his religious common sense. His last sermon at St. Paul's had similar qualities to the first he preached in London. It was on keeping the sabbath, and pleads in a sound, reasonable way, for the right observance of that day. The last weeks of his life were spent in London, and 'as death approached, the thought of his long-lost and much-loved son Douglas appeared frequently to be present to his mind; and sometimes in the gathering gloom he even called him to his side. The end came quietly, and it found him in the full possession of that faith, hope, and charity of which he had so often preached to others.' R. LOVETT. ART. VIII.-The Strength and Weakness of the Anglican Church. Report of the Church Congress at Carlisle, 1884. THE recent Church Congress at Carlisle furnished a very striking illustration of both the strength and the weakness of the Anglican Church. A minister of the Church of Scotland, who was present as an invited guest, was so affected by the multitude gathered together and the spirit of unity and enthusiasm which characterized the various meetings, that he returned to his congregation with a tale so glowing as to suggest that in his secret heart he was sighing over the iniquities of Jeanie Geddes and the infatuated folly of the nation which, in rejecting 'black Prelacy,' had rejected an angel unawares. We have no doubt that there was enough in the general aspect of the meetings to justify the language of this excellent Scotchman, possibly somewhat excited by the kindly notice which had been bestowed upon him by the exalted dignitaries of the more powerful Church. But it is not this which most strikes us as evidence of the power of that Church. Any of our great ecclesiastical conferences would be tolerably sure to create some stir and excitement in the town where it was held. The meetings of the Congregational Union, for example, attract large numbers, and a stranger who attended them with friendly prepossessions might come away to tell of the number of the audience, the eloquence of the speakers, the unmistakable signs of earnestness and power on every side. Possibly, or indeed probably, the Church Congress would in some of these particulars com pare favourably with any Dissenting assembly of a similar kind; but however this may be (and into a comparison so odious and unprofitable we have no desire to enter), it is not in any points of this kind that we recognize the superiority of the Anglican Church. In these, at all events, a friendly competition may be maintained; and even if the Episcopal Church were to bear the palm, it would still be only primus inter pares. Nothing was more characteristic of the Congress than the union in it of the representatives of the various elements in our social life. The noble and the artizan, the scholar and the manufacturer, the man of leisure and the man of hard toil, the politician and the recluse, met there in a way in which they certainly do not meet on the platform of any other religious assembly. It is not too much to say that this blending was chiefly due to the fact that the Church is recognized as a national institution. The presence and co-operation of any man there did not necessarily imply a spiritual sympathy with the doctrines of the Anglican Church, but simply his want of sympathy with any form of Dissent and his general agreement with the faith which the nation has established. As a distinguished champion of the Establishment contends, men are Churchmen without any volition or action of their own; it is only in dissenting that they are called to exercise thought and volition. Whether the Church gains anything for its highest interests by the adhesion of such members is a point it is not necessary to discuss here. We note here simply that the co-operation of such men on great occasions such as the meeting of a Congress is a very important element in the prestige and impressiveness with which they are invested. Assuredly the signs of vitality exhibited in the interest shown by noblemen, and still more, by men of high culture and distinguished name, who are content to appear on the Congress platform and contribute their wisdom and influence to its deliberations, are not to be lightly esteemed. Nor must it be forgotten that while some evidently care much more for the Establishment than the Church, there are others of a different type, men of devout spirit, earnest religious purpose, and strong ecclesiastical attachments, who (as the Bishop of Liverpool has prophesied in those happier hours when he has been able to rise above the faithlessness which too often depresses him) will only cling to the Church with the more constancy and devotion, if it is deprived of the status, and endowment of an Establishment, and sent forth to do its work trusting only to the power of the truth it has to teach and the State Church Prestige. 129 presence of the living God in whom it believes. For ourselves, we heartily rejoice that in the growing attachment of such men to the Church we have the best preparation for that change which is certainly coming, and which may not be so far distant as is supposed even by those who most ardently desire it. We know no high-minded Dissenter who has any desire that the Episcopal Church should suffer by Disestablishment, and therefore we welcome the intelligent interest which an increasing number of its leading laymen take in its affairs. Church Congresses, and perhaps even still more Diocesan Conferences, are serious perils to the Establishment; but if they do much to render its continuance difficult, they certainly are doing as much to make the change safe for the Episcopal Church. In the meantime the participation of such men of mark, both in the political and scientific world, in these free gatherings, greatly adds to the interest and influence of the assembly. Almost as a matter of course, a Church Congress receives from the authorities of a municipality consideration and deference such as are rarely extended to any other ecclesiastical body. Mayor and aldermen deport themselves in such a way as to suggest that the town is honored by the visit of representatives of the Church, even as it would be honoured by a visit from royalty. 