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NO MEASURE, AFFECTING THE PROPERTY OF THE CHURCH, SHOULD BE INTRODUCED INTO PARLIAMENT, WITH THE CONSENT OR SANCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT, PENDING THE INQUIRIES OF THE COMMISSION, EXCEPT SUCH AS SHOULD

CONSIST WITH THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS.

That PLEDGE was given. Without it, the other members of the Commission would certainly have declined continuing to act: but having received it, they did not consider themselves at liberty to retire from the performance of the task which they had undertaken, the object of their appointment being unchanged, and the principles, upon which they had up to that time proceeded, being distinctly recognised by the Government, as those by which their future deliberations were to be shaped.

The new Commission was accordingly issued; and the inquiries, which had been for a short time suspended, were resumed. "Unanimity," as it was stated by the Archbishop, "prevailed in the proceedings of the Commission. Whenever there was a difference of opinion on any material point, it was settled, not by a reluctant or unwilling compromise or concession on either side, but after a full consideration of the facts, and discussion of the reasons upon which the matter turned." This statement, which is strictly true with regard to all the recommendations of the Commission, is a sufficient answer to the insinuations which have been thrown out, that the Commissioners did little more than adopt, without inquiry or deliberation, the propositions made by one or two of their body.

The unanimity, which is described as having been the result of full and free discussion, continued up to the time when the Ministers took measures for bringing the question of Church property, belonging to Bishops, Deans, and Chapters, before a Committee of the House of Commons, with the avowed intention of applying a part of it, in case an improved value should be given it, as a substitute for church rates. This being regarded as A DISTINCT AND UNEQUIVOCAL VIOLATION OF THE PLEDGE, given by the Government to the Commissioners, who had consented to resume their office in the new Commission, they announced to the Prime Minister that they could no longer continue to take part in measures, the very ground of which was taken away by the proceedings of the Government in the House of Commons. Their Fourth Report, which had been agreed to, was never signed; and they are therefore, strictly speaking, not answerable for the Bill, grounded upon that Report, which has since been brought into Parliament, but with some important additions, at variance with the Report itself, and with the principles which its framers had kept steadily in view.-Pp. 17-20.

Such were the results of Sir Robert Peel's short-sighted and unconstitutional measure, by which he left it open to men reckless of their own pledges to substitute themselves in the place of the guardians of the Church, as wolves assuming the paternal government of the sheepfold.

Both the Charges on our table advert to the importance of supporting the Church Societies. The Bishop of London observes-

The great Church Societies, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the Incorporated Societies for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and for Building and Enlarging Churches, the National Society for the Education of the Poor, and the Society for supplying Additional Clergymen in Popu lous Places, all present distinct and unquestionable claims upon the liberality of churchmen. The Clergy, if their own pecuniary contributions are limited by the narrowness of their means (although in truth they are for the most part liberal above their means), may yet serve the cause of the Church by explaining and enforcing those claims at all seasonable opportunities. I mention these Societies more particularly, as being framed in strict accordance with the

principles of our ecclesiastical polity, and as being under the direct and effective superintendence of the Bishops of our Church.-P. 46.

Of the Curates' Fund the Bishop of Chichester speaks thus

It may recommend our Association to observe, that it is strictly scriptural, both in its character and operations, and in no way liable to any of those objections which have been urged against many others, in which the clergy and laity are combined. One of the first transactions recorded in the Acts, was the institution of an order for purposes somewhat akin to our own, namely, to relieve the necessities of the poor, and to give greater freedom and efficacy to "prayer and to the ministry of the word" and we learn afterwards, as well from this narrative as from the Epistles, that the churches planted by the apostles, in different parts of Asia and Europe, combined together in acts of charity, for the relief of the distressed Christians in Judea, as well as in other measures and counsels for their mutual edification. On the other hand, it is obvious to remark, that there is nothing vague or obscure either in the objects our Association proposes, or the services it requires from its members; it stands forth before the public eye distinct and well defined, pure from all party bias and private views, having no interest to serve but that of piety and charity; no bond of union but love to God and to his church. Its lay members intrude not, nor have any pretence to intrude, upon the province of the ministry; content to strengthen the hands of those who preach the word of God, and to impart to the poor the means of hearing it, they leave the doctrines and the offices of religion to those to whom they belong.-Pp. 9—11.

