monstrable historical mistakes!" To ourselves such language appears flippant and dangerous in the extreme.

That the clue to unravel many of the seeming discrepancies and difficulties of Holy Scripture has not yet been discovered, is most true. But when we consider how many seemingly insuperable difficulties started by the enemies of Christianity have already vanished, and are continually vanishing before the light of careful and reverent criticism and more advanced knowledge, the fact that not all of them have as yet given way, is surely no justification for a reckless, impatient charge of mistakes upon the Divine Author of Scripture.

Let criticism do its utmost with the text of the Sacred Volume; let Science dig her deepest into the mysteries of creation; and History unfold her most ample page ;-the integrity of the Holy Scripture will be only thereby the more firmly vindicated, and its authority illustrated. Truth cannot contradict Itself: and GOD is Truth. There can be no real inconsistency between His Word and His Works. Nature and Revelation cannot but be harmonious. Religion then, has nothing to fear from the most searching examination of the contents of Scripture, or from the most profound investigation into the laws of physical phenomena; "her true source of alarm is, the danger to their faith which those persons must encounter who content themselves with superficial information or partial knowledge."

The real credentials of Scripture lie deeper than in any superficial accordance with all the arbitrary canons and anticipated requirements of the "wise and prudent." The "Wisdom of God" whether embodied in the Person of CHRIST, or revealed in the pages of Inspiration, will never cease to present stumbling blocks to those who look for them. Difficulties ever have, and ever will encircle Revelation, to scare away the half-believing, and to exercise the patient trust of the faithful. Those who, wholly or partially, reject Scripture because of its difficulties will ever find those difficulties becoming more and more formidable; while those who lovingly embrace it in spite of its difficulties, will find them, little by little, to vanish. According to their faith shall it ever be unto them. "This man cannot be of GOD, because He keepeth not the sabbath." This book cannot be of GOD because it contradicts the historian or geologist. Thus will it ever be. One objection will be removed only to give place to another; the open, infidel opposition, to make way for the subtle, friendly depreciation. The spirit of evil has an infinity of disguises, ranging between the great Red Dragon" and the "Angel of Light." In all and each of these will he be perpetually presenting himself, as the dangerous enemy, and more dangerous friend of "the Scriptures of Truth." Meanwhile, firm as the everlasting hills the Truth of GOD abideth. "Philosophers will object, critics cavil, unbelievers scorn;" but rÒ Ρῆμα Κυρίου μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.

1 Alford, Gr. Test. Vol. 1. proleg. ch. i. For an examination of this address of S. Stephen, and of the historical objections urged against it, vide Lee, App. H. p. 501.

69

THE CHURCH IN WALES-THE CHURCH LAY

ASSOCIATION.

THE slow but steady growth of Catholic truth within any portion of our branch of the Universal Church is a fact to be contemplated with humble thankfulness and heartfelt satisfaction by all who sensibly appreciate the common bond of union which pervades the whole ecclesiastical body. As in the human body and the body politic, so, also in the Church, the Body of CHRIST "If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, and if one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it." Man is a moral and religious being, and since his condition in this life is subjected to the direct, and, too frequently, overpowering influence of external agencies, it is on that account liable to constant change and fluctuation; and it is not possible that his moral and religious status can, at any two assignable periods, be measured by one and the same fixed rule of perfection or imperfection.

The very idea of a being, morally and religiously responsible to his Creator, with the whole compass of his existence hemmed in by a law external to himself, demanding universal submission and exacting practical acknowledgment of moral and religious obligations, necessarily implies that the life of such a being, under all conceivable circumstances and at any given period, must be one either of obedience or of disobedience. We move on along the tortuous path of life, in company with the multitude of kindred spirits who surround us, and if nothing out of the common course of events befal us on our way so as to disturb the stealthy consciousness of security in which we silently indulge, and force upon us a stricter and more searching scrutiny into our secret motives of action, we too readily satisfy ourselves that, if we do but hold our present ground, in the end we shall have secured to us the tranquil repose which we so much desire. But, meanwhile, we forget however that to advance or to recede, to be purified more and more from the dross of carnal appetites and sinful affections, to be elevated, though slowly, yet surely, into a higher state of moral virtue and Christian perfection, or else to sink daily into a deeper abyss of guilt, and so become more and more unlike our Divine exemplar, Who is the source and end of all happiness and all perfection, is a condition of existence from which no moral agent is exempt, and from which no power can set us free. Every additional day that we are permitted to witness brings with it new perils and new responsibilities, and when it has passed away, there is left to us, too often, only the bitter remembrance of opportunities neglected or misapplied, and of misdeeds actually committed; or perhaps, as in the case of the vast majority of mankind,

there remains only a vague and indistinct consciousness of a general shortcoming in relation to the daily duties of life; which shortcoming as it consists partly of apathy and indifference, of which probably there exists scarcely even a suspicion, and partly of numberless individual acts of volition, each in its own measure necessary to the formation of the whole, is that very thing, which, as it affects the whole character, determines our present moral and religious condition, and will have its influence in the still more important determination of that eternal destiny which shall be assigned to each of us in a future state.

This law, which in the condition of each individual necessitates a state of progress or retrogression, applies with no less stringency to a collection of individuals, which is the Church-a body corporate existing in the world, but not of the world, having its charter of incorporation direct from heaven. Upon this body collectively, and upon each individual member of the same through the body and by right of membership, on the one hand have been conferred spiritual rights and privileges, extending in their effects beyond the limits of time, and on the other are imposed corresponding duties and responsibilities, and it is only by duly acknowledging and performing the latter that the full and beneficial enjoyment of the former can be secured.

