many a one, like her of whom we are writing, has sighed and sighed in vain for confession and absolution from sin in the bosom of the English church.'-p. 189.

Indeed the writer fears this great blessing can never be completely attained while there is a married priesthood. On reading this, we at first thought she alluded to the acknowledged difficulty of married men keeping a secret; but we find it is for the very extravagant reason, that fireside frivolities' must unfit a man for the confessional. Really, the 'jovial priests' and jocund friars have never been discovered, either in past times or present, to exhibit much of the dark shadow of the confessional on their brow. The deep lessons of obedience' in which Lady Helen has been trained throughout the whole London season, begin, by the end, to bear fruit. The first is, that she renders herself so unpleasant by her taciturnity-hear this, ye young ladies of England-and by her carelessness to please, that on the last night of the opera, her box, heretofore crowded with admirers, is completely deserted. She despised 'the social popularity of our day,' which is gained by a talent for sharpness, liveliness, and that brilliant persiflage, which passes too current, instead of truer and earnester discourse.' But from the added remark, it would seem that even 'earnest discourse' is not permissible to women, for 'St. Basil says, that 'the talk of a woman should resemble water, which is said to be best when it has no taste at all.' This is not the world's opinion, nor does society like its practice; but as the church's holy voice, Helen knew it to be right;' Now we remember, that king Solomon has told us, the highest praise of a woman, is she openeth her mouth with wisdom,' but then what have the devout disciples of the fathers to do with the bible? what is the opinion of King Solomon compared with that of St. Basil? It is rather curious to find a female writer inculcating such doctrine. If the talk of a woman should be insipid as water, how is it that the author of Rest in the Church' comes before us not only in print, but with a style far more resembling vinegar-indeed, in some parts, solution of caustic?

But a greater reward awaits Lady Helen than being shunned as disagreeable; this is the return of her father, ere his death, to the bosom of the true church. While the young lady was in London, the pattern curate, who had been dismissed from his curacy for Puseyism, had been resummoned in consequence of 'the invasions of dissent on the unfenced fold;' and as may be supposed, he goes to work vigorously on his return. He buries the dead, 'for none of whom he could be sorry, as without hope, for who can tell the efficacy of the last communion, the inalien

able power of holy baptism, abiding on the soul through all the wear and wickedness of life? Who can tell the hitherto, of the sacramental mercy which God has invested in his church for the exigencies of men?' But this is only for the children of the church, for the writer goes on to mark the hitherto,' and to show it was not in the person of some aged, hardened sinner, but in that of an helpless infant, that mercy was to find no place; and she proceeds to paint the disgusting scene-to the disgrace of some of our rural parishes, no fancied one—of an infant brought for burial, and the priest refusing it a little earth for charity,' on the plea of 'not mixing the dust of the baptized and the infidel together in that consecrated ground.' The whole scene is worth reading, in proof of the furious intolerance that rankles in the mind, not of the writer alone, but of a large, and alas! from worldly standing, influential class. After a long speechifying on the part of the curate, shewing how impossible it was for the unbaptized to take a place among the once regenerated, however subsequently erring,' which smites the hearts, we are told, of the auditors; they are 'humbled and softened,' and the mother of the poor infant, buried with the burial of a dog,' calls next day to request baptism for her other child! Really, a series of the 'Anti-state church Tracts' were grievously wanted in that parish.

So valuable a teacher of the Gospel could not miss his reward; so Lady Helen's father, who is brought to his country seat to die, is so awe-stricken with this humble imitator of Hildebrand that he actually goes to church, is charmed with the comfortable doctrine of priestly absolution, surrenders himself, soul and body, into the power of the insolent young priest, listens to the poisonous opiates wherewith his conscience is lulled, and he finally experiences the immeasurable benediction of confession, when the hand of God's priest has conveyed to us the mystical absolution !'

6

A few weeks after that saving act, General Riddesdale died; died with the thrilling words yet making melody in his ear and heart

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his church to absolve all sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences: And by his authority committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.-'p. 321.

Surely such a priest and such a deed should have their reward; but, strangely enough, there is no 'rest in the church for Mr. Norman, any more than for Lady Helen. His wonder. working powers are unappreciated by the bishop of the diocese,

who suspends him for disobedience, and the result is, that he passes over to the more congenial church of Rome.

Rome arose before him with her incomparable constitution, and laws which the lapse of ages cannot contravene; with her perfect ideal, and her shining history, and her mighty saints, and her whole mould the very same from which those saints were formed; and lastly, her imperial claims, her all-absorbing doctrine of the necessity of communion with herself. Fears of schism, scruples of error, love to the church of his baptism,' were forgotten, lost, betrayed. One strong and irrefragable conviction mounted over all, whose centre, circle, and consummated ground was Rome! Right or wrong, for blessing or for bane, the Anglican bishop had achieved a convert for the church of Rome.—p. 337.

