A Liverpool curate has seceded to Rome. But it is not Mr. McNeile's curate, nor Mr. Stewart's, nor Mr. Ewbank's, nor Dr. Tattershall's. No, there is no movement even, not the slightest approximation towards Rome, in any of those quarters. It is the Tractarian curate of St. Martin's who has seceded. And, considering that more than fifty other Tractarian clergymen have lately taken the same step, it seems as clear as anything possibly can be, that there is a tendency, at least, in Tractarian teaching, to draw or drive men towards Rome. Surely Mr. Wray himself can hardly deny, that if he found a certain college or university,-a Queen's college in Oxford or in Cambridge, or a Durham university, or St. Bees',-turning out a set of men, who, one after another, lapsed into Socinianism, he would take up a very strong and decided opinion, that there was something favouring Socinianism in the teaching of that College.

Instead of which, however, Mr. Wray endeavours to maintain, that it is not anything which he has taught his curate, or anything he has learned from the Tractarian doctors, that has caused his secession; but that it is solely the effect of disgust,-the reaction consequent upon the "careless irreverence "" with which" divine service is conducted," in other churches, and by other persons. Now let us think over this matter for a few

moments.

Here was a curate fully occupied by his own duties,-reading Daily Service, observing Fasts and Festivals, and having joint charge of (we doubt not) some 10,000 souls. How came he, then, to have that leisure to look around him on every side, and to criticise the mode and manner in which "divine worship was conducted" by other clergymen,-which could furnish him with a general result, forming the basis of so fearful a step as actual secession to Rome?

But again, is it a fact, that in the churches of Liverpool by which Mr. Wells was surrounded, "divine worship is conducted with careless irreverence?" Will Mr. Wray venture to tell us that "careless irreverence" is the characteristic of such men as Mr. Haldane Stewart, Mr. McNeile, or Mr. Ewbank? He will not dare to commit himself in so open and flagrant a bearing "false witness against his neighbour."

But what are these "deviations from the doctrines and discipline and ceremonial of the Church, which "-Mr. Wray assures us," are leading to these fearful results?" In order to give no weakened idea of his meaning, we will copy the entire passage in which he describes "the scandalous nonconformity to the Prayer"book, Rubric, and Canons, of which many are guilty."

"1. Foremost among the negligences, which present a stumbling-block to those who would fain believe our Church to be catholic and apostolic, is the disuse of the daily service, in violation of the Church's order;-the non-observance of the Holy Days enjoined by our Church, and the refusal to give notice of the recurrence of fast and festival, as required by the canons and rubric ;-nay, the deliberate rejection of the very doctrine of holy seasons and fasting, as popish, and alien from the spirit of the Gospel. These are no trifling departures from the universal practice of primitive ages and the principles of the Reformation. It is not easy to conceive a greater difference of character than what must exist between a people who honour these observances and a people who despise them.

"2. The next grievous offence to Catholic-minded men, is the withering change that has passed upon our places of worship since the Reformation: scarcely one in fifty of the noble fabrics which our forefathers reared can be kept in decent repair, while Ichabod is written in mould upon their walls:crowded (contrary to all ecclesiastical as well as architectural propriety) with galleries and contracted pews, ranged theatre-fashion round a central pulpit, for seeing not for praying,-God's mercy-seat shut out from view, His consecrated ground sold for money, and His poor thrust into a corner. Can we be surprised that God will not be worshipped by such a generation as this, and that men have found that, by turning His house into a house of merchandise, they have made it impossible to fall low on their knees before His footstool? Surely it is the solemn duty of clergy and people to protest against these monstrous innovations, and to demand why the order prefixed to the morning service is set at nought, which requires 'prayer to be used in the accustomed place,' and such ornaments of the Church and of the ministers to be retained, as were in use in this Church of England in the reign of Edward VI. For where now, alas, shall we look for the comely decorations, which our homilies recommend for the sanctuary, and what hopes can we have that these pious offerings will be general among a people who delight to stigmatize all such oblations as popish?

