, and thus endanger the stability of the edifice, it will be a poor consolation to reflect, when we see the edifice tottering, that it cost us less while it lasted, if by paying more we might have saved it from falling." It is just and right, that the state which protects and endows a certain portion of the universal Church, should require, from those members who have accepted of such endowment and protection, a due discharge of the duties which they have in consequence undertaken. It is just and right, that civil penalties should be attached to civil privileges; and it is to these alone that the Bishop, when he speaks of a law enacted for the government of the Church, appears to direct his clergy: the spiritual power of the Church can be subject to no temporal control, nor can the spiritual government be committed to authorities purely temporal. As the source of its spiritual jurisdiction is from above, so before that high tribunal alone are its ministers ulti mately responsible. There is a neglect of duty which the laws of man can control; and it is that neglect to which the Bishop alludes: but there is a disregard and a disaffection beyond the reach of human power, which the spiritual Governor of the Church alone can visit or avenge. Now, as the Bishop appears unwilling to blend two considerations which are in many points so distinct, he dedicates his Charge to the consideration only of the former; and it is upon this ground that his lordship urges, both in the citation which we have given, and in other parts of the Charge, temporal motives for the performance of spiritual duties. We mention this, because we know that objections have been made to the introduction of motives apparently so inferior to the du ties to be performed; but the reader, if he has any candour, will remember that it is to the clerical duties, only as far as they are connected with temporal laws and temporal privileges, that the Bishop at present confines himself. 1 In the latter part of his Charge, the Bishop recommends the education of the poor upon the national plan, and the foundation of Schools in union with the National Society. He urges also the necessity of adhering not to the name only, and the mechanical part, but to the spirit and to the laws of that invaluable institution. In an especial manner his lordship inculcates a strict obedience to that law of the society which enjoins that all the children shall attend the service of the established Church, unless such reason can be assigned as shall be satisfactory to the persons having the direction of that School." The power of excep. tion which this rule seems to imply, does not, as his lordship observes, amount to an authority for dispensing with general attendance, but only for excusing temporary and particular absence. The arguments of the Bishop upon this point are so forcible and just, that we shall present them to our readers at length. con "In the application of the above quoted rule for attendance at Church, care must be taken not to apply it in such a manner as to defeat the main object which the National Society has in view. When the Society requires that the children stantly attend' at Church, unless such reasons for their non-attendance be assigned' as shall satisfy the governors of the School, the opposition between the terms constantly and non-attendance' appears at least to imply, that the exceptions to the rule contemplated by the Society, are rather individual instances of non-attendance, permitted in urgent cases to children who at other times attend, than such ́exceptions as consist in habitual and constant absence from Church. But even where the governors interpret the rule in the latter sense, they should still consider that a Society, formed for the avowed purpose of education in the principles of the Established Church, and announcing this purpose in its very title, cannot pos sibly confer such a dispensing power on any other supposition, than that they who apply for union with the Society are themselves true Churchmen, and consequently will be very cautious in the use of such power. Otherwise a School may be united with the National Society, and yet not united with the National Church. It cannot, indeed, be denied, that great prudence is required in the management of National Schools, in places where there are many who depart from the Established Church. Such Schools are open (and very properly open,) alike to the Churchman and to the Dissenter, provided the children conform to the regulations of the School. In these regulations, the rule for attendance at Church is necessarily included, or the School could not be united with the National Society. Lest objections, therefore, should be made by parents, where the children are of such a mixed description, the governors of several Schools have thought proper not only to interpret the rule according to the lat ter sense, but to make a very extensive or, as it is termed, a very liberal use of their dispensing power. But, if I may judge from my own experience, there would be much less difficulty than is frequently supposed, if exceptions to the rule, when taken in the latter sense, were never allowed. In the School to which I allude, of the parents, when they apply for the no questions are asked about the religion admission of their children. They are merely informed of the conditions with which their children must comply, if admitted at the School; and they have uniformly assented without a murmur. this School has been established seven years, and in a place which abounds with Dissenters. In the city of London, National Schools, than which there are no better in the kingdom, such an exception is never made to the rule for attendance at Church. The same is true of many, very many other National Schools; and to give an example in the diocess of Landaff, the governors of the National School at Chepstow, which is very well conducted, admit in no case such an exception to the Yet rule for attendance at Church. Thus the children of these Schools are, without exception, educated for the Church: for it is their place of worship which determines the question, whether they shall be Churchmen or not. The same regularity in attendance at Church would be ensued also in other places, if governors of Schools had every where the same firmness. When it is known that exceptions are never allowed, exceptions will never be expected, and therefore never be required. Nor is a universal compliance with the rule attended with the hardship, that many suppose: for it is a mistake, that the lower classes of Protestant Dissenters in this country have, in general, such objections to our doctrine and worship, as to consider a compliance with the rule a bar to the education of their children in the National Schools. It is true, that by attempting to force men into measures, we may defeat our own object, by exciting a dislike to that which was previously a matter of indifference to them, and to which they might have been drawn, though they would not be compelled. But there is no compulsion, when a parent is at liberty to' determine whether he will accept or re |