sively on this question. Are we to regard Mr. Herbert Gladstone's speech to his constituents at Bramley as a feather in the air, sent up to see which way the wind is blowing? He is reported to have said that, though he was a Churchman, he would vote for Disestablishment if the majority of the nation was in favour of it, or if he thought the Church was working against the Liberal party. The question thus becomes purely political, and one which must be settled by counting noses. Provisionally, however, he thinks it advisable to support the Establishment, because the practical difficulties and dangers attached to the question are great, and because the religious work of the Church is so excellent. In the early days of Newman, and at the beginning of the Oxford movement, the doings of the Liberal party were the avowed cause of ecclesiastical "fierceness." Newman regarded Liberalism as Antichrist, and taught his followers to regard it in a similar light. But it cannot, I think, be truly said in these days, nor does Mr. H. Gladstone say, that "the Church"-by which he here means the clergy, and those whom the French call les cléricaux-are (as such) working against the Liberal party. I hope that no such statement will ever come to be made with truth, unless indeed (which is most improbable) the Liberal party were ever to be identified with some proposal, which shocked-not the ecclesiastical prepossessions but-the moral instincts of sincere Churchmen. Should that day ever come, I hope that the Liberals will be able to say Lee clericalisme, c'est l'ennemi. But as it is, many of the clergy are hearty and convinced Liberals, and ardent supporters of every Liberal measure which seems to work for the diminution of drunkenness, pauperism, and misery among the great masses of the people.

The Year Book

Any reader who will study the of the Church details set forth in the Church of of England. England Year Book will see that Mr.

H. Gladstone is more than justified in speaking of the excellent work of the Church of England as one of the reasons which might well induce Liberationists to pause. These labours are frankly acknowledged even by so strong a champion of Liberation as Mr. Guinness Rogers, and it is significant that his kind and cordial words were elicited by the friendliness of Archdeacon Sinclair's sermon. The magnificent multiplication of organised work in our parishes leaves no order of men untouched. It embraces both sexes and all ages and all classes in the range of its manifold organisations. And it is emphatically not the peculiar merit of any one class of Churchmen. It ought to be needless to say—and it would be needless but for the unjust self-assertion of partisans-that this beneficent activity, which is of inestimable value to the whole community, is not in the least confined to any one section in the Church. The lacoveia-the braggart vaunt of pushing factiousness, would fain found a modern hagiology into which none are to be admitted but its own order of saints. But it is absolutely false that the best and most self-denying work

for the advance of Christ's Kingdom, is confined to any one school of Churchmen. The revived spirit of zeal, the multiplied efforts of evangelisation, owe little or nothing to the High Church movement, except in the direction of ceremonies and Church services. This work resulted from a general awakening out of torpid conventionality. It is directly affiliated to the revival of religious life, which was due to Wesley, and perhaps even more to Whitefield. Whether a parish is so worked as to contribute to the advance of Christ's Kingdom is not a question which can in any single instance be decided (except in the meanest party sense) by saying that the Vicar is a Ritualist, an Evangelical, or a Broad Churchman, but only by reference to the personal faithfulness and genuine piety of the man himself. And throughout the length and breadth of England there is not a Bishop who would not admit that the parishes in which the incumbent is idle, and the work of the Church dead, are now comparatively rare. So far as any such parishes still exist, their inefficiency is due to individual defects, and not to mere divergences of party opinion.

The Clergy Discipline Bill.

There can be no doubt that the Clergy Discipline Bill ought to become law as speedily as possible. The days for asserting anything approaching to the old pestilent claim for "benefit of the clergy" -a claim pregnant with infamy and disaster-are past, one would hope, for ever. It is scandalous that a "criminous clerk" should not be as summarily dismissed from his benefice as any other criminal is from any other office. The persons to be considered are the parishioners, not the clergymen. The interests which should be safeguarded are those of the Church, not those of the priesthood. The English Church Union seems determined to thwart this Bill, and not to accept the perfectly fair and kindly-offered opportunity of passing a canon coincident with the Act of Parliament, by which the actual sentence of deprivation should be passed by the Bishop. This satisfies the Archbishops and Bishops, and even satisfies Lord Halifax. By opposing it the members of the English Church Union can do nothing but injury to the Church. When they take this line, and also talk about agitating for the repeal of the Church Discipline Act of 1840, and the Public Worship Act of 1874, they play directly into the hands of the political Nonconformists. But even if they wish for Disestablishment, and succeed in precipitating it, they will not be one whit better off than before. In every religious community alike, the ultimate appeal lies to the civil law and the authority of Parliament; and from this they will never be able to escape, unless they find some new Atlantis into which no lay government can intrude. The

agined freedom for which they yearn will mean a far heavier and more complicated yoke of bondage. Ecclesiastical forms of government, whether Episcopal or Presbyterian, have been among the worst which the world has ever seen. The disestablished Church of

England will be a Church rent in sunder by a vast schism, or else one in which the laity, so far from being meekly tolerant of clerical domination, will claim their indefeasible right to a very considerable voice in deciding every question, 'not only of discipline, but of doctrine.

