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doctrine be profitably discussed until the prior question of the inspiration and authority of Scripture is better understood. Professor Smith seeks to discriminate between the investigation of the several books of the Bible as a literary question, and the deeper question of its inspiration and the heavenliness of its matter. "He asked if any one were prepared to say that there were not laws in Deuteronomy and Leviticus which could not have been given out by Moses to be observed ?" But in any true theory of inspiration, the giving out by, or the intentions of, Moses can have very little to do with the question. If these laws are unsuited for literal observance, which, whatever their adaptedness to the religious wants and sentiments of the people to whom they were first communicated, is confessedly the case at present, then the question is not what Moses intended, but what is the meaning of these laws in their application to the present age and to the Christian Church. Divine laws are of perpetual obligation. Their outward observance may pass away, their inward spirit and true purpose will abide for ever. They cease as "carnal ordinances" with the passing away of the representative economy to which they are first given, but they open to the instructed minds of a better dispensation the ever-living truths of an infinite wisdom, and the divinely-provided means of an endless progress in wisdom and holiness.

CONVOCATION OF THE PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY.-Although the Convocations of the Church have no legislative power, their annual assemblies afford the opportunity of discussing a number of questions in which the ruling authorities in the Church are interested, and of initiating legislation on ecclesiastical questions. Several questions of interest to the Church have this year been earnestly discussed in the assemblies of both the Northern and Southern Provinces. One of these relates to Ecclesiastical Law, and would give to Convocation increased power and facility to deal with rubrical alterations and ceremonial matters. The question was introduced into the Southern Convocation by a report on Ecclesiastical Law from the Lower House, the concluding paragraph of which was passed as a

definite resolution. This resolution stated: “That this House approves of the recommendation contained in the last paragraph of this report—viz. that the ceremonial of the Church might be safely and constitutionally regulated from time to time in the following manner-namely, that the Convocations, acting under the Royal Writ and Archiepiscopal Mandate, should agree upon the drafts of such canons and constitutions as they may deem desirable-that these drafts, so approved by the Convocations, should be submitted to the Queen in Council— that they should be further, if the Queen is so advised, be laid by her Majesty's command upon the table of both Houses of Parliament; and that if no address from either House in opposition to them should be presented to the Crown within a limited period, then that a Royal Licence should issue for the enactment by the Convocations of such drafts into canons and constitutions in accordance with the provisions of the Act (25 Henry VIII. c. 19); and that such canons and constitutions should have the force of statute law."

A similar resolution was proposed by the Bishop of Carlisle in the Northern Convocation, and was passed in a modified and milder form. The adoption of this resolution in practice would place the Convocation in a position very similar to that of the Committee of Council on Education, in the adoption of their Codes of Education. Before its adoption they must have the assent of Parliament, which may be less easily obtained than a resolution of Convocation.

FAMILY PRAYER. The duty and privilege of prayer is recognised by every sincere disciple of the Christian Saviour. The exercise of prayer, both public and private, is promoted by the teaching of the Word, and is as widely extended as the preaching of "the glorious gospel of the blessed God." It is a sign, therefore, of the decay of faith, and of the deadness of thespiritual life, when the practice of prayer is widely neglected; and it is one of the duties of the public teachers of religion to instruct the people, and encourage among them the practice of private and family worship. This is one of the subjects which has engaged the attention of the Upper House of Convocation at

