REFORMS PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.

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One would imagine, after so much done in the way of improvement, there could be little left to do. But Reform, like the fabled hydra, is a creature of many heads, and multiplies fast against the knife. To return to the unsavoury figure of our Augean stable, we have but scoured the floor, and sweetened the air, by removing the more disgusting objects out of sight and smell. We breathe, it is true, a freer atmosphere, and can walk and look about us without fear of pollution. But, in doing so, our eyes are but the more easily directed to other matters needing to be attended to, before the place is what it should be, and what (with a little of your assistance) we will yet hope to make it.

The roof, you will observe, is not altogether watertight, and is smothered with cobwebs; the foundation at the east end wants looking to; the western wall is bulged, and requires buttressing; the drains should be opened, and the outfall attended to; the bolts and bars must be made to run easier; the windows are old-fashioned; the doors want widening. The whole edifice, in short, though sound in the main, requires a thorough and efficient repair. It is with joy, therefore, that we hail in The Compass and Church Reformer a fellow-labourer able and willing to lend a hand where wanted; a workman needing not to be ashamed; regardless of the favour of man, and what is far more unusual, indifferent to his frown; seeking his only reward in the testimony of an approving conscience, the secret pulsations of a fearless and honest heart.

Viewing you in this light (very differently from what you will be represented by others) as the truest friend to the Church and your country, I will conclude by setting before you a short programme of what appears to myself at this moment most needed to put our venerable parent in such a state of efficiency as she is well capable of, but as yet is very far from having attained to.

I. First and foremost I would have you advocate, through evil report and through good report, a thorough Revision from beginning to end of our Book of Common Prayer; and, of course, as a necessary preliminary or consequence to this, a repeal or modification of the Act of Uniformity of 1662.

II. It is worthy of inquiry among the pious, learned, and discreet members of our Church, whether the time has not arrived when a revisal should take place of the received version of the Holy Scriptures, both Old and New Testament, with a view to availing ourselves of the stores of critical and Biblical knowledge which have accumulated during a period of near three hundred years; and affording at the same time an opportunity, much needed, of bringing the Bible and Prayer-book version of the Psalms into unison, so that one form should be adopted for the future, instead of two as at present.

III. Greater liberty is required in the use of Holy Scripture during divine service, with a less rigid observance of the prescribed order of Lessons† and other parts of the Book of Common Prayer. It seems also hard to forbid the adoption of extempore prayer, and all exposition of Scripture, during the same.

IV. Few people would object to a fundamental recasting of the Book of Canons; rejecting those that have become obsolete through time, and adapting others to the present condition of the Church.‡

This is about being accomplished by two Committees. The time they have occupied in the work speaks volumes for their good intentions; let us hope the result may establish as much for their wisdom and judgment.

The New Lectionary, now about being finally sanctioned by the law, partly but not wholly meets the requirement in the text. (1878.)

See Letter cví., pp. 217–227. A presentment on this subject was made to the Bishop of London (Tait) at his Visitation, Nov. 28th, 1862, by G. H. Beckford and Henry Hoare, Churchwardens of St. Dunstan's-in-theEast, and was published at length in the Times of the following day.

DISPOSAL OF CHURCH PATRONAGE, &c.

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V. A reform of Ecclesiastical Law in all its branches, more particularly as affects the discipline of the Clergy, has been long and loudly called for.

VI. The question of Dilapidations, though it has been partly attempted, remains still unsettled, and demands immediate and grave attention.*

VII. It is hardly necessary to say that the Church-rate question should be, if possible, amicably arranged, as between the Church and the Nonconformists.+

VIII. The disposal of Church patronage has long called for reform. The open sale of advowsons and next presentations is a great scandal to the country. And it is worthy of consideration whether several of the poorer Chancellor's livings might not be advantageously disposed of by private contract; ‡ the proceeds to be applied towards increasing the endowment of such livings, or other small ones in private or episcopal patronage.

