"Reluctant as the Bishop of S. Andrew's is to bring himself in any way before the public, he feels it to be a duty, in vindication of the ancient and undoubted principles of the Church, to say that the Prayer Book edited and authorized by him, is a correct embodiment of the usage and practice of the Church of Scotland during the time of the late Bishop Jolly and the late Primus John Skinner. It has been said that the Prayer Book ought to have had the sanction of a General Synod, before it could rightly assume its present title. This would have been true had it contained novelties introduced by the Bishop of S. Andrew's; but it contains nothing but what has had the sanction of the Church for a long period, and is the birthright and inheritance of every bishop, clergyman, and layman.

"Having been, by the good providence of GoD, called upon to take part in the higher councils of the Church for the last forty-two years, and being intimately acquainted with the practice of his colleagues and predecessors, and the principles on which they governed, the Bishop of S. Andrew's felt himself competent to bear witness to the fact, when called upon to do so. And, in consequence of the efforts made to destroy the weight and influence of his recommendation of the book, he feels called upon to renew and confirm his previous testimony.

"The following letter was written in reply to a memorial and petition addressed to the Bishop of S. Andrew's, and ought before now to have had the same publicity given to it that was given to the said memorial:

· PETERHEAD, August 28, 1850.

"REVEREND DEAR SIR,-In answer to your letter, with a second printed communication, in the form of a memorial and petition, I have to say that I am so far from acceding to your request, that I had written, previously, to my colleagues, stating, that in order to preserve the peace of my conscience, and the best convictions of my understanding, and to keep free from the sin and shame of offering any indignity to the memory of those great and pious men who have long gone before us, I have resolved, at whatever disadvantage to myself individually, not to recall the Scottish Prayer Book lately published.

Should violent measures be followed out, I shall receive them as a portion of my cross, and humbly beseech God to make them instrumental towards my greater happiness hereafter.

"In the mean time, I deem myself a greater friend to my presbyters than they are to themselves; and I commit them to the keeping of Him who has the hearts of all persons in His hands, and Who (if they desire it) will guide them, but not compel them, to what is right. Your affectionate brother in CHRIST,

Mr. C. Wordsworth has triumphantly pointed to the gradual substitution of the English for the Scotch Liturgy. Mr. Lendrum

gives some curious examples of how this process has been brought to pass. We select the following :—

"One of the worst instances of an attempt to expel the Scotch Office, has recently taken place at Old Meldrum, in Aberdeenshire. Mr. Urquhart, of Meldrum, sent round the beadle with a paper headed, Those who are for the English Communion Office put down their names here.' This had been already signed by himself, his family, and dependants. On the third page was written, Those who are for the Scotch Communion Office put down their names here.' This page had no names upon it when it reached one of the most intelligent members of the congregation, who was exceedingly grieved at the attempt to supersede the only Office that had ever been used in Old Meldrum Church. He therefore thought,' to use his own words, there could be no harm in signing what he believed to be God's truth,-believed and taught by good men from the beginning.' Having in his possession some copies of Bishop Torry's pastoral letter, and another valuable little tract, he distributed these among the members of the congregation; and on Sunday, notwithstanding the influence of the proprietor, the numbers for the Scotch Office against the English were as two to At Easter they all communicated by their venerable Office, and thought peace was restored.' But no! Mr. Urquhart was determined to carry his point, so he gave up his seat, with the intention (as was understood at least,) of joining the English Independents at Aberdeen. The congregation is very poor; and fearing to lose the aid of the only person of consequence belonging to it, they called a meeting, and petitioned the Bishop to grant them the alternate use of the two Offices. This, it is to be feared, is considered only as an instalment.

one.

"In another case of the same kind, a poor congregation was stirred up, for fear of losing the five pound subscription of a gentleman, to seek the expulsion of the office to which they had been accustomed. But no sooner had he effected the change, than he left them and went over to the Free Kirk. The people, finding themselves duped, and being otherwise grieved at their loss, almost immediately petitioned the Bishop for the restoration of their lost privileges, a petition which was readily granted.

