tury may not repair; and (what is of very inferior moment) you have helped forward the destruction of the Established Church to the heart's content of its greatest, enemies.iodt i rot: botu godt ton dood How & wob bosib yed: how to tors The second letter refers chiefly to the misrepresentations of the National Board of Education, by the reverend gentlemen above hamed, which misrepresentations are, he says, ' most grievi ous, and theirs consequences fawful in thes extreme. Then comes a piece of good advice is geht gп10 as nisa ni ogs be Contemn it if you will, for taking the education of the poor out of out interfering with the conscience of any degnilost tight Then is it not a public scandal, unworthy, indeed, of any body of men, but, above all, unworthy o of Christian ministers, that such mis statements as as to the the most most simple fact should be repeated and d echoed from platform to platform, and, And what fis still worse, from pulpit to pulpit? દ The pretende, therefore, of having in charge the whole population, must be abandoned by the Established clergy! The Legis lature cannot recognise it. On the contrary, it condemns all aggressive movements of one sect upon another. Whether it is right or wrong in this, is not the question. We have to do only with the fact. Parliament will not pay the Church of England! for proselytizing Roman Catholics. It regards them merely as the ministers of their own people. Now these people are but a small fraction of the population, say one-sixth or one-eighth. But for the labours of Wesleyans, Independents, Baptists, and others, this fraction would have been, to a large extent, ignorant of the first principles of the gospel. If, however, its own clergy were ever so faithful, they should be paid, if paid at all, by the State, only in proportion to the work they have to do, ai Thed Establishment can no longer answer the purposes of politicians as an engine of State policy. As such it has pierced the hand that leaned upon it. The existing dispute between the Government and the Orangemen, ngémen, must convin convince any statesman that Protes tant ascendency is the bane of is the bane of Irish society, and that it nourishes' pretensions utterly inconsistent with a just and equal system of government. Now, so long as the Establishment exists, as at ா present constituted-so long as a sect of Christians comprising only some 600,000 or 800,000 persons, is maintained as the STATE CHURCH amidst a population of eight millions, the members of that sect will always think they have a right to special favour' from the Government (as the Orangemen express it, in their recent report on the armament of 1848), and they will still persist in maintaining that Roman Catholics are not loyal menthat they themselves are the only party that can be relied upon in an emergency, and therefore that the State should reserve for them all its patronage and its places of trust. This source of discord and weakness in Irish society, must, then, be got rid of at the earliest possible time, and in the mode that will least irritate the Protestants, and least clate the Roman Catholics. It is a delicate and a difficult task, but a task which the Legislature cannot much longer postpone. We shall look, therefore, with anxiety to Mr. Roebuck's proceedings on the subject. It is unnecessary for us to guard against misconception by stating that we do not ask that any man should be deprived of his life interest in the Establishment. ART. VII. The British Churches in Relation to the British People, By Edward Miall.. 8vo. Pp. 458. London: Arthur Hall, Virtue and Co. WE need scarcely say that this volume merits all the attention which it claims. The name of its author proves this; and the gravity of the themes discussed, affords, were it needful, additional and conclusive evidence. Mr. Miall is now well known. He has long been before the public as a single-minded and earnest advocate of truth, and has forced his own way into the esteem and confidence of a large section of his countrymen. The qualities of his mind are luminous; they shine out, distinctly, have their own properties, and are clearly defined. There is nothing vague or impalpable about him. What he is, he is seen to be. He has nothing equivocal or two-sided in his character. His intellect is keen and searching, not satisfied with first appearances, or the outside show of things, but looking deeply into the inner heart, and laying bare its minuter and more latent forms of thought and feeling, As it is with the man, so is it with his views. They may be commended, or otherwise, but an ordinary amount of candour will suffice to guard from 1 misapprehension of their general drift. They lie upon the surface, so that to fall into any serious mistake respecting them is to betray gross remissness, or more criminal prejudice. No living writer lays himself open more unreservedly to his readers; and whatever opinion may be held concerning the views propounded, no doubt is felt as to the accuracy of the revelation made. It never occurs to any to doubt that the real personage is seen, or that he is thoroughly earnest in his advocacy. His