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"Those whom GOD hath joined together, let no man put asunder," says the priest; "the court shall pronounce a decree declaring such marriage to be dissolved," says the Act of Parliament. "Ŏ GOD," prays the Church, "Who didst teach that it should never be lawful to put asunder those whom Thou by matrimony hast made one;"" the court shall pronounce a decree declaring such marriage to be dissolved," says the Act. Was ever contrariety more apparent; ever a greater insult on the Church than thus to sap by enactment the force of her words? so that henceforth as far as the law is concerned, they are mere words: "vox et præterea nihil;" and those who hear them, know it is so.

And let no one think that the mischief stops here. The injury to morals is not ended. They propose now to limit divorce to adultery. They cannot stop there. No uation yet has stopped there. We venture to predict that ere long, the causes for which now judicial separations are pronounced will be held sufficient for pronouncing dissolution of marriage, and setting the parties free to marry again, and that the local tribunals which now grant the first, will soon grant the second. It will be fortunate if we stop there: we believe, coupling this measure with other signs of the times, that we shall go much further, become much worse, and rival Prussia eventually in our views of marriage. We say eventually : we may not see it, nor our children, but like causes produce like results. The mills of GOD grind slowly,' but they grind for all that, and exceeding small too.

Surely, then, here is a call upon all Churchmen to unite. The enemy is at the gates. He is encompassing the citadel, part of it is in his power. Unless we dislodge him, or, if that cannot be, resolutely hold what we have as yet untouched, he will obtain a complete mastery. After the claims put forth by Parliament, we must not be surprised at any aggression, at even an attempt to foist upon us a Parliamentary Prayer Book and Parliamentary Creeds. Lord R. Grosvenor's motion means something. He is but the tool of longer heads. There are Bishops on the Bench, who openly declare their belief, that the clergy will obey the law, whatever it is. There are others, whose teaching is notoriously opposed to the teaching of the Church Offices, and who are known to fret under the burden. When Government feels strong enough to do it, they will find the Puritan party ready for it, possibly a great proportion of the Bishops. And the success of Government in passing this Bill, and the triumphant manner in which they carried their claim to set aside the rights of the parish priest, may possibly make them think they are strong enough, and what is more, furnished with precedents as to dealing with clergy who have conscientious scruples. But it is possible also, that a firm attitude of Churchmen may save us from this struggle. The eleven thousand clergy, "shoulder to shoulder," did something.

They taught a Whig Government, and Whig Bishops, that the clergy would not obey a law which set God's law and the Church's law at nought. Union was our strength then: it must be now: But our efforts must be concentrated. There are already, it is true, centres in many parts of the kingdom. There are Church Unions in many dioceses, and they have done good service. But the danger is no longer diocesan, or provincial, it is national, it touches the whole Church. We want, therefore, a common centre, a Church Defence Association, which shall embrace the whole of the country, and whose seat, therefore, must be in London. It is worthy of consideration, whether a general Church Defence Association should not be formed in London, governed by a council of clergy and laity, representing if possible the different dioceses of Canterbury and York provinces. Such an association would thus have its wires everywhere, and the work would be more efficiently done than by local unions unconnected with each other. In this last agitation, the opposition to this Bill was organised, and the concessions extorted, not by the agency of the Church Unions, but by the joint action of some clergy, who formed a common centre for the whole Church. Their success is a strong argument in favour of superseding the local Church Unions by a general Church Defence Association, whose duty it shall be to protect from further assaults that most precious heritage which we have received from our fathers, our "Book of Common Prayer." Let us remember if we lose that, we lose all, and that Government and Parliament evidence in this Divorce Bill a strong disposition to see if they cannot wrest it from us. We do not court the struggle, and we would deprecate giving them any advantage by foolish threats, or isolated protests. But we must be prepared for a struggle for the faith, and, if prepared, the victory by GoD's help is ours. It will be seen then who are the honest men and who the traitors, who accept the Church's teaching, who wish it altered. We shall rally the people round the Prayer Book of their fathers; the old prayers their parents said; the old offices of their boyhood and their youth; shared in and joined in by those who are now at rest, and who taught them how to pray and bless GOD in the old time-honoured formularies of the Church of England. We will not provoke the conflict, but we do not dread it. But all under GOD depends upon union. If anything can open our eyes as to the intentions of Government, surely this Divorce Bill must. Let us then unite at once, and united we need not fear what man can do unto us.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES.

Holy Communion. E. Lumley, 514, New Oxford Street.

UNDER this title has been published, anonymously, a really valuable manual of devotions for "Holy Communion." Of late years many such have issued from the press, and we look upon the fact as an index of the life yet amongst us, and of the higher views and deeper feelings entertained by an increasing number of our countrymen. But the little volume now before us supplies a want that existed, notwithstanding all the manuals that have been published. "Something is wanted to assist the communicant in his devotions at the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, something to give point and meaning to the office, which is not found in any existing books." So writes the Editor in his preface, and well has he supplied the want. His intention has been to supply the mind with thoughts kindred to such as are suggested by the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel of the day. Thus we have Antiphons, Introits, Secrets, Communions, and Post Communions for every Sunday in the year. These are, for the most part, taken from the Revised Gallican Office of the seventeenth century; and when we have said this, we need say nothing further as to the simple beauty of the devotions themselves. The compiler defends the use of devotions taken from Roman Catholic books, for two reasons, "First, it is from the same source that all the most beautiful parts of the English Liturgy are derived; and, secondly, they are full of Holy Scripture." Satisfactory enough, as we think. There is, however, one thing we must mention in relation to this particular use of the Roman service-books, and it is this: Rome has departed from the ancient order of the Epistles and Gospels after Trinity; the English Church has retained it. The services of the Gallican church, therefore, for these Sundays, hardly apply to our own. Nevertheless, we earnestly recommend this manual, not only for the perusal but the use of our readers.

