pastor, how he could reconcile his rejection of the agent, with his acceptance of the Christian? From this dilemma there was no possible escape. The rector had only a choice of difficulties. If the man .were sincere in reference to God, he was certainly worthy of human confidence. If he were insincere, how came his confessor to give him virtual absolution? In either case, the sacramentarian and credulous system discovered its inconsistency and confusedness.-How the story ended, is not to our purpose. But it is obvious, that if common sense were suffered to guide men in the concerns of religion, we might have been spared the trouble of shewing, that a divine may possess two rules of conduct, entirely contradictory to each other; one of them subservient to his theological prejudices; and the other, compelling him to disclaim the moral pretensions of an individual whom he had recently admitted, as a sound disciple, to the privileges of Christianity. "I let them not despond; much less let them indulge a harshness of spirit which could not benefit the obdurate or insincere, while it would repel and deject the true penitent. The minister of Christ must endeavour to unite tenderness of heart with calmness of judgment; and though the purport of the present article has referred chiefly to the importance of the latter, we should lament that any reader should infer that we are not, if possible, still more anxious for the former. Every death-bed repentance is not necessarily false; nor every symptom of speedy conversion insincere. Our whole view of the subject, therefore, is well comprised in the well-known theological maxim relative to the thief upon the cross: "One was saved at the eleventh hour, that none might despair; and but one, that none might presume." A friend whispers in our ear: am persuaded that your view of these matters is correct, and that not a few of the ministers of Christ of all communions are secretly mourning over immature conversions and death-bed repentances, so called; but is it expedient to speak so freely on the subject? You offend the friends of the favourite opus-operatum error, and you no less offend the advocates for sudden conversion, whether on sick beds or in condemned cells, without any opus operatum whatever, either on the body or the soul." As to the matter of offence, if truth be offence, we are in sooth very tranquil; but we should not be tranquil, if we did not add at least one line to caution our clerical friends against harshness of decision in individual cases, and to keep in their view, as their best Exemplar, Him who did not "break the bruised seed, or quench the smoking flax." Though often deceived, A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Llandaff, in September, 1827, at the Pri mary Visitation: : By CHARLES RICHARD, BISHOP OF LLANDAFF. 1827. FRAUGHT with evils as is the sys tem of Episcopal translations; tending as it does to make the clergy, whether in the possession of high stations, or the expectancy of them, "time-servers," politicians rather than ministers of Christ; severing them from attachments which they may have formed; tearing asunder pastoral and episcopal ties; rendering useless the local information which they have acquired; breaking up their well-laid plans of diocesan improvement, or perhaps discouraging them from acquiring such information, or forming such plans; it has still one compensating merit, that it gives an opportunity for advancing to stations of wider influence and larger utility those who have proved themselves eminently faithful and well-qualified in more retired, and less extensive, spheres of episcopal jurisdiction. Upon this principle we felt the greatest satisfaction in announcing the translation of such a prelate as Bishop Sumner, to such a diocese as Winchester. To say nothing of the vast extent, the large patronage, and the magnificent revenues of this diocese, it is now a matter of history, that, during the long occupancy of Bishop North, it had been most grievously neglected. That prelate rose to his exalted station, not from his merits, whatever they might be, as a theologian or a pastor, but as the brother of a prime minister of England; and as all parties, including the bishop himself, doubtless viewed the appointment as purely political, it is not to be wondered at, that from it accrued but few fruits of ecclesiastical or spiritual utility. Bishop Tomline, though we are no advocates for some of his "elementary" views of Christianity, and no warm admirers of his episcopal course, was still a man addicted to theological studies, and who was impressed with a sense of the necessity and importance of the Christian ministry; but he did not arrive at Winchester till his health and energies were too much exhausted to allow of his carrying fully into practice any effective plans of discipline which he might have formed, or intended to execute. Bishop Sumner comes, therefore, to this vast and important diocese, not "to enter into other men's labours," but to cultivate a soil, much neglected, to say the best, and, we fear we may add, overgrown in many parts with unsightly and noxious weeds. We rejoice to state that he comes to it in the vigour of life, and after having given, during his brief incumbency at Llandaff, the most ample proofs of piety, and zeal, and wisdom, and diligence, and affection, in the discharge of his momentous functions. It is not our habit to trespass upon the personalities, whether laudatory or otherwise, of private life; but a prelate of the Church of England is so far public property, that we do not overstep the line of propriety in stating, from every private, as well as public source of information, that never perhaps did a prelate, in so short a time, attract to himself a greater portion of reverent affection and esteem throughout the diocese committed to his care; that never were plans of the highest utility better devised, or more prudently, diligently, and efficiently, begun to be carried into effect. The lamentations at Llansanfread, and in other parts of the diocese of Llandaff, at the departure of Bishop Sumner, have resembled rather the disruption of the private ties of longformed friendship, than the technical congratulations or condolences of official life. We say nothing of the confidence and esteem with which his lordship was regarded by the pious and the faithful among his clergy; but it is doubly to his praise that he had