IX. The office of Rural Dean, and the appointment to Honorary Canonries, would be generally regarded with more favour, were some stipend (say £50 or £100 a year) annexed to them, and corresponding duties exacted. It is notorious. that any duty, to be well discharged, should be paid for; and if there be no duty attached, an office becomes simply an onus, not an honor.

X. The whole question of Convocation or Synodical action requires to be brought under review. The present system will not work, and consequently is exposed to ridicule. The

* An Act on this subject has been since passed, but is not altogether satisfactory. (1878.)

An Act to do away with the compulsory collection of Church Rates was passed in 1868, to the great loss of the Church, especially in country places.

This has since been in great measure accomplished by Lord Westbury's useful Act of 1864, for the sale of some of the smaller livings in the patronage of the Lord Chancellor.

election of Proctors, as now conducted, is simply a farce,* and just umbrage is taken at the undue proportion of the delegated to the so-called elected members of the Lower House.

XI. The increase of the Episcopacy, and subdivision of dioceses in several instances, is a matter that has been widely canvassed, and received with general approbation. [And has since been largely acted on;-notably in the establishment of the Bishoprics of St. Albans and Truro in 1877-8, with the now projected Bishoprics of Liverpool, Newcastle, Southwell, and Wakefield (1878).]

XII. An inquiry is needed into the working of the Ecclesiastical Commission; more particularly as regards the better provision for spiritual destitution in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis and other large towns.†

The above twelve points may be considered as forming at this time the chief desiderata to the more efficient working of the Church. You will allow that they embrace a sufficiently wide field; so much so, as fully to justify the title you have adopted, and which I trust you mean to be no mere brutum fulmen, but a well-directed and well-sustained battery to carry all or most of them. In such your endeavour I heartily bid you God speed. You will be prepared to meet with much opposition, and encounter some obloquy and illwill; but you have doubtless counted the cost, and are ready to abide the issue. That you may not be discouraged, but may have strength and wisdom given you from Above for this good work, is the sincere prayer of your hearty well-wisher and fellow-labourer and sufferer,

Nov. 20, 1861.

"INGOLDSBY."

* See Vol. I., Letter XLVIII., pp. 309-313; also Vol. II., Letter cxxx. + A Commission on this subject was obtained by Mr. Henry D. Seymour in 1862. See before, p. 266.

The author may be fairly excused for claiming some credit to himself for having thus called public attention to these twelve points of the Reformers'

RETROSPECT OF REVISION FOR 1861.

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LETTER CXXII.

RETROSPECT OF REVISION FOR THE YEAR 1861.

"However we may be disposed to let the question alone, it will not let us alone."-DEAN TRENCH on the Revision of the BIBLE, p. 137.

SIR, It is long since I have troubled you with the Revision question, but you must not infer there from that it is either gone to sleep, or that its authors despair of ultimate success. The present year is the Bicentenary of the celebrated Bartholomew's Day, 1662, and it is expected that efforts will be made in it to obtain a modification of the oppressive Act of Uniformity, which, by narrowing the basis of the Established Church, has done much to foster and sustain the spirit of Dissent throughout the empire.

Assuming that the Prayer-book is, upon the whole, the best manual of its kind extant. Assuming that it is more comprehensive in its spirit than any other known Directory for public worship, can it be denied that it is very far from perfection, and that it admits of improvement in a great variety of instances?* Can it also be denied that, for some reason or other, there is a wide-spread alienation from the Establishment, as indicated not only by the extraordinary success of Mr. Spurgeon's Tabernacle (enlarged upon before), but also by the number and splendour of Congregational or Independent places of worship erected of late in most of our large cities? If this be so, it is surely incumbent upon us Churchmen to look the matter fairly in the face, and try, before it be too late, the

charter, all of which have received more or less redress since the above was written, and portions are even now under consideration. (1878.)

* Three revised Prayer-books have been since published, one by the Irish branch of the Church; another by the Prayer-book Revision Society, 17, Buckingham Street, W.C.; the third by the "Reformed Episcopal Church in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" (J. F. Shaw, 1878)