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nations, and some of the most savage tribes. We might also point to the hitherto "unattainable" translation of the Chinese Scriptures: but the single fact of the success in the South-Sea Islands is sufficient for our purpose. The prophet's question, once addressed in the certainty of a negative reply, "Hath a nation changed its gods?" is no longer to be thus met in despondency, for a nation hath changed its idols. They are cast as loathsome abominations into the depths of the sea. Let British Christians then rise with redoubled energy to the hallowed work: great as their efforts are, there are, we feel convinced, unnumbered energies yet slumbering that need to be aroused. Cromwell's project of 10,000l. a year would be smiled at in an age of thirty times its amount raised annually for this purpose: but what is even this last sum compared with the wants which it desires to meet, or even with our own resources? If Britain do not, other nations in whom the light of Divine truth is blazing strong, may advance before her, and occupy in privileges and glory the post now offered to her. Without admitting the sentiment of many who think, with devout Herbert, that as the course of the light of day is from east to west, so will it be with Divine truth, and that

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Religion stands on tiptoe in our land, Ready to pass to the American strand; " we believe that, if an adequate sense of the value of the light of revelation is not entertained, and that light is not transmitted to the utmost of our power through the dark regions of the earth, the torch will be snatched from our unworthy hands, and placed in others which shall lift it high and carry it far, and rejoice the eyes of the benighted with its cheering rays. Thus has it been with other nations among whom the light shone for a long season, but at last set in terrible darkness. Where are now the Apocalyptic Churches? What is the state of the once "holy city?" Where are Chorazin and Bethsaida, and Ca

pernaum, "once exalted to heaven?" We trust the spirit and the works of the Gospel have taken too deep a "fixity," as Mr. Douglas would call it, in our country, ever to suffer such an eradication; yet if a neglect of those known obligations for which England holds her privileges in trust, be the consequence of her unprecedented prosperity; if, while she is seated on a couch of ivory and listening to the sound of the harp, she should become forgetful of the misery of the Gentile, or be less "grieved for the affliction of Joseph," or should content herself with an acknowledgment of the duty, without an aug menting effort for the furtherance of its fulfilment, she may be made an example of that vengeance which is now heaped upon desolate and darkened Africa. The case of that unhappy people is so powerfully delineated by Archbishop Sharp, that, with his pathetic lamentation, we shall close our remarks.

"That Africa (said he) which is not now more fruitful of monsters, than it was once of excellently wise and learned men-that Africa which formerly afforded us our Clemens, our Origen, our Tertullian, our Cyprian, our Augustine, and many other extraordinary lights in the church of God-that famous Africa, whose soil did thrive so prodi giously, and could boast of so many flourishing churches-Alas! how is it now a wilderness! How have the wild boars out of the wood broken into the vineyard and devoured it, so that it bringeth forth now nothing but briars and thorns!"

A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Bath and Wells, at the Primary Visitation of that Diocese, in July, August, and September, 1825; by G. H. LAW, D.D. Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells.

THOUGH the publication before us is his lordship's primary charge at

Bath and Wells, it is not the first episcopal charge delivered by him, or reviewed by us. In our volume for 1815, p. 177, is noticed at large his lordship's primary charge at Chester; and, on other occasions, his lordship's publications have been referred to in our pages, especially his sermon before the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, and his discourse on "communion with God," from both of which some valuable and interesting passages are respectively extracted in our volumes for 1814 and 1820. From our acquaintance, therefore, with his lordship's writings, and his well-known amiableness and benevolence of character, we were prepared to find the charge before us marked by a truly kind, devotional, and ingenuous spirit; by an earnest desire to cultivate friendly relations with his clergy, and to excite them to a conscientious and cheerful discharge of their pastoral duties. In none of these respects have we been disappointed, as our readers will perceive by the following analysis of the charge; but at the same time we think there are some allusions, and also some omissions, which with equal frankness we ought to specify, with a view to a just estimate of his lordship's publication.

The charge opens with the customary compliment to the memory of his lordship's deceased predecessor, Bishop Beadon, who for more than twenty years had exercised the episcopal superintendence of the diocese. The only points, however, alluded to in the character of "that late amiable prelate❞ are "his mildness and urbanity of manners, and his wish to promote the interest and comfort of his clergy;" excellencies which all who knew Dr. Beadon will cheerfully acknowledge to have been conspicuous in his character.

