district of the country united in expressing, with manly and honest purpose, their determination not to support any scheme of National Education which was not based upon the Bible, and which should not instruct the children of their fellow-countrymen in those pure and apostolic doctrines professed by the Church of England, that not only was the injurious character of the Education scheme much changed and weakened, but in addition to this, such was the influence produced by this almost universal expression of pious and religious feeling upon the popular branch of the Legislature, that even the scheme in its altered character, passed by the very smallest and narrowest majority.

But let us not imagine, because the victory, through the blessing of God, has in this instance been on our side, that the contest is over, and that there is nothing remaining for us to do! Far from it. Such a feeling as this would be nothing less than an agreeable selfdelusion, imposed by a want of foresight and by indolent habits. The adversaries with whom we have to contend are skilful, wary, and well-practised in every species of warfare. We can never

hardly be aware when, or in what manner, they will renew the struggle. We must not repose in inactivity or indifference, self-satisfied with our past exertions; on the contrary, we must still remain at our posts of observation, watchful to mark every indication of a coming storm, and careful to keep ourselves in a state of preparation to meet it. It is absolutely necessary that we should be impressed with the stringent and imperative duty of contributing all our energies and powers, whatever they may be, whether small or large, towards the defence of the most holy cause which can animate the Christian heart-the cause of the Holy Church of Christ; militant, alas! here on earth, through the perverseness, and the stubborn, and corrupt nature of man, but which we trust shall hereafter be triumphant in heaven. We must each and all so act, as if upon our single exertions depended the welfare, the preservation, and even the existence of our venerable Church. This conduct alone will enable us to overcome the machinations of the adversaries of the truth as it is in Jesus, and to vindicate from reproach and insult, and meditated injury, those divine and immutable truths for which the Son of God, our Blessed Redeemer, came down from heaven, condescended to assume a mortal form, and to suffer death upon the cross.

Can any cause, whether we consider it in a spiritual or a merely temporal point of view, be so proper, so good, or so worthy as this to encourage and animate our pious resolves? It comprises within its compass all the revealed truths of God, taught according to the most pure and apostolic form that form, in a word, which all those who humbly and with sincerity study the Inspired Will, know and believe to be the only form and rule set forth in Holy Scripture. It fits and adapts us for earth, and it trains and prepares us for heaven. And what does it not do even temporally considered? What is it which gives the highest, the only binding sanction to human laws-which renders our persons and our property, our fortunes and our lives secure, which preserves and maintains the throne, and forms

the sole foundation upon which the framework of society can rest? Christianity! and Christianity alone. As you value, then, your welfare here, and your happiness in that world which fadeth not away— as you regard your duty to God, and to your earthly sovereign-as you honour the altar and tlie throne of your native land, and all those venerable and ancient and time-hallowed institutions, and feelings and modes of thought and opinion associated so indissolubly with them, pause not, nor hesitate to devote your best energies and your highest powers in defending that Church, which is at once the ark of Christian faith, and the foundation of your ancient monarchy.

your

ANOTHER year is gone! It seems but as yesterday that it began, and yet it is now numbered with the things which are past! Would that the death of the one year, and the birth of another, might prove a lesson to the children of earth, to warn them of their fate, and to show them that in like manner are they also destined to die in this world, and to rise unto life immortal in the next. But, alas! if we are to judge from the conduct of those around us, it would seem as if they imagined that this world should last for ever. They toil and labour after gain, they buy and they sell, they engage in the slippery paths of ambition, they steep their senses in the enticing fascinations of pleasure, they neither look back nor cast their eyes into futurity, but busy themselves entirely and altogether in the present; they think that this world, its pleasures and its pains, its joys and its woes, its prosperity and its adversity, are bounded by no limit. Perhaps, ere the sun has set which has risen upon them engaged in these earthly toils, their life shall be required of them, and they shall be summoned into the presence of their Maker, with all their unrepented sins upon their heads. What answer shall they make to the awful question which shall be put to them, "How hast thou employed that portion of time which was given unto thee to be spent in preparation for another world?" Mute and dumb will they stand in the presence of their Judge; and who shall say what sentence will be pronounced upon them.