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their recent meeting. The Bishop of cently been made in a direction which Exeter, who introduced the question, the secular press has often suggested to said: "It is my practice to hold the Established Church, viz. to secure conferences with the clergy all through the union of the Church with the my diocese, one in every rural deanery, several dissenting bodies at home, inand in these conferences one of the stead of striving so earnestly to prosubjects discussed by the clergy was mote union with the Churches abroad. the best mode of promoting the practice A society has been formed, of which the of family prayer. It was very generally Bishop of Winchester is Chairman and said that family prayer is not nearly so Earl Nelson Chairman of Committee, common, especially among the middle the object of which is to promote the reand lower classes, as it ought to be and union of the Church and the orthodox as it used to be, and there was an Dissenters. Meetings have been held at almost unanimous expression of opinion Winchester and Ipswich, and pleasant that it would be very much easier for speeches made by Lord Nelson and the clergy to urge this duty on the other Churchmen, and also by leading people if they were supplied with forms Dissenters of the latter town. If Disof family prayer, having the authority senters could be induced to return to of Convocation, and I was requested to the Church, and to accept its authority, bring the matter before your Lordships, the proposed union would be easily and to ask you to take it into con- accomplished; but if it is to be presideration." The decline of the practice ceded by the cordial recognition by the of family prayer was questioned by the Church of the equal Christian status of Bishop of Norwich, who believed that dissenting communities, we fear it is still 'so far from being on the decrease, it distant. The necessity for this recogis considerably on the increase as com- nition, as preliminary to any real union, pared with what it was thirty or forty was pointed out by one of the speakers, years ago. All the bishops, however, Rev. T. M. Morris, who said, "I think who took part in the proceedings, that one practical question to be disexpressed a general approval of the cussed at a Conference like this, in view purpose contemplated, and the resolu- of promoting a closer union between tion for the appointment of a committee Churchmen and Dissenters, is, whether to prepare a Manual of Family Worship in the judgment of our Church of Engwas unanimously adopted. In the land friends the time has not come for course of the discussion the Bishop of the frank and cordial and brotherly Llandaff gave the following anecdote, recognition of those evangelical comwhich was told him by a very old munities which exist outside the pale friend : "His [the friend's] family of the Church of England." Every one were visited by a Frenchman, and interested in the promotion of Christian the family were always summoned charity, and the restoration of unity to about nine o'clock in the evening to the Church, must desire success to family prayers. The gentleman who every prudent means of securing so was with them being a Roman Catholic, laudable an object as the one contemthe master of the family and his wife plated by this Society. But the unity did not invite him to go out of the of the future will not arise from oneness room with them to family prayer. At of doctrine and discipline, nor from the last this French gentleman said to connection of all the disciples of the them, 'I see you go out of your room Saviour in one ecclesiastical organizaevery night at nine o'clock; what do tion; but it will be the expression you go for? The answer was, 'We go of the charity which recognises the to family prayers, and as you are a rational freedom of each, and accepts member of the Roman Catholic Church with cheerfulness the services of all we did not know that it would be who are engaged in spreading the inagreeable to you to go with us.' He fluences of righteousness and truth begged that he might be permitted to among mankind. go with them, and when he came back he said, 'Ah! it is this which has made England so great.

THE BROAD CHURCH.-The writer who has been instructing the readers of Frazer's Magazine for some months past HOME REUNION.-An effort has re- respecting Church parties, devotes an

article in the March number of that magazine to an exposition of the Broad Church party. It is more difficult to trace the history of this than of the other two parties. The Low Church party dates from the Reformation, the High Church, in its modern development, from the Oxford revival under Newman and Pusey and the "Tracts for the Times." The Broad Church has no such definite origin. Its rise is later and its aims are different. In the High Church, the authority of the Church is supreme. She is the interpreter of Scripture, and her interpretation is authoritative with the people. In the Low Church, Scripture is supreme. It is the Word of God to which she is to submit, and by which all controversies are to be determined. The Broad Church is the party of inquiry. She accepts nothing which does not commend itself to her reason. She calls in question authority, yet submits to rule. She subjects the Bible to literary criticism, and having no higher light than the letter, questions the nature of its inspiration, and the popular interpretation of its teaching. The Bible writers are regarded by its teachers as men who expressed their best thoughts and were in advance of their age, but fallible. The Broad Church is the intellectual element in the Church, though men of high mental culture and great learning are also connected with the other Church parties. Its great want is greater religiousness of character, i.e. an intenser external devotion. "The religious instinct was never stronger in English people than it is at present if you compel us, says this writer," to choose between religion and liberal thought, most of us will choose the former. Dogmatic systems have not much hold upon the minds of most men, but men do ask for help to lead a religious life."

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THE PAPACY.-The appointment of a successor to Pius IX. was a matter of less difficulty than some had anticipated. With very little delay Cardinal Pecci was elected to the vacant dignity, and ascends the throne of the Papacy under the title of Leo XIII. The policy he will adopt is veiled in uncertainty. His reign has commenced with the exercise of an economy to which his predecessor was a stranger, and one of its first-fruits has been a mutiny of his