"3. As to the scandals in the celebration of public worship, which alienate the affections of the Church's most faithful sons, I would notice the not unfrequent celebration of divine service by a deacon, instead of a priest,-the presence of a priest being necessary to constitute public worship; the usual confounding together the three distinct services of Matins, Litany, and Holy Communion-the introducing modern hymns, where nothing is directed to be sung, and the omission of anthems in the place where they are orderedthe reading of the Psalter, instead of 'singing' or 'saying the Songs of David, as they are pointed for this purpose-the delegating the people's part of the service to a single official, thus destroying the animating effect of a full and hearty response-the absence of all musical intonation in the creeds, versicles, and other parts of the service which the Reformers ruled to be 'sung,' as had been accustomed-the introduction, too, of a character of music (where there is music at all), which, instead of partaking of the simple grandeur of primitive times, is more suitable to the theatre, or conventicle, than the house of God. By these, and numberless other violations of the Rubric, the varied beauties of our Liturgy are lost, and the chaste magnificence, of which it is susceptible, utterly destroyed. And, in consequence, the Church has lost its hold upon the great mass of the people.

4. But the debased tone thus given to the service is the least part of those corruptions against which the clergy are bound to protest, by virtue of their vow to conformity. In defiance of this solemn pledge, persons are found daring and unscrupulous enough to change the appointed lessons, and to refuse to read the Apocrypha, which the Church has sanctioned in her sixth Article, and ordered in her calendar. And not the lessons only, but prayers also, are designedly omitted and altered in her several offices, as offending their private taste, or contravening their peculiar opinions.

"In the public service many decent ceremonies, expressly enjoined in canons and rubrics, are omitted: such as bowing the head at the holy name, and reverentially bringing' all charitable collections to the priest,' and the humble presenting' of these alms, and placing them upon the holy table;' and then also, and not till then, the placing of the elements on the altar, to be consecrated; and after consecration, and not before, the covering what remains of them reverently with a fair linen cloth.

"These significant ceremonies our Church has not thought too minute to enjoin upon her clergy, and yet they are all of them, for the most part, neglected, to the grief and annoyance of those who cling with affection to the simple ceremonial which our reformed Liturgy has retained. Indeed, upon no part of our Prayer Book has this inattention, whether arising from ignorance or indifference, produced such a deadening effect, as upon the highest act of Christian worship, blighting the joyous character of the holy Eucharist, and confining the people to one unvarying attitude through exhortation, and prayer, and praise.

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5. But there are more serious evils to mar the beauty of the Church than a despised ritual. These are blemishes on the surface which might be amended, were there not a subtler and more deeply-seated mischief beneath. It is to the doctrines of the Church-the fundamental and clearly-defined doctrines of the Church-that numbers who minister at her altars, are violently and schismatically opposed. This is the festering canker which is gnawing at the Church's vitals-this is the damning plague-spot which scares away from her thoughtful men, who would cheerfully shed their blood in her cause, if only she would be true to herself.

"But she is not true to herself. Heresy of the most fearful kind is openly taught in our pulpits, and this unrebuked by authority. Holy doctrines of the gospel, such as the apostolical descent of the clergy, baptismal regeneration, and the real participation of Christ in the Eucharist, are not only denied, but blasphemously denominated soul-deluding,' and thus the entire scheme of the Church's teaching is contravened. This is, unhappily, too notorious to need proof. It is candidly admitted by many who maintain these views, that they are not easily reconcileable with the language of the Church, and some of them scruple not to ask that her formularies should be altered to square with their peculiar notions. If this conduct does not carry with it its own condemnation in the judgment of all honest men, I know not what is sufficient to convince churchmen that there are traitors within our camp, and that it is their solemn duty to appeal to the ecclesiastical courts against the dangers that threaten our Zion.

"6. I do most solemnly and emphatically aver before God, that the people are robbed of their just right as members of the Church of England. In our schools the doctrine of the Catechism is denied or explained away. At the visitation of the sick the consolations of the Church are refused; the dying penitent is never moved to private confession of his sins' in the case specified; nor is the absolution of the Church ever pronounced as enjoined in the Visitation Office. Nay, more: I assert from my own knowledge of the fact, that not only is the whole doctrine of remission of sins through the instrumentality of an apostolical ministry repudiated, but the blessed sacrament of our Lord's body and blood is, in numberless instances, denied to the departing Christian as being a mere form. And I do say that the people of this country have just reason to remonstrate, and ask, what right any one holding these views has to minister at all at our altars? for is he a fitting administrator of the sacred elements who discerns not the Lord's body? Can he be a proper agent for conveying the grace of regeneration, who utterly denies its connec tion with holy baptism. Are these such stewards of the mysteries of God' as the people can with reason be satisfied with?

