morning, to his task; the silence of the night invited him to pursue it; and he can truly say, that food and rest were not preferred before it. Every Psalm improved infinitely upon his acquaintance with it, and no one gave him uneasiness but the last; for then he grieved that his work was done. Happier hours than those which have been spent in those meditations on the songs of Sion, he never expects to see in this world. Very plea santly did they pass, and moved smoothly and swiftly along; for, when thus engaged, he counted no time. They are gone, but have left a relish and a fragrance upon the mind, and the remembrance of them is sweet.'" pp. 6-8.

This extract reminds us of a striking passage in one of Archbishop Secker's charges to his clergy. "A point of great importance to clergymen" (he remarks) " is, that they be studious. This will keep your money from being spent unwisely; and likewise your time from being thrown away hurtfully or unprofitably, or hanging heavily on your hands. It will procure you reverence too, as persons of knowledge; whereas the idle will, even by the ignorant, be thought deficient. And, which is the main thing, this alone will enable you to understand the business of your station, and to perform it well. But then you must apply to such things chiefly, as will fit you most to answer the great end of your employment; and determine with St. Paul to know nothing, comparatively speaking, among your people, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Cor. ii. 2.) The concern of a parish minister is, to make the lowest of his congregation apprehend the doctrine of salvation by repentance, faith, and obedience; and to labour, that, when they know the way of life, they may walk in it. If he doth not these things for them, he doth nothing: and it requires much consideration to find out the proper methods of doing them, and much pains and patience to try one after another."-(Secker's Charges; Works, vol. V. p. 465.)

In directing his clergy to the proper objects of study, Bishop Jebb

refers them to the two great departments comprized in the study of divinity; namely, the critical and the practical. Under the former branch he includes whatever relates to the grammatical, historical, and doctrinal interpretation of Scripture ;the evidences also of our holy faith; the controversies which from time to time have agitated the church; in short, all those branches of Christian theology, in which the intellect is principally engaged. Under the latter, or practical department, are comprehended the devotional study of the sacred Scriptures, together with the moral and spiritual writings of good men, and particularly the lives of those who were distinguished in their generation, as lights and examples of the Christian world ;in brief, all that reading which is primarily addressed to the affections, and which is most advantageously pursued in the retirement of the closet. It will be obvious that the preceding classification of the subjects of clerical study is not scientific; neither indeed does it pretend to be so.

"Scientific arrangement (it is truly observed) "may be carried too far; and it is lamentable, when the weightier confor systematizing. Long habituated, and cerns of religion are sacrificed to the rage cordially attached, to home-spun divinity, I do not scruple to say, that, for the sound and manly institution of a theological student, any classification of any one of our great, standard, Church-of-England divines, is, in my judgment, far preferable to that classification, of German origin, and, doubtless, of considerable attainwhich a divinity professor of great name, ments, has attempted (with what success I cannot pronounce) to naturalize amongst us. The professor in question was by no means happy, either in the matter, or the manner, of his animadversions on the list of books recommended by the truly learned Bishop Cleaver, to the younger clergy. And I regret to observe, that the first diplary prelate, has been wholly omitted, in vision in the arrangement of that exemthe more elaborate distribution of Bishop Marsh, the important topic of PRACTICAL AND PASTORAL DUTIES.'"-Note, pp. 9, 10.

Similar objections to Bishop Marsh's system have been strongly urged in an unpublished work of that truly devout and learned prelate, the Bishop of St. David's, a copy of which now lies before us. His lordship justly objects to Bishop Marsh's plan, that it " appears calculated to mislead the younger clergy, by confounding the order of their studies, and withdrawing their attention from what ought to be the first and last object of their ministry." "The knowledge of Christ," says Bishop Burgess," and of the means of man's salvation, should be the governing principles in Christian theology.' We recommend our clerical readers to refer to a notice of the Bishop of St. David's work, which appeared in our vol. for 1822, p. 135. The work not having been printed for sale, but only "distributed as presents to a few friends," and being mainly on another subject-namely, Bishop Cleaver's edition of the Lacedemonian Decree against Timotheus may not have fallen under the notice of Bishop Jebb; and if so, the concurrence of this two-fold reprehension of Bishop Marsh's system, is a double proof, if proof be wanting, of its radical unsoundness.

The list of books recommended by his lordship, is necessarily short; but it contains some of the most useful and instructive works that can be put into the hands of the younger clergy. In the critical department, we were gratified to observe Mr. Horne's valuable "Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scriptures,"" a work," says Bishop Jebb, "which in itself comprizes a body of critical theology, and which introduces the reader to the best sources of information." Respecting the ministerial character and duties, the admirable and well-known (at least by Oxford men) collection of tracts, from the Clarendon Press, edited by the late Bishop Randolph, in 1807*,

