them know that they are nothing in themselves, and so by obliging them to seek for everything in him.'-(Pp. 16, 17.)

Mr. T. J. Rowsell is the author of the second sermon on Common Prayer, the Method of Worship.' He follows up the assertion implied in the first sermon, that 'Praying is the end of Preaching;' that the object of the true preacher is to bring men into spiritual communion with God. He protests against the importation of a worldly spirit into the house of prayer. He shows how the common prayer of the Church is a fit method of public worship, inasmuch as it expresses the common wants and aspirations of all who, in the spirit of brotherhood, kneel around the throne of God. The sermons on 'Baptism' and the 'Sabbath-day' are by Mr. J. L. L. Davies, who may be already known to some of our readers as the author of a pamphlet entitled 'St. Paul and Modern Thought,' containing a criticism of the views of Professor Jowett, of Oxford. Mr. Davies writes with great skill and vigour. The fact is noticeable that it has fallen to his lot to deal with the controverted topics of the volume. He has discharged his duty well; on both questions he has written with considerable freshness of thought and expression, albeit his views are those which have been already propounded years ago by Mr. Maurice himself, and, more recently, in the admirable sermons of the late Mr. Robertson, of Brighton. We can never forget Mr. Robertson's exposition of the meaning of infant baptism. He tells us that 'Baptism does not create a child of God. It only authoritatively declares him. It does not make a fact, but only reveals it. It pledges to the individual that which is true of the race.' Here is Mr. Davies's defence of the same view :

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There are some who contend that it is unreasonable to baptize unconscious infants, baptism being properly a seal set upon the faith of persons who can understand what they profess. Grant this view of baptism, and their conclusion is scarcely to be resisted. But I come back to our first principles. . . . May not Christian parents regard their little ones as the children of God in heaven, until they are old enough to be asked whether they would like to have God for their Father or not? Are they not to be baptized into the name of the Son? What? is the Lord Jesus Christ not their Saviour until they have deliberately chosen him? Must he not choose them first? Has he not chosen them? Can we pretend, or can we bear, to be doubtful for a moment whether our little children may rightly be taught to look upon Jesus as their Lord and Friend and Head, before they can reasonably be asked whether they wish to be his members or not?.... We are all of us in danger of lapsing into views against which the baptism of infants is a witness and protest, the views, I mean, which regard ourselves as commencing our reconciliation with God, and forget the great atonement which God has effected with us, and the love with which he acts up to that atonement towards every man. When we see an adult baptized, it is possible to fancy that he has chosen God; when we see an infant baptized, we can only believe that God has chosen it.'-(Pp. 61, 62, 63.)

In his sermon on the Sabbath-day, Mr. Davies speaks bravely, yet with discrimination. On the one hand, he bids us beware how we confound with recreation a dissipation which only exhausts the energies instead of repairing them. On the other hand, he bids us be on our guard against austerities and restrictions, which tend to make the Sabbath an oppressive instead of a cheering and refreshing day.

The remaining sermon, on The Lord's Supper, the most sacred Bond of Worship,' is from the pen of Mr. D. J. Vaughan, who is already known to us as the author of a volume of sermons, which, at the time of their publication, were quite sufficient to rank him with those men in whose company we now find him. So far as we can re member, the present sermon is very much superior to any of those which that volume contains. His text is, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.' He connects worship' with 'worth' or 'worthiness. He shows that we can only reverence that which is revealed as worthy of our reverence; and then he points out how the Lord's Supper, by its perpetual witness for the character of God, is a most powerful incentive to true spiritual worship. But we must forbear from further quotation We take leave of this little volume, with heartfelt gratitude to Maurice and his coadjutors for the truth which God is enabling the to speak. We do not say that we have been able to agree with Mr Maurice in all the interpretations of Scripture which he has given us in his books; we do not say that we wish to see him become the founder of a distinct school or party. He would be the last man to expect or demand the former; we know that he desires anything but the latter. But we do honour him for the protest which he has lifted up against all limitations of the infinite love of God. We thank him that he has always been holding out to men-as their highest blessedness, here or hereafter-union to God and sympathy with Christ; that he has always been teaching us that our greatest possible loss, in this world or the world to come, must be separation from the Father who loves us, from the Redeemer who died to save us. We rejoice that he and his friends are uttering such a brave and manly protest against the spirit of worldliness which has crept into the Church of Christ, and in the exercise of which, religion' becomes just one phase of that selfishness which is the very curse of humanity.

