What is now wanted is the means of cultivating the affections without the malevolent passions. It is to be hoped that some such means can be found; but the search for them cannot be commenced in a paper which has already occupied so many pages.

H. D. E.

CITY MISSIONS.

GREAT cities afford peculiar facilities for the solution of great problems. In them, as in arenas, opposing principles meet in decisive conflict. Their life is intensely practical. Theories, shaped elsewhere, are in them put to the test. In questions of government, morals, and religion, there is wisdom in reserving final judgment until after their application to Man in his metropolitan condition.

A problem of magnitude must soon be solved for us Churchmen. Is our Church (as all our enemies, and some of our more formidable friends, hold) the Protestant Episcopal sect? or is she (as most of us believe) the Catholic Church of these United States, the only true, because the only unmutilated, branch of CHRIST'S Vine on this side the Atlantic? This is the question of the day for us. And the events of the next few years in New York must help towards the answer. problem approaches its solution.

The

Thus far, the sect-notion is favoured by appearances. We, who adhere to her as THE CHURCH of the land, do so in faith. We must admit, when pressed, that she is such rather poten tially than actually. Her history in New York, we confess with reluctance, has been that of a sect. Let us review it. Some years ago, there were many of our churches below Canal strect; of these, four remain. The providence of God, bringing to naught the designs of men, has saved those four. Otherwise their fate would probably have been the same. We are indebted for them to peculiar circumstances not existing in the case of the rest. Practically, then, we may consider the history of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the lower part of the city as one. Where are the edifices which once stood there? Sold, abandoned, pulled down, or worse. Why?

were there no people left? Yes; the population has greatly increased. Why then did the churches go? Because they bore no actual relation to the people at large. They were, practically, sectarian places of worship. They were not known or recognized or announced as the temples of the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of mankind.

These buildings were erected for the accommodation of a limited number of well-to-do persons. Access to them was restricted to that number, by the ingenious device of selling and renting the space within the walls. In fact, no one could go in without paying for a ticket. When, in course of time, the lower part of the city became disagreeable as a place of residence, these select few moved off. Of course the churches, their churches, must be moved also. What objection could the clergyman make? His relations were purely sectarian, purely congregational. For him the flock of Christ was made up of the limited number of his own pew-holders. He had no catholic position. "The field" was not "the world," but 150 pews. He was a minister of a sect. Other sects took good care of their own. He had no responsibility beyond the list of his communicants and parishioners. Therefore, when that handful extricated themselves from the uncomfortable neighbourhood of the poorer brethren (?), the clergyman and the building followed. The congregation took their chaplain with them; just as a regiment of soldiers would do on leaving a heathen country, or a man-of-war's crew on sailing from a sickly coast. Their chaplain: nothing more in their eyes, perhaps in his own. Such is the actual history of our communion in the lower part of the city, up to the present time. And, as was before remarked, it is only through the mercy of GOD in saving Trinity parish thus far, that we are not forced to leave the record without an exception.

Such has been our past history. Such, of course, will be our history hereafter, if we are only the Protestant Episcopal sect. The upper parts of the city now supplied with parish churches will, in their turn, change in character. The same reasons for removal, which operated below Canal street, will by and by influence residents below Fourteenth street. We shall see more moving off, more demolitions. If this should

be so, if the same old story is to be told over again, we take too much upon us by calling ourselves the Church. We are but a sect, after all; and more miserable than most, by reason of our exclusiveness and our pretensions. A sect, to be driven farther and farther back and up the island, by the great advancing wave of ignorant, suffering, needy humanity. Running up the beach, from the voice and dash of the surge, when we ought to be riding at anchor in our light-ships, or pulling stoutly in our life-boats, far outside in the rough water. Giving way forever to the very dangers, the very difficulties, which we ought to look in the face, and clinch and crush.

If any could prophesy with truth such a future, the question might be put down as settled. However we might elsewhere appear, in New York, at least, we should be but the Protestant Episcopal sect. Our position and our influence on any part of the island would be merely accidental. The fire which trieth every man's work, would, in time, leave no trace of our wood, hay, and stubble. In the great burying-ground of sects. our own grave might be considered as already dug.

Thus far, then, the sect-notion seems to be favoured by facts. But that notion we utterly repudiate.

We believe in the Catholic and Apostolic character and mission of our Church. We hold, and cling to the belief, that she is not a sect, but the Church of the living God.