I have received from the Rev. S. Brotherhoods. Hutchinson, Vicar of Christ Church, Penge, a scheme for the establishment of a National Lay Church Brotherhood, which is to remove a multitude of serious difficulties, financial and other, and to confer untold benefit upon the Church. Every such proposal has my sympathy, and certainly this one looks very beautiful on paper. But if we cannot even find young clergymen to come forward and undertake the form of very modified selfdenial sketched out in the proposal which, to the utmost of my power, I urged on the acceptance of the Church, how can we hope at present to find laymen? The Lay brotherhoods which have been attempted have so far failed, more or less absolutely. Certain forms of brotherhood-as represented by clergy houses-have increased and multiplied, and offer a considerable analogy to the proposed brotherJoods. But they work in isolation, and the force of central unity is totally lacking. I do not recede from ore word of all that I have said on this subject during four years in the Guardian, in various periodicals, at the St. James's Church Meeting, in the Church Congress at Hull, and at much length in Convocation. I have been over and over again personally taunted with the undoubted fact that, so far, the proposal laudatur et alget. It has been approved at Church synods and meetings-in many cases without a dissentient voice-and yet it seems to have come to nothing. The personal taunt is as base and silly as many more which emanate from theological or party rancour. Why should the thin gleaning of my poor grapes of Abiezer be better than the whole vintage of Ephraim ? There were no less than eight eminent Bishops, to say nothing of Deans, Archdeacons, and Canons on the Joint Committee of Convocation of which I was Secretary. They unanimously passed the report which I drafted. The proposals appended to that report passed unanimously (or nearly so) in both Houses of the Southern, and I believe also of the Northern Convocation. They were approved at nearly every Diocesan Conference in the country. Parturiunt montes, nascitur...? As for myself, I have always said that I never had the remotest pretension to possess the gifts, nor the youth, nor the position, nor any other requisite for founding such an order. No man taketh such a ministration upon him save he that is called of God, as was Aaron. I always said that none but a great and wise Bishop could give any real impulse to such a movement. But I do not think that even a Bishop could start it unless he were a celibate, and a sort of missionary Bishop, or, at any rate, a Bishop who can live in Apostolic simplicity, in great measure apart from the world and its interests. An Innocent III. can sanction an order, but it requires a St.

Francis to found one.

What might have been hoped

was that some fervent son of the Church, filled with the fire of God, would come forward to take Christ at His word; to lose his life that he might find it ; to flash into other souls some of his own holy enthusiasm; to play in the Church of England such a part as was once played by St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, or St. Vincent de Paul; to remove from her the reproach of being too much absorbed in easy and comfortable ways, or of having dry breasts and miscarrying womb, and of scarcely ever producing in the field of home work any of those marked types of sainthood which shine before the eyes of all men in the Church's galaxy of good examples. The late Archbishop of York, who was no enthusiast or fanatic, and had not the least sympathy with those who would drag back the Church of England as near as possible to the practices and doctrines of the Church of Rome, was not only most deeply interested in the proposal from the first, but he went so far as to say to me that in his opinion it was " the keynote of the whole present position of the Church of England." The power of evoking absolute self-sacrifice, and not the adoption of some minute shibboleth or some particular form of government, is more than any other the proof that a Church is full of life. It may be that in the Church of England the self-denial which undoubtedly exists can only work in other forms and other directions; or it may be that the thought is as yet only ripening in many minds, and is still destined to bring forth abundant fruit. At present we can only say, The hour has struck-where is the man?

The Scripture Readers' Association.

