be found; and his title to that pre-eminence is secure, if he can in himself but be preserved, or even rescued from degeneracy."-(pp. 272, 273.)

Now this is good, but not good enough;—it is true, but not all the truth. It has more of thought, and of a reference to the unseen, than a Canning or a Brougham would have given us; but how far short does it fall of the force and beauty of the Scriptures:-"Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth:"-" Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart;" "but because it pleased the Lord to make thee His people." "He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen. Thy fathers went down into Egypt with three-score and ten persons, and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude."

Yet if this emphatic final passage falls short, what shall we say to such statements as these?

"The high place which England occupies, as the first among the commercial nations of the world, has been assigned to her in the order of providence, not by a fortuitous concurrence of events, nor by any artificial or temporary combination of them; but as the natural and proper consequence of her possessing, in a superior degree, the elements of industrial greatness; and not merely its physical elements, such as geographical position, mineral wealth, abundant capital; but its moral elements,-resolution, energy, skill, perseverance, and good faith."—(p. 225.)

And is this all! "Resolution, energy, skill, perseverance, and good faith," producing the "natural consequence" of placing England "first among the commercial nations of the earth." Why, what is this, but the vaunt, "My power, and the might of my hand, have gotten me this wealth" "for my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land?"

With these indistinct and incorrect views of first principles, we cannot be surprised if we find such fearful assertions as these:-"The trade of foreign countries is essential to England." "Foreign countries neither have combined, nor ought to combine, nor can combine, against the commerce of Great Britain."-(p. 224.) "England's enormous capital may waste for generations before it sinks to the level of equality with that of any other country."—(p. 232.) We are struck with alarm when we read such language as this, from a leading member of the government; and put forward, too, at the very moment when every single branch of the public revenue is rapidly declining; and that, the more alarmingly, because from some inscrutable cause.

But we turn from these financial questions, to one of a higher character, and on which Mr. Gladstone might be expected to escape from official trammels, and to rejoice in the freedom of declaring high and ennobling truths without restraint. He was called upon to deliver the Inaugural Address on the opening of the Collegiate Institution of Liverpool. Here all party feeling and all parliamentary ties might be for a moment forgotten, and a bold outline of what a Christian education ought to be, might be given.

But a man cannot deteriorate and stunt himself in one department, and yet grow and thrive in another. Hence it does not greatly surprise us to find little in this Inaugural Address beyond a few vague generalities, gracefully delivered. The effect of the whole discourse, is that of a man aiming so to occupy an hour, as to please his auditors "without committing himself." We will instance a passage or two, which we honestly quote as appearing to us to be among the best in the whole address.

Mr. Gladstone opens, after a few prefatory sentences, with some just remarks on the necessity of a sound education being provided for the mass of the people, with a view to the security of our national institutions ::

"Allow me, my Lord Bishop, to say that there is no class of men who, as a class, ought at least to entertain, whether they actually do so or not, a livelier interest in the progress of all schemes intended for the promotion of public education, than that class which is connected with political office. What is the condition of the institutions of this country? I shall only speak of facts not open to dispute. Thank God, we are here removed from the arena of party discussion; but it is admitted upon all hands, it is boasted by some, it is received with satisfaction by others, it is denied by none, that we have arrived at a stage in the progress of society, in which it is necessary to give a broad basis to public institutions-in which you must interest in them, and in which you must challenge for them, the approbation and support of the mass of the intelligent community. We live under a monarchy-we live under an aristocracy-we live in daily enjoyment of the blessings of the national church-but how are these ancient systems upheld? The Church does not stand upon the groundwork of superstition; the monarchy and the peerage are not supported by violence-it is not the bayonet of the soldier which is the guarantee of the permanence of our institutions. True it is, indeed, that prescription is a principle of weight and value in civil affairs; true it is that Englishmen are distinguished among the nations of the earth, not only by an indomitable energy, but likewise by a dislike to idle and unnecessary change, and by a reverence for the traditions of their forefathers. All these things have hitherto been known as truths; and I trust, and firmly am assured, that we have not yet arrived at the period when they can be denied. But it is also not less true, that the constitution of this country itself calls upon the people for their free and their intelligent support; it is also true that extensive franchises are committed to numerous classes of the population; it is also true that without the intelligent assent and attachment of those numerous classes to which I advert, the institutions of the country, and the government of the country, could not be sustained. Those, therefore, who in their sphere-be it more or less extensive, and I, as one of the least among them-those who are appointed to watch over the laws and institutions

