the state of the diocese, such as never could have been obtained by any other means......The reports, therefore, have afforded to the bishop a knowledge of his diocese, for which he cannot be sufficiently thankful. But important as their services would have been, had they merely supplied authentic records on the state of the diocese, their services have been extended much further. The reports to the bishop have been subordinate to the general plan of amelioration which has been carried into effect through the instrumentality of the rural deans. I should greatly exceed my limits if I described the very numerous improvements which have been made in the churches of this diocese since the time of my primary visitation; but, in returning thanks to the rural deans, I must not omit to make my acknowledgment to the parochial clergy in general, who have received the rural deans with uniform kindness, and have not only aided them with the best advice, but have cheerfully assisted by their personal attentions," &c.

we

We select these extracts as some of the shortest by which can illustrate the importance, and even necessity, of the office of rural dean for the proper supervision of our dioceses, and to shew also how instrumental they may be made in binding together and keeping in harmonious co-operation the different orders of the Church; upon the mutual cordiality of whom the efficiency of the Church, as a body, must ever mainly depend; and by which alone she will be enabled to present an appearance of decency, order, and comeliness to those without, so as not only to escape censure but to attract regard and esteem.

The office of the rural dean is simply one of enquiry, in order to make a full and frequent report of the actual state of the churches in the diocese, and of all things pertaining to its ecclesiastical condition, to the end that such measures may be adopted as shall appear necessary to render our ecclesiastical system more efficient for the spiritual wants of the whole population. The dean, as his name imports, is the tenth man of a rural district, and should have a charge over not more than ten parishes a number which any man may, without too much fatigue, overlook, especially after the first inspection, or first report, or when the office has never fallen into disuse, or has been long enough revived to have remedied things that have been long neglected. The office is always gratuitous, and ought not to be attended with unreasonable trouble where there is no emolument. It is often an annual appointment; but would be more efficient, and also less onerous, if it were permanent, and conferred upon the man of most weight and authority in the district, either on the score of talent and knowledge, or long

"

standing in the Church. Much of the efficiency of the office depends upon the dean knowing well what his duties are, and having such qualifications as will enable him to discharge those duties not only conscientiously, and to his own and his bishop's satisfaction, but also without giving needless offence to others. do Aspirit of discretion and courtesy, it can hardly be doubted, will ensure respect and attention especially as the object proposed is calculated to disarm opposition, and to soften the objections of many well-disposed persons, who regard every change, even a return to ancient and excellent customs, as a dangerons innovation!" 199d 976d doida tuomisyong -The visitation of the churches and glebe-houses being the principal duty of the rural dean, it is evident that he ought to know something not only of building in general but of church architecture; not only that dilapidations may be taken in time, and further decay prevented, but that everything should be done in correspondence with the original intentions of the builders, so far as they agree with the general principles of bcclesiastical arrangement, and are necessary for, or not contrary to the ritual and rubric of the Church of England. And this is become both an important and a very delicate consideration at the present time; since it is obvious that antiquity helps us not at all in this question, and that the original intentions of the builders, and even architectural symmetry and beauty, would often lead us wrong. Our oldest churches carry us into the most corrupt ages of Christianity, and the architects often embodied, in the most beautiful forms, and most correct archit tectural arrangements, false notions, against which we protest; and constructed their places of worship in such a manner as to suit the processions of the Romish service, and to favour the separation of clergy and laity, as though the laity were no part of the Church, which constructions therefore imply and incul cate erroneous doctrines: as would be the case if we adopted some of the forms of the ancient heathen temples. T

This opens before us too wide a field to be entered upon at the present time, and it would lead us too far from Mr. Dansey to be proper on the present occasion. For the "Hora Decanica"? are not at all speculative, but altogether practical; they are the meditations of a man who had a work to do, and wisely set do, ar about considering what that work was, and what was the best way of setting about the work. It, of course, first occurred to him that the origin and occasion of the office should be traced in the history of the Church. The office began in Chorepiscopi, or country bishops the villan bishops as distinguished from urban bishops; and they subsisted under the various names

VOL. XVIII-N

of exarchs, protopriests, protopopes, and periodeutæ in the Eastern Church-being still called periodeute and blagochennie by the Russians. In the Western Church, archpresbyters seem to have been the legitimate successors of the chorepiscopi, or villan bishops; and the Pope interfered to prevent their assumption of chorepiscopal rank, because they had been found to clash with the established and recognized privileges of the city bishops. This was about A.d. 850.

In England, the institution of rural deans commenced about the middle of the eleventh century, and probably somewhat earlier. They are recognized in the laws of Edward the Con fessor, and were probably the sacerdos episcopi of Edgar, and the præpositus episcopi of Canute.

The bishops at first appointed the deans rural, as they had done the chorepiscopi and periodeutæ. Then, and at a very early period, the clergy elected their dean subject to the bishop's approval; and such were not removable by the bishop without the consent of the electors. In 633 and 855, we find proofs that the archpresbyters were elected by the archdeacon, clergy, and people; and that the bishop, though his permission of the election, and his approval of it, were necessary, yet had no power to displace an archpriest, except for crime. But dif ferent customs have come in at sundry times and in divers places, and the decanal appointments of modern days have been influenced by the consuetudo locorum-the usages in dif ferent dioceses varying: those of Sarum and Winchester, for instance, varying, and not being at present in accordance with ancient custom.