remarkably succeeded in attracting, not only the respect, but even the affection of those-for in every diocese, and in every pale, such there are-whose irregularities he was obliged to restrain, whose indolence he felt it his duty to reprehend, or whose slumbering energies he had endeavoured to stimulate to exertions becoming a faithful minister of Christ, and a pastor in the pure and apostolical Church of England. New churches were beginning to be erected in the more destitute parts of his diocese; new daily schools, Sunday schools, and even infant schools, all of which were much needed, notwithstanding all that may have been achieved in reference to these objects by the two preceding prelates, were beginning to spring up on every side: the parishes were beginning to be better supplied with resident ministers and more frequent services; the laity were beginning to feel more effectively the salutary spiritual influences of an Established also. And this, in truth, is the very test of useful preaching; for without it, all didactics, even the didactics of Christianity itself, fall frigidly on the ear, and never penetrate to the heart. Our French neighbours well expressed the matter when they said of Bossuet and Fenelon, "The one proves religion; the other makes you love it." Church operating upon them; he feels, and he makes others feel among the clergy themselves, a spirit was extending, which augured well for their increased zeal and pastoral activity; and, what may be viewed as a test of all, the necessities of the heathen were not forgotten, for by his lordship's exertions some of the poorest districts were beginning to collect funds to assist our ancient chartered society in "propagating the Gospel in foreign Parts." We notice these circumstances with a view to shew what valuable blessings a wise and faithful prelate may confer upon the diocese under his charge; how beneficial an influence, even in these degenerate and lawless days, he may acquire, notwithstanding the impatience of the public as respects all ecclesiastical rule. And we mention these particulars with the more pleasure, partly because we know, though it would be invidious to specify names and localities, that similar exertions, attended with similar effects, are in progress in other dioceses; partly because we rejoice that plans and purposes which have been found so beneficial in the West, will now be transferred to a far larger sphere in the South; and, not least, because we have reason to believe that the new prelate of Llandaff is fully prepared to carry into maturity the plans of his predecessor; and, we doubt not, with the same wisdom and diligence which have characterised his academical government, and which have raised Oriel college to the highest rank for talent and good conduct of any society in his own or any other university. But to the charge before us-and an admirable charge it is. Some sermons and charges tell men about religion; others, we wish we could say the large majority, are calculated, by the blessing of God, to make them religious. Of this latter class is the episcopal address now before us. The Right Reverend author does not merely prove, or merely exhort; though he does both-but We remember the goodly anec dote of a young clergyman applying some years ago to a prelate, since deceased, for advice as to procuring the just respect of his parishioners. "You are quite right," said his lordship, "to wish to stand well with your parishioners: I would, therefore, urge you to be decorous in your conduct, and to cherish a proper degree of self-respect. Take care also to dress in such a manner as to keep up their respect. I recommend you to wear hair-powder and silk stockings, for the common people think much of such matters." The anecdote, as we have said, and as the tonsorial portion of the advice indicates, is of some years' standing; and the reader is at liberty, if he will, to consider it as wholly apo cryphal. But the moral is still applicable. "Decorum and selfrespect," rather than Scripture piety and pastoral affection, are often the substratum of the advice given to the younger clergy. The external decoration of the head is indeed not mentioned; and perhaps credit is taken for recommending its internal furnishing: but even this is but a small part of a complete clerical apparatus ; or rather, we should say, it is not solely the apparatus which is needed, but the ability and the willingness to make use of it for the glory of God and the salvation of the souls of men. And this, we may add, can never be promoted by charges confined to mere matters of professional etiquette, or professional law and custom, or external professional propriety. "My son, give me thy heart," is the language of our Creator; and especially is this first great sacrifice necessary in a minister of Christ, whose duty and whose privilege it is to "spend and be spent" in the service of his God and Saviour, and for the temporal, the spiritual, and the eternal interests of his beloved flock. Bishop Sumner opens his charge in a strain of conciliating affection and esteem, very different from the procul-esto common-places of official condescension. Addressing his clergy as reverend," to shew his respect, and as "brethren" to shew his heart-felt attachment to them, he trusts to find "some chord of kindred feeling within their breasts;" for, says his lordship, "The obligations of our relative situations are essentially reciprocal. We owe each other mutual love, mutual confidence, mutual forbearance. As much as lieth in us, we must share each other's burthens, and aim at interchanging such good and friendly offices as are worthy of members of an household of faith which is at unity with itself." p. 1. Having alluded to the advantages of episcopal visitations, when rightly conducted, his lordship adds: "Think not, on the one hand, that I come among you for the purpose of placing a check on such wholesome zeal as may tend to win souls to Christ; or, on the other hand, that I am desirous of imposing on you new and heavy burthens, which neither the order of our church, nor the pastoral vows into which you have entered, oblige you to bear. The truth is, as the clergy of another diocese were told nearly a century ago, It is very little in my power either to increase or lessen your duty. Our blessed Master hath fixed it; you have undertaken it: and were I to release you from ever so great a part of it, 1 should only bring guilt on myself, without acquitting you at all. The injunctions of the New Testament, infinitely stricter than of men, would continue to bind any you as firmly as ever.'"