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protested against in the Roman. The practice of habitual confession is discontinued; but the worst part of it, the morbid habit of mind superinduced by continual introspection, the restless comparison of one's own spiritual state with that of others, the dwelling upon and realizing, as it were, bad thoughts and evil imaginations, those demoniac shadows which may flit across the brightest spirit, and the consequent absence of the cheerful and trustful faith which should distinguish a child of the Church,―all this is still amongst us, to be reproved and relieved. Pictures and statues are no longer objects of religious reverence, but words, which also are images of thought and sensible representations of ideas, are our common and unsuspected idols;—the dead letter of the scripture receives the same unintelligent regard that was paid to the dead wood and stone; prayers are uttered without a corresponding internal consciousness, just as crucifixes or scapula were unmeaningly worn: and the Liturgy of the Church of England is listened to by the majority of every congregation with as little appreciation of its connection of parts, of the mutual bearing of its selections, of the separation or interfusion of Christian doctrine and Judaic history, with as little knowledge of and insight into the real thought expressed, and as little intellectual sympathy, as ever was the Latin mass by the Romanist people. The sacerdotal influence no longer authoritatively interferes with the sacred relations of private life: but the favourite minister is frequently as careless of the high and separate functions of his office, as ready to be the flatterer, or class leader, or spoiled child, or anything but the pastor of the individuals composing his congregation, as ever could be the intriguing Confessor, or sensual Priest. These weaknesses of our own should facilitate the right understanding of the difficulties of others; contemplation of them should lead to that spirit of humility and forbearance by which alone we can hope to give effect to any attempt at reforming other churches: it is not by filching a member from them here and there, it is not by disturbing the faith in one view of the Church, where we cannot be sure of substituting another that we believe to be better, it is not by appeals to past abuses, which it only requires a certain amount of information and cleverness to recriminate on ourselves, that we can in any way better the condition of the church of Rome, and its members: the hopes of this work rest on the true application of Catholic principles, admitting purely all that is historically true and theologically fair, refusing earnestly all that is partial, local, and accidental, when it claims to be universal, and showing that we value aright their great, though we think unsuccessful, care, in preserving purity of doctrine, inasmuch as we, for the sake of that purity, have sacrificed the advantages and comforts of the visible Catholic unity."-p. 65.

All this may be a sufficient reason why Churches essentially one should not extrinsically be two,-but surely it is rather a reason for coming out from them both into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, and taking the free Gospel to the free soul, unrestricted in its sympathies by the material bounding lines of ecclesiastical formularies.

Mr. Milnes mentions two practical advantages that may accrue from the prevalence of Puseyism,—and though Puseyism has no real sympathy with these advantages, and they flow from the spirit of reserve and disdain with which she retreats from all contested matters into the inner sanctuary of the Church,yet as they tend to outward liberty and quiet, we willingly admit the facts:

"The Catholic direction given by Puseyism to historical study will produce effects of much the same nature and extent: the original language of the Holy Writings will be more largely and critically understood,-Germany will no more be permitted to reign absolute over ecclesiastical or over other literature, and there will be a true, as there is a false, neology, -the great treasures of Continental Biblical criticism will be no longer held contraband in a system of divinity which, accepting the scriptures as the gift of the Church, is averse to no inquiry into their true interpretation and natural meaning, and does not permit the truth or falsehood of a doctrine to depend on the veracity or tenor of any single one or more particular paragraphs."

Again:

"One of the first demonstrations of Puseyism will be the removal of religious interference from matters of a purely secular nature, such as elementary education, and the distribution of charity. No churchman of these days will ever pretend to exclude others, not churchmen, from the advantage of reading and writing, or to make any selection of them in his charitable donations; yet he will not assent to any other religious teaching, but that which he believes to be true, and thus that confused and indeterminate intrusion of religious matters into circumstances, where they only derange and embitter, will, as far as he is able, be discouraged and avoided."

Nothing can be more forcible, more legitimate, than the argumentum ad hominem by which Mr. Milnes, in conclusion, forces his Catholicism on the Evangelical and the High Churchman. Certainly if we were either the one or the other, we should be sorely pressed by this appeal: "They who hesitate to declare themselves partakers of these views, would do well to consider whether the Church of England can go on any longer without some system of theology that rests on a scientific basis, and maintains itself by at least probable arguments. Are our formularies to be consistently understood? Are we to be left to schools of doctrine, clearly heterogeneous and arbitrary, without rule of faith to guide, or method of interpretation to follow, content to adopt one dogma, and to reject its necessary consequent? Are we not required to give logical and clear-headed men reasons why they should rather be Churchmen than Dis

senters? Are we to attempt to systematize and complete the Anglican theology as we have received it from the Fathers of our Church, or to give up the task altogether as hopeless, and, confining ourselves to pressing practical duties, leave all articles of doctrine and speculation to the hazards of public opinion and the general dispensation of Providence? The sea of discussion on which we are afloat is certainly wide, but is that a reason why we should throw ourselves overboard ?"—p. 88.

