but especially among the younger practitioners. I have been curious enough to take a list of several hundred words in a sermon of a new beginner, which not one of his hearers could possibly understand; neither can I easily call to mind any clergyman of my own acquaintance who is wholly exempt from this error, although many of them agree with me in the dislike of the thing. But I am apt to put myself in the place of the vulgar, and think many words difficult or obscure which the preacher will not allow to be so, because those words are obvious to scholars. I believe the method observed by the famous Lord Falkland, in some of his writings, would not be an ill one for young divines. I was assured by an old person of quality who knew him well, that when he doubted whether a word was perfectly intelligible or not, he used to consult one of his lady's chambermaids, (not the waiting-woman, because it was possible she might be conversant in romances,) and by her judgment was guided whether to receive or reject it. And, if that great person thought such a caution necessary in treatises offered to the learned world, it will be surely at least as proper in sermons; since the meanest hearer is supposed to be concerned, and where very often a lady's chambermaid may be allowed to equal half the congregation, both as to quality and understanding. But I know not how it comes to pass that professors in most arts and sciences are generally the worst qualified to explain their meanings to those who are not of their tribe; a common farmer shall make you understand in three words that his foot is out of joint, or his collar-bone broken; wherein a surgeon, after a hundred terms of art, if you are not a scholar, shall leave you to seek. It is frequently the same case in law, physic, and even many of the meaner arts.

And upon this account it is, that among hard words I number likewise those which are peculiar to divinity, as it is a science, because I have observed several clergymen, otherwise little fond of obscure terms, yet in their sermons very liberal of those which they find in ecclesiastical writers, as if it were our duty to understand them, which I am sure it is not. And I defy the greatest divine to produce any law either of God or man which obliges me to comprehend the meaning of omniscience, omnipresence, ubiquity, attribute, beatific vision, with a thousand others so frequent in pulpits, any more than that of eccentric, idiosyncracy, entity, and the like. I am the more earnest in this matter because it is a general complaint, and the justest in the world. For a divine has nothing to say to the wisest congregation of any parish in this kingdom, which he may not express in a manner to be understood by the meanest amongst them. However, not to contend whether a logician might possibly put a case, that would serve for an exception, I will appeal to any man of letters, whether at least nineteen in twenty of those perplexing words might not be changed into easy ones, such as naturally first occur to ordinary men, and probably did so at first to those very gentlemen who are so fond of the former.

We are often reproved by divines from the pulpits, on account of our ignorance in things sacred, and perhaps with justice enough; however, it is not very reasonable for them to expect that common men should understand expres

sions which are never made use of in common life. No gentleman thinks it safe or prudent to send a servant with a message without repeating it more than once, and endeavouring to put it into terms brought down to the capacity of the bearer; yet after all this care, it is frequent for servants to mistake, and sometimes occasion misunderstandings among friends, although the common domestics in some gentlemen's families have more opportunities of improving their minds than the ordinary sort of tradesmen. Although, as I have already observed, our English tongue is too little cultivated in this kingdom, yet these faults are, nine in ten, owing to affectation, and not to the want of understanding. When a man's thoughts are clear, the properest words will generally offer themselves first, and his own judgment will direct him in what order to place them, so as they may be best understood; where men err against this method, it is usually on purpose, and to show their knowledge of the world. In short, that simplicity, without which no human performance can arrive at any great perfection, is no where more eminently useful than in this.

FRUITS OF CHRISTIAN EFFORT. IN September, 1844, the preaching of the gospel and a sabbath-school were established at Beeston Royds, a hamlet in the vicinity of Leeds. The room in which these services are conducted is the property of a gentleman who is a member of the Church of England. He, however, generously gives the free use of the place without rent, contributes handsomely to its support, and attends with his family at its anniversaries and school festivals. For a thinly-populated locality the congregations are good, and there are upwards of seventy scholars in the school. The means of grace are supplied in most part by the Leeds Lay Preachers' Itinerant Society. The labours of these brethren have been blessed of God; and a desire having been expressed by a number in the congregation to enjoy the advantages of church fellowship, they were visited by the Rev. R. L. Armstrong, of the neighbouring village of Wortley. Satisfied himself of the propriety of their admission into the Christian church, and with the concurrence of other friends, fourteen persons were cordially received into the communion of the church at Wortley on the 29th of April last. As a matter of convenience, the recognition of these new members took place in the school-room at Royds. It was an interesting service, conducted by Messrs. Armstrong, Breeze, Lennox, Morris, Reynolds, and Snowdon.

