the stronger for them, he had the deepest assurance; but he never supposed or said that the existence of the Church of England was essential to the continued life of Christianity, or that any given forms or usages would necessarily survive a thousand years hence because they had already lived through more than a millennium. What the extent of the changes to be introduced might be he could scarcely venture to say; but he was sure that they must be neither few nor insignificant. The proof of this might be sought in the history of the past; and this proof carried with it the consolatory assurance that the life of the Church would be in no way endangered by the ordeal. He had traced the modifications which had affected the sacrament of baptism, and he had come to the conclusion that short of total abolition no changes could be more sweeping; but the needs of Christendom had sufficed to carry them all, and the same power may work with not less potency hereafter. It is possible that the metaphors of the Bible on this 'subject shall be felt to have been so misused and distorted 'that they also shall pass into the same abeyance as has already overtaken some expressions which formerly were no 'less dear to pious hearts than these.'* There is no need to be startled at the idea of changes which may not be effected. for ages, possibly not at all; but the fact remains that in "the first beginning of Christianity there was no such insti'tution as the clergy, and it is conceivable that there may be a time when they shall cease to be.' The point of real importance is to avoid defending the institution on grounds which are not tenable, or leading people to suppose that the life of the Church is inseparably bound up with its continuance. None of these things, indeed, affect those primal and indefeasible truths (to recur to Dean Milman's phrase) contained in the words of Christ, which alone shall never pass away; but, although Dean Stanley would refuse to convert a blessing into an idol, none could value more than he valued the immense benefits conferred on the country by means of the National Church. These benefits he most clearly set forth twenty years ago in the pages of this Journal,† and he would have maintained not less earnestly in the last moments of his life that its removal would amount to a disastrous revolution. In his eyes the Church and the State are both Divine creations; they are both necessary means for the carrying on and the completion of the Divine work. The evidence Christian Institutions, p. 129. Edinburgh Review, April 1861, p. 6. * of this lies scattered everywhere. Foremost of all is the Pope, in whom he saw a constant witness not only to the earthly origin of his own greatness, but also, what is of more general im'portance, to the indistinguishable union of things ecclesiastical ' and things civil.' The position of the Roman pontiff is of the highest historical interest; but at the same time it impresses on us the religious insignificance of much which now excites such vehement enthusiasm both of love and of hatred." In both communions there is urgent need of reform; but more necessary than any reform is the spirit which does not shrink from reform as if it must necessarily be the sacrilegious putting forth of an arm to support the ark of God. If the disinterested love of truth which this spirit would bring with it could be kindled in the hearts of men generally, it would be impossible to set limits to the beneficent changes which might create the world anew as effectually as it was reshaped in the first ages of Christianity. We have but to imagine a man of ordinary courage, common sense, honesty, and discernment-a man who should have the grace to perceive that the highest honour which he could confer on the highest seat in the Christian hierarchy, and the highest service he could render to the Christian religion, would be from that lofty eminence to speak out to the whole world the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Such a one, regarding only the facts of history, but in the plenitude of authority which he would have inherited, and "speaking "ex cathedra in discharge of his office of pastor and doctor of all "Christians," might solemnly pronounce that he, his predecessors, and successors, were fallible, and might err, as they have erred again and again, both in faith and morals. By so doing he would not have contradicted the decree of infallibility more than that decree contradicts the decrees of previous councils and the declarations of previous popes. By so doing he would incur insult, obloquy, perhaps death. But like the legendary pope [who ordered his own execution to carry out the sentence of a general council], he would have deserved the crown of sanctity, for he would have shown that quality which above all others belongs to saints in the true sense of the word. He would have risen above the temptations of his situation, his order, his office; he would have relieved the Catholic Church from that which its truest friends feel to be an intolerable incubus, and restored it to light and freedom.' † All those who would agree in such a verdict as this Dean Stanley rejoiced to regard as fellow-members with himself of the liberal party in the Established or National Church. It is possible that he may have exaggerated the cohesion or the extent of this party; and he may perhaps have been mistaken + Ibid. p. 225. *Christian Institutions, p. 209. in discerning the continuous action of such a party in the history of the last two centuries and a half. But this is a matter of slight importance. He can scarcely be regarded as the leader of a school, or the general of an army pledged to do battle with superstition, intolerance, and injustice. But his influence during his life was not the less powerful because he was not such; nor will it on this account be the weaker hereafter. He knew well that for the welfare of the Established Church, of the English nation, and of all Christendom, nothing more is needed than the spirit of truth and of love. By that spirit he was wholly possessed himself; and we should show ourselves strangely lacking in the faith by which he was animated if we doubted its perseverance and its final victory. It may be fearlessly said that during his life he belonged to the great company of prophets