In these sentiments we entirely concur, although we confess that we do not see any danger in the employment of lay agency under the superintendence of the Clergy, where properly restricted. Considering, however, that so large a minority of the Pastoral Aid Society decided against the cooperation of laymen, we think it was scarcely right to insist on it. To the Curates' Fund, however, there cannot attach the very shadow of an objection. The Church has made, though late, an important discovery: that the first step in propagating christian knowledge is not the circulation of the Bible, but the building of churches and the mission of teachers. The gospel is, indeed, the light of the world; but in order to diffuse the light of the candle, the first thing to be done is to set it upon the candlestick. Had this been done earlier, we should have had less of schism, of heresy, of infidelity, of ignorance, to lament. We have taken the Bible as the rule of our faith, and so far we have done right; but we have inferred that it was also the initiatory, and almost the only, instrument of knowledge and grace; and here we have acted against the Bible itself. It has been by building meeting houses, and collecting congregations, that the dissenters have been enabled to seduce from the doctrines of the Bible, those whom, by a similar policy, the Church might have retained in the truth.

The subject of christian evidence, as might be expected, is adverted to in both Charges, although less copiously in the first, as the Bishop of London had very recently addressed his Clergy on the subject. What is said, however, is as much to the purpose as if it had occupied as many pages as lines:

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I trust that you will render every assistance in your power, by the formation of local committees, according to the suggestions contained in those papers; for upon the success of the efforts, which are now to be made in behalf of the National Society, will mainly depend the decision of the question, WHETHER THE EDUCA

TION OF THE COUNTRY IS TO BE A RELIGIOUS EDUCATION, AND A CHURCH EDUCATION, CONDUCTED, AS IT HAS HITHERTO BEEN, BY THE PAROCHIAL CLERGY. I trust that you will give no countenance to any scheme, HOWEVER PLAUSIBLE, which is not calculated to secure these objects.-P. 47.

We could, did room permit, preach a sermon on this text. The question is a mighty one, whether the education of the country is to be a religious education, and a church education; and woe to that Clergyman who would lose sight of that question in the false light of liberality or the fogs of party spirit!-Whatever may be the subordinate objections which any minister of our Church may entertain towards the National Society, let him remember that the settlement of this great question now hinges on the support which that Society receives'; and we are sure that, if his spirit be not the very breath of faction, he will sink every minor objection in cordial cooperation with this great Society. Providence has granted us, just when most wanted, an institution possessing the confidence of the Church, governed by the Bishops, employing a complete and adequate machinery for its important purposes, and enjoying the advantage of twenty-eight years' experience; and shall we put this by for some institution which cannot, in the nature of things, possess the same confidence or the same patronage? which has all its machinery to construct, and all its experience to attain? The Bishop of Chichester has admirably met the vulgar and hackneyed objections to this Society.

They tell us (says he) that the National Society, under whose system most of our Church schools are conducted, is no longer adequate to the important task it has undertaken; that the matter of its instruction is too confined, the training of its masters imperfect, its operations languid and dilatory, and the whole effect of its system disproportioned to the wants and expectations of the age. But how stand the facts with relation to these charges? The National Society has been now incorporated about twenty years, and dates its origin only a few years earlier. During this period, its system and principles have been established in 12,000 parishes, hamlets, and chapelries, and are still extending themselves in every direction throughout the country. In schools connected with it, it already reckons above 500,000 day scholars, and in Sunday schools almost as many more. To 70,000l. obtained from the Government, it has been the means of adding 140,000l. drawn from private sources; the whole of which has been distributed through the country, and expended in building schools for the poor. Besides the great central school at Westminster, it has established forty-five provincial model schools, in which masters are trained for teaching, both on the system of Dr. Bell and on the Infant-school system. Nor has it been unmindful of the actual progress and conduct of its plan: to prevent all misrepresentation, inquiries have been instituted into the management and effects of several schools within the union, of which reports have been duly made and published; and to keep alive the attention of the public, statements have been issued from time to time, explaining the rise and progress of religious education, pointing out its objects and results, and in various ways encouraging and urging all who have the means to the maintenance and support of it. These, surely, are no proofs

of dulness or inactivity; and if in a sphere so unbounded, and with a demand so rapidly increasing, the supply of masters has not always been adequate, and the training of them less complete than the sanguine friends of the Society could wish; if, notwithstanding all their endeavours, great numbers of poor children are still brought up in darkness and ignorance; in all this there is the strongest reason for fresh exertions and larger subscriptions in behalf of the Institution, but little reason for surprise, and still less for condemnation and reproach. Such, indeed, is the light in which the friends of the Establishment have been disposed to regard the Society; and such the conduct they have pursued. Within a few months great accessions, both in numbers and influence, have been made to its body; and I rejoice to say, that at the very moment I am addressing you, effective measures are in progress for removing every ground of complaint, and for improving, developing, and extending the system hitherto pursued by the Society; for rendering it, in short, what it ought to be, the source and centre of a complete and suitable education, not only for the poor, but eventually for the middle classes of society also; and this too without any compromise of principle, or any change of character or influence; still taking for its basis christian instruction, according to the principles of the Established Church, still calling upon the Clergy for their assistance and control, and still uniting the religious feelings of the people with the institutions of the country.-Pp. 13-15.

