Confession. It might just as reasonably be said that, if a parish priest has daily prayer in his Church, and does not exhort his parishioners to embrace the privilege of attending it, that their non-attendance is the result of a deficiency in the Church's system, and not of the gross neglect of that individual clergyman.

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Finally, then, do we say, let us endeavour, in our parochial ministrations, to carry out, to their fullest possible development, the legitimate principles of the Church of England. Let us be satisfied with her teaching, content neither to fall short of it, nor to go beyond it, but there let us make our stand. Our dear spiritual mother will, if we follow her guidance, supply every thing which is needful for the necessities of her faithful children. She supplies, in her own system, without imposing any necessity for a recourse to the "distinctive" features of the system of the "Adversary," the fullest materials for "the visible cleansing of souls 2," for the deepest penitence, for the "repentance unto salvation not to be repented of," for the strongest "hope in Christ," for "the freshness of grace, the joy of forgiven souls, the evident growth in holiness, the angel-joy over each sinner that repenteth. And as to the special subject we have treated of in this paper, we would, if we may venture to do so, earnestly implore our clerical brethren, and especially the younger clergy, not, on the one hand, to aim at carrying out in practice a system, which has, at least, a tendency to exalt Auricular Confession to the level of the two great Christian sacraments; nor, on the other hand, to follow, in the slightest degree, those who would undervalue the benefit and the comfort of Sacerdotal Absolution; but rather, following the plain and manifest direction of their Prayer Book, fairly and legitimately interpreted, to teach their flocks that Confession to Almighty God is the rule of the Christian's life, Confession to a priest the exception, and that only when there is special need of special guidance and special consolation. Let them take as their guide, in this respect, the language of one of the soundest of all our old divines.

"In sum," says Hooker, "when the offence doth stand only between God and man's conscience, the counsel is good which St. Chrysostom giveth, I wish thee not to bewray thyself publicly, nor to accuse thyself before others. I wish thee to obey the prophet, who saith, Disclose thy way unto the Lord, confess thy sins before Him; tell thy sins to Him, that He may blot them out. If thou be abashed to tell unto any other wherein thou hast offended, rehearse them every day between thee and thy soul. I wish thee not to confess them to thy fellow-servant, who may upbraid thee with them: tell them to God, who will cure them ;

2 Letter to Mr. Richards, p. 8.

there is no need for thee in the presence of witnesses to acknowledge them; let God alone see thee at thy Confession.' If hereupon it follow, as it did with David, 'I thought, I will confess against myself my wickedness unto thee, O Lord, and thou forgavest me the plague of my sin,' we have our desire, and there remaineth only thankfulness, accompanied with perpetuity of care to avoid that, which, being not avoided, we know we cannot remedy without new perplexity and grief. Contrariwise, if peace with God do not follow the pains we have taken in seeking after it, if we continue disquieted and not delivered from anguish, mistrusting whether that we do be sufficient; it argueth that our sore doth exceed the power of our own skill, and that the wisdom of the pastor must bind up those parts, which being bruised, are not able to be recured of themselves"."

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And, if we imagined that aught we can say would have the least chance of influencing the eminent and learned person, to whom we have so frequently alluded in this paper, we would earnestly ask, whether the time has not arrived, when the true interests of the Church of England imperatively demand that he should reconsider the course he has hitherto taken. That that course has been taken most conscientiously, most sincerely, we gladly and willingly admit. If we had not thought so, this paper would have been written in a very different spirit. But while we allow this, we must feel also, that the course Dr. Pusey has taken, has been most ill-judged, and has been productive of incalculable mischief to the Church of England. Surely he ought to read the signs of the times" with sufficient clearness to perceive this himself. Surely by this time he ought to be convinced, that his theory of Confession is one which never can, by any possibility, work well in the English Church; that, so long as he continues to hold his present views, and to follow his present course, so long is he depriving himself of tenfold the influence he might otherwise possess. And so as regards our position with respect to Rome; if the recent act of Papal Aggression has not opened Dr. Pusey's eyes to the utter impossibility of any thing ever satisfying the Roman Church short of the subjugation, the fusion into their own body, of the Church of England, he must be blind indeed. He surely must feel now that, if there be war with Rome, that war is a war of self-defence; and that, as it is the duty of every good citizen, no matter how great a lover of peace he may be naturally, to defend his country in time of invasion, so must it be the duty now of every sound English Churchman, to defend the rights and liberties of his own Church against Romish arrogance, and Papal usurpation. Deeply, most deeply, do we regret the course which Dr. Pusey's section of the High Church party has thought fit

3 6, 4.