Yes! the past year is, to all intents, lost to us, and numbered among the dead. It is gone to join the multitude of years which have expired before it. It will return no more upon the earth, and the scenes which were acted in it are closed for ever. The idea of

the last is always a melancholy idea; and it is so above all, because, whatever be the immediate object, an application is presently made to ourselves. Thus, in the case before us, it is good for us to recollect, that what has happened to the year must happen to us. On each one of us a day must dawn which will be our last. The reflection is sorrowful, but it is just and salutary. Let us then cast back our eyes on that portion of time which is come to its conclusion. Let us recall those events which have befallen us during Let us remember the preservations from spiritual and

course.

temporal dangers which have been vouchsafed to us, the blessings which have been granted to us and ours, and let us ask ourselves whether we have received them with thankfulness and gratitude. Let us remember the various crosses, the calamities and sicknesses with which we have been visited, and ask ourselves whether such visitations have rendered us more penitent, more diligent, devout, and holy, more humble and charitable? And let us never forget, that whatever may be gone or may be to come, is all from God,. who sends it not without a reason, and with whom, if we co-operate, no event can befall us which will not in the end turn to our advantage. Let us endeavour to recall the good examples which we have seen and heard of, during the course of the year which is past--the wholesome advice, the faithful and kind reproofs which we have received from books, from conversation, and from our own consciences. Let us ask ourselves whether we have derived improvement and profit from these admonitions.

Have we been accustomed formerly to pray but seldom, and when we did, to pray without attention and without fruit? Do we now, then, observe the hours of prayer with more constancy and less distraction? Do we really and truly find any pleasure in our devotions? Or are we dragged unwillingly to them as a task, and, consequently, rejoice when they are over? Perhaps for years together we have turned our backs on the communion table; is it then our intention to attend more frequently upon that ordinance in future? Do we hear a sermon with a determined resolution to carry what is said into practice, or as a matter of amusement only, and a subject upon which to display our powers of criticism? Does the current of our thoughts flow more pure than formerly? Is our conversation become innocent, at least, if not improving; free from slander and scandal, from pride and conceit ? Are our actions more and more directed by the rules of justice and charity? And, above all, what use do we make of the talents with which it has pleased God to entrust us, more particularly those two, our time and our fortunes? Is it altogether such as will enable us, on our deathbeds, to think of it, with pious comfort and humble trust? When we examine ourselves as to the progress we have made in the Christian life since this day twelvemonth, do we find that we have made any progress at all-that we have discarded any evil habits, or acquired any good ones-that we have mortified any vices, or brought forward to perfection any virtues? In one word, as we grow older, do we grow wiser and better? By the favour of God, we have lived to the end of the year; we might have died before it. In such a case, where had we now been? Have we no misgivings within? Are we conscious to ourselves of having stood prepared at all times, and for all events, in such habits of repentance, faith, and charity, as would have rendered our passage hence welcome and prosperous? If not, should we delay for a moment to make such preparation, and to stand in such habits?

It is recorded of one, who, having strong religious impressions, and feeling terrible apprehensions whenever the ideas of death and

judgment presented themselves, contrived so to habituate his mind to the contemplation of them, as to render them ever after not only easy but agreeable. His custom was, to consider each evening as the close of life, the darkness of the night as the time of death, and his bed as his grave. He composed himself for the one, therefore, as he would have done for the other. On retiring to rest, he fell on his knees, confessed and entreated pardon for the transgressions of the day; renewed his faith in the mercies of God through Christ; expressed in a prayer of intercession his charity towards all mankind; and then committed his soul into the hands of his Creator and Redeemer, as one who was to awake no more in this world. His sleep after this was perfectly sweet; the days added to his life were estimated as clear gain; and when the last came, it ended with as much tranquillity as all that had preceded. Well would it be for us to imitate such an example! How different would be our lives, and with what pious calmness, with what trustful hope, should we then await the approach of the hour of death!

