came. And so some Roman Catholics, particularly those brought up in Protestant countries, are intelligent men, yet the mass of people in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Ireland, it is well known are in a state of ignorance little better than that of uncivilized life. "Would that the more intelligent and nobleminded of the Catholic laity in Auckland would so far throw off their spiritual chains as to read and inquire, think and pray. Would that they could be induced to prove all things for themselves, and to hold fast that which is good. What a sphere of holy usefulness would then open before them in the evangelization of their less enlightened brethren! Let the priest denounce and prohibit at the altar. He is neither the Saviour nor the Judge of Souls-'So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.' No indulgence, penance, absolution, or purgatory can satisfy his offended justice. There is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved.' We must all go by faith and prayer to Christ alone, and He will in no wise cast out those who come to Him, for He is able to save unto the uttermost all them that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.' The language of every Christian heart towards our Roman Catholic fellow-men is : "Come, O my guilty brethren, come, "THE ROMAN CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION ACT."-THE IRISH LORD CHANCELLORSHIP. Ir is not unlikely that the restless spirit of Popery will next session of Parliament renew the efforts made to alter the provisions of the Roman Catholic Relief Act, and allow the Chancellor of Ireland to be a Roman Catholic. The following statement has been put forth on authority, and can be sustained before a Select Committee:: "The question turns on the correct understanding of the reason for exclusion from the several offices specified in the 12th section of the Emancipation Act, 10 Geo. IV., cap. 7. This section appears in all the Bills which have been proposed for the removal of Roman Catholic disabilities, and was, advisedly, prepared and retained. It is founded on this, that in each and all of these offices there is a delega tion of the authority of the Sovereign, and if the Sovereign must be Protestant, so ought each of the several persons to be Protestant who may hold these offices. "It is conceded that the ground of exclusion is to be maintained in the case of all except in that of the Chancellor of Ireland; and it is said that in the case of the Chancellor of England the special reason is, that there is annexed to the office a large amount of Church patronage. "This is fallacious, if not unfounded. The 17th section of the Emancipation Act provides that, if Church patronage be annexed to any office in the gift of the Sovereign, and that such office be held by a Roman Catholic, the patronage shall be administered by the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being. "Therefore, if a Roman Catholic should at any time become Chancellor of England, no practical objection could arise as to the exercise of patronage. "This, moreover, shows conclusively that the question of patronage is not involved in the disability continued under the 12th section, which is altogether founded on the maintenance of the great compact involved in the Act of Settlement. "The Chancellor is a great political officer of State; he takes precedence over Peers, because he acts directly under the Sovereign, and exercises functions on the immediate behalf of Her Majesty, both as the head of the State and as the supreme governor in matters ecclesiastical and spiritual. "He appoints all the magistrates; and may supersede them at any time. "He holds the Great Seal, which gives Royal authority to all Commissions to which it is affixed. "He has the care and wardship of minors, the care of lunatics, &c., and the control over their estates and property. "This is given specially and peculiarly by a letter under the Sign Manual of the Queen, so that whatever patronage might belong to a lunatic would vest in the Chancellor. "For several years Lord Manners, as Chancellor of Ireland, presented to all the vacant benefices of the diocese of a prelate who became non compos. "In England, by reason of the presence of the Sovereign, the Chancellor's viceregal duties are not often exercised in fact, but in Ireland they are often exercised. Thus, whenever the Lord Lieutenant leaves Ireland for a time, the Chancellor is the first of the three functionaries appointed respectively to the viceregal office during such absence, and the course is that he alone then acts as the Chief Governor in all the duties of the office. During the last year Chancellor has been the Chief Governor on three occasions, and invested with all the prerogative of the Lord Lieutenant. the "Whenever the Lord Lieutenant requires to be advised on any act of State duty, the Chancellor is supposed to be his immediate and responsible adviser, so that in Ireland he is brought into direct participation in the Viceregal Government, and occasionally called upon to act on his own exclusive responsibility. "In the event of any decision of the Ecclesiastical Courts being questioned on appeal, the Chancellor would have the nomination of the delegates who would constitute the Court of Appeal. "If their decision should be questioned, the Chancellor alone would have judicially to decide whether a Commission of Review ought to be allowed; and according to his sole advice it would be granted or refused. "In this he acts as representing the Crown, as supreme governor of the Church. "He is ex-officio member of Boards, some of which are exclusively, others peculiarly, engaged in dealing with Protestant interests. "He is one of four Protestant functionaries who elect Governors of the Blue Coat Hospital, a Protestant foundation. "From this it will be apparent that in Ireland, much more than in England, does the Chancellor exercise in fact the delegated authority of the Sovereign, by reason of which authority, so conferred, he has pre-eminence conceded to him, as emanating from his relation to the Sovereign, who must be Protestant. How can this status be given to a Roman Catholic? "If you appoint a Roman Catholic to the office in England, it might be said that no practical inconvenience would arise, for the only effect would be to transfer the ecclesiastical patronage to the Archbishop of Canterbury during the tenure of the Chancellorship by a Roman Catholic. "There are no Commissions of Delegates in England, and the Queen is not supposed to be absent, so as to require a viceregal substitute at all to act on her behalf. "But take this step in Ireland, and either you must strip the office of all the authority and the functions