12. Whether, by the same avowal, all this be any thing more than a sample, of the "advantage,(18) which, had the late Bishop lived longer, might, with the predestinated approbation and applause of the present Bishop, have been expected from his said predecessor, had not “the dispensations of Providence" deprived the world of it, by preventing "the complete expansion of his plans :" (19)

13. Whether, of all the interpretations herein above put upon the words of the Bishop, there be any one, of which, if received as they stand delivered, i. e. without limitation,-they might not, without any impropriety be regarded as susceptible:

14. Whether, without giving up any the least of its claims or wishes, the most tyrannical and inhuman ecclesiastical despotism that ever raged, might not employ these same terms in the giving expression to such its claims or wishes :-

15. Whether it has been his Lordship's pleasure, to vouchsafe to subjoin to these his words so much as a single word of limitation,-having, for its effect or for its object, the clearing of this his predecessor or himself, of the wish or the design to endeavour at the establishment of such a despotism:

16. And whether it be not among the artifices, of the Lords of Misrule, on whatever Benches seated,-for the purpose of feeling their way, and judging how far they may hope to see others follow them,

to express themselves in words of studied generality, to which, as occasion serves, any meaning, between the most perfectly innoxious, and the most perfectly atrocious, may, without verbal impropriety, be attached :-their partizans, according to the disposition eventually manifested by those on whom success depends, being prepared to receive, either with willing applause, or with forced cries of unwarrantableness, the interpretation, which it is their wish to see carried into effect.

After the indications thus afforded of the strokes of character discernible in the two originals, here follow, in one frame as above, the two originals themselves.

Portrait of Dr. Porteus and Dr. Howley, successively Lords of London, as drawn by the said Dr. Howley:-copied from his " Charge," &c. Anno 1814, pp. 1, 2, 3.

"From the period of his" (the then late Bishop of London's) "first entrance on the higher departments of the Church, he opposed a determined resistance to the spurious liberality, which in the vain desire (8) of conciliation increases division and multiplies heresy,(3) by palliating (7) the guilt (6) of schism,(4) or by diminishing the number and undervaluing the importance of doctrines essential to Christianity. The principal aim of all his labours was the maintenance of sound doctrine and the security of the Established Church,(5) which he justly considered as the bulwark of pure religion, the pillar of divine truth. To this conviction deeply rooted in his mind must we attribute his jealousy of innovation, however specious, his vigilance

in exposing the tendency and checking (10) the growth of opinions (1) or practices,(2) which even by remote consequence might unsettle the faith of the inexperienced, or introduce confusion and disorder into the Church. (9) His endeavour to replace ecclesiastical discipline on its ancient footing,(11) to recover the rights and assert the legitimate authority of the Spiritual Governor,(12) originated in the same views. For he had been taught by the records of antiquity no less than by the deductions of reason, that the prosperity of our institutions depends on attention to the spirit of their laws, and that the vigour of discipline is relaxed, and its benefit lost, by weakening the hands and fettering the discretion of the ruling power. (13) In pursuance of this wise policy (14) he manifested an inflexibility of resolution,(15) a firmness of spirit, which could neither be daunted by clamour, nor discouraged by resistance; (16) a perseverance in labour which was never relaxed or interrupted by disgust or lassitude. In proof of the judgment which directed his views, and the zeal which animated his exertions in matters of general utility, we have only to cite his effective co-operation with other distinguished prelates in establishing the National System of Education,(17) and his paternal attention to the numerous cions of this institution, which sprang beneath his fostering care in every part of the diocese.

But I will trespass no longer on your attention, by expatiating on claims to your gratitude of which you are deeply sensible, or endeavouring to estimate the sum of advantage (18) which might have accrued from his active piety, had the dispensations of Providence allowed a longer time for the effect of his labours, and the complete expansion of his plans." (19)

Thus far his present Lordship-Nor need we

1

torment ourselves with any such endeavour, as that of forming an estimate, of the loss sustained by the suppression of that estimate. Never did the mantle of an Elijah fit more exactly the shoulders of an Elisha. For the Grand Lama of to-day is not more truly one with the Grand Lama of the other day, than the Lord Bishop of London of these same periods. Not more instructively could the "plans" of the departed Lord-Saint have been "expanded" by himself, than they have been, and continue to be by his Right Reverend successor. Behold what you will find written, or at least read by him, in a Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of "St Paul, on Thursday," (in the same year with the year of the date, of the above Charge, but whether before or after, the Charge being without date, is among the unrevealed mysteries,) viz. on Thursday, June 16, 1814, being the time of "the yearly meeting, of the Children educated in "the Charity Schools, in and about the Cities of "London and Westminster :" and printed in the "Annual Report of the Society," calling itself the Society "for promoting Christian Knowledge, for "the year 1814."-Year in the title page 1815.

66

"

After mention made of the self-styled National Society and its achievements-" On this ground" (continues his Lordship, p. 15,) "let us manfully take our stand;❞—and in this stand let us not only behold but accompany him ;-endeavouring, at the expense of here and there a word or two of in

terpretation, to render this expansion of these his plans, if not the more complete, at any rate the more clearly, and readily, and extensively intelligible.

"On this ground," (then says he) " let us man

fully take our stand; in the fixed resolution, "neither to swerve from the example of our fa"thers," [add whether Protestant or Popish,]

"nor

disregard the admonitions of scripture" [add, where they condemn that same example]. "The "diffusion of knowledge," (continues he) the diffusion of knowledge " disjoined from religious in"struction," [add, viz. as you will see presently, in that profession, and that alone, in which under the name of the profession of our ancestors, we Bishops and those under us administer it]-this diffusion of knowledge "stands in the same relation to igno

rance, as positive evil to the absence of good. "It is an enormous encrease of power, without

any adequate check or controul; injurious to "the individual, injurious to the community, and "thus destructive of happiness, the only reasonable "end of all attempts at improvement." [Add, and herein we adopt, and in and by our adoption strengthen, as well as purify, the doctrine of that successor of Mahomet, by whom the library of Alexandria was purified of its contents. Either they are the same, says he, with those of the Koran, or they are different:-if the same, they are useless, if different, worse than useless.] "And here" (continues his