NATIONAL EDUCATION AND THE CENTRALIZING PRINCIPLE.

THE following passages on the subject of National Education, which we extract from the Charge of the Lord Bishop of Llandaff,* are characterized by a spirit of strong good sense, and an inflexible determination to uphold the rights and privileges of that Church of which he is a distinguished ornament, which render them well worthy of the attention of every sincere Churchman. It will be seen that his Lordship expresses himself in the most decided manner upon the Centralizing system, which has been attempted to be introduced into this country of late years, although so diametrically opposed to all its customs and usages. We hope that the example of the Bishop will be followed, and that other individuals holding high and in fluential stations will not hesitate to deliver their opinion against this system which has been regarded with too much indulgence hitherto. "On the subject of National Education, happily no law has been proposed; for I cannot but think, after the agitation of this subject which took place in Parliament, and the proceedings of Government connected with it, that any legislative measure that might have been proposed, would have been erroneous and mischievous-grounded upon false and imperfect views-inconsistent with that fundamental principle, which we cherish as a great national blessing, the union of the Church with the State-and in its effects detrimental to the cause of true religion, as well as to the permanent interests of the nation. Much praise, therefore, and warm thanks are due to those distinguished men, chiefly of our own order, who boldly withstood an innovation which threatened to undermine the very principles upon which the constitution of this country is based. The power, indeed,

*Church Discipline and National Education. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of Llandaff." London: 1839.

was not so formidable, the design was not so manifest, the mischief apprehended was not of so deep and fatal a character, as that which in the reign of James the Second received its death-blow, through the courage of those Bishops who then denounced the treacherous purpose of the monarch, and boldly stopped its execution. But the cause was of a similar kind, the promptitude and the vigour of the resistance was the same. And it affords the strongest assurance, that, while the Church retains a place for her representatives in Parliament, a vigilant eye will be kept on all such encroachments; and that the nation will never be taken unawares by any measures, however artfully devised and plausibly recommended, in order to procure the adherence of those who are enemies to the Established. Church. That some expedients are wanting to carry into full effect the admirable plan of the National Society long ago digested and put in action, for the education of the poor, I do not deny and that the public mind required to be roused to a just sense of the impor tance of that duty, which had through time become neglected, as the best things are apt to do when the charm of novelty is over; but those who are old enough to remember the original formation and first operations of that society, the universal ardour which was kindled throughout the kingdom, the active co-operation of the Clergy in the work, the institution of a central board and a central school in London, the building of schools by means of subscription, and of grants from the society in all populous places, and the patronage which parochial schools simultaneously received from the Clergy and their wealthy neighbours; who remember, moreover, the introduction of a system of teaching, which not only made the simplest machinery applicable to almost any extent of work, but which carried into effect wherever a school was well superintended, that just and beautiful maxim, qui docet discit,whoever, I say, recalls to his memory the stir and activity which pervaded every corner of the kingdom at that time, of which the evidence still exists in the multiplication of schools for the children of the poor, must admit that the recent movement is no new scheme, and that its promoters have no right to reflect upon the negligence or supineness of the preceding age. That the work is incomplete that it does not realize all the anticipations which its authors and earliest supporters formed, is perfectly true; but in saying this, I class it only with every other benevolent scheme which requires the steady, active, unremitting co-operation and vigilance of many disinterested persons through a long course of years. The history of all plans of this kind is nearly the same. After a few years the zeal abates, the first movers drop off, and are not succeeded by others equally active, and vigilant, and persevering. To continue and to preserve is not so animating a task as to found and to create, The institution is left more and more to its own rules and system. But it is hardly necessary for me to observe, that rules and systems will never of themselves perpetuate any institution-will never maintain it in health and vigour, however wisely framed. There must be a living soul breathed into them-a principle of energy, intelligence and love-devoted to the duty, because it is a duty-correcting what