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Swiss Guard, forty of whom have been dismissed. In ecclesiastical matters he seems inclined to adopt, so far as his surroundings will permit, an inde pendent course. He is said to have written to the Czar desiring the resumption of friendly relations in regard to the Roman Church in Poland; and to be meditating a similar communication to the Emperor of Germany. Times states that he discountenances all addresses from Ultramontane pilgrims, whose indiscreet zeal he disapproves and condemns; and a Reuter's telegram says that the Pope and Cardinal Franchi, his Secretary of State, "have fixed the line of policy to be followed by the Vatican in the questions pending, or which may arise, with the various States, and it is understood that the Vatican will endeavour, as far as possible, to reconcile the interests of Church and State." The task before the Holy Father is not an easy one. Attempted conciliation will meet with more violent opposition in his own household than in the several governments who have to deal with large Catholic populations. It remains to be seen whether a system of spiritual despotism, which claims undisputed authority over the souls and bodies of men, can be reconciled with the spirit of modern progress, and the liberty of modern political institutions.

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.-In our January number we noticed a paper by Canon Westcott, which appeared in the Contemporary Review; and which treated the Resurrection as a new revelation.

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This paper has been subject to a severe criticism in the Fortnightly Review by the author of "Supernatural Religion." The criticism is in the spirit of the author's book, and is of the most negative kind. The assumption of the existence of an infinite Personal God "denotes," in the estimation of this writer, an object inconceivable under the conditions of human thought." writer who thus deals with the existence of God is not likely to have faith in the Word, or in the fact of the Resurrection. The several narratives of the Evangelists respecting the Resurrection are, in his judgment, visionary and imaginative, and it cannot be otherwise," he says, "than fitting that the memory of the great Teacher should be cleared from the elements of myth with

The proprietors of the Christian World offered one hundred copies post free at half-price to one hundred ministers, and immediately received applications from two hundred and fifty. In their notice of this circumstance they say: "It may be interesting for us to mention that a considerable proportion of the applicants for Canon Farrar's book are Wesleyan Methodist ministers, and about an equal proportion are Free Church and Primitive Methodists. This is surely a very significant sign of the times with regard to this matter, and one which Dr. Pope-in view of his Letter of Warning to the Young Ministers' and the Conference at large, would do well to take note of."

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FAITH ALONE. -We give the following evidences of the decline of this doctrine in the minds of the teachers of the Church from the Messenger: "The following from the Alliance is about as complete a renunciation of the ancient doctrine of faith alone' as could be made: The only faith in Christ that is worthy of the name, is a life of obedience to His commandments. Conversion is the beginning of such a life. Thus it seems plain that faith, so far from being an intellectual piece of jugglery, attempting to grasp the impossible, is a passion and life and action of the soul. Any other ground leads to

which it has been distorted by supersti- lated. tious zeal. Jesus of Nazareth will not be less immortal because the stone of the sepulchre was not rolled back; nor will he cease to live in the hearts of those who love nobleness and good because he did not rise from the dead. The love of the sentimental adorer may wax colder as he scans the severer linea ments of reality, but the adherence of others will only be more sincere when they feel they have no more to do with impossible fictions, but frankly confront a still admirable truth. "" There is some thing surprising and almost amusing in the self-complacency with which these mischievous errors are propounded. A faith which has from the beginning of its history cheered and purified the lives of millions, is "unthinkable and unbelievable"! A fact on which rests the Christian's hope of immortality, is a mere myth, and an impossible fiction! The faith in the supernatural, which has in all ages inspired the brightest hopes, kindled the purest affections, and stimulated the noblest actions, is without solid foundation! And it is unquestionable that teaching of this kind is greedily imbibed, and exercises a potent influence in the habits of modern thought. The writer's criticism of the several accounts of the Resurrection, and the Post-Resurrection appearances, of the Lord, given by the four Evangelists, is very suggestive to members of the absurdities, and gives us defaulting New Church. Looked at from the bankers and railroad thieves from the letter alone, the difficulties seem for- ranks of the Church. Faith is a submidable. Regarded from the deeper stantial compound, and must not be ground of the spirit, and in their rela- classed with merely mental processes.' tion to the completion of the Lord's A further citation is given from the work of Redemption and the glorification United Presbyterian. "Practically," says of His Humanity, they are seen to shed the Messenger, "it is a renunciation light on the profoundest mystery of re- of the doctrine of faith alone. The world demption, and to involve the laws of certainly moves if these are the sentiour regeneration. Destructive criticism ments of modern Calvinism: The man can be of little use in opening to view who is punctilious in respect to all relithe deep things of the Word, but may gious forms, and who manifests the most be a providential permission leading to emollient regard for worship and pious a fuller consideration of Biblical sub- sentiment, but who at the same time jects, and preparing for the reception has no practical appreciation of duty of the spiritual truths of the Word. towards God and his neighbour, is not profiting by his profession. It is when THE FUTURE LOT OF THE WICKED.- piety has its place in the market and on The interest which has long been excited the street that it is rightly representing on this subject shows no signs of abate- the Gospel under which it is supposed ment. The discourses of Canon Farrar, to flourish. Seen in church, at prayerdelivered in Westminster Abbey, have meeting, in conventions, and in other been published under the title of places of pathos and enthusiasm, but "Eternal Hope," and extensively circu- missed where trade and traffic are in