• This volume contains Herbert's Country Parson, Bishop Taylor's Rules and

under the title of "The Clergyman's Instructor," is very justly characterized as a volume" which ought always to be in the possession, and often in the hands, of every parish minister." From repeated consultation of this volume, we are enabled fully to acquiesce in Bishop Jebb's opinion, that "he who studies it with care, can never be at a loss how he ought to live, and how to teach: and he who brings his affections to the study, can scarcely fail both to teach and to live as he ought." On the subject of practical reading, the holy Scriptures, above all other books, are to be read, as Bishop Burnet expresses himself, "with a view to practice, to raise devotion, to increase piety, and to give good thoughts." To these the Bishop would add such works as Lucas's Practical Christianity, and Treatise on Happiness, Scougal's Works, Worthington on Self-Resignation, Charles Howe's Meditations, John Smith (of Cambridge)'s Select Discourses, and Kempis on the Imitation of Christ. Lest our readers should be surprised at the omission of some of those excellent practical writings which have been given to the public in our own times, we think it necessary to remind them of Bishop Jebb's declaration, above quoted, that he is an "admirer of homespun divinity;" and the works just mentioned, certainly include some excellent publications of former ages. And as the lives of good men are an invaluable portion of the clergyman's library, Bishop Jebb particularly recommends Burnet's Lives of Bishop Bedell and Sir Matthew Hale, with his incomparable sermon on the death of Robert

Advices to his Clergy, Bishop Burnet's Pastoral Care, Bishop Sprat's Discourse to his Clergy, Bishop Bull's Companion for Candidates for Holy Orders, Bishop Gibson's Directions to the Clergy of the Diocese of London, Archbishop Hort's Instructions to the Clergy of the Diocese of Tuam, and Dr. John Stearne's Trac ́tatus de Visitatione Infirmorum.

Boyle; Dr. Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical Biography; and especially Isaac Walton's well-known and instructive Lives of Dr. Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, the venerable Richard Hooker, George Herbert, and Bishop Saunderson.

Among various considerations, which the Bishop of Limerick presses upon his clergy,-particularly the younger portion of them,—as motives to induce them to cultivate professional studies, is one which cannot be too often or too prominently brought forward; namely, That the course of studies, marked out for under-graduates in the universities, (excellent indeed as a preparatory course,) is still only a preparation; and that their professional education can scarcely be said to have commenced till the period of their taking holy orders *. Conse

We have frequently had occasion to notice and to lament this grievous deficiency in the practical arrangements of our church. Scores and hundreds of young men leave our universities almost as little qualified for the duties of the pastoral office as for the medical, or military, or legal profession. Never will the Church of England become what we earnestly wish to behold her, till there shall be an intervening course of theological instruction between the academical and the episcopal examination room: or at least till a course of professional study, and an initiation into pastoral duties shall be made, under whatever plan, a necessary part of a clergyman's education. In no church is the defect so glaring as in our own. Dissenting communities have their divinity institutions. In the Church of Scotland, the academical degree is only a subordinate preparation; the candidate not receiving a nomination to a pastoral cure till, after a lengthened probation, he has proved himself duly qualified for the clerical office. In the United States of America also, among various denominations of Christians, theological institutions are superadded to academical-neither being intended to supersede the other. In the General Theological Seminary recently formed at New York, for the Episcopal Church in the United States, the whole course of study is professional; and no candidate is eligible who does not come prepared either as a respectable literate,

quently, with themselves, and with the employment of the first few years of their ministry, it must principally rest, whether, through the remainder of their lives, they shall be an ornament or a disgrace to their sacred profession.

"The obstacles in their way," continues his lordship, "I grant, and I deplore, are many, and hard to be surmounted. But they are by no means insurmountable; and, in the cause which we have espoused, nothing short of impossibility should damp our ardour. The want of pecuniary resources, and the consequent want of books, are often most severely felt; but, even here, much may be effected, by zeal, and by exact economy. They who cannot buy books may often borrow them; and they, again, who cannot borrow, may, at length, contrive to buy. Were a young clergyman of scanty means to ask me,— How shall I procure books?' I would reply, Determine, from the outset, that, next to food and raiment, (the simplest food, and least expensive raiment,) you will devote your stipend to the purchase of divinity.' The result would, in a few years, astonish those who may be induced to adopt this hint; and I can, in some measure, speak from my own experience in this matter. But, let not any say, that, for want of books they cannot study. There is not any clergyman, who may not procure a Bible, and some one Commentary; a Greek Testament, and some one Lexicon; a Book of Common Prayer, and

or with a college diploma. To render the system complete, and to afford to episcopalian students an opportunity of prosecuting their academical pursuits, and taking their degree, without resorting, as has been hitherto necessary, to colleges unconnected with, and often opposed to, their principles and feelings, an attempt is now in progress for establishing an episcopal college at Hartford, in Connecticut, and subscriptions are earnestly solicited in this country to assist the object. We shall not enlarge upon the nature or importance of the plan at present, as we intend to lay before our readers some details, both of this intended institution and of the General Seminary, in another part of the present, or in a future, Number. We must not, however, omit to state, that subscriptions for the object will be received in London, by Messrs. Rivingtons, St. Paul's Church-yard; and by the Rev. Dr. Gaskin, at Stoke Newington.