Brougham's Plan of National Education. He would scorn to be suspected of such intolerance as is found in that Revealed Word, which speaks of one only way to life; his comprehensive charity, or, if we give words their proper meaning and things their proper names, his latitudinarian indifference, would provide "A creed for every clime and age, By Mammon's touch new moulded o'er and o'er." The knowledge which is convertible into gold is the only instruction which the philosophers of his school deem of any value; and a contented and humble-minded disposition is their abhorrence. To make the people discontented and repining is their chief object and to accomplish this they certainly spare no pains. Let them beware. They, with the "rulers of the earth, may take counsel against the Lord and His anointed;" they may seek to break asunder the bands with which God has encircled the wayward appetites of his creatures; they may throw away the cords with which their consciences would assist them to bind the promptings of error, but on their own devoted heads shall the consequences of their rebellious pride fall. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision."* So long as the rising generation are instructed in the fundamental verities of the Christian religion, and taught to base all their hopes and ground all their fears on its behests, so long may this people and nation look for the blessings of God, and hope to enjoy the happiness of reposing in the protecting embrace of the "Everlasting Arms,” and the security of knowing that God is their refuge. But when the youth of a professedly Christian land are instructed in everything and anything but that which concerns them as the subjects of the "Immortal King," it requires no prophetic spirit to declare that the glory of such a country is on its wane. We have bestowed as much and more attention on Lord Brougham and his friends than they deserve; and we now proceed, in conformity with our original intention, to examine as concisely as may be the system of National Education in use in the sister country. Nor can we enter on this part of our subject without tendering to the Bishop of Exeter our warmest thanks for the very efficient service he has rendered to the cause of religion by keeping this subject constantly before Parliament. To this lion-hearted champion of the truth, the people of England owe a lasting debt of obligation for the manly and truly Catholic spirit in which he has stood forth to vindicate the claims of the Word of God to be the basis of all instruction which shall be given to the subjects of Queen Victoria. By his conduct on this vital question, the Bishop of Exeter has shown that he is worthy of the high office which he holds-he has proved that he did not rashly or inconsiderately affirm† that *Ps. ii. 2, 3, 4. + Service for Consecration of Bishops, he was ready, the Lord being his helper, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God's word. He has uniformly raised his voice and entered his protest against a system which would mutilate that "Word of God," to please the whims of a clique of discontented sectaries. He has, with an untiring zeal, worthy of himself and of the cause, shown that it is a system based on fraud, and wholly at variance with the best interests of man. He has shown that it is a measure founded on a false estimate of the immutable principles of right and wrong, and every way inimical to the requirements of that divinely sent Volume which tells us that " all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."* When man presumes to dictate, how much God shall be allowed to say, what consequence must inevitably result? And to this interference on the part of man with the good pleasure of Omnipotence, does the system of instruction sanctioned by the Irish Educational Board amount. God, in the exercise of His own all-wise providence, has, since the first hour of man's transgression, suffered events to happen for which the finite reason of man can never hope, nor should it even proudly seek, to satisfactorily account. Among those various ways of God which are past finding out, and those His judgments which are unsearchable, we may safely enumerate as wholly beyond the reach of our limited understandings, those mysterious dispensations by which, in all ages of the world, some have enjoyed the light of His countenance, while others have been denied even a spark of heavenly fire, with the which to kindle the holy flame of religion in their breasts. Thus, in the earlier ages of the world, His favour was bestowed in a manner, and according to laws, which we cannot interpret nor ascertain. So it was when the Jewish nation were made the special objects of His loving kindness, the depositaries of his revelation, and the people among whom his honour delighted to dwell. All his dealings with man have been of a particular and exclusive character-He must be worshipped in his own way, or not at all-He must be worshipped only, and unreservedly: for He will accept of no divided homage, nor of any partial obedience. It is in perfect conformity with this feature of His providence that, in the revelation which He has made of His will to man, very narrow limits are marked out as those between which alone can be comprised the family of heaven. To restrict happiness to so small a number appears harsh to those who wage a mad warfare against high heaven's decree, and loathe all power that bases not its throne upon their own wild wills. Accordingly these murmurers have undertaken to remodel the Book of Eternal Truth. They have taken upon * 2 Tim. iii. 16. + Cf. Lyra Apostolica, xcix. p. 127. themselves to explain away its "hard sayings," and to smooth down what their haughty disaffection terms its difficulties. They have mangled the Word of God, that the wit of man may be magnified they find a Bible which tells them of a way to heaven, than which there is none other-they manufacture lesson-books which break down the hedges by which that way is marked out and hemmed on either side. The Bible contains passages which condemn the idolatrous practices of Rome: a liberal spirit demands and procures their excision from the Sacred Volume. The same Scriptures declare that Christianity is a warfare, and that Christ came not to send peace, but a sword ;* but the new philosophy teaches of a compromise of vital truths in order to gain a fancied lull. These people forget that the robe which God requires is a seamless vestment, not a piece of various coloured patchwork. He loves unity, not amalgamation-purity, not mixture-a ready cohesion of parts into one harmonious whole, not a mere adaptation, by the rounding off of this corner and the indenture of that surface, of discordant portions into one unsightly mass. The unity and peace which God enjoins, and on which alone He will suffer his blessing to descend, is an unity which follows from all obeying the same rule, and a peace which results from an entire vanquishing of one common enemy. God will have nothing to do with that semblance of unity which arises out of a suppression of individual opinion, and a surrender for the time being of