"The present Bishop of Moray takes credit to himself for having expelled the National Office from nine Charges within his jurisdiction. In his own Church, he gave it up to please titled ladies.”

Surely, the last Bishop of Moray is amenable to a General Synod of the Scottish Church for an act directly contrary to its Canons. The newly-consecrated Cathedral of S. Ninian, at Perth, is, we are glad to hear, bound by its statutes to the exclusive use of the Scotch Liturgy; and we trust that it may be the means of arresting the decay of Church feeling in that part of the country. Many congregations, we understand, have become actually extinct during the last fifty years. It is surely not too much to hope that these miserable discords may now be forgotten, and all encouragement given to the noble Foundation of S. Ninian's, for doing the Church's work on a better system than has been tried of late years in Scotland.

60

THE APPEAL TO REASON.

1. A Word of Remonstrance with the Evangelicals. Addressed to the Rev. Francis Wilson, M.A., in Reply to his pamphlet, called "No Peace with Tractarianism." By WILLIAM GRESLEY, M.A., Prebendary of Lichfield. London: J. Masters.

2. A Plea for "Romanizers" (so-called) in the Anglican Communion. A Letter to the Right Honourable and Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of London. By the Rev. ARTHUR BAKER, M.A. London: J. Masters.

3. GOD, and not System, the Strength of the Church. A Sermon. By the Rev. C. MARRIOTT, M.A. London: J. Masters. 4. A Plea for Toleration, in Answer to the No-Popery Cry. Being the substance of a speech delivered to the Archdeaconry of Worcester. By the Rev. J. F. MACKARNESS. London: Ollivier. 5. Danger to the Faith. A Sermon preached with reference to the late Papal Aggression, in the Chapel of S. John the Evangelist, Haverstock Hill. By the Rev. JOHN BAINES, M.A., Chaplain.

We have to open this month the most painful chapter in our contemporary history that the course of events has yet brought before us. Sad indeed has been the record which it has been our lot to present for many months-a dismal catalogue of wrongs done to the Church, by a State that seems well nigh to have apostatized from the faith, as well as by not a few of her own recreant children, as Messrs. Maskell and Allies and the author of "The Morality of Tractarianism" on the one hand, by Messrs. Wilson and Elliott and Miller and Wellesley on the other. But now we have to rise from the acts of the Church's undutiful children to those of her fathers. We mentioned in our last number that it was to the charge of the Bishop of London that the present violent outbreak of infidelity was mainly to be attributed, as it is curious to remark, that it was to the same prelate's weakness of purpose in first encouraging and then violently endeavouring to suppress the desire for rubrical uniformity that the riots of 1844 were mainly owing. Since that was written, it is known to all our readers that in concession to the tumults which had disgraced S. Barnabas' Church for several Sundays, but which were already sensibly subsiding, he has called upon Mr. Bennett to resign the living. That a Bishop should at any time resort to so mean and compromising a step is very greatly to be regretted,—that he should imagine peace can be secured by such truckling conduct; rather that it will not be a signal for contention in a multitude of other places hitherto at peace, argues an ignorance of human nature which one would have thought was impossible in the case of one so experienced as the Bishop of London; that he should be ready to sacrifice a man who