progress, it is only a pretence, and in the sight of God is worth nothing."

THE PRAYER OF FAITH.-From the
Messenger.-Professor Norman Fox, in
a recent article in the New York Inde-
pendent on the "Prayer of Faith," de-
monstrates how much more important
from a spiritual point of view is the
effect of prayer on the character of him
who prays, than the accomplishment of
the object sought. He says:
"Prayer
is not an act by which we secure a
change in God's workings in Nature. It
is an exercise in which we accept His
dispensations. The prayer of faith is
on this wise. A child is sick-per-
haps to die. The parent kneels and says:
'Lord, Thou knowest how I love this
child. With agony do I desire that
it shall be spared. But if it be Thy
will to take it from me, take it, Lord,
and I will not complain. Bitter will
be the cup: but if Thou givest it me to
drink, Thy will be done.' The parent

rises from his knees; his faith has won
the triumph. The child may die, it may
recover; but the parent's faith has tri-
umphed all the same. If the child be
spared, he will rejoice and be thankful;
if it be taken from him, his soul will
still abide in peace. The triumph of
praying faith is not in acquisition, but
in resignation. He prays the prayer of
faith who says, Thy will be done.
Prayer is simply the expression of our
desires to God in order that we may
surrender them into His hands. The
blessings it secures are not temporal

but eternal."

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the habit of giving is healthy, and con-
ducive to the general expression of
receives so each should discipline him-
benevolence and charity; and as each
self to give. And for these and similar
reasons the Sunday offertory claims the
is especially to be understood that
support of every man of principle. It
giving to the support of the Church is
not a matter of charity, benevolence,
ter of justice.
or mere good feeling, but a simple mat-
Nor must we be con-
tented to give as in years gone by.
The comforts we now enjoy are very
much greater than they were at Sum-
mer Lane; and no one who duly con-
siders the subject will expect either
to receive greater comfort for the same
outlay, or that our present Church can
be supported upon the income of past
often considered, that the Church gives
years. Then further, it is a fact not
more for money than any other institu-
tion in society. Without taking into
account the spiritual interests affected
by the Church-interests not to be
estimated by money-and viewing the
Church from the low stand-point of
natural enjoyment, there is no institu-
tion existing that gives as much plea-
sure as the Church for the same expendi
ture. One visit to the theatre, or to a
classical concert, costs nearly as much
as would pay for a sitting in church
during a quarter of a year.
As a mere
investment, it may be safely affirmed,
that no man can get, by the expenditure
of one or ten pounds, as much rational
enjoyment out of any other institution

as he can out of the Church. Without WEEKLY OFFERTORY. At a time being in any way intrusive, opportunity that increased attention is being is afforded in the offertory-box for every given to the financial affairs of one to give at each service as he feels Churches, it is natural that attention he has received benefit and enjoyment. should be directed to the advantage of the weekly contribution of small sums in aid of the general uses of the Church. On this subject the Manual of the Wretham Road Church, Birmingham, some time since said: "Every one will no doubt have noticed that an ornamental box has been placed in the vestibule of the church. The object of this box is to receive the freewill-offerings of the congregation. There is every reason to believe that the offertory system is the one upon which all Churches ought to be supported. To give often, and a little at a time, are much easier than to give large sums at long intervals;

It is hoped that every member of the Church will make a point of using it every Sunday himself, that the young, who are just enjoying the responsibilities of man or woman-hood will use it, that fathers and mothers will encourage their children to use it, and that hereby the income of the Church will be increased-without which the services cannot be maintained with efficiency, interest, and increasing benefit.”

The weekly offertory is not always by a box at the door. Two other modes are adopted. One of these is the envelope system. Small sums are put into a specially prepared and numbered en

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