Nevertheless, we cannot agree with those who think that, in our age, the type of the religious reformer is no longer Luther, but Maurice. Rather do we look upon Maurice as the Melanchthon of the English Church. He loves the Church' too dearly to think of deserting her; he wishes to put a new and higher life into her Articles' and forms of worship. It is the same, to a very large extent, with his disciple, Kingsley. Yet we suppose it is true that the larger proportion of those who sympathize with the teaching of these two men is to be found outside the pale of the Church of England. Had they written from the ranks of dissent, we are inclined to believe that the development of their own minds would have been freer, and their influence, as religious reformers, much more extensive and powerful. Yet we thank God for the work which they have done and are doing. Whatever good is in that work shall assuredly prosper under his care and blessing. Such men as Maurice, and Kingsley, and Tennyson, are breathing a new and higher spirit into the intellect and religion of our land. And there is one consoling thought. It may not be necessary in our time, as it was in that of Luther, that the work of reformation should fall to the lot of a single man. Rather it may be God's design that

the work should proceed gradually and quietly, by the infusion of a truer and nobler spirit into several contemporaneous minds. The spirit of Luther shall thus pass into many separate teachers; and each of these may become a centre of influence, from which shall radiate the light of a higher and purer theology than that which is now prevalent amongst us. And we have little doubt that when the history of religious progress, during the nineteenth century, comes to be written by some future historian of the Church, who can look back with unprejudiced mind upon the disputes through which we are passing, the name of Frederick Maurice will not be the least conspicuous amongst those who, in our day, have fought nobly and valiantly in the vanguard of religious reform.

Wanted, an Independent Minister !

T. C. F.

MY DEAR SPECTATOR,-In certain circles the slender remuneration which even able ministers of the gospel receive for their labours, is still the question of importance: many imagine that a fair and just settlement of it may now be hourly expected, while others, who know something of the Church, as well as of the world, sceptically smile, and leave the matter as a legacy to posterity. Certainly enough has been said and written lately, if those specially concerned had only ears to hear, to bring about what is much needed in many churches-an entire revolution in their pecuniary arrangements. The contrast which too frequently exists between the pecuniary position of a minister and that of some of the poorest members of his flock, has been presented in the most indignant words, and such descriptions of ministerial grief and wretchedness have been given as to awaken deep and general sympathy. It has been shown that small tradesmen and labourers are perfect millionaires compared with their pastors, and that even the young factory girl in a good thriving town earns far more than the minister who has received a college education, and whose working hours, moreover, every day exceed the number allowed by the Factory Act.

How the hope has arisen that this state of things is suddenly to be changed for the better I know not, but many fondly imagine that, from recent revelations, discussions, and resolutions, the reign of stinginess is to cease in the Church; that the dawn of an ecclesiastical millennium is at hand, in which ministers will be treated in such a manner as shall more than make amends for past miseries and heartbreakings. The deacons will no longer be churls, but full of kindness, liberality, and justice; there will be a rivalry amongst church members in making their ministers happy and comfortable, and as for moneywhy it is to be 'no object.'

Of course, my dear Spectator, all honest men will cordially join in

the hope that the day is coming when in every field of labour there shall be a fair day's wages for a fair day's work, and all will rejoice in the pleasant prospect stretching out before those whose special work it is to declare, with ever new distinctness and power, Christ's message to this generation. Beyond a doubt the men who can do this successfully are the greatest benefactors of their age, and are worthy of a recompense, indeed, which the world cannot give. That many of them have hitherto wanted food and raiment, in return for the faithful utterance of truths to which many of their hearers profess to owe even their hopes of heaven, is a fact, however, which the churches are about to repent of. All good angels hover near them in their day of fasting and humiliation!