The writer of these details is desirous to show by these statements how useful village preaching might become if vigorously and perseveringly carried on by the zealous and talented members of our churches. They would be the pioneers of the Home Missionary pastor, and no doubt many rural congregations would be gathered, a centre of light and heavenly influence on the surrounding population. In the place to which allusion is made in this paper there is, in connection with two considerable adjoining villages, a fine opening for a missionary station, more especially as there is a chapel in one of them, which is now supplied by the preachers of the Leeds Lay Preachers' Itinerant Society. July, 1846.

ITINERANT SERVICES.

THE summer is the season of activity. The husbandman improves his hours in the field; the merchant pursues his enterprise, and keeps to his post; the mariner prosecutes his calling, and sails across the ocean to distant lands; and all mankind hail with joy the sunny days, and in some way enjoy them. So the faithful ministers of the gospel leave the districts to which they are regularly confined during the months of winter, to take a wider range, to impart to our neglected countrymen, "who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death," the knowledge of salvation.

During the past week itinerant services have been held in the following places in the south of Devon, a part of our country still much requiring Home Missionary labours.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, June 9th and 10th instant, at South Brent, sermons were preached to many hundreds of persons, both in the open air and in the Independent chapel, by the Rev. W. Easterbrook, of Brixham, and the Rev. J. George, of Dittisham. The hearers, who were very attentive, and appeared deeply interested, included a large number of the labourers on the South Devon Railway, whose huts were previously visited, and tracts freely distributed among them. From the deep interest excited in the minds of many, a pleasing

hope is entertained that the seed sown will, even in the minds of those who appear the most degraded, at length be productive of spiritual good.

On Thursday, the 11th instant, a sermon was preached in the open air to hundreds of persons in the village of Dean Prior, once favoured with the gospel in the Established Church, but now under the withering influence of HighChurchism.

On Friday, the 12th instant, at Buckfastleigh, a sermon was preached in the open air, at seven o'clock, to a large congregation, including many professed infidels, but who paid deep attention to the faithful message delivered. At eight o'clock a large number assembled in the Independent Chapel, when a deeply-interesting service was held, and the word of truth again proclaimed. The deep impression made on the minds of many, and the real sympathy of the friends of Christ of different denominations, together with the hospitality shown, leads us to hope that our services were not only acceptable, but that, with the Divine blessing, they will be profitable to many souls; and we cannot but express the desire that the pastors and churches of our land, and the religious public generally, will feel a deeper concern for the spiritual and eternal interests of our rural population. June 17, 1846.

NATIONAL EDUCATION.

It

To the Editor of the Christian Witness. SIR,-The subject of national education is one of surpassing interest. is of the highest consequence that we should come to just conclusions respecting it.

We are at this time in a critical position. Upon the line of conduct which as Dissenters we adopt, the future interest of millions of our countrymen may depend. We are divided among ourselves as to the propriety of accepting or rejecting Government aid. The difficulties on both sides of the question are unquestionably very great, so that in discussing it, we need the utmost mutual amenity and forbearance; each party should give to the other credit for desiring to do what is right in itself, and what is best for our common country.

The writer is one of those who greatly admires the Voluntary principle, and who would not, intentionally, consent to any plan that should impair its efficiency, but who still fears that, alone, it would never meet the intellectual wants of the great mass of our countrymen. He

might mention several reasons why he entertains this fear; but he will pass on to observe, that he cheerfully admits, that a great impulse has been recently given to the Voluntary principle in education by the defeat of Sir James Graham's Bill. To give this argument its full force, and far more than its force,

the writer will assume, that through the impulse thus given a thousand new school-rooms will be erected during the first five years, from the defeat of the said Bill,--he will admit that these schoolrooms will afford accommodation on the average for 150 children each, thus making, during the five years, provision for the education of 150,000 children. This effort, it should be remembered, will have been made during a season of great excitement on the subject of education, and by exertion so extraordinary, as perhaps not to be repeated again during a generation. But, sir, if we could build a thousand such schoolrooms every year, instead of once in five years, we should not make provision for one-half of the increase only of our population, which is said to be advancing at the rate of 365,000 a year. The millions therefore

of our countrymen must still be left uneducated.

Besides, it might be worth while staying for a moment to inquire, what kind of teachers this Voluntaryism would provide? This question deserves great consideration. The education of youth is the most important and glorious work on earth. Men of the clearest heads, and of the best hearts, of thorough training, varied attainments, and great mental power, are required for its efficient discharge. But can we reasonably hope to secure such persons without a suitable provision being made for them? But how is this to be accomplished? May we not in reply, as well as in illustration, ask, what provision is this Voluntaryism making for numbers of the pastors of our churches? Is it not leaving hundreds of them to struggle under the greatest difficulties and privations? But what is to be done with these hundreds, not to say thousands, of fresh teachers, that will be wanted, and must be had, if the people are not to perish in ignorance? We think that these inquiries deserve the serious reflection of those who think the question of Governmental aid entirely foreclosed, and who seem quite satisfied with vociferating the Voluntary principle! the Voluntary principle! without ever deigning to show, that it will not leave millions of our countrymen without the blessings of education and instruction. We know, and admire, the noble principles by which for the most part these objectors are actuated.