At the same time, we wish to see this demonstrated to doubters in our midst, to foes without. And unless susceptible of demonstration, can we continue to hold the principle as true?

How is this demonstration to be made?

Simply, by fulfilling the duties of the body which we claim to be. The way to show that we are the Catholic Church, is to do the work of the Catholic Church. No sect can do it. If we do it, we prove that we are not a sect.

Five conditions to success :

1st. The whole body of Churchmen enlisted in the enterprise, and resolving that the work shall be done.

2d. The Bishop in person at the head.

3d. The Parochial idea, and the pew-system, in this connec tion, abandoned.

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4th. The labourers resident in their field.

5th. The work conducted on the principle of association, by fraternities living together in mission houses.

Let us develope these propositions :

1st. The work must be, originally, that of the whole Church in the city. We must be "of one accord, of one mind." We must believe in our high corporate character, and act under the pressure of our consequent obligations. When the citizens. of Florence, in the twelfth century, resolved to rebuild their cathedral church, they announced their intention in a manner which has gained them the admiration of posterity. and secured their renown as the most magnanimous people of their or any time. It was in this dignified and lofty strain that they charged the architect to whom the work was entrusted:

Whereas, it is incumbent on a people of illustrious origin so to order their affairs that, in all their outward actions, the world at large may recognize at once their wisdom and their greatness of soul; we therefore commit to Arnolfo, chief architect of our Commune, the charge of designing a restoration for our Cathedral of Santa Reparata, and that in a style of such high and sumptuous magnificence, that nothing grander or more beautiful can ever hereafter be produced, either by the industry or the power of man. And thus we charge him, in accordance with the known opinion of our wisest men, who have always held and advised, both in public and in private, that no work should be undertaken by us as a people, unless with the intention of making it fully to correspond to the sentiments of a heart infinitely great, because made up of the minds of all our citizens united in the strength of a single will.

No nobler tone of feeling ever dictated a generous enterprise. Let us address ourselves to the work of evangelizing semi-heathen New York, in the spirit of that immortal commission. We have a greater object; why should the soul be lacking? why should we come short of the people of mediaval Florence? We shall, however, assuredly come short of them, until we get forever rid of the notion that we are a sect. The work to be done here must grow from a faith deep-rooted in the common heart.

2d. The Bishop must be at the head. He is now a visitor only. He has but the shadow of authority. He has no church of his own, no men dependant on him, directly responsible to him, subject to his disposition. All this should be changed. The city ought to be made a Diocese. The Bishop should be, in the fullest sense of the word, the spiritual head. As such, he ought to have his church, his cathedra'. Size, shape, style,

are of small moment. Although it were no larger than the smallest of our churches, no more ornate than the chapel of the Seminary, a cathedral he ought to have. A cathedral in an upper room would do just as well for a beginning as one the size of Trinity church. There should be found the men, who, under the Bishop's direction, are to superintend the mis sion work. To that, as to a centre, all his subordinates should send up their reports. Thus the work, at every step, should be beneath the eye of the commander-in-chief.

3d. The notion of forming parishes should be excluded from the plan. "The field" is the city, "the world" on a small scale. The people to be dealt with are men of all religions, and of none. Final refusal to receive our ministrations should alone procure exemption from our advances. We are to fight against every form of vice built up on every phase of error. Like the Apostles of old, we are to "preach the Gospel to every creature." To do this, first, in the open air; then, in churches, to such as will come; always and at all times; opportunè inopportunè, "daily, in the temple and from house to house." We are to do this with the agonizing earnestness of men who feel, that "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," he that heareth and "believeth not, shall be damned." We are not to think of building up parishes, renting pews, and getting comfortable salaries. We are to give all that we have in us towards leavening a very heavy lump. The "Bowery Boys," the "Dead Rabbits," the publicans and harlots, are among those whom we have to meet, face to face, with the Cross in our hands for the repentant, and the thunders of God's wrath for the rebellious. We must not expect to form parishes of such materials.

4th. The men who are to do this work, must live where the work is going on. Non-residence will be fatal to success. Thousands die yearly without the sacraments. For this, and for the indifference of the people on the subject, the absent clergy are no doubt in part responsible. We teach that "the Sacraments are generally* necessary to salvation." The mass of the people will not believe that we are in earnest, if we

"Generaliter," to men in general, to mankind as a race.