In regard to the second division of our "text," the plausibility of irregular projects of tuition, we would, in particular, caution our clerical readers, and through them the public, against a favourite scheme of the opponents of religious education-the Scripture schools. Supposing these establishments to be honestly what they profess, they are imperfect and insufficient. We are reminded that the Kildare-Place Society's schools are exactly upon this plan. But that Society never considered their system a perfect education, but only the best that could be procured in a peculiar state of society. Their object was to educate Protestants and Romanists together; and as they would not surrender the principle of religious education, they went as far as they could. In England, however, matters stand very differently. Beside, from what party does the recommendation of Scripture schools proceed? from men who, wherever they have had the opportunity, have invariably excluded religion from the business of education; from a party numbering in its ranks a vast majority of that church which forbids the Scriptures to be read. What can we think of the sincerity of these persons in the recommendation of Scripture schools? and what amount of scriptural knowledge is it likely their schools would impart? It is obvious that the very mention of Scripture is only introduced to lull the pious but weak. into a false security; and to insinuate, under the covert of Scripture schools, what the country, otherwise, would never bear-national irreligious education.

We transcribe from Bishop Otter's Charge some admirable remarks in regard to the duty of the Clergy on this subject.

Let me then entreat you, my Reverend brethren, as you would guard against this innovation on the one hand, and give strength and efficacy to the improved operations of the National Society on the other-as you would promote the interests of the Church, and especially the spiritual welfare of those committed to your charge-to bestow additional care upon this portion of your duty;

encouraging the establishment of schools in your parishes where they may be wanting, watching over the conduct of them where they already exist; availing yourselves of every improvement which may offer, and, above all, carefully guiding and affectionately seconding the christian lessons imparted to the children. This will be the best answer to the complaints of inefficacy which are brought against the National system, and this the best posture in which you can await the attempts of those who are disposed to change. Let but the Clergy be found at their posts, firm in the affections of their people, and ready to take the lead in the good work, and there is little doubt but that FROM WHATEVER QUARTER the alteration may be proposed, it will be rEJECTED; nay, further, there is reason to believe that by calling forcibly the attention of the public to the subject, and by bringing a larger measure of intelligence and experience to bear upon the education of the poor, the discussion which has been provoked will issue, as it ought to do, in their improvement and advantage, and not without benefit to the cause of christian education. The Government are not likely to interfere, so long as our present mode of instruction shall be found to be effective, and the public shall approve of it; and the more the operations of the Society are made known and supported, the more completely will these ends be accomplished. -Pp. 26, 27.

In these remarks, it will be seen, there is "something" like "prophetic strain." The Clergy have been "found at their posts," and "ready to take the lead;" the operations of the National Society have been "made known and supported ;" and, accordingly, its "mode of instruction has been shown to be effective ;" and, in consequence, the government has not interfered: and we are enabled, with Sir R. H. Inglis, to congratulate the country, that so little mischief is to be done. What Bishop Otter here says, we have always said; let the Church stand forward boldly, and she must be respected and listened to. A body comprising so large a portion of the piety, respectability, intelligence and property of a nation, could, under no government, make its voice heard in vain ; and when it is recollected that the men who at present direct the affairs of the land have never been influenced by anything but a firm demonstration of resistance, it is the more necessary that the Church should now insist on the maintenance of those rights which she enjoys for the benefit of the country. She will not, we trust, relax her exertions on the great subject of national education, on the ground that ministers have announced their intention to do no harm. This would, indeed, be a sad abuse of her victory. She has now the highest encouragement to pursue a straightforward and uncompromising course. She has the people with her, but, above all, she is strong in the support of her Head! Her faults have been timidity and inactivity-nor do we say she has totally divested herself of them yet. When she does, we shall have the Convocation! But, in the mean time, let petitions pour in from every parish in favour of a sound Church of England education for every soul in the empire!

Although we have said that the Charges now before us advert principally to matters interesting not only to the Clergy of a particular diocese, but to all who are animated with zeal and affection to the Church, we would be understood to state also that they comprise much that is valuable of a professional kind; and, indeed, the remarks of Bishop

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