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lead us to repentance; and our repentance induce us to trust ourselves unreservedly to the everlasting arms, which we humbly hope are still under us.

In such a state of society, and with such prospects, (and we are chargeable with anything rather than exaggeration in our statements,) it becomes not merely a duty, but a matter of dire necessity, to walk carefully "about our Žion, to go round about her, and tell the towers thereof." It behoves us to "mark well her bulwarks," and to forget none of them, for we have need of every defence. Our refuge, after all, is the power of God alone; but God would have us help ourselves, and, with full reliance on him, work out our own salvation. It was this necessity which avowedly, at first, led the Tractarian writers to seek some other ground for the stability of the Church, than the failing hand of state authority and protection. But they erred in that, though they no longer put their trust in princes, they did not cease from man, but leant on one broken reed instead of another: they put their trust in church authority instead of state authority, and both must fail alike. Far be it from us to follow their example: we would commence our suggestion of a remedy, by emphatically expressing our trust in God alone. The bride should look up to none for support save the bridegroom; the body, to none for guidance save the head; the Church, to none for help save Christ: it is only by the power of His might that we have any hope for the success of the means which we would suggest. These means we will now proceed to state; but we felt it needful, in the first place, to draw together the many and urgent reasons for the adoption of fresh and vigorous measures, before we advocated any change in, or, rather, any addition to, our present ecclesiastical administration.

In order, however, that we may fully clear the ground as we proceed, we will give a few reasons, which we trust will be satisfactory, for believing that we may lawfully subjoin to the apostolic institution of bishops, priests and deacons, as the occasions of the Church, or the necessities of the times, may require. We do not know in what language we can better state this necessary changeableness of subordinate Church institutions, than in that of Dr. Arnold, in the preface already alluded to:

"The truths of the Christian religion are to be sought in the Scripture alone; they are the same at all times and in all countries. With the Christian church it is otherwise: the church is not a revelation concerning the eternal and unchangeable God, but an institution to enable changeable man to appreciate the unchangeable. Because man is changeable, the church is also changeable; changeable, not in its object, which is for ever one and the same, but in its means for effecting that object; changeable in its details, because the same treatment cannot suit various diseases, various climates, various constitutional peculiarities, various external influences."

And such is not only the theory of the Christian Church, as maintained by the articles and the best writers of the Church of England, but it has been, in fact, the practice of the Church in all ages. We read, first of all, of the appointment of deacons, whose office, in the primitive ages,

was evidently somewhat different from the office of those bearing the same name in our times. Then we hear of the appointment of an archdeacon, to check, as it has been supposed, the growing power of the presbyters. And why need we multiply instances? It will suffice, for our present purpose, to quote a passage from the learned Bingham, as showing the numerous offices into which the clergy (clerici) were subdivided, no doubt for wise purposes, and which have in a great measure ceased to exist. Bingham thus defines the office of clericus: "On the other hand, all persons who had any public employment in the church were called by the common name of clerici; which name, at first, was given only to the three superior orders of bishops, priests, and deacons; because there were then no other orders in the church. But in the third century many inferior orders were appointed, as subservient to the deacon's office; such as subdeacons, acolythists, readers, &c. And then these also had the common name of clerici too, having no farther concern with secular affairs, but wholly attending the service of the church. St. Cyprian always gives these the name of clerici; as, where he speaks of Optatus, a subdeacon, and Saturus, a reader, he styles them both clerici: the ordination of such, he calls ordinationes clericæ." (Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, 1. iv., 7.)

It seems, then, clear that the church not only has, but has exercised, a right of appointing ecclesiastical officers according to her exigencies, and that she has not scrupled to class them with the superior orders of bishops, priests, and deacons, under the one name of clerici. Assuming this point, therefore, as satisfactorily demonstrated, we shall proceed to show that an exigency has arisen in the Church, which demands the creation of new church officers, or a considerable alteration in the character and office of those subordinate authorities which are to be found in the Church of England.