In common with themselves, we would not sacrifice either liberty or truth to secure the aid of the Government; these are principles that we infinitely prefer to any modicum of secular education, and which, upon no account, we would consent to suspend or endanger. We could not, therefore, accord with any system that would attempt the separation of religion from education, nor could we consent to accept the literary education of our children, in combination with a religious one, under the dictation and restraint of the Government. We could never be parties to any arrangement that should hand over the rising youth of our empire to a merely state appointed functionary, whose only qualifivation might be his recommendation by the Government, or some literary degree, but for whose religious character, and enlightened views, we could have no guarantee, and who as he might be appointed without our consent, so he might

be retained against our will. To these things, I say, we could never consent without betraying the interest of truth, and perhaps, eventually, the liberties of our country. We must have the selection and appointment of our own teachers, and the management of our own schools, though of course we should not object to have the mental and literary competency of the teachers submitted to an impartially constituted tribunal, nor to have the progress of the children tested by examiners equitably and fairly appointed. But we should resist all unnecessary interference with the internal arrangements of our schools. The Committee of Management would be open to suggestions of improvement from all quarters, but to final dictation from no quarter. But to return. If the Voluntary principle will leave hundreds of thousands, not to say millions of our countrymen, to perish in mental and moral ignorance, ought we not to inquire, what can be done to arrest the destroying plague, to stay the ruin that is rushing in? Is it not worth while asking, whether it be not possible to combine, wisely, safely, and justly, the aid of the Government, with the utmost possible exertion of the Voluntary principle, in the glorious work of raising and blessing our countrymen? The utmost energy of both will be required, and must be put in requisition, or our country is not likely soon to be educated. In endeavouring to harmonise these two, and afford each a mighty and glorious sphere of action, the great question to be answered, we think, is this: Is it possible to combine the efficient aid of the Government with the full maintenance of the religious liberties and social rights of all classes of the community? The writer thinks it is. He has long thought so; but the statement of Mr. Ainslie respecting the willingness of the Government to afford aid to all parties, without conditions, has brought his ideas with fresh force to his mind.

From the divided state of religious opinion amongst us, from the defeat of Sir James Graham's Bill, from the fact that they have offered money without conditions, it appears evident that the Government themselves begin to perceive, that it is utterly impossible to force a combined system of secular and religious education, united with conditions, that shall intrench upon the religious convictions or the social rights of the Dissenters.

Now, if the Government are at all sincere in their wish for the general education of the people, they may, with the most perfect ease, relieve themselves from all difficulty on this subject, by simply confining themselves to the secular or literary education of the people, and by leaving all the different sects in the community to educate their children according to their own religious views. And this object they might possibly accomplish, if they were to draw out a scheme of literary education, including instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, history, and the different branches of a useful education, in which well-educated men of all parties would agree. In carrying out this scheme, they might consider themselves open to application from all classes of persons in the community, irrespective of their religious creed, and give their aid, according to fixed and published scales, so that there might be no room for the least suspicion of favouritism, caprice, or injustice.

For an illustration of what we mean, I will suppose that an application has been made for aid by the Committee of a Jewish, a Catholic, a Baptist, an Independent, and an Episcopalian school; these schools having been trained with a reference to the Government plan, the examiners would investigate the progress of the children and report accordingly. As the proffered aid would be graduated and fixed, and afforded alike to all parties, there could be no reasonable ground for dissatisfaction. These examiners make no inquiry whatever into the religious principles of the children, or of the master, or of the Committee of Management. To do this was not at all their business. They came to ascertain whether or not the secular education according to the Government scheme had been efficiently conducted, they found it had, and they endorsed the claim. Here, of course, we assume as a certain fact, that provision has been made for the appointment of impartial examiners, that they have been taken in fair proportions from all sects of the community, and are pledged, or sworn to do justice to the State, and to the different claimants. This, of course, would be a most vital point, and one which would call for the utmost vigilance and determination on the part of the Dissenters.