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Assuredly not. And I publicly protest against the dishonesty of men, who deny baptismal regeneration, continuing to minister in our Church, and

against their presumption in proposing that the baptismal offices shall be altered or bracketted to relieve their consciences. Let those who cannot unfeignedly teach the Church's doctrines, in common decency leave the Church, as our late curate has done, and let the Church expel such of them as have not the honesty voluntarily to relinquish a charge which they cannot faithfully fulfil. How otherwise can the people have confidence in the teaching of our clergy?

"7. It is these permitted irregularities, and the open denial of the fundamental doctrines of the Church, which first led him, whose departure from us we are lamenting, to seek the truth elsewhere."

Such is Mr. Wray's bill of indictment. Now, before we say a word on its intrinsic validity; let us consider, for a moment, the leading fact of the case.

Many secessions have recently taken place, Mr. Wray alludes to these, and classes Mr. Wells's among them. It was no isolated or peculiar circumstance, but one of a class. "Men of a reveren"tial tone of mind," Mr. Wray says, "6 are driven away from us." "A hundred and fifty earnest-minded persons have deserted our "fold within a brief space; and a hundred or a thousand times "this number, will be constrained to follow their example."

And what is the reason assigned by Mr. Wray for these numerous secessions?

He tells us of "those deviations from the doctrine and discipline and ceremonial of the Church, which are leading to "these unhappy results; and which have at length arrived "at such a height," &c.

He adds, "There is a point of endurance beyond which the "faith and patience of men cannot be trusted."

Thus, the clear intent of Mr. Wray's argument is, to put forward as the cause of secession to Popery," the careless irreverence" of many within the church,-which "has at length arrived at a height no longer endurable."

Is it true, then, that laxity of discipline, and irreverence in worship, have been increasing of late years?

Assuredly it is NOT TRUE.

Are the various matters of grievance which Mr. Wray particularizes, things which have sprung up in our own time?

Was not "the disuse of the daily service," the construction of "galleries and contracted pews," the "use of Divine Service by a Deacon," the omission of the Apocryphal Lessons,-the placing of the sacramental elements on the table before service ;did not this whole state of things exist, let us say, from 1801 to 1831, without causing a single secession from the Church? Does not Mr. Wray allege, then, as a cause for an evil of the present day,- —a state of things which existed for generations without producing any such results ?

In a word, Mr. Wray would fain make the public believe, that irregularities have latterly sprung up in the Church, which are disgusting and driving men out of it :-And that these irregularities and irreverences are the sole cause of all the mischief.

Whereas, the unquestionable fact is, that all the things of which he complains, as driving men out of the Church, have been customary among us for generations, without causing the least secession: And that the only new thing which has appeared in our time, is, the Tractarian teaching at Oxford, to which, as a directly procuring cause, all the recent secessions may be traced.

Tractarianism has been decrying the Reformation; repudiating or explaining away the doctrine of the Articles; and lamenting our departure and alienation from Popery, for some eight or ten years past. It has been foreseen and foretold, all along, that this sort of teaching would lead men into Popery; and the prediction is now fulfilling. But is it anything less than audacity, to deny so plain and obvious a fact; and to pretend that these secessions have arisen from a totally different cause; and that, a cause which has existed for very many years past, without producing one single secession?

Let us, however, as briefly as possible, glance at the several matters alleged by Mr. Wray, and examine into their truth and importance.

1. "The non-observance of holy days;"-" the rejection of the doctrine of holy seasons and fasting." "It is not easy to conceive a greater difference of character than what must exist between a people who honour these observances, and a people who despise them."

The Italian peasants, and the Irish, are foremost among those who honour these observances." And among any of them,-so lightly is human life esteemed, an assassin may be hired for a few shillings. Sins in abundance may be laid to the charge of the English peasant, but he is not lower in moral character than the holy-day-keepers of Italy or Hibernia.

2.

The withering change which has passed upon our places of worship "-" crowded with galleries and contracted pews.'

It is not very easy to understand what Mr. Wray's charge, here, really is. First, it is dilapidation and desertion, then it is being "crowded theatre-fashion." But surely Mr. Wray must be aware that, at no other period of our history have such efforts been made in church-building, as in the present. Since 1818, it is computed that at least four or five millions of money have been spent, in raising new churches, or restoring old ones. Strange, then, to