-Bishop of Oxford's (query, what Bishop?) Second Charge to his Clergy, p. 3. His lordship proceeds to notice the peculiar duties which attach to the clergy, in reference to the present state of public opinion. The diffusion of knowledge, and other causes, conspire, justly remarks his lordship, to bring the clergy "before a tribunal always keen and searching; but not, I fear, always candid and charitable in its verdicts." His lordship, we fear, may have had additional proof of this last position since it was penned. He may have seen how ready are envy and party spirit to misconstrue motives and actions the most pure and laudable; and how little will even the broad shield of character avail to restrain the wanton outrages of a venal press, though happily it will avail to prevent the better part of the public judgment being eventually or extensively misled. His lordship, however, does not complain of the Argus-eyed jealousy with which the clergy are watched. He would not recal the days in which they were regarded with superstitious reverence. "Respect," he says, "must be deserved before it can be won ;" and "it will rarely be long withheld where it is fairly due;" but after all, he adds, a minister's great source of appeal is to Him who reads the heart; who knows his motives and his difficulties. "It is a small thing to be judged of man's judgment: he who judgeth us is the Lord." His lordship next adverts to the answers returned to a series of questions which he had sent round to his clergy. These questions, his lordship observes, embrace some points not usually noticed, and omit others of a routine nature, with respect to which abundant information had been already collected. We have seen these questions, and should have long since detailed the substance of them in our pages, had we not considered the intercourse between an individual bishop and his clergy as in some measure of a private nature. The chief heads of the information required will be seen from the summary of the details in the bishop's charge; and they are of great importance in reference to the moral and spiritual statistics of the parishes in the diocese. The questions were admirably drawn up, and would form an excellent basis for similar inquiries in other ecclesiastical districts. To some of them, as, Have you a Sunday school; the number of scholars, &c.? or, Have you a daily school, &c.; or, an infant school, &c.? his lordship judiciously added, seriatim, the very stringent interrogation, "If not, why?" His lordship laments the want of church accommodation in some parts of his diocese, particularly the mining districts, where a large population is often rapidly built up to be almost as rapidly dispersed when the mines are exhausted. To meet the wants of such migratory neighbourhoods, his lordship suggests that there should be a fund to maintain a suitable number of clergymen, who might move with the moving population. In the mean time, his lordship had intended to license suitable edifices, where necessary, 'for the temporary performance of Divine worship; a measure which, we doubt not, would prove of great utility. On the appalling subject of non-residence his lordship states, that there are but one hundred glebe houses in the diocese, of which many are untenantable by a clergyman. In consequence, in a great degree, of this inconvenience-added, no doubt, to the poverty of the parishes and other less excusable causes-there are only ninety-seven parishes with a resident minister, either incumbent or curate, while one hundred and thirty-seven are destitute of this benefit. We cannot but tremble for the church, and mourn over the neglected souls of her professed members, while we peruse such statements. But the most injurious pluralities in the diocese of Llandaff, are not those of benefices but of curacies. His lordship had therefore matured a plan, as far as possible to have two Sunday services in every church; and to allow of no clergyman's supplying more than two parishes. He also recommends, in such cases, a week-day service. His lordship laments the small number of the congregations and communicants in many of the parishes. In three parishes, containing 936 souls, there are only twenty-two communicants and fifty attendants at church. In other places the average congregation is scarcely a fortieth of the population. In a diocese containing 150,000 souls, the communicants are reported at only 4134, and the churchgoers at 19,169. The clergy, in their answers to the queries, ascribe this defect mainly to "the activity of the Dissenters, or the indifference of the people to all religion." But whose fault is this? His lordship affectionately, yet plainly, impresses on his clergy, that if the Dissenters are more active than themselves, the blame and the punishment will be theirs, and that in such a case the friends of religion must rejoice, that notwithstanding every way "Christ is preached," and the souls of men are not left utterly to perish in ignorance and irreligion. His lordship most scripturally epitomizes as follows, what he considers to be "the great truths of the Gospel." "The corruption of human nature, the gratuitous offer of salvation through the merits of Christ alone, the necessity of daily renewal by that Spirit which helpeth holiness of heart and action, with all the our infirmities, the obligations to personal collateral points to which these fundamental principles lead, should be, in my judgment, the outline of your doctrinal divinity. Nor will it be sufficient to deliver these truths in a crude and abstract manner. They should be pursued through their practical bearings on human conduct, and urged with a close and faithful application to the various relations of life, by exemplifying the fruits of the Spirit the graces of the Christian character, with all those particular details of which the Epistles afford so many instances." pp. 18, 19. From preaching, his lordship passes on to schools. The detail is painfully meagre. Of daily schools there are only thirty-nine, and of Sunday schools sixty-six. There are 141 parishes without schools of any description. It is an unaccount. able fact, that Bishop Watson, twenty years ago, gave in the report of schools in this diocese,"at |