which give pre-eminence to the holder of it, or you must encroach in fact on the Act of Settlement in reference to Ireland, whilst you uphold it in theory and in all its plenitude for England and Scotland," ADDRESS OF THE LAITY TO THE BISHOP OF OXFORD. It will be within the recollection of our readers that, some time ago, an Address, in many respects similar to that presented by a body of the clergy of the diocese, was circulated among the laity. Subjoined is a copy of the Address referred to: "We, the undersigned laymen of your Lordship's diocese, beg leave respectfully to assure your Lordship that there exists in the minds of the best friends of our Church a growing mistrust, in consequence of the Romanizing tendency of many of the innovations recently introduced by certain of the clergy into the practices and ritual of its services. "In your Lordship's charges, your public speeches, and in letters, you have strongly denounced such tendencies, and distinctly repudiated such customs and ceremonies; knowing, however, that difficulties may oppose themselves to a bishop who honestly sought to check them, we beg to offer our earnest co-operation in supporting in your diocese the scriptural principles of the Reformed Church in this country. "We would temperately but firmly represent that "1. Processions with Crosses and Chanting in the Open Air, "2. Super Altars, "3. Crosses raised above the Lord's Table (being clearly an evasion of the Decision of the Privy Council), "4. Stone Altars, "5. The excessive decoration at the East end of the Church, Are calculated amongst other things, to exalt unduly the simple character of the Minister of Christ and of his office and are contrary to the Law and usage of the Church of England. "We do not, in this Address, wish to distract your Lordship's attention from the above five points, by reference to the circulation in the diocese of books of questionable orthodoxy, or to matters of doc trine, matters of far higher import, which demand your most earnest consideration, but our prayer is, that with the Divine assistance, you will exert the great powers you possess (in virtue of your office) to arrest the progress of these objectionable innovations, to allay the fears which we entertain, and to suppress all such causes for further apprehension." This document, having obtained the signatures of 4,000 of the laity, was transmitted to the Bishop of Oxford by Dr. Cowan and Mr. Neale, of this town, with the following letter : TO THE RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF OXFORD. "My Lord,-We beg to forward to your Lordship the enclosed document signed by four thousand lay members of the Church of England in your Lordship's diocese. "A much larger number of signatures might have been obtained had a suitable agency been employed. "It may save your Lordship's time if we mention that among the appended names are those of three members of Parliament, twentythree magistrates, and one hundred and seventy-nine churchwardens, while the remainder almost wholly consist of gentlemen, farmers, and tradesmen. "The vast majority of the applications even when not actively responded to, have been in principle approved, and the unanimity of feeling manifested in favour of the Address has fully justified the expectations of its promoters. Trusting that the great question involved will receive your Lordship's most serious consideration, and that you will exert the great powers you possess in virtue of your office, in the maintenance of true Protestantism, "We have the honour to remain, "Your Lordship's obedient and faithful servants, "Reading, 20th July, 1859." To this the Bishop transmitted his reply, as follows: "Oxford, Aug. 2, 1859. "My Friends,-I have received your Memorial, and gladly avail myself of the opportunity thus afforded me of assuring you that I shall continue temperately, but firmly, to resist the introduction of any Romanizing errors, either in doctrine or ritual, into this diocese, and to discourage any attempts, either to add or diminish from, the established ritual of our own Reformed Church. In all this I shall welcome the co-operation of all faithful laymen in the diocese. "I do not enter upon the special points enumerated in your Address, because as to them I have nothing to add to my published answer to the clerical Address, on which yours seems to have been framed. In that answer I have stated the reasons why I consider the moderate and temperate course, which, in common with my episcopal brethren, I have hitherto pursued as to these matters, to be the most just, the most faithful, and the most prudent. "I am, very truly yours, "To Dr. Cowan, &c.” "S. OXON. We are sure it will be observed with pleasure that nothing can be more Christian or courteous in tone than the correspondence on both sides, or less calculated to infuse a bitter and controversial spirit. While we decline to discuss theological differences in a secular journal, we may yet be allowed to express the strongest conviction that any attempt to Romanize the Established Church is not only a deviation from the principles on which she was remodelled at the Reformation, but the readiest and surest means of ensuring her destruction as the Church of these realms. The Bishop of Oxford is much too acute, and too sensitive to the signs of the times, not to know this, and we must in bare justice state our belief that he is most anxious to heal the differences which have arisen, and, by uniting really honest and zealous Churchmen, both clergymen and laymen, to consolidate the Church of which he is the sworn guardian. We believe, too, that the spirit which has been evoked by sincere apprehension rather of of what might arise, than of actual and present evil, has resulted in preserving the Church from innovations and experiments-superfluous to the spiritual edification of her members, and creating suspicions and jealousies, perhaps not always just or charitable. The great body of the laity desire no changes, either towards Rome or Geneva, and when the heat of controversy is allayed, as it easily may be, by abstinence from occasions of offence, we trust there will be a general agreement in this conclusion, that there is work enough and to spare for every Churchman, in extending the boundaries of the Church, and reclaiming the wandering, the ignorant, and the immoral, to her fold. In this Divine work all may, and all ought to unite, and in doing so we shall have but little time to note minor differences, either of doctrine or practice, always excepting those which involve any principle vital to the purity and orthodoxy of her constitution. Berkshire Chronicle. Review. "Plain Directions for the Simple Cele- "Union" Press. It is one of the too |