We ought to add that the book is chiefly intended for the use of the Clergy. In another edition it would be better to make a distinction in type between what belongs to the Prayer Book and what does not.

Light from the Cross. Sermons on the Passion of our LORD. Translated from the German of Dr. A. THOLUCK. Edinburgh: Clark. THIS volume of Sermons is full of earnest and practical thought, evidencing the deep insight into human nature by which its author is so distinguished. It is but seldom that any phrase occurs which is really objectionable. Occasionally, however, a few words are let fall which betray the Lutheran origin of the theology, and what we have chiefly to deplore is the implied denial of the perpetual virginity of our LORD'S Mother. These Sermons do indeed teach us how much the German Protestants of a better sort are in advance of those amongst ourselves who profess to have strong sympathies in their favour. The first part of the book is decidedly superior to the last. The character of several individuals prominent either as enemies or as saints around the Cross

of CHRIST is analyzed with a most instructive application. In the latter half of the volume there is more of verbiage and German manner, but no page of Dr. Tholuck's writings can well fail to exhibit the tokens of a profound Christian philosopher, even though tinged with the unhappy glow which modern controversy at times transfuses over them.

Deborah; or Fireside Readings for Household Servants. By the REV. NORMAN MACLEOD. Edinburgh: Constable.

THIS author is known to many by the interesting life of The Earnest Student which he published. The name of Deborah is adopted from Rebekah's nurse, whose memory, honoured by the living memorial of "the oak of weeping," sheds a dignity still upon the faithful domestic. The substitution of pecuniary bonds for those of life-long sentiment has thrown the serving portion of society into serious difficulty, depriving it of the elevating considerations which reflect upon the servant the glory of the master. A book which sets forth the practical dignity of Christian life in such a position may, we hope, be useful to many, and there is so little in the volume before us which indicates its Presbyterian origin that its practical remarks may be read with profit by all for whom they are intended. Its practical character would, of course, have acquired a more solid consistency had it rested upon a complete dogmatic system.

The validity of English Orders, by the REV. F. FISHER, (Rivingtons,) is a clearly written tract summing up the evidence which exists in proof of the completeness and sufficiency of Archbishop Parker's consecration.

Why are Infants Baptized? (Mozley,) is the title of a tract in reply to the Baptists, sound in doctrine and clear in expression, but not perhaps superior to much that has been published in the same form before.

MR. DRUMMOND has published a tract called The Rationale of Liturgies and of Public Worship, (Bosworth and Harrison,) maintaining, of course, Irvingite views.

Christianity the Logic of Creation, (White: London,) is a Swedenborgian publication written by a MR. JAMES, who probably does not recognize Logic as the formal science of the laws of thought.

We can recommend the Rev. GILBERT WHITE's Six Sermons on the True Nature of the Church, (Bell and Daldy,) as containing plain and earnest instruction upon a subject on which great ignorance abounds.

Life in Israel; or, Portraitures of Hebrew Character, by MARIA T. RICHARDS, Author of "Life in Israel," (Edinburgh: Clark,) belongs to a class of literature which, if fairly done, is sure to be popular in England. There is nothing which goes down so well among us as anything connected with the Bible. The book really consists of three tales, pleasantly enough written, relating respectively to the times of the Journeyings in the Wilderness, the Reign of Solomon, and the Captivity.

PAROCHIAL LAY CO-OPERATION.

1. An Historical Sketch of the English Brotherhoods which existed at the beginning of the Eighteenth Century. By EDWARD STEERE, LL.D. London: Masters. Lichfield: Lomax.

2. A Plea for Religious Societies in Parishes. By a Clergyman. Oxford and London: J. H. and J. Parker.

WE thought it necessary, in a recent article, to condemn in what some may have considered strong terms, the agitation for an increased influence of the Laity in Church matters. Our readers would not fail to observe, however, that there is a real lay co-operation, as distinct from lay interference, any attempt to develope which would meet with as strong sympathy in our pages as the latter does with our disapproval. As in the limitation of Church action, so in its expansion, our sole desire is to have those boundaries and those only which may be justly set out by the analogy of Divine order. It seems to us to be equally dangerous to stand still, and lay no claim to the ground which lies properly within our limits, as to rush wildly into the open country, and give up the shelter held out to us by the bulwarks and towers of the City of GOD. It is therefore our purpose to say a few words further upon this subject, with a view to enlisting our clerical readers in some practical attempts at home, such as may help to solve the question now occupying the thoughts of so many, in the way in which alone a solution of it will be valuable to the Church.

The great blot of our Church in her parishes as in the country at large, is the want of unity. A large proportion of those who are given to the charge of each parish priest are practically beyond his reach altogether, not so much because they have no liking for religion at all, nor because of any spiritual predilections in favour of the sectarian body to which they have attached themselves, but because unity has never been made practically valuable and attractive to them in the Church. In the ordinary working of our system it has required either a very high degree of spirituality or a very acute intellectual perception to trace out the network of unity of which the Faith teaches; and which, as they have learned from preachers now and then, must have an existence somewhere. But practically, the mass of men are neither very spiritual nor very intellectual; and not being so they have viewed the Church rather according to its outward aspect than its inner life; and have become blind to the advantage of being united in word and work, either as a means of individual spiritual profit, or of corporate strength. This has been the case, both with those who have considered the Church from an external position as sectarians, or from VOL. XIX.-NOVEMBER, 1857.

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