The religious education of the children of these schools had been carried on all the time, according to the sincere and

honest convictions of each of the sereral Committees of Management. But the Government did not pay for this. They advertised for a certain article, namely, secular education, according to a certain scheme it was produced, and they paid for it. The Committee and friends of the school paid the master to teach the children other things not included in the Governmental scheme; the chief of which, however, was religion, which he communicated simultaneously with secular education and instruction.

In the category of religious sects I have just mentioned, I have alluded to our elder brethren the Jews, and to our Roman Catholic fellow subjects, because in passing, I wish to remark, that I think it is quite time for us to have done with the hypocritical pretence of converting men to Christianity, or from one form of Christianity to another, by encroaching upon their rights as men and as citizens. Every man, whatever be his religious creed, must have an equal right to aid from that fund to which all have equally contributed. If men are in error about religion, they are not to be reclaimed by insults and fines, by brands and chains, but by persuasion and intreaty, by truth and love. If there be a sight in the universe from which its righteous Governor must turn away with more indignation and loathing and scorn than another, we sometimes think it must be from the men, who in their Maker's name, but for their own or their party's gain, under the pretence of converting men to the truth, plunder them of their property and rob them of their rights.

The present is a momentous juncture. It may be fraught with the future destinies of our country. According to the manner in which this great question is decided, influences the most disastrous or beneficial may for ages overspread the land. Let us then as Dissenters survey our position. Let us agree among ourselves. Let us offer fair terms. Let us stand upon the broad ground of universal right, and demand for all classes what we claim for ourselves. Let us make it evident, that if the present frightful state of our people is to be continued, that the blood of the millions that are perishing in ignorance around us shall not be found in our garments. Let us make it clear to all our fellow subjects, that we are not only willing, but anxicus, to co-operate in the glorious work of educating the nation, if we may be allowed to do so, in the way of safety

and honour, without compromising either our own religious liberties and social rights, or endangering the general liberties of the people.

Were the introduction of such a scheme as we have mentioned practicable, its advantages would be many. To an enlightened and patriotic Government, determined to emancipate itself from the interest of a party, and the domination of a sect, and to seek by measures equitable and just, the good of a whole people; to a Government which, on this great question, renounced for ever all the paltry considerations of patronage and power, and concentrated all its energies to raise up a race, enlightened, noble, and free, instead of one enfeebled, prostrate, and servile, the scheme which has been suggested might possibly open up a boundless field of fame, of usefulness, and of glory, such as is seldom to be found on earth. Such a Government would be the greatest benefactors their country had ever seen, and all future generations would call them blessed.

By such a plan all parties would be put upon an equal footing. There would be no favoured sect. Though one sect might receive much greater aid from the Government than another, it would only be because they educated more children, and also paid more to the common fund. By this plan the people would educate themselves. The mental, moral, and religious training of their children would be committed to their own custody. No State functionary would be allowed to extend his withering influence over their intellect or their heart, or by any rule or maxim, by any word or deed, suppress their love of liberty, or their regard for truth.

One of the principle excellences of this scheme would be, that with the efficient aid of the Government, it would provide for the utmost possible expansion of the Voluntary principle. All that could be accomplished by congregational collections, by local and general subscriptions, and by small weekly payments from the children, must be still done, or the nation cannot be educated. The introduction of such a plan would awaken a spirit of universal and mighty rivalry, all parties would be rushing into the arena, and the only strife would be, who should educate most of the people, and, according to their several convictions, who should educate them best. To our Episcopalian friends, a mighty and a splendid sphere of exertion would be opened up, and no inglorious one would still be left to the different bodies of Dissenters. Here all parties would find ample scope for all their wealth, invention, and capability, and for all their benevolent, patriotic, and Christian sympathies. Here they might all peacefully and harmoniously, according to their several convictions of what was right and good, labour for the mental and moral regeneration of their country.

Though at first opposite opinions might appear to be spreading, yet truth, working in harmony with equity and love, would be sure ultimately to prevail. Our country would soon obtain a moral presidency among the nations, would soon become the model on which empires would delight to form themselves, till finally, in the hands of the blessed Redeemer, she would become his great instrument in the renovation of the whole earth.

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHURCHES. To the Editor of the Christian Witness. SIR,-We

e are sometimes reminded that there is no ecclesiastical government contained in the New Testament, which, you are aware, is directly opposed to our denominational principles. As a constant reader of the WITNESS, I do not recollect that any specific examination of this objection has ever appeared in your pages;

yet I have anxiously wished that some of your able correspondents would supply this deficiency, which could not fail to have been gratifying and profitable to many of your readers. If our principles be not sustained by the records of inspired truth and incontrovertible facts, it must be very humiliating, not to say degrading, to our character, and those who oppose our principles have some cause of exultation; but if they be decisively