'Pomp and circumstance' surround an assembly, many of whose members have an intrinsic dignity which, for the ordinary mind, is sufficiently imposing. Suppose a foreigner had visited Carlisle during the late Congress, how could he fail to be impressed with the apparent strength of a Church able to impart so much of grandeur and authority to the annual deliberations of its members. The stately old cathedral, thronged by a congregation in which were not a few of high station, of ancient lineage, of distinguished name, would itself be to him a symbol of the strength and stability of the institution itself. In the representatives of the hierarchy, themselves members of the Upper House of Parliament, who graced and guided the deliberations of the assembly, would probably appear to him a link between the Church and the nation. As he found that among the speakers were busy and influential members of Parliament, and that while they were in themselves living illustrations of the devotion of members of one class to the Church, from the other extreme of society came a working man to tell how he and his fellows also had rallied to the same standard, his wonder might naturally grow, and he might not altogether unreasonably arrive at the conclusion that the Church was enthroned in the affections of the people, and that those who prophesied its overthrow were the victims of illusions created by their own evil thoughts and imaginations. Nor would that impression be seriously diminished by a careful study of the deliberations of the Congress itself. Elements of weakness do indeed become perceptible to those who look below the surface, and who, with a full understanding of the conditions of English society at present, and especially of the relations of the Established Church to other Christian communities, are able to take an intelligent and dispassionate view of the tone and bearing of the several discussions. But the majority must necessarily judge by the general expression of the moment, and their verdict would undoubtedly be favourable. The variety of the subjects discussed, the eminence of many of those by whom they were treated, the broad and intelligent views taken by many of the writers and speakers, and last, but not least, the attentive hearing given to new ideas, qualified only by this condition, that they must be in harmony with the principles of the Church, and capable of being made useful in its service, would all impress an observer. It was abundantly clear, at all events, that the members of the Congress, representing, doubtless, a much larger body of thought and zeal behind, were intent on making their Church a living power in the nation. It may be that this is done partly in many cases primarily, in some even exclusively, with the view of saving the Establishment; and in that they certainly will not succeed. The forces of the age are all against them. A democracy will not tolerate the perpetuation of a privileged class in religion. Apart altogether from any anti-hierarchical, alas! even antichristian, tendencies, it has instincts of righteousness which will be fatal to a system of social and political injustice, even though sanctioned by the sacred name of religion. All that the Church Congress can do will not overcome these feelings, nor will it, we believe, avail to postpone their inevitable issue for any length of time. But it can do, and we believe is doing, what is far better-it is preparing the Church for a separate and independent existence when freed from the trammels which the State must and will impose upon any Church to which it gives a national sanction and revenue; it will learn the vanity of the fears by which it is at present haunted, and develope out of its own spiritual energies a power for good whose strength it has never yet discovered. The variety of the programme itself reveals a fertility of Spirit of Church Congress. 131 resource from which other communities might learn a lesson. No doubt there are some discussions on themes which have been so often debated that it might have been thought that the Congress had long since become weary of them. We suppose, however, that it is with the Congress as with other bodies, and that there are irrepressible topics as well as irrepressible men. But making allowance for these, there is a remarkable freshness as well as a diversity in the subjects of discussion. Some are controversial, others purely practical. They comprehend not only the work of the Church in its numerous departments of labour both at home and abroad, but they take in also the most vexed questions as to its teaching and government. Sometimes we admire the happy audacity which does not shrink from the introduction of themes so delicate as the 'best means of raising the standard of social purity,' or questions so burning but so all-important as the 'duty of the Christian teacher in regard to national politics. Again, we are struck with the wisdom which appropriates a sitting to purely devotional subjects, or to subjects of deep interest, but lying outside the ordinary run of themes for such an assembly, such as the 'Results of Recent Historical and Topographical Research upon the Old and New Testament Scriptures.' Subjects of purely ecclesiastical or denominational importance are certain always to receive their full share of attention. The difficulty in the case of all such gatherings is to secure a proper place for these wider and larger subjects which do not belong to the topics of the hour, which probably have no bearing upon the special interests of the individual community, and which arouse none of the excitement which discussion generates, but which are of incalculable value in educating the mind of the Church, and so in strengthening it for the common work of all the churches. Why should not the Congregational Union have sessions of this character-sessions held not for purposes of discussion, but rather of instruction, and in which some of its members should give the Union the benefit of their most careful work on topics in which they are specially interested? They would call out men whose power is at present not sufficiently recognized, and indeed not known; they would give valuable contributions to our denominational literature instead of the not always well-considered utterances which are the necessary products of our present mode of discussion; and they would certainly materially enhance the attractions of our assemblies for a large number who take no part in the public debates, and are apt to go away complaining that they are 'stale, flat, and |