The Church Catholic in its corporate capacity, or in a limited sense any branch of the Catholic Church, may be viewed as one entity, one body, pervaded, animated and sustained by the one life-giving SPIRIT. The determinations and energizing life of the whole body are the result of the multiplied action of its several component members; and in its relation to its Divine Founder, and to the work for the accomplishment of which its mission has been established, it is subject to the same law of incertitude which governs the conduct of every individual moral agent. For the Church, as for an individual, there are two alternatives between which there can be no intervening ground. In every province and in every parish, where, by the providence of GOD, the Church has been planted, either it is advancing onwards and adding to its strength and means of progression by the increased holiness of its existing members, or by the gradual incorporation within itself of those who have hitherto refused submission to its rule; or else it is silently losing its inward power, and sinking step by step into a condition of apathy and indifference so fatal to the existence of true religion. This view of the subject cannot fail to impress the Bishops and Priests of the Church with seriousness and awe, as it is in them that the directing and governing power has been vested, and if through their abuse or misapplication of the powers with which they have been entrusted, they cause the miscarriage of any part of the work which it is the design of the Church to promote, and if they pay no regard to the importance and magnitude of their

reponsibilities, theirs, doubtless, will be that woe which our LORD has already denounced against all those "by whom the offence cometh." The Church has a mission to fulfil, and its visible rulers, the Bishops and Priests, especially, ought to take heed, lest they become "offences," and, consequently, a hindrance to its fulfilment. The work which it embraces is essentially spiritual. Its authority is Divine, the field for its exercise is the world, and the subjects to be brought within its operation are the souls of men. The Church, then, is a mystical body, commissioned by CHRIST, and endowed with mysterious and unseen powers, with authority to act in His Name in furtherance of a great work which is now being carried on partly in heaven by her great Head, and partly on earth by herself, for the salvation and glorification of the human race. For to say that she is really and faithfully exercising her great mission, is no less than to say that she is doing her own portion of that work which was begun by CHRIST whilst on earth, and which has ever since been continued by Him in heaven in those acts of His which will never cease, so long as any portion of His Body remain in their militant condition, viz., His intercession and the perpetual presentation of Himself before the FATHER as the one sacrifice for sin.

From the preceding considerations it will appear that the Church is essentially aggressive in her nature. Whether we view her in relation to those who are without, or whether we regard her with reference to the operation of her inward and sacramental gifts upon the souls of believers, aggression is her only legitimate characteristic, and whenever she ceases to manifest this quality she is in imminent peril of yielding some portion of her dominion into the power of the enemy. Hence it is that we are unable to sympathize with those who would deprecate all religious discussion, or who view with eager suspicion any proposal to reconstruct or reorganize the old machinery through which the Church in her purest days was wont to give proof of the living principle within her, by the utterance of her voice in accents of recognized and abiding authority. On the contrary, we accept discussions when conducted under a sense of deep responsibility, and in a spirit of calm and disinterested inquiry, as an omen for good, a token of life and a proof of an earnest purpose to discover the real and distinctive principles of our Church upon which alone a successful defence can be made against the common foe. We feel that scarcely any change could be more disastrous than that deathlike calm of sterile indifference which, until of late years, overspread the Church in this country, and particularly that portion of it which is mentioned at the head of this article, for a space of more than a century. Discussions carried on in the way suggested above, are, as it were, the clearing off of the rust from our implements of Christian warfare, the brightening and preparing of our weapons of offence, so as in due time to make a successful inroad upon the mass of ungodliness, heresy, and schism which surrounds us.

From the accession to the throne of England of the Third William may be dated probably the commencement of the downward course of the Church in Wales. It is not our present purpose to inquire into the causes which thus operated to the disadvantage of the Church: how far they are to be attributed to the political designs of statesmen, or to the neglect and mismanagement of those in ecclesiastical authority, or to the fact that during the whole of the Georgian period and down even to the present time, the episcopate was filled by men who were alien in race, in feeling, and in language, to those over whom they were made the spiritual overseers; or how far all these together may have conspired to produce the result to which we have alluded. This is a branch of the subject into which we may probably take a future occasion of entering more at large. We shall therefore content ourselves for the present with merely recording a protest in this place against the manifest injustice of selecting for Welsh sees men who are deficient in that one qualification, viz., a knowledge of the language of the people committed to their charge as chief pastors, the absence of which is sure to render all other qualifications, however excellent, in a great measure useless and inoperative. We must, however, guard ourselves against the possibility of misapprehension on this head. We speak of a principle, and would not say a word in disparagement of the good men who at present fill the Welsh sees; but we must not allow our sense of their worth, of their example, or of their learning, or the recollection of many acts of courtesy and kindness, which we willingly and cheerfully acknowledge to have received, to blind our eyes to the fact that it is impossible for men, who are ignorant of the language and the habits of thought of the people among whom they live, to discharge efficiently the duties of the episcopal office. Our present task, however, is not to trace out the origin and progress of the general decay of religion in Wales, which finally resulted in the alienation of the great mass of the people from the discipline and doctrine of the Church, but rather the more agreeable one of pointing out what seems to us to indicate the revival of a Catholic spirit within the Church, and possibly the approaching return of a large proportion of the population to the faith of their fathers.

For some time past a growing increase in the number of attendants at Church has been observed in many parts of the country, and it is not too much to say, that the general improvement which has of late years been gradually going on in the condition of the sacred fabrics, and the more congregational mode of conducting divine service, and perhaps in some places the introduction of the ancient chant and plain song of the Church, have been, humanly speaking, the chief causes to which the more elevated taste and the more genuine devotion which seem to be taking root among the members of the Church mainly owe their origin. We may mention here that in one diocese, and that not the