I am very unwilling to disbelieve in the promised reformation d the churches, but sure I am that some considerable time must elaps before the repentance of not a few can be properly tested, and prenounced to be genuine. They have been so outrageously mean, so manifestly unjust, such selfish Corinthians, so dead to all generous and delicate feelings, and so thoroughly heartless in all that concerns a minister's comfort, that their conversion would be as wonderful as 'the Ethiopian changing his skin,' or 'the leopard his spots. We do not doubt the possibility of the change, and it may be prayed for with all one's strength of soul; but a list of churches might speedily be made out, whose conversion it would be worth while travelling from one end of the world to the other to witness.

But while this most desirable work is going on, if it be going on, it may be well if ministers of the gospel would aid its progress a little. The present is a fitting opportunity for all those who are without a charge,' and for all those who are making known to their friends that they are moveable,' by their character and conduct, and by a pious, manly independence, to teach a wholesome lesson to all proud, stingy, and dishonest churches. Though that other time may not yet come, I do sincerely believe that the time has come for dishonest congregations to hear the exact truth about themselves; when those who profess Christianity must be taught, without any meally-mouthed modification, that the morality of the exchange is not to put to the blush the piety of the sanctuary; that common honesty is as binding upon a Christian as upon a worldling; and that the minister of the gospel, least, will be no party to fraud and injustice.

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Therefore, I repeat my advertisement-Wanted, an Independent Minister!' Wanted that man, throughout the length and breadth of the land, who has faith in the barrel of meal that wasteth not, and in God's ravens being yet alive, to say boldly to the churches, The ministers of the Lord will no longer go hand in hand with those who insult his very attributes, and commit robberies the most unblushing, in connexion with his service in the sanctuary. Rather than do this, they are prepared to betake themselves to whatever labour may present itself, and preach the gospel without charge.'

It may be said in reply, this is just what certain mean churches would rejoice in. Let them do so if they will, but I am persuaded

that the course suggested would put ministers in the way of acquiring and exercising an influence over the world at large which would be mighty for good. Hitherto a minister has been too much the perquisite of a few; his voice has not reached beyond his own little chapel; and the large world outside has looked upon him as belonging to the few people who attend his ministry, and as having little or no sympathy with anybody else. If, through manifest injustice, he is forced to take the step, let him throw himself upon the world, and widen, at the same time, his field of work; for one thing is certain, he will not be dealt with more unfairly by that than he has been by the church.

It is just now, my dear Spectator, while public attention is being strongly directed to the question, that the noble and worthy amongst 'the chargeless' and 'moveables' have an opportunity of doing immense service to their denomination, and, to what is better, the cause of truth and righteousness. If there is one period more important than another in the life of a Dissenting minister, it is when he is seeking a charge; then it is that, without care and prayerful resolution on his part, he runs the risk of becoming utterly contemptible, and despicable in his own eyes and in the eyes of others. Innumerable are the temptations thrown in his way, and the shifts to which he may resort, if he will, to gain a pulpit and a people. The chief rulers of 'the religious world,' secretaries, treasurers, and officers of large societies, have many snug berths at their disposal, and, like so many St. Peters, they stand with the keys in their hands, ready to give admission to those who, hat in hand, humbly repair to them. Rich deacons will, upon entreaty, consent to gain a hearing for the candidate if he will be deeply, that is, servilely sensible of the honour done to him, and consent to make Paul tremble before Felix, in defiance of Scripture history and commandment. 'Brother ministers,' with whom he has been known never to sympathize, and by whom, perhaps, he has been called 'unsound,' may be conciliated by a letter or two, with a little deference paid therein to their particular theology.

But such temptations are slight when compared with those which assailed the heart of Mr. Toady, when he was obliged to look out for another pulpit-his people having rather peremptorily insisted that he was of no use to them. The ladder by which he gained his new position was made of soft.soap; I stop not now to inquire into the amount of self-respect he must have lost in constructing it, but content myself with stating how he got to B. He was not a man in poor circumstances; indeed, he was far beyond the reach of want and its severe temptations; but, nevertheless, when he heard that the church at B was vacant, although there was another candidate in the field before him, whose superior thoughtfulness and threadbare suit seemed most sadly combined, the generous Mr. Toady found means to come in between him and the church, on the best part of which he had made considerable impression, and to obtain a hearing for a Sabbath-only just for a Sabbath, as he was so fully occupied. It was quite a boon, I assure you, to obtain the services of such a man; he had to look to his diary to see the first Sabbath he could spare