It would be as painful as it is needless to enter into statistical accounts to show how utterly incompetent the Church of England now is, to carry out, with anything like efficiency, her parochial system. We need only appeal to the experience of every minister of the church, employed in towns or large agricultural parishes, for proof of this statement. "What are we among so many?" must be the desponding enquiry of many an active minister of the Gospel throughout the land. In such parishes as Whitechapel, Stepney, and the like, the inadequacy of the means to the end is of course glaringly apparent: but it is no less true of much smaller districts, where two clergymen have to divide the ministry among a population of seven or eight thousand souls. It is not too much to say, that the Church of England needs an additional body of, at the least, ten thousand clergy if she is to do her work thoroughly and efficiently, according to her excellent parochial system. It is clear, moreover, that, to obtain funds to support a tenth part of this number, is completely out of her power: nor, if she were able to procure them, are we sure that it would be wise to create so large a body of clergy, with considerable funds at their command. Such a body would become an imperium in imperio dangerous, in the extreme, to state

authority, and difficult to control. Were the case, however, otherwise; were it certain that they would always follow the apostolical injunction, to obey the powers that be, as ordained of God; it is so manifestly impossible that means for supporting such a body could be found, that we must needs give up as hopeless any such idea, if we have been weak or sanguine enough to entertain it for a moment. If, then, we are to make any effort whatever to stem the torrent of vice and ignorance which threatens both Church and State with imminent destruction, it is evident that we must seek our remedy in some more feasible mode than the appointment of regularly ordained clergy as they now exist. The remedy, it seems to us, is near at hand, and is to be found in an expedient not wholly unknown both to the theory and practice of our Church, especially in the present day: we mean, in a well-ordered and clearly defined lay agency.

And first we have a body of lay people connected in different ways with our church; some exercising authority, and others serving in matters ecclesiastical. We have our churchwardens, sidesmen, clerks, schoolmasters and mistresses, pew-openers, and the like; each and all exercising some office of higher or lower degree, and of more or less utility, in the Church. And surely we should not hesitate to avail ourselves of the aid, if procurable, even of the " doorkeepers in the house of our God". The persons who exercise these offices, ministering as they do, to a certain point at least, in holy things, ought themselves to be holy; and, in the inferior departments especially, it is the clergyman's fault if they are not selected on account of the decency and religious character of their lives. These, then, would form, if properly regulated, a sort of staff to the parish minister, to aid him in his endeavours to improve the condition of the poorer members of his flock, both in temporal and spiritual matters. With these we might begin, giving to their offices a more religious tone, and investing them personally with something of a ministerial character. Again, we find that the principle of district visiting societies, carried on mainly by means of lay agency, is gaining ground all over the country. It is, indeed, objected to by many; but the fact of such societies having arisen, and being rapidly on the increase, notwithstanding much violent and unmeasured opposition, is a proof that there is a need in these times which the old ways and means are inadequate to meet. Some of our large societies, also, numbering bishops among their members and defenders, are in the habit of employing lay agency and have found it extremely useful. It is useless, therefore, to conceal from ourselves the fact, and wrong, we think, to lament it, that there is a growing feeling among our clergy, that they may lawfully call in the aid of well-inclined lay members of the church, in order to render more effectual their own labours; and that there is also a corresponding sense among the laity of their privileges and duties, as being, in a lower, but still in a true sense, "kings and priests." Many of these persons are content to use their influence and employ their energies according to the directions of the minister under whom their lot is cast; but there are many others who, from

receiving no encouragement at the hands of the clergyman, but yet feeling strongly the duty of doing their part in the salvation of souls, penetrate, as dissenters, into regions, and among classes of persons, where the authorised minister has little means of access, and where he would meet with little sympathy; and they work in their sphere a great work to which we cannot blind our eyes and which we dare not regret. Not that we would praise or encourage this irregular zeal: we lament over its irregularity, but we cannot regret its existence till we are in a position to enter, with a reasonable prospect of success, upon the field which these unauthorised teachers and preachers occupy.