or righteous teachers who are raised up from time to time to bring home to the hearts of men the real nature of faith and religion; and he so did his work as to win the love and gratitude of almost all to whom he was known, and of thousands who never saw his face. Some there were who looked on him as lukewarm in the service of the Church, or even as a traitor to the Christian cause; but by such accusations he was not greatly troubled. He knew that the work in which he had striven to take his part was the work of God; and he was content to rest in the assurance that truth must conquer in the end. In truth there never was a member of the Established Church of England more fervently and sincerely attached to that great national institution, founded by the ecclesiastical polity of the great divines of the English Reformation, and maintained as well as governed by the laws of the realm. His most ardent desire was to assert and vindicate her truly national character, not by dogmatical exclusiveness, but by throwing open her gates to every member of this commonwealth who accepts and fulfils the law of Christ. His administration of the great Abbey, which was wisely committed to his charge, and which never had a more devoted servant, was singularly characteristic of his conception of the National Church itself. He made Westminster Abbey one of the centres of the spiritual life of England. He drew crowds within its sacred doors, without enquiring whence they came, so long as they came to worship there; and one of his last testamentary dispositions was designed to give to the people greater freedom of access to its walls. We have confined ourselves in this sketch of the Dean's career chiefly to the part which he played in the momentous controversies of the last forty years; and we have done so because we believe that he would have measured the significance of his own work wholly by the influence which it might exercise on the administration of the English Church, and so on the religious and intellectual thought of the country. Of those who will speak of the eloquence, the vigour, the life of all that he wrote, of the vividness of his historical narratives, and the exuberance of illustration by which he lighted up the darkest and dreariest topics, there will be no lack. But he would have wished to be remembered rather for his efforts to extend the right of full and fair discussion, and to lighten the burdens which press heavily on many consciences. This was the main object of his life; and he furthered it by the possession of gifts and powers such as fall to the lot of few. To every subject which he handled he imparted a singular charm, the charm which can never be absent when eloquence and harmony of style are used simply as instruments for the attainment of the noblest ends. His Life of Arnold' placed him in the first rank of English biographers; and the memoir of his father and mother, apart from the beauty of the picture drawn in it, has a wider interest as showing the influences by which his own life was moulded. Antiquarians more exact may no doubt be found; but in no other pages, perhaps, are the historical associations of a great building invested with more thorough life than in his memorials of Canterbury and Westminster, for he had made every stone of those great fabrics his own. Of the charm of his personal intercourse, the warmth of his friendship, the brilliancy of his conversation, his touching sympathy for all who were sick, poor, or afflicted, we shall not trust ourselves to speak. To the country at large, to the Church of England, and to those who enjoyed the happiness of his personal acquaintance, the loss is irreparable. Nor can we forget that for more than thirty years he has been one of the most constant and highly valued contributors to the pages of this Journal. Almost all the articles which have been published here on important ecclesiastical subjects were either written by his pen or inspired by his counsel; and although we cannot hope to fill so great a void from any other source, we trust that as long as this Review lasts and retains its hold upon the public, it will maintain and defend the same pure and liberal principles of ecclesiastical policy of which Dean Stanley was the noblest representative. ART. II.-1. Albanesische Studien. Von Dr. jur. JOHANN GEORG VON HAHN. Jena: 1854. 2. Analyse de la Langue Albanaise. Par LOUIS BENLOEW. Paris: 1879. 3. Histoire de Scanderbeg, ou Turcs et Chrétiens au XVe Siècle. Par M. CAMILLE PAGANEL. Paris: 1855. 4. Chroniques Gréco-Romaines. Publiées avec notes et tables généalogiques par C. HOPF. Berlin: 1873. 5. Κριτικαὶ Ἔρευναι περὶ τῆς Καταγωγῆς καὶ Εθνικότητος Γεωργίου Καστριώτου τοῦ Σκενδέρμπεη. πρὸ Μαργαρίτου Γ. Δήμιτσα. Athens: 1877. 6. Histoire et Par 7. Oberalbanien und seine Liga. Von SPIRIDION GOPČEVIĆ. Leipzig: 1881. FROM the ruined walls of Otranto a range of jagged peaks may be seen on a clear day standing out in sharp relief from the pearly background of the eastern sky. A strait of little more than forty miles in width here parts the coasts of Italy and Epirus, and we are told that Pyrrhus designed to connect his evanescent conquests with his native kingdom by means of a bridge of boats spanning the Adriatic between the Acroceraunian promontory and the Messapian shore. But, in point of moral significance, this silver streak' of separation is wider than the Atlantic, for it indicates the great gulf dividing the history of the East from the history of the West. Those blue Chimariot mountains have formed, and still form, an impenetrable barrier against the intrusion of Western customs and culture. The heavy tread of the Roman legions has hardly left a footprint behind. Along the great Byzantian highway of the Via Egnatia, armies marched to and fro, emissaries hurried with tidings of triumph or disaster, prefects and prætors brought home with them from the East the strange and gorgeous spoil of pillaged provinces; while the barbarous tribes dwelling north and south of the vital artery of communication, indifferent to the luxury, and averse to the culture of Rome, preserved the immemorial customs, and spoke the primitive tongue, which still survive, untouched by centuries, among the mountain clans of Albania. Certain of the usages portrayed by the few recent travellers |