It

It is very sad to read of the pecuniary struggles of almost every great and useful charitable institution. The Scripture Readers' Association was founded in 1844 by Archbishop Howley and Bishop Blomfield. It assists many of the poorest and most populous parishes which have populations varying from 20,000 to 5,000. is at this moment compelled to refuse earnest appeals for Readers from enormously overgrown parishes, one of which (St. James's, Hatcham) numbers 21,258 souls. This year it has a deficit of £1,000, and it refuses no application for assistance except from lack of funds. The Bishops of London, St. Albans, and Rochester have issued an appeal in its favour, and we can only hope that the appeal will be successful.

report for the year will have been presented; the constituents of the society are looking for the announce. ment that the response to recent appeals, both in men and money, has been generous. But as these same constituents are the persons who must make the response, the Board of Directors have been taking steps to keep the claims of the society before the churches and the colleges. An all-day prayer meeting was held in the Mission House on Monday, March 7th, specially to pray for volunteers for foreign service. Deputations have been holding conference with our theological students, out of which some practical conclusions have been indicated; one is the necessity of sustaining missionary enthusiasm in the colleges by always having in them some students pledged to, and preparing for, service among the heathen. The intercourse of students among themselves; their talk with one another about their future work; their prayers with and for each other at their own prayer meetings have so much to do with the spirit and action of the churches in days to come that the directors cannot afford to overlook this point. Another practical suggestion is of value. The students want to have more intercourse with missionaries than can be obtained by attending the local anniversary meetings. If some missionary, distinguished for zeal and service, were told off each year to reside for a few weeks in the neighbourhood of each college, that he might meet with the students privately, dine with them in hall, walk with them, and visit them in their rooms, it is thought that the students would have, in addition to general commendations of the missionary cause, such knowledge of the claims of particular fields as might direct their choice. General enthusiasm is good, but specific information is required to determine a wise man's action.

A Middle-Aged Volunteer.

The announcement that the Rev. R. J. Ward, of St. Helens, the Chairman of the Lancashire Congregational Union, had offered himself to the society, and will probably be sent to Madras, has excited much interest. It was known that Mr. Ward was feeling impelled to give up the pastorate for directly evangelistic work, but persons were expecting that England would be his sphere of service. Mr. Ward is a middleaged man; he has been twenty-eight years a pastor, having succeeded Dr. Macfadyen at St. Helens in 1864. His determination ought to have a great effect on the colleges, the home churches, and in the mission field. itself. The prophet Joel notes, as a sign of the outpouring of the Divine Spirit, not only that the "young men shall see visions," but also that the "old men shall dream dreams." The intensity of a religious The intensity of a religious movement may be estimated by the enthusiasm it awakens among young men; its depth is to be gauged by its hold on the mature. The Rev. Jonathan Lees has declared that if a man like Dr. Dale would go to India or China, the whole East would be moved. We cannot spare Dr. Dale from the work he is doing; God has marked out his sphere for him where he is. But

equally do we recognise the Divine call in Mr. Ward's act of self-consecration; he will leave England upheld by the benediction of many who know the man and venerate his spirit.

Commercial

An article in a recent number of

Churches. the Independent, entitled "A Plea for Commercial Churches," ought to attract attention; still more it ought to have some practical result. By "Commercial Churches" is not meant "religious institutions, wherein the spirit of commerce rules supreme, but commercial institutions which are dominated by the spirit of the Church." The correspondent, from whom the Editor quotes copiously, and with evident sympathy, "advocates the establishment of mills and factories and centres of distribution, which shall have as their aim-not the accumulation of wealth or the paying of large dividends, but the industrial embodiment of the Christian idea." He further advocates the training of men for the position of managers-in-chief.

"Why, asks our idealist—who, by-the-bye, calls himself John Lockhart-why have the Churches hitherto confined their attention to the training of men for pulpit work only? No one can deny that the masses are in our warehouses and mills, if they are not in our churches. A missionary like Paul, who could preach while he worked with his hands, or could work with his hands in order to be able to preach, never had such an opportunity of proclaiming the Gospel to the masses as the great manufacturers of our day possess. I ask the Churches to recognise these centres by training men for such a work, and then by establishing the Commercial Churches for which I press. The spirit of brotherhood which our Churches have carefully fostered has outrun the borders of our little Bethels, and developed in trades-unions and such-like associations. The brotherhood of the sons of toil, however, has a somewhat militant spirit. Why should not the Churches go down together to this more militant brotherhood in a spirit of love, saying in effect, Sirs, we are brethren.' Why should we wrong one another? We will agree to meet you in love. Men whom we have trained in the fullest and most complete sense in things commercial, on sound Christian principles, are here to labour with you as their brethren labour in the pulpit, i.e., not for the purpose of making large fortunes out of your toil, but for the purpose of dealing justly man with man in the sight of God, that you may thereby be led to rely no more on an arm of flesh, but on the righteousness and love of God."