Lady Helen followed the example of her reverend guide; Miss Norman, alone, clung to the English church, and there waits, until the privilege shall be opened to her in common with others, to become an Anglican sister of mercy, in the society which is forming for the holy purpose of administering, by such means, to the poor and sick of London. May the Lord, and brother of the poor, remember at the hour of death, and the day of judgment, those good, and powerful, into whose hearts he has put it to consider this. And in their blessed home, and in the church, and holy sacraments, and in the scenes of heart-rending poverty, and benighted guilt, may those sweet sisters possess his own best gift of peace !'

Finally, anticipating, as the speedy answer of our Lord's Prayer,that they all may be one,'-the junction of the Anglican and Roman churches, and prophesying wonderful things to be done through the agency of Pope Pius the Ninth, the work, which might more appropriately be termed 'Disquiet in the Church,' ends.

We have been anxious to bring these works before our readers, especially the last, scarcely so much as specimens of 'Tractarian 'Teachings for Ladies,' although in this respect they are important, as for the purpose of pointing out the peculiarly aggressive character which is assumed by this portion of the English church, and the system on which it proceeds.

The recommendation in The Sketches,' of an asylum for orphan children, under the superintendence of a sisterhood; the example of clerical activity in 'Margaret Percival,' parcelling out the women of the upper classes, and giving to each her most appropriate task; the unwearied labours exhibited as the bounden duty both of the priest and his converts, in 'Rest in the Church;' and the exulting allusion to the projected

society of the Anglican' Sisters of Charity, all prove the vigorous efforts, and by female agency, too, about to be made, to. recover the lost sheep to the church's fold.' And even as we write, these efforts are taking a more definite form; schools, where a formulary scarcely to be distinguished from the Roman Catholic, save by being in English, is enjoined; societies for the sick, in which aid is afforded only on condition of accepting the ministrations of the priest, are rising in many a remote village, while the projected institution of the Sisters of Charity has been brought before the public in column-long advertisements, headed by a long array of names well known in the annals of Tractarianism.

With such agencies at work, it needs that we should be more than ever active and vigilant, and thus whatever can throw light on our opponents' proceedings becomes important. It is important, too, to mark the spirit and general character of their popular works. These prove emphatically to us that the day of half speaking, of hesitating avowal, has completely gone by. Hear the church,' they each and all cry, authoritatively; and anything but gentle are the denunciations on those who are not disposed to comply with that call. They advance with lance and shield to a war à l'outrance, neither heeding to give or to take quarter. Now it would be as well, we think, if many of our writers would imitate, not their intolerance, but their earnestness of purpose, their bold and determined advocacy of all they deem right. They look back upon their own history with proud exultation. Shall we not show them we have a history as proud, aye, prouder, than their own? Away, then, with timid confessions of dissent, polite lamentations over divisions and sects; let us stand forth in our writings, as those who feel we have a noble heritage committed to us by our fathers, and which, as a sacred gift, we will preserve and maintain.

ART. V.-The Latin Church during Anglo-Saxon Times. By Henry Soames, M.A. London: Longman and Co. 1848.

THIS work is designed to be a vindication of the author's 'AngloSaxon Church,' in reply to the animadversions of Dr. Lingard. In addition to this more immediate object, it is an attempt to spread a knowledge of the whole western church, during one particular period. And it is justly remarked, that no period in

religious history better deserves to be studied, after that of the O first three centuries.

The Anglo-Saxon rule over England comprises an era during which the Roman bishops became temporal princes, image-worship obtained a synodical recognition, and tradition was pleaded as a sufficient justification of it. Great opportunities were thus given for acquiring, extending, and securing influence to the chief Latin ecclesiastic. Popularity could be successfully sought, by pandering to that appetite for Pagan vanities which haunts inferior life and inferior understandings, while the traditional principle has built up a system that flatters clergymen with notions of supernatural privileges, and every body else with hopes of eluding responsibility.'

Mr. Soames has brought to this important task a large measure of ability, learning, and candour; and, though he passes rapidly over the whole field of controversy between Protestantism and Romanism, there is little of the polemical tone in his discussions, and he judiciously avoids the use of trite technicalities. As a historical defence of evangelical Protestantism, we accept his work, thankfully, as a valuable contribution to the cause of truth, aud as an antidote to the poison which has emanated from the fountains of divinity' in his own church.

Gregory the Great-Conversions of the British Isles-Archbishop Theodore-Confession and Absolution-Image Worship -Wilfrid Eucharistic Questions - Development - and the Origin and Progress of the Papal Power,' are the subjects to which his chapters are devoted.

Several of these subjects have furnished topics for separate discussion in previous numbers of this journal. We shall therefore confine our attention at present to the seasonable question last mentioned, the Papacy. We say, 'seasonable,' because every reader will admit that the Papacy is now in the midst of a crisis more serious than any that has ever marked its marvellous history.

When the chair of St. Peter was about to be swept away, by the same flood of popular power which the thrones of France and Austria were unable to resist, its doom was delayed by the phenomenon of a pope professing liberality and reform, who, by virtue of this profession, became the idol of the revolutionary party all over Europe. Even those thoughtful men who doubted his sincerity as a Roman pope, rejoiced in his patriotism as an Italian prince. They hoped that for once, the claims of infallibility would be merged in the enthusiasm of nationality, and that in Pius IX., the man would triumph over the priest. As well might they have expected that the Ethiopian would change