certain considerations which will be allowed their full weight on the first opportunity which arises for their display. The peace which the Irish National Education Board would secure, is an inglorious peace-it is an unholy compact between truth and error-an alliance between good and evil---a peace with Satan, which compromises the glory of Jehovah; and, by engendering a false sense of security, perils the happiness of man. We have said that the peace which the system of Irish National Education secures is an inglorious one. And is not that inglorious which is bought at the price of God's Eternal Word? Our Saviour asks, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?and may we not go on to inquire, what is there on earth whose value can be compared with the worth of the BIBLE? The Bible that blessed book, which tells us all we know of ourselves, all we know of our God. What gift is there which can be put in competition with the message of love which inspiration has conveyed from heaven to earth? Can that peace be worth having whose price is the forfeiture of that Record which alone can tell us how eternal peace may be ours? Can that security have any sure foundation which can only exist when our warranty for heaven and our preservative from hell is taken from us? Oh, delusive hope! Can there be happiness for that man whose childhood is passed in *Matt. x. 34. ignorance of the truths contained in that Holy Volume in which God, by the mouth of his Spirit, has made known his ways to man? Would that we had space to enter fully into this question. We hear much in the present day of English Protestantism, but, oh!, if the spirit of Catholic Christianity be not extinct in this land, let those whose privilege it is to tend its sacred embers have a care that the damps of infidelity stifle not its flames-that the cold blasts of scepticism, of popery, and Socinianism, extinguish not the holy fire! Let it be theirs to watch each spark with a jealous vigilance, knowing that it is heaven-born, and that the Almighty Being from whom it first emanated will not rekindle those fires which Ephesian neglect or Laodicean apathy have suffered to die away. We entreat of all who wish well to Zion, that they would remember that God will remove the candlestick from that nation which wickedly forgets its first love,* and will not, though invited by God himself, repent, return, and do the first works. We have now glanced at the mischief of the Irish system; a more full exposure of its incompatibility with English predilections must be reserved for another opportunity. All that we have remarked tends to show the folly and the wickedness of educating men as though they, with the beasts, knew no life beyond the grave. Nothing can be more fatal to the safety and happiness of our empire than thrusting more knowledge upon its inhabitants than they can bear: and if this be true of knowledge when hallowed by religion, how much more pertinent must the truth be when considered in reference to that knowledge which is "vain and puffeth up." The fact is, that modern philanthropists are pampering the pride of human intellect, until some men have become sick, others have lost their senses, and all are rushing into destruction upon a whirlwind of folly. For folly it is, and ruin it must be, if we carry the Educational system, as encouraged by Utilitarianism, one step further. In truth it has been carried too far already. Lord Brougham and his superficial party have forced on the movement so recklessly, that the difficulty now is, how and when to regulate its speed. the noble and learned lord could be subdued into discretion, and induced to play the lowly but useful part of the drag upon the wheel, he might do something to redeem his lost fame, but this is not now to be expected. He has thrown religion and religion's God into the shade, and he is now pushing and plunging on like an inebriated charioteer in a snow-storm, regardless of the precipice and deep vortex which is before him. We say nothing here of the coroner's inquest; but most unquestionably the noble and learned lord will cut a curious figure in history. Rev. ii. 4, If ART. IV. The History of Protestant Nonconformity in England, from the Reformation under Henry VIII. "By THOMAS PRICE. In two volumes. London: Ball. 1836. IN most of the disputes, by which the ordinary walks of life are agitated, there are, to use a homely proverb, faults on both sides: and we think, too, that the remark will apply to religious controversy, for the disputants on either side of a question are generally betrayed, by the heat of the moment, into a bitterness of spirit, and a warmth of expression, which in the season of calm reflection cannot be justified. Controversy seems to have a tendency to sour the temper of those who engage in it; and that man must be eminently endued with kindliness of nature who emerges from the arena of theological dispute with his feelings unruffled and his spirit unmoved; yet controversy, after all, is essentially necessary for the eliciting of truth. There may indeed be attendant evils, but we are fully convinced that they are more than counterbalanced by the good that is produced, for the truth at length appears enshrined in all her majesty and purity. It is to controversy that we are indebted for the most noble defences of our holy religion; nor can we hesitate to assert our belief, that our own Church has escaped from the contests in which her sons have been engaged with her assailants, we will not say merely without injury, but with the greatest advantages. Ever since the period of the Reformation she has been assaulted by the weapons of misrepresentation and calumny; yet her holy and beautiful fabric remains uninjured by the attacks that have been directed against her; and no one can say that she appears to less advantage now than heretofore, though her ceremonies, discipline, and government have been assailed with all the acrimony that discontent engenders, and all the fury that proceeds from the most inveterate malice. It never should be forgotten that, in the disputes between the Church and her opponents, the latter were the first assailants. This appears to us to be a matter of immense importance in the controversy. The Church of England was restored by the wisdom and piety of our reformers to the purity of the primitive ages: nor can there be, in our judgment, any reason for dissatisfaction at the settlement effected by their instrumentality; yet it was with the platform thus raised that the scrupulous and discontented were displeased. Instead of rejoicing at the mighty deliverance, some few individuals who were enamoured of innovations, and who perhaps were chagrined because their advice was not taken in the business, being dissatisfied with every thing that was not the work of their own hands, began in the first instance to speak disparagingly of the ceremonies that were still retained in our services, and eventually proceeded to attack even the constitution of the Church itself. This feeling we regard as the source from which the first opposition proceeded; and every one knows, that when once a contest |