We ought to hear more of this proposal. The "Christian Socialism," of which Maurice and Kingsley, Thomas Hughes and Malcolm Ludlow were the prime movers, is now more than forty years old. It has accomplished much. It helped, if it did not originate, the co-operative method, which has almost revolutionised business; it did much to secure cordial recognition of trade unions as a natural and beneficial outcome of the self-consciousness of labour; its greatest effect has probably been to quicken the conscience of the younger generation of capitalists and highly salaried heads of commercial concerns. Any pastor who has lived in frank intercourse with prosperous business men, knows that many of them and of their children are not satisfied with the system of

universal competition; the struggle of firm with firm for control of the markets, the conflict of capital with labour for command of profits. There is far more of Christian feeling in our merchants than appears on the surface; unfortunately it shews itself more in the form of dissatisfaction with things as they are than in practical endeavour after better methods. The reason is that the problem is too difficult for any one man to solve; the individual capitalist is as powerless to resist the things that be as the individual labourer was to secure honourable recognition of his needs. The trade union gave the labourer his power to control the rate of wages; would not a union of Christian capitalists and managers enable them to first affect and then control the method of commerce? It is this, apparently, which "John Lockhart" is thinking of. No nobler vision has dawned on any modern Englishand no reform is more urgent, more timely than that which he suggests.

man;

Business Men

In America the same question is in the American up for consideration. Dr. Wolcott Churches. Calkins-whose speech at the International Council was so grievously misunderstood; people thinking that he was boasting of the wealth in the Evangelical Churches when he was really oppressed with their responsibilities—has been addressing the Portland Congregational Club on "Business Men in our Churches." He stated that seventy-five per cent. of them are members or adherents. Their responsibility is to set themselves against the epidemic for vast accumulations and against unchristian methods of business, and to assume the aggressive work of the Church.

Here is a noteworthy comment How it Strikes from America on a recent debate in a Stranger. the English House of Commons. It is cut from the Boston Congregationalist of March 3rd:

Mr. Balfour, in his argument against the Disestablishment of the Church in Wales-made in the most eventful debate of the week in the British House of Commonscertainly was both unjust and impolitic. The Nonconformists of England and Wales can afford to trust to the verdict of time as to whether "disendowment, not dis

establishment, plunder, not reform," are the objects for which they are striving, and "envy, not piety," their motive. But can Mr. Balfour and his party thus afford to shy innuendoes at the heads of the men whose votes will settle the coming Parliamentary elections?

To English readers the notion will be a strange one that Mr. Balfour has anything to hope for in the way of Nonconformist votes, or anything to fear from Nonconformist displeasure. But the question is suggested, Is the present division of parties, according to which nearly every Nonconformist is a Liberal, and most Churchmen are Conservatives, a desirable state of things? It was not always so. Fifty years ago, a very appreciable number of members in Congregational churches were Conservatives; and eminent Congregational ministers were known to be so. The

style of Church defence adopted by Mr. Balfour, inherited by him, has had much to do with the changed condition of things. The unscrupulous charges brought against Nonconformists when they sought for repeal of church rates, admission to the Universities, popular control of education, and the use of public public graveyards, disgusted the Nonconformist minority and alienated them from the Conservative party. They might not sympathise with their brethren in their political agitation, but they knew them to be honest men. The old Whig writers used to congratulate the country on the existence and dissatisfaction of Dissenters; it secured important allies to all projects of reform. I think this is a shallow philosophy of history; I am sure it is bad Christian ethics. Our churches are distinctly poorer-morally and spiritually, I mean, not pecuniarily and socially-because we have no Conservatives among us; and the Conservative party would be wiser than it is if it included a a good many Dissenters in its ranks.