But we would respectfully ask, whether to assert no more than this of a Christian prelate, (we do not mean to say that more might not have been asserted in the present instance,) is not

in effect a reproach rather than a panegyric. Would St. Paul, or would a greater than St. Paul, have been satisfied with these merely gentlemanly and professional qualities in one whose high office it is to watch over "the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood;" whose character is required to be not only amiable and decorous, but eminently devout, and holy, and spiritual; and whose necessary qualifications are summed up with an appalling elevation, both in the sacred Scriptures and in the consecration service of our own church? We have just observed, that we intend no disrespect to the memory of the particular prelate whose virtues are thus succinctly narrated; much less do we mean to intimate, what we are quite sure from Bishop Law's own writings is not the case, that his lordship would himself be satisfied with so very inadequate a testimonial; but we fear that the frequent recurrence of such meagre attestations to the memory of deceased prelates has a most injurious effect in lowering in the minds both of our clergy and laity the estimate which they ought to form of the true character of a bishop of the church of Christ. If to be courteous in his manners, and attentive to the secular interests of his clergy, be all the virtues requisite in a bishop, then we can only say that the sacred writers and their most pious uninspired followers have most strangely overstated the matter; but if, on the other hand, the higher estimate be correct, then we could earnestly wish the abolition of a custom which in expected courtesy obliges every new or translated bishop to utter the eulogies of his predecessor, even though the object of the eulogy should have had no higher claim to the episcopal office than some powerful personal or family interest, and have exemplified few or no qualities which could be related as justly characteristic of his exalted station. We, a third time repeat that we do not intend any individual

allusion; but we have often contrasted in our own minds such scanty measures of episcopal encomium with the striking lineaments of departed prelates of former days. Let our readers take the following as examples.

"He was a bishop," says Burnet of Archbishop Leighton, "that had the greatest elevation of soul, the largest compass of knowledge, the most mortified and most heavenly disposition that I ever saw in mortal; that had the greatest parts, as well as virtues, with the most perfect humility, that I ever saw in man; that had so sublime a strain in preaching, with so grave a gesture, and such a majesty, both of thought, of language, and of pronunciation, that I never saw a wandering eye when he preached, and have seen whole assemblies often melt in tears before him. And of whom I can say with great truth, that, in a free and frequent conversation with him, for about two and twenty years, I never knew him say an idle word, or that had not a direct tendency to edification. And I never once saw him in any other temper, but that which I wished to be in, in the last moments of life."

Of Archbishop Usher it was remarked by one of his chaplains, that "though in himself an Apollos, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, yet in his sermons, and especially those delivered at Oxford, he did much deny himself that Christ might be the more glorified... When in the work of labouring for souls, you might perceive, that, like Paul at Athens, his spirit was stirred within him. One who knew him well said of him, that such was his earnestness in the cause that, like his Lord, only in an inferior degree, the zeal of his house did eat him up.' For though, like Moses, his temper was naturally meek and gentle, yet such was the longing of his soul for the everlasting welfare of the people, that his words were not unfrequently like thunder, and his countenance glowing like the flashes

of lightning..... As his preaching was thus fervent, so was it constant. Even to the close of his life, and that life extended to seventy-five years, he constantly preached once a week and many times oftener. No preferments, no business, nothing but sickness stopped him in this labour of love. Though his places and his offices were such as might have excused him from the toil of preaching, yet he never made use of them as indulgences."

We might quote numerous passages of a similar kind; but these will be sufficient to shew the sanctity of character which we could ever wish to find in the description of those who hold the episcopal office; and where this most appropriate praise cannot be justly awarded, whatever may be said of them as men, the less that is said of them as bishops the better.

The object of the charge before us is "to recommend that line of conduct which, from the circumstances of the times, the clergy are peculiarly called upon to adopt." This object will be allowed by every serious person to be highly important; for every age has its own characteristic topics of advice and instruction, and a zealous prelate will avail himself of his high influence to urge these prominently upon his clergy. We would, however, venture to suggest, whether the almost exclusive attention so often devoted to this part of episcopal charges has not incidentally had the effect of too much keeping out of sight those more general and fundamental topics on which the pastors of Christ's flock, in every age, need most urgently to be addressed. It was the well-known, though somewhat quaint, remark of one who was reproached for not preaching, as it was phrased, "to the times," that "while so many eminent ministers were preaching to the times, one poor brother might surely preach for eternity." An episcopal charge ought, we think, to embrace both these points. While

the more special duties or topics of the age require due attention, the broadest basis should be laid for them all in a distinct recognition of the infinite value of the souls of men; the high responsibilities of the clergy, not merely as moralists, or customary ecclesiastical functionaries, or enlightened benevolent residents in a parish, but as 66 ambassadors for God," "ministers of reconciliation," men on whom will lie the blood of those committed to their charge, if they are not faithful in teaching them their need of salvation, and the only way of obtaining it, as well as the conduct which befits those who hope for this invaluable but gratuitous boon. To say the truth, an episcopal charge, however excellent in other respects, appears to us defective, if the more spiritual considerations connected with the Christian ministry are too much lost sight of in the press of other, though in their degree highly important, matters. The habit of taking for granted that the clergy of any church are, as a matter of course, all religious and conscientious servants of God, is calculated to produce effects the most unhappy on the more thoughtless and worldly minded members of the "profession." The broad line which separates the merely official ecclesiastic from the faithful devoted minister of Christ, should never be lost sight of; nor can too great attention be exerted to prevent the habit so common and so fatal among the majority of the members of all churches, of being satisfied with the forms of religion without its true spirit and power. May not, for example, almost all the duties and offices described in the following interesting sketch be gone through, as a mere matter of custom and routine, without any really spiritual or moral effect either upon the administrator or the recipient? and if they may, is it not most important that the danger of merging piety in formality should be often and distinctly pointed out, both to the laity and

to their instructors? Our Right Reverend author will fully agree with us, that it is not what is done " "for" persons, either in infancy "before they know what is done for them," or after death, "when earth is to be returned to earth, and dust to dust," but what is done practically IN them by the hallowed effects of the ministrations of the messengers of God, under the sacred influences of the Holy Spirit, that will at the last day constitute the real efficient value of the pastoral relation.