And now we have arrived at the point at which we have been all along aiming, but which we have wished to reach by safe and sure gradations. To meet the exigencies of which we have spoken, and to occupy the field in which unauthorised yet active and zealous labourers have been, in default of others more qualified, bearing the burden and heat of the day, we would set apart year by year certain persons, both men and women, from among the lay members of our congregations, to assist the appointed minister in performing the task to which, by himself, he is necessarily unequal. We would, of course, confine the sphere of such persons to visiting the sick, the poor, and the needy; and aiding in the instruction of the children educated in the parochial schools. We would permit them to read the Scriptures and explain them familiarly by word of mouth, or by means of summaries and comments approved of by the minister. We would constitute them, also, into committees, under the superintendence of the parish clergy, for the purpose of relieving effectually and with discrimination the wants of those with whom they would daily be brought in contact. We would not of course permit them to preach either in our churches or out of them, but would leave to the minister all his usual functions, making him at the same time more fit for his higher duties of ministering in the congregation, by relieving him from the fatiguing, and frequently impossible task, of "serving tables." Nor should we be without a security as to the manner in which these lay-clerical officers would discharge their duties: for, in the first place, we would have them year by year set apart from the congregation by the minister of their parish, with solemn prayer and supplication. They would thus be fully impressed with the awful nature and responsibility of the duties which they were undertaking; and by their consecration for the time to the peculiar service of the Church, there would be nearly the same check upon their deportment and conversation as there is upon that of the ordained clergy. We would have this solemn service renewed year by year, that thus the minister might have a constant check upon these his subordinates; and we would, moreover, allow him the power of suspending any one of them of whose conduct he disapproved. We do not fear that we should find many prepared to enter on such an office as this, combining their ordinary occupations with a Church character which would consecrate and encourage their otherwise desultory efforts. There would be many of the wealthier members of the com

munity who would willingly sacrifice a portion of their time, and whose time would be well occupied in a task like this; and we should find many of the poor who would be glad, in their lowly sphere, to do the work of Christ, and who could reach hearts and touch sympathies with which the refined and well-educated have little or no acquaintance. Many of those zealous yet restless minds, who are actuated by a strong love of souls, as knowing what Christ has done for their own, would be snatched from the ranks of dissent, in which, for want of a better field, they had enlisted, to exercise their subordinate ministry in a more regular and certain channel. The toils of the ordained minister would be lightened, his authority increased, and his work more efficiently done. We have sketched our plan but hastily, and as it were in outline, as feeling that we cannot do more than suggest, and that it is for others to carry out. We trust that we have said enough, at the commencement of our observations, to remove in some degree the not unnatural prejudices which would arise in the mind of many against a new scheme, involving such important interests. We are too fondly attached to our own beloved Church to suggest anything, knowingly, which might tend to weaken her authority or destroy her influence. But we feel firmly convinced that such a plan as we have sketched would have the effect of increasing her efficiency, and removing her foes, by doing their work for them; for dissent could not exist were there no room for it to flourish in, and its power and extent are the index of the Church's faithfulness and efficiency.

The subject is far from exhausted, and we trust to return to it at some future time. All that remains for us now, is to point out, by way of conclusion, the manifold advantages which, as it appears to us, would accrue to the church from the adoption of this system, of what, for want of a better appellation, we have called lay-clerical agency.

And first, with regard to the minister himself, his toil would be lightened and his efficiency increased, at the same time that he would be left more at leisure to devote his time and his energies to the study and the elucidation of the Word of God. And that this is not needful none can affirm; for what complaint so common among the clergy, especially in large parishes, as that their time for reading is reduced to almost nothing, and that their congregations consequently suffer by reason of the necessary meagreness of their sermons. Without constant feeding, the stream must soon be dry; and as, from the youth of our clergy, at the time of their ordination, their reading must necessarily have been but scanty; so, unless, which is rarely the case, their opportunities for study are afterwards great, they will be reduced either to the necessity of copying their sermons from others, whereby they will become lifeless machines, instead of living and burning pleaders for Christ; or else they will be reduced to deal in words instead of thoughts, an alternative at least as pernicious. To secure, therefore, a greater portion of leisure, wherein our clergy, and especially its younger members, may "give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word," is surely no mean advantage. The occupations

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