recently to adopt. They have wantonly thrown aside a golden opportunity of doing their duty to the English Church, and, at the same time, by doing their duty, of acquiring the confidence of the English people. And what have they gained by their present position? Simply this; they have alienated the support of thousands, who would have sided with them heart and soul, on all questions affecting the Church. If, instead of allowing disgust at the Durham letter to turn them from the paramount duty of defending the Church of England, they had quietly, in their own several spheres, collectively and individually, done their duty, they might have won the esteem and respect of well-nigh all by whom they were heretofore suspected. The English people are a frank and generous people. They will respect those, however they may differ from them, who are sincere and straightforward, but they turn with indignation from men who, calling themselves English Churchmen, allow the insults of a latitudinarian Prime Minister to divert them from the path they ought to follow; who, by not assisting, betray the Church of England in the hour of her greatest need. And let Dr. Pusey be well assured that this feeling is not confined to the "rampant Puritanism" lately exhibited. It is spreading very widely amongst the clergy also. Surely recent events prove this. No person of common capacity for judging, and of unprejudiced mind, can doubt this, who looks at the recent meeting of the National Society in its true light. Why did the largest meeting of clergy which has assembled together since the Gorham meeting reject, by so large a majority, Mr. Denison's motion? Not because they differed from Mr. Denison substantially; not simply, as D. C. L. complacently imagines, because of the advice of the Bishop of the diocese; but because they could not trust the party by whom Mr. Denison was principally supported; because they had no security but that they who, at that meeting, clamoured the loudest in support of the "Catholic faith," would, some of them, as others have done, by whom he was supported last year, go over to the greatest enemy of that faith, and still more refuse to defend the Church of England against that enemy's invasion. We do not speak idly on this point. We know that this feeling had great influence upon the meeting; and we confidently assert, that it ought to have operated as it, in fact, did. Men have got tired of co-operating with those who are always talking about the "Church," but who, when the "Church of England" is wantonly and insolently attacked, not only will do nothing themselves to defend her, but impugn the motives, and throw every obstacle in the way, of those who wish to do so.

We warn Dr. Pusey and his followers, that the tide of

reaction is rapidly setting in; that, unless it be arrested, incalculable mischief will be the result; and for that result they, and they alone, will be responsible. We are quite satisfied that that result may be prevented even yet. We are quite persuaded that the vast majority of the English people are as yet true to the real principles of our Church; but we will not answer for them long, if they see much more of such gross violations of good faith as we have lately witnessed at St. Saviour's, Leeds,-if they see the so-called "friends of the Church" standing aloof from her in the hour of her greatest necessity, and leaving her defence to those who are only too glad to assume the foremost position. Depend on it, the people of England will never sympathize with "Romanism" within the Church in any shape, or under any circumstances; neither will they tolerate the teaching, which, whether premeditatedly or unwittingly, has a tendency to lead to it. If in their dislike of one extreme, they are led to incline to its opposite, they will be responsible who might have restrained them within, by keeping there themselves, the middle path of safety. If the "whirlwind and the storm" do ever overwhelm the Catholic faith of the English Church, it will only be from the open treachery, or the lukewarm supineness, of those who might have "ridden" upon the one, who might, by the commonest prudence, have guided and "directed" the other.

VOL. XV.-NO. XXX.-JUNE, 1851.

b

ART. II.-1. The Annals of Ireland by Friar John Clyn, of the Convent of Friars Minors, Kilkenny; and Thady Dowling, Chancellor of Leighlin. Together with the Annals of Ross, Edited from MSS. in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, with Introductory Remarks. By the Very Rev. RICHARD BUTLER, A.B., M.R.S.A., Dean of Clonmacnois. Dublin: Printed for the Irish Archæological Society.

2. Original Letters and Papers in illustration of the History of the Church in Ireland, during the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. Edited, with Notes from Autographs in the State Paper Office, by EVELYN PHILIP SHIRLEY, Esq., M.A. London: Rivingtons.

3. Rise and Progress of the Irish Church Mission Society: the Reformation in Connemara, Dublin, &c., and the Journal of a Tour in the County of Galway, in company with the Rev. Alexander R. C. Dallas, M.A., in June, 1850. Second Edition. Dublin: W. Curry and Co. London: Hatchard; Nisbet and Co.; Wertheim and Macintosh.

4. Early Fruits of Irish Missions. A Letter from an Eye-witness after a Missionary Tour during June and July, 1850. Second Edition. London: Published by the Society for Irish Church Missions, 14, Exeter Hall, Strand.

5. Eleventh Report of the Church Education Society for Ireland, being for the Year 1850.

WHEN We look back for a few years, and recall to mind the opinions which then seemed to have gained almost general acceptance with regard to the Church question in Ireland, and when we compare those views with the more enlightened sentiments which have been gradually superseding them of late, we cannot but recognize the working of a Higher Power, in bringing about a change which, as far as it has proceeded, is replete with consolations to every faithful adherent of the Reformed Church in England and in Ireland. This alteration in the public mind has not been the result of any efforts or exertions made by the advocates of sound principle; for they had ineffectually protested, almost despairingly, against the successive steps by which Romanism was being gradually invested with power, and permitted to crush and to subvert the Established Church. It was