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"The ties which bind the pastor to his people are of a sacred and a hallowed nature. The connexion between them begins at their birth, and ends but with their death. Before they know what is done for them, they are initiated by him into the fold of Christ; are thus made inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. As the children of God, and may become their reason expands, his care of them grows with their growth; instructs the child, and forms the future man. From his hands they afterwards receive the tenby all the ceremonials of religion. Through derest of human connexions, sanctioned life his precepts tell them what they should do; whilst his example shews them how it may be done. And when at length, as all things must, their years are drawing to a close, when the soul is fleeing away to him who gave it, then the messenger of the Gospel attends with healing on his wings; commemorates with them the last Supper of our Lord, and offers up the dying prayer of penitence and hope. Nor does his mournful office end here: when earth is to be returned to earth, and dust to dust, the minister accompanies their remains to the last receptacle of all the living, and repeats over them the sublime service of our church, in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life." pp. 28, 29.

Our author divides his charge into three parts; the first relating to clerical residence, and the discharge of ministerial duties; the second to the necessity of avoiding the extremes of lukewarmness on the one hand and enthusiasm on the other, and of "delivering from the pulpit the peculiar and saving doctrines of the religion of Christ;" the third to "the line of conduct which the clergy are called upon to adopt towards their Roman-Catholic brethren."

Under the first head his lordship

states, that "residence, where it can properly be required, will be his primary object in the administration of the affairs of his diocese." On this subject he most justly and feelingly remarks:

"A non-resident minister is little better He who would than no minister at all. secure an interest in the poor man's heart, must enter his cottage. He who would lead him into the right path, must gain his love and esteem. Sunday we allow to be the most important day of the week; but it is only one day out of seven. The lot of the minister may not be cast on fair land; but there is a flock of Christ; there are souls destined for immortality, souls of which he has undertaken the care, and of which he must one day renThat he der a full and fearful account. may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, should be, as it was with St. Paul, But his hope and crown of rejoicing. how can he who has abandoned his flock dare to think on that memorable declaration of our Lord, I am the good Shepherd, who know my sheep, and am known of mine?? With what emotions must he even read these awful words, of those whom thou hast given me, I have lost none!'" p. 10.

His lordship's exertions in promoting residence he states will be directed" to procure for each parish, wherever it can justly and fairly be enforced, the personal residence of an incumbent or curate." This we believe is about the utmost extent of what the most anxious and zealous prelate can at present perform, as respects this main point of ecclesiastical administration; but let our readers reflect for a moment on the fearful list of exceptions still allowed by our laws and usages. It must never be forgotten that in official language a non-resident inincumbent may be construed to mean only a delinquent, or, as we might say, a run-away, non-resident; and not an incumbent who has legal cause for absence from his benefice almost throughout the year. It is the baneful system of pluralism that necessary physical bar to nonresidence, unless a clergyman had as many bodies and souls as he happens to hold places of preferment-that is the real hydra to be slain; and we must say, though we CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 286.

would not wish to say it uncan-
didly, that much as we rejoice in
the efforts of late made by so many
of our prelates to enforce legal
residence, we cannot think the go-
vernors of the church so seriously
anxious as they ought to be on this
vital subject, till we see some due
attempt made to abolish the system
of pluralities, and to lay the founda-
tion for a plan that shall secure,
in every part of the kingdom, resi-
dent efficient incumbents, respect-
ably provided for, who shall confine
their ministrations to a fixed lo-
cal spot, (whether comprising one
parish, or two small contiguous
ones, or a section of one of our
overgrown large ones), from which
they cannot remove to another
living without vacating with it its
emoluments as well as its duties.
We are told again and again, that
in the present state of things many
of our parishes cannot suitably main-
tain an incumbent; which is very
true, and the evil ought promptly
to be remedied: but true as it is, it
is no sound argument for the sys-
tem of pluralities, for it is notorious
that this system seldom avails for
the benefit of the poorer clergy;
our duplicate, triplicate, and multi-
plicate preferments falling usually
to the lot of those who have interest
to command them, rather than of
those who have no plea but that of
necessity: but besides this, the ar-
gument is suicidal; for if a living
will not maintain one clergyman,
how is it to maintain two? We
greatly applaud the intention of
our Right Reverend author to see
that in every parish, abating all

just and fair exceptions," there shall be a resident "incumbent or curate;" but if the curate can live respectably on the cure after the non-resident incumbent has subtracted his share, perhaps the larger part, of the profits, there can be no reason why the law should not say at once, that such a parish shall have a resident rector or vicar without any proviso for a stipendiary substitute except in cases of obvious 4 N

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