The churches in Chicago are preCongregational-paring for the expected inflow of visitors to next year's Exhibition, determined to make it a time of religious as well as commercial advance. All the churches are doing this; the Congregationalists have had a great meeting, a "rally," a "mass meeting," as it has been variously called, failing a more dignified appellation. The first Congregational church in Chicago was organised in 1851. The city now contains fifty-one Congregational churches and seventy-four Sunday-schools. In Chicago Association, which comprises the suburbs as well as the city, there are eighty-five churches, with 13,000 members, and 118 Sunday-schools, with 26,000 pupils. The addresses delivered at the "rally" were remarkably like what addresses on a similar occasion in England would be. There was Dr. Gunsaulus affirming that "the things to be glorified in were not the institutions of Congregationalism so much as her ideas and ideals; not what she had achieved so much as the spirit which she had breathed into the life of humanity." Then came President Gates, of Amherst, dwelling on "the force of the individual will," affirming that the central principle of Congregationalism was to emphasise "the unchanging value of personality, the value of the individual man." "Respect in every man the image of God, help him to the highest development of the life that God has given him. Along the line of this guiding principle will be found the proper adjustment of the relations between labour and capital. The workman is not to be dealt with as a machine, but as a brother man." Lastly came Dr. Smith Baker, of Minneapolis, who "deprecated all satisfaction with Congregationalism viewed merely as a leavening influence. Spirit must take on an organic form, and institute for itself aggressive modes of action. It behoved the Congregational Church to make more of its polity as a distinctive denomination, and to labour for the upbuilding of its own institutions." It is with a curious feeling

American National The programme of the forth

Council. coming Triennial Council of the American Churches, to be held in Minneapolis, October 12th to 19th, has been issued.

The sessions of Wednesday will be devoted to organisation and reports of committees, secretary, and treasurer, and election of officers. The sermon will be preached Wednesday evening by Rev. C. M. Lamson, D.D., of St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Thursday. A.M. Appointment of committees. Report

of committee of relations of our national benevolent societies to the churches.

Thursday, P.M. Reports of committees on the relations of these societies to each other, and the religious needs of the army and navy, on a Congregational manual for missionary churches, on the Mormon question, and on systematic beneficence.

Thursday evening. Report of committee on memorial to John Robinson. The International Council, reports with short addresses by selected delegates and communication from committee of the Council.

Friday, A.M. Report of committee on improvement of public worship, statement of the American College and Education Society, reports of committees on ministerial supply, to revise form of admission to the Church, on relations with the Scandinavian Churches, and on missionary periodicals.

Friday, P.M. Statements of the benevolent societies, reports of committees on marriage and divorce, and on Sunday observance.

Friday evening. Reports on Christian care of prisoners, on temperance, and on city evangelisation.

Saturday, A.M. The theological seminaries.
Sunday, A.M. The Lord's Supper.

Sunday evening. Reports of committees on union with Free Baptists and other denominations, and on Christian unity.

Monday, A.M. Reports of various committees of the Council, and appointment of ad interim committees.

Monday, P.M. Any business not previously completed. This is a good programme of work for six days; and it is much more a business programme than any ever presented to the Congregational Union of England and Wales. The Rev. Dr. Brown, of Bedford, and Mr. Thomas Harrison, of Hanley, have been apponted English delegates to the Council. They will probably carry with them suggestions for further conference on questions started in London; they will certainly assure the American brethren that we are already thinking of the next International Council, which is to be held in the United States.

ther chackumal.

and chose-nobler choice he could not have madethe

"Path to the clear-purposed goal"

of the Christian ministry. The training which had been commenced in the Christian home at Carmarthen, was advanced at the Baptist College, Bristol, and then tested, in the intellectual part of it, at the London University, where he took his B.A. degree; and still more severely tested in the spiritual and ethical, as well as in its intellectual elements, in eight years of pastoral labour at Bootle, near Liverpool.

And although the Bootle preacher wears no "outward and visible sign" of the effective character of his work during these years, there are cogent and abiding witnesses to his faithful and loving service, his strong and wise teaching in hearts won for Christ, and lives dedicated to the service of the King. I have heard men and women talk with grateful praise of the large debt they owe to that ministry.

The work in the North was changed for the sunny South, and the next twenty-two years were spent at Notting Hill, London. West London is far from being a congenial soil for the Free Churches; and the work at Notting Hill at the date of the arrival of the new pastor could only be attractive to a man who welcomed difficulty and exulted in hard work. Still, steadfast and prolonged toil has displaced the temporary and inconvenient structure in which the Church met at the first by a new, commodious, well-appointed, and beautiful building, which will remain an abiding witness to the love and loyalty of the people, and to the self-sacrifice and devotion of the pastor.

Thus prepared by thirty years' experience of the Baptist ministry, Mr. Roberts comes to the Chair of the Union sustained and enriched, not only by the full confidence, but also by the admiration and affection of his brethren. No one suspects him; no one doubts his motive; and no one questions his sincerity. He is transparently true, as he is intensely earnest. Modesty clothes him as a garment, and genial brotherliness beams from his sometimes pathetic, and often merry, eyes. We know that in all he says he is loyal to his conviction, and "performs the word of the Spirit," "In whom he lives," "prompt and unwearied."