had raised such vast sums of money for the benefit of his diocese, and, what is more, had been largely instrumental in elevating the whole tone of practical religion among the aristocracy, and should be prepared to perpetrate the bare-faced injustice of demanding submission to the letter from one Parish Priest, while his neighbour is allowed to indulge in all kinds of irregularities, does perfectly overwhelm us with shame. Alas, indeed, for the Church, when her rulers have so little Christian consideration for her most active and efficient clergy! We have heard indeed sayings attributed to his lordship which are even more irreconcileable with justice and charity, but we would fain hope that they are not true. The Bishop has enough to answer for in his acts. Who can venture to say that the result will not be the total decay of piety out of the English Church? That the "Evangelical" party have lost all grace has been made unhappily too apparent by Messrs. Close and the Wilsons and the like. And with the High Church party "put down," for this is the exploit which the Bishop and his new allies are said to meditate, where, we sorrowfully ask, must religion be looked for? When Churches and Services are arranged "to the satisfaction of the public," where will devotion find a restingplace? We do not for a moment indeed believe that the Bishop, backed by all his archdeacons, and led by the "Times" and "Punch," and the Sunday metropolitan press, will ever accomplish this. He will find the religious feeling which has been stirred a many-headed monster.

"Uno avulso non deficit alter."

Persecution never yet failed in defeating its own object. Check this ritualistic developement, which is after all but the expression of energetic life within, and that life will vent itself in some new channel, as has been notoriously the case subsequently to 1844. Cut down the plant and you do but strengthen and harden its nature. The roots will still remain imbedded in the mind and intelligence of England; and though individuals may fall away, what is lost in numbers will be gained in intensity of feeling. At least, if this shall not prove to be the case, we know what the alternative must be.

"England,

A long farewell to all thy greatness."

But we hope better things. No thanks however to those who have instigated this mad outbreak. They have done all they can to banish religion out of the land, or at least into the single communion of Rome. And if the blow is averted, we are indebted to the alone mercy of Him, who can overrule the counsels of wicked men against themselves.

And some symptoms there even now are of returning reason.

1 See Archdeacon Sinclair's Letter.

The pamphlets which are at the head of this article, as well as a few speeches and letters that have appeared, are indications of such a reaction.

Of Mr. Gresley's "Remonstrance" we need say little more than that it is marked by his usual candour and good sense. He exposes the dishonesty and unfaithfulness of the Evangelical body, and defends High Churchmen from the charges which have been brought against them, declares his own determination and that of others to adhere to the Book of Common Prayer, and should the services be altered in any essential particular, to continue to administer them in the manner in which they have engaged to do, and retorts upon his opponents the undeniable fact, that it is their unfaithfulness, combined with the usurpations of the State, which has driven so many to a communion which in itself possessed no attraction for them. We quote one passage upon the subject of

confession.

"I verily believe that there is no means of grace which, when rightly used, is more surely blessed to the conversion of souls than that of Confession. Some souls are converted in one way, some in others. None, I believe, is more efficacious than this,-to preach the doctrine of the necessity of partaking of the Body and Blood of CHRIST Our LORD, in order to salvation, and, at the same time, the awful danger of partaking unworthily. Then, when hearts are softened, to invite the anxious sinner to open his grief to some discreet Minister, in order that he may receive ghostly counsel and advice, together with the benefit of Absolution. I believe, that few means have been found by experience more successful than this, to convince men of sin and bring them to CHRIST. And yet, you and others of your school condemn this practice which is so solemnly enjoined on you by our Church! The Bishop of Worcester, I understand, has resolved to put down' Confession in his diocese. What an awful fact! The Church expressly appoints a means of grace strictly in accordance with Holy Scripture. A Bishop dares to forbid it! May God forgive him, and not lay this sin to his charge! may he not have to answer at the Day of Judgment for souls lost through his prohibition of a most solemn and saving ordinance!"

Mr. Baker's "Plea" will demand rather a longer notice. Indeed, it is so valuable, that we hope it may be perused entire by all under whose eyes these lines fall. It unites in a very remarkable manner boldness with gentleness, and indicates a clearness of view and a self-possession which stand out in very marked contrast (we desire to say it without offence) with the alternate rashness and cowardice exhibited by the prelate to whom it is addressed.

And first, he must be allowed to explain in what sense he uses a term of such evil omen in the judgment of the mass, as Romanizing."

"It is not the claiming to hold all Roman doctrine, not desiring to give a Roman colouring to the system of the Church of England,