opinions may be true or false, his judgments well-considered or hasty, his philosophy profound or cynical, but sincere he evidently is; and this conviction goes far to determine the sympathy of his readers. We have met with many who denied the accuracy of his views, who deemed him rash, one-sided, censorious a man loving rather to censure than to praise, and whose views of life are gloomy and uninspiriting; but we never met with one who challenged his truthfulness, and we should have marvelled greatly had we done so We have dwelt the more largely on this feature of Mr. Miall's character, from its important bearing on the right treatment of the subject discussed in this volume. Whatever other qualities may be dispensed with, this one is absolutely needful to the task he has undertaken. Any doubt or misgiving respecting it-the barest suspicion of its absence, would go far to destroy all faith in his advocacy, and to induce our turning away, with something like contempt, from the solicitude and zeal professed. No very profound knowledge of human nature is required to assure us that if doubtful of the sincerity and earnestness of the advocate, we should readily evade, or very lightly esteem, the force of his admonitions. The substance of this volume was delivered in a course of lectures at the theatre of the London Literary Institute, in November last. They were, however, from the first designed for publication, and no attentive reader can fail to perceive that they are more adapted to influence through the press than as orally delivered. They are, in fact, too weighty, too full of matter, too suggestive; they tax too severely the attention, and call for too close and continuous thought, to be well suited to a popular audience. They are better fitted to the quiet of the study than to the excitement of the lecture-room, and we are glad, therefore, that Mr. Miall's original purpose has been carried out. The volume contains eight lectures, or chapters, of which the following are the subjects: Religious Life, and how it should be treated;' The proper Object and Means of the Church; Religion of the British Churches;'The Aristocratic Sentiment; The Professional Sentiment;'The Trade Spirit; Social and Political Hindrances to the Success of the Churches; and Remedial Suggestions and Conclusion.' These titles convey an accurate notion of the general drift of the volume, which must, however, be read before an enlightened judgment can be passed on the author's views. The purpose contemplated is, to call attention to the character of British Churches, as instruments for preserving and extending Christianity amongst the British people.' The importance of such an inquiry will be readily admitted, more especially when there is reason to apprehend that the condition of these Churches is not precisely such as could be wished, or as it ought to be. We are not disposed to underrate the present as compared with the past, nor are we solicitous to institute a comparison of this kind. There is another and less erring rule by which to judge. To the law and to the testimony. Do the Churches of the present day resemble the descriptions of the inspired word? Do they exhibit, in due prominence, the qualities which Apostolic doctrine and precept are suited to produce? Are they what an attentive perusal of the divine record would lead us to expect? Do they answer the purposes of religious organization? Are they prac tically, as well as in theory, the means of extending the range, and of deepening the tone, of the religious sentiment? We confess to a somewhat painful impression on these points. We should be glad to think otherwise than we do, but the evidence of fact seems to us to necessitate a conclusion from which we shrink. The state of the British Churches is, in our judgment, feeble and unhealthy. Ignorance, worldly-mindedness, selfindulgence, a contentious spirit, narrowness of views, and respect of persons, are, to a lamentable extent, prevalent, so that it is difficult, in many cases, to distinguish between the Church and the world, save by the different class of vices prevalent in each. We are aware that nothing human is perfect, and do not, therefore look to the Church for utopian excellence. But making every allowance which candour can prompt, we are compelled to conclude that the failures of the Churches are so numerous and palpable, as to evidence a condition far below the requirements of the case, and to call for very serious and searching inquiry, Such a process is open to objection on account of the possible evils which may flow from it. Mr. Miall is fully aware of this, and has met it with his usual frankness and decision. He admits that serious temporary evils may arise from honesty in this matter, that irresolution and half-heartedness may be encou raged, the timid be alarmed, the inactive and the selfish be emboldened, and infidelity itself exult in imaginary triumph. But while admitting all this, he wisely rejects the conclusion to which it is sought to lead him. We are not shut up,' he says, by the admission in things as they are. on to an acquiescence We are only bound over by to a watchful |