There is no escape from this: we must either float in the ark of the Church, or throw ourselves overboard on the billows of free thought. We must either nestle in the bosom of Catholicism, submissive and passive children, or use the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, in the service and pursuit of rational Christianity. There is no middle ground between Authority and absolute liberty, the Religion and worship of the individual soul. That there is no third course, Puseyism is labouring to demonstrate. What will be the answer of the English mind? To what side will the Genius of the nation incline when this alternative is more and more clearly placed before it? Are churches aware what cause they are serving when they are making prominent this truth,-" you have but a choice between two,-Catholicism, or perfect freedom; an authoritative Church with official clergy alone qualified to administer the saving sacraments,-or the rational worship of God by the individual soul, aided, sanctified and exalted by earnest personal communion with the Spirit of Christ, with no authorised interpreter to come between?"

ART. V.-REPORT TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT, FROM THE POOR LAW COMMISSIONERS, ON THE TRAINING OF PAUPER CHILDREN; with Appendices. 1841. Clowes and Sons. pp. 421.

THE very interesting volume before us consists chiefly of a selection from the reports furnished by the assistant Poor Law Commissioners, in answer to a circular desiring information on the following points:

1. The state of the Pauper Schools before passing the Poor Law Amendment Act.

2. The improvements which have been introduced into the schools since the passing of the Act.

3. The further improvements which might be introduced into them, and the obstacles to such further improvements.

There is also placed very appropriately at the beginning of the volume, some "evidence of employers of labourers on the influence of training and education on the value of workmen," taken by Edwin Chadwick, Esq., Secretary to the Poor Law Commis

sioners.

It could not be that the common Father of all had connected the prosperity of one class of society with the depression of another. Our own blindness alone could have made us for a moment believe it, and we might on that ground alone have rested assured, that in cultivating and developing the moral, intellectual, and spiritual nature of man, in every class, we must be promoting the welfare of the individual, of the class, and of the community at large; satisfied that if experience seemed to give any opposing testimony, it was against the limitation and imperfection only of our efforts that its evidence must be received.

The following examination is particularly deserving of attention from the discrimination evinced of the respective effects of national character, of special training to some particular kind of labour, and of school learning. All the employers unite in bearing testimony to the value of a more extended system of education than has hitherto been generally considered desirable for the operative; in giving him more varied occupation for his leisure hours, more respectable and economical habits, greater power of adapting his exertions to the accidental circumstances of his condition, and more reasonable views of his relations to, and claims upon, his employers.

"Albert G. Escher, Esq.

"You are an engineer residing at Zurich?-Yes: I am one of the partners of the firm of Escher, Wyss, and Co., of Zurich.

"What opportunities have you had of observing the moral and intellectual condition of working men, the natives of different countries, differently educated?—We employ from six to eight hundred men in our machinemaking establishment at Zurich: we also employ about two hundred men in our cotton mills there; about five hundred men in our cotton manufactories in the Tyrol and in Italy. I have occasionally had the control of from five to six hundred men engaged in engineering operations as builders, masons, &c., and men of the class called navigators in England.

"Are the working people whom you employ, or have employed, in Switzerland, natives of that country?—No: partly Swiss, partly Germans of all the different states,-Saxons, Wurtemburghers, and others; partly French, some few Danes, some Norwegians, some Polanders, some Bohemians, some Hungarians, some English and Scotch, and some Dutch. "Have the numbers of the different classes of workmen and the constancy of their employment been such as to enable you to discern their national characteristics?—Yes; I think I have had very full opportunities of distinguishing their various characters, which I have had moreover opportunities of observing and studying in their own countries, in several of which I have conducted works.

"In what order do you class the workmen of various nations in respect to such natural intelligence as may be distinguished from any intelligence imparted by the labours of the schoolmaster?—I class the Italians first; next the French; and the northern nations very much on a par.

"Do you include the English as of the northern family?—Yes, I do. "What are the more particular natural characteristics of the several classes of workmen ?-The Italians' quickness of perception is shown in rapidly comprehending any new descriptions of labour put into their hands, of quickly comprehending the meaning of their employer, of adapting themselves to new circumstances, much beyond what any other classes have. The French workmen have the like natural characteristics, only in a somewhat lower degree. The English, Swiss, German, and Dutch workmen, we find, have all much slower natural comprehension,

"What, however, do you find to be the differences of acquirements imparted by specific training and education ?—As workmen only, the preference is undoubtedly due to the English; because as we find them, they are all trained to special branches, on which they have had comparatively superior training, and have concentrated all their thoughts. As men of business or of general usefulness, and as men with whom an employer would best like to be surrounded, I should, however, decidedly prefer the Saxons and the Swiss, but more especially the Saxons, because they have had a very careful general education, which has extended their capacities beyond any special employment, and rendered them fit to take up, after a short preparation, any employment to which they may be called. They will be found by their employers more generally useful.

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