of the country, they know (at least they ought to know)-the best of all men, that inasmuch as we must look to the great mass of the intelligent community for the means of upholding our institutions, of supporting the throne and the aristocracy, of supporting the church as a national establishment, of maintaining what some men conceive to be but the relics of former superstitions, constructed under cover of darkness and of ignorance, but what we believe to be not less sound in their principles, than we know them to be deeply rooted in the affections of the people; public men, I say, ought, of all others, best to perceive how important it must be, to train the minds of the population in sound and useful knowledge,-in knowledge which will really bear the criterion of a searching examination, and not in that which, unfortunately, too often passes by the name of sound and useful knowledge, without pretension to the substance. They must know of what infinite moment it is, by the communication of that genuine knowledge, by the formation of right habits of thought, by a real and effectual developement of the faculties of our nature, to secure a still larger support, a still warmer attachment, a still more intelligent assent upon the part of the population to the institutions which we love and revere and it is therefore, acting upon that conviction, that, so far from desiring to see education restricted in the country, I wish that every year which passes over our heads may, upon the contrary, witness its further and still further extension;-and in every establishment which, like this establishment, professes to form the character of the people according to the true and real purpose of our being, I, for my part, see, upon the one hand, a great instrument of spiritual good, and, upon the other hand, a new guarantee for the permanence of our political institutions."-(pp. 7-9.)

All this is to a certain extent true, but it is what would be equally conceded by a Milner or a Gibbon; by a Wilberforce or a Castlereagh. Mr. Gladstone, however, soon rises in his tone, and demands for education that characteristic which alone can render it worthy of the name :—

"As union with God was the law of his original nature, so reunion with God is the great purpose for which he is now placed upon earth; and for the fulfilment of which, not the Christian religion alone, but likewise the whole experience of life, all that befals and belongs to him in it, his domestic position, his social position, whatever is his, whatever lies around him, in one comprehensive system of discipline, devised by Divine Wisdom for the purpose of contributing to the accomplishment of that great design, the renovation of the nature of God in a race that had fallen away. Now, this is really the fundamental question-whether education is primarily and chiefly a system for giving to a man the means of pursuing his temporal calling, or whether, without excluding that purpose, it is primarily and chiefly a system for operating upon the mind and character of man himself. If it be the first, then it is easy to understand why, in a country which labours under religious divisions, we should not seek to encumber our education, as it were, by mixing religion with its entire frame-work, as essential to its solidity: but if, upon the contrary, so far from its being true that such is the case, this be one of the subtlest and most mischievous delusions that ever went forth for the ruin of man, then, upon the other hand, it is surely equally undeniable that religion must be included in the matter of education. And not only that religion must be included as one among many branches of instruction, as constituting one item in the long catalogue of accomplishments,-to say this, would indeed be saying little; but it must be really the pervading and controlling principle, the principle to which all others are to be subordinated, and with regard to which both the foundation of an institution is to be laid, and all its details are to be adjusted and arranged. That I believe to be the principle upon which those persons were cordially agreed, who have joined JAN. 1843.