The present practice in the diocese of Salisbury is detailed with great fulness in the text, and all the forms, both of appointment and of the enquiries which come within the province of the rural dean are given at length in the appendix. And this appendix of three hundred and fifty pages contains such a mass of documents, ancient and modern, continental, English, Irish, Scotch, and colonial, as to leave scarcely anything further to be desired, either with respect to the office of rural dean, or the advantages resulting to the Church from such a supervision. The rural dean of Manchester holds his office for life and Whitaker, the learned historian of Manchester, maintains that the office of all rural deans was at first perpetual go and: Mr. Dansey's opinion is strongly and decidedly in favour of the appointment being permanent, whether in regard to the office or to the benefit of the Church.

Mr. Dansey, in this publication, devoted to the investigation of the office, personal duties, and jurisdiction of rural deans,

has well fulfilled this his primary undertaking, and set before us in a very satisfactory manner that which he professed to do. But he has done more than this, and has taken a most masterly and instructive survey of all the collateral topics of Church history such as the division of parishes, connection of the parochial clergy with the cathedral, independence of dioceses, independence of the Church of England of Rome, liturgy, dress and manners of the clergy, &c.: all of which properly belong to his subject, or naturally spring out of it, and are treated with the accuracy of a scholar and antiquarian, and with the practical good sense of one who collects information in order to use it, and benefit others thereby. Mr. Dansey is also free from party prejudice, which is no slight praise in these days.

It is not so much for our clerical as for our lay readers that we speak thus highly of this volume. Most of the clergy must be already acquainted with this work, by means of the first edition; but we wish to recommend such works as this to the laity, as one of the best ways of promoting that community of thought and feeling which sound learning and practical good sense, brought to bear on religious subjects, is calculated to produce between the clergy and the laity. The time is gone by when they stood aloof from each other; the laity no longer acknowledge that there are any subjects which do not belong to them as well as to the clergy, and which they are not equally competent to understand. And we are glad to find a subject which appears to be exclusively clerical, and the title of which Hora Decanica" tends to confirm the impression of its exclusive character, treated in such a way as to become popular, to be a book for all who take an interest in Church antiquities.

The book of which it most strongly reminds us in this respect is Whitaker's "Manchester," which performs so much more than it promises. Mr. Dansey's book is as full of varied, profound, and accurate information as Whitaker's; all growing out of the subject-all unobtrusive-yet original and interesting in the highest degree. And it is information which, without being directed to the circumstances of the times (for it was collected long before these circumstances arose), is yet exceedingly well calculated to arrest or counteract the present evil tendencies of the time. Men, half informed, have been groping in one direction only into Church antiquity, and have found only what they looked for, and what confirmed them in their prepossessions: they want to be taught, not only that there are other things to be found, but that without those other things what they have is often useless and often false-is out of place and distorted, and a caricature of antiquity..

The old-fashioned, sound, orthodox, methods of study the looking at a subject without prejudice and partiality-the searching into history to ascertain truth, not to support a system: these are the methods which our young divines, both clerical and lay, need to follow; and if they expect to supplant or supersede the doctrines or practices of their forefathers, we have a right to demand that they shall place their own ondas broad and as solid a foundation.

ART. X.-Meditationes Hebraica: or a Doctrical and Practical Exposition of the Epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews, in a series of Lectures. By the Rev. W. TAIT, Wakefield. 2 vols. London: Seeley.

1845.

WE think it a good way of testing the value of an exposition to begin by observing whether the expositor has thrown himself into the same status with the apostle, and so is in any degree likely to take up the same train of thought, and justly appreciate the correspondent emotions and feelings. And we generally look first to some well-known passages by which this point may be determined, being pretty confident that if this be satis factorily evident the rest of the exposition may be trusted to, or will not be very materially wrong. St. Paul, in writing to the Hebrews, addressed himself to that which was peculiar in their character and circumstances; he tried to lay hold of that which was good in them, and used it as a means of approach; which, when so far gained, might enable him to correct that which was wrong, and lead them altogether to the truth. They believed in a Messiah, to come of the seed of David, and to fulfil the promises made to Abraham; but, not rightly apprehending the character or work of Christ, they rejected him when she came according to the promises, stumbling at that stumbling stone. St. Paul proceeds to shew them that Christ was the end of the law; that to him the whole law pointed; and inhihit centered and was fulfilled. He was the prophet like unto Moses the high priest typified by Aaron-the paschal lamb of the Exodus: and the sacrifice without the camp of the day of atonement-the All-in-all. But St. Paul goes further, and shews that Christ was above and beyond all these things, in order to fulfil them; and that he was in his own person beyond all type, beyond all description-that he himself must come in order to be known, and that he himself must speak in order to be understood-and that his person had brought together contradictions appearing to be irreconcileable, and that his