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together in the foundation of this establishment. Here then I trust we shall see, under the faithful care, and under the able superintendence of the reverend gentleman who has been chosen to preside_over_it,—and who will, I trust, shortly oblige this meeting by explaining to them the nature of the course which it is his intention to pursue; in this institution I trust we shall see communicated to the rising generation, what has been simply and plainly described in the rules as 'sound religion in connection with useful learning.' We do not, because we maintain the necessity and the sovereignty of high and sound religious teaching, disparage that of useful learning. We are ready, I trust, to impart that useful learning which bears upon the pursuit of man's honest calling, and upon the obtaining of his daily bread:and even more; we shall contend with deep conviction that this kind of learning also will always be best, and most effectually communicated and received, when it is joined to sound religion; but the combination of this useful information with a higher element, is that which this institution is designed to recommend; and which, as far as this town and community are concerned, it is designed also to perpetuate. And in our rigid adherence to this position, we conceive that we are not acting upon any rash opinion, but that we have solid and ample ground for our convictions. We think that, in order to ascertain what should be the nature of the training to be applied to man, we must look into the laws of his nature, and of the state in which he lives, and must learn the lessons which they teach, and must preserve a correspondence with them in our own proceedings. We believe that, if it be really wished to repair to the most authentic sources, and to labour with a view to permanent as well as to immediate results in the culture of the human being, we must draw our information, not from any vague theory or speculation, but from the consideration of the experimental facts of the nature of man himself, and of the condition in which it has pleased God to place him. If we go to Scripture, as to the highest record of that which most concerns us, we are assured that his natural life upon earth is a life that perishes like the grass, that it flourishes in the morning, and that in the evening it is gone. If such be the case, is it not natural and incumbent upon us that we should direct our attention to that imperishable life which lies beyond the grave; that we should not pretend we are educating a man, when, in point of fact, our efforts only have reference to the temporary incidents of this earthly state, which is the state of his infancy; and have no reference to that future state, which is the state of his manhood and full developement? If, again, we look to the institutions of our religion, do we not find that all our children are already in covenant with God; that they are already dedicated to him by baptism, and after they have been so dedicated, after the very first days or weeks of infancy have been stamped with His seal and signed with His cross, is it to be supposed that when their faculties begin to ripen and expand, they are to be trained up without the knowledge of the life-giving truth of revelation? If we look to the nature of the human mind itself, if we consider its longings,how comprehensive is its range, how great its capabilities, how little its best and highest faculties are satisfied with the objects that are placed before us upon earth; how many marks this dispensation bears of being a temporary, and as it were an initiatory dispensation,-is it not monstrous to pretend that we are giving to the human being such a cultivation as befits his nature and his destiny, when we put out of sight all the higher and the more permanent purposes for which he lives, and confine our provision to matters which, however valuable, (and valuable they are in their own place) yet of themselves bear only upon earthly ends? Is it not a fraud upon ourselves and our fellow-creatures, is it not playing and paltering with words,-is it not giving stones to those who ask for bread, if, when man, so endowed as he is, and with such high necessities, demands of his fellow-men that he may be rightly trained, we impart to him, under the name of an adequate education, that which has no reference to his most essential capacities and wants, and which limits the immortal creature to objects that perish in the use."-(pp. 15-19.)

This is eloquent, and true, and unanswerable. Are we not satisfied, then? Not quite, we must admit. But why so?

Mr. Gladstone has always been claimed by that party in the Church, which declares "Scripture and Tradition" to be "the joint rule of faith." Mr. Gladstone was then abiding with his brother, the present Mayor of Liverpool, who had, within the last six weeks, given his vote in the Liverpool Town Council in favour of" modifying" (i.e. of surrendering,) that Scriptural and Protestant system which the Protestants of Liverpool have, after several years of hard fighting, succeeded in establishing in the Corporation Schools of that town. How could we avoid, then, looking with some anxiety for the exact terms in which Mr. Gladstone would enunciate his principle? We searched his Address from end to end, and that again and again, but no explicit declaration of absolute submission to the WORD OF GOD, as the sole and sufficient standard of truth, could we find.

First, at page 13, Mr. Gladstone says, "In order to deserve the character of a religious education, it must be founded, not upon those vague generalities which are supposed to be common to all men, or at least to all men who assume the name of Christians; but upon the definite revelation which it has pleased God to give, and whereby each man among us must hope to stand or fall.” Again, at page 19, he repeats, "We revert, with more and more sure and fixed convictions, to the assertion of that principle whereupon we stand in this place, namely, that education, to be valuable, and to deserve the name, must be religious education, and that, in order to be religious education, it must be founded upon the definite revelation of God.”

Thus, twice over, we are told, of "founding education upon the definite revelation of God." But is this the plain and distinct adhesion to HOLY SCRIPTURE which we want? Does not the Irish National System, with its "Scripture Lessons," used alike by Papist and Socinian, declare itself to be "founded on the definite revelation of God?" Do not the Tractarians constantly tell us, that "the revealed will of God is made known to us in His Church?"

We trust we are not falling into hyper-criticism. Most sincerely can we aver that all our prepossessions are in Mr. Gladstone's favour; and that there are few things we desiderate more, than to see him fully assert, and "commit himself" to the assertion, of the truth which he knows. But we have a great dislike of intentional vagueness; and merely to fear its existence in the present case has inflicted upon us a severe disappointment.