haps, will look to the collective episcopate as the natural representatives of the ecclesiastical estate, and as thus constituting the body from which any scheme of improvement may most fitly originate. We quite admit, that, as things now are, they are the only body that possesses the least claim to such a representative character. It is to be remembered, however, that the bench of bishops is essentially a clerical body, and for this very reason can be regarded as only very imperfectly representing the general mind of the church and country. The complexion, too, of the actual episcopate, or of any commission of their number that might be nominated, for a special purpose, depends too much on special circumstances of the time to command the full confidence of the church as a bona fide embodiment of its mind. It is probable, indeed, that such a work might be now entrusted to that body with greater confidence than for a considerable period past; but who can answer for the possible contingencies of the few succeeding years? Here, then, we are inevitably brought to a point to which almost every question affecting the highest interests of the Church of England will alike bring us the necessity of some central deliberative council of the whole church, duly representing the various elements, lay and clerical, within her pale, and fitted, by its constitution, to command the general confidence of the country. We long to see the initiation of such an institution, not alone with a reference to such questions as that which forms the subject of this paper, but also, and far more, with a view to the general efficiency and energy of the Church of England. For enabling her to meet the emergencies of the times, and to fulfil aright the stupendous responsibilities which now devolve upon the chief Protestant Church of the chief kingdom of the world, we are disposed to rely far less on plans of organic change than on an increase of administrative efficiency and executive power; and that never can be in any adequate measure attained without some central organ of counsel and of action. She must have a mind to think, and a hand to act, if she is to be equal to her position, and to fulfil the task demanded of her by the nation, and by the world. Even were such a body peremptorily debarred from handling any question of doctrine, unless when specially referred to their consideration, and expressly confined to matters of administration, an ample field for most useful action would still be left to them. Everything which the Church of England now most needs, and which the interests of religion and the country most urgently requires of her, would fall more or less within that sphere. The originating of measures for the improvement of clerical education; for the advancement of theological science; for the religious

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instruction of the young; for the extension of spiritual provision at home, and in the colonies; for the gathering in of the lost and sunken masses; for rolling back the advancing tide of infidelity and atheism; for the purification of her discipline; for preserving her own borders from the dangers alike of internal defection and of foreign aggression ;-in short, for pouring fresh life and energy into all her manifold and complicated agencies, these, and such as these, are surely things on which the concentrated resources of a national church should be made to bear, but with which she never can grapple without some such organ of common counsel and united action as that which we have indicated. must be able to act as a body. She must be able to combine all her resources, and to put forth her whole strength, in the work given her to do. Without this, the most momentous requirements we have just alluded to, and which must be attended to, and that soon, if the country is to be saved from utter ruin, will either be left undone altogether, or committed to the operation of such casual and piecemeal influences as we have so disastrously relied on in the past.

She

For this reason we have marked with satisfaction the progress of those events which indicate, we trust, the commencement of an earnest movement in this direction. We have no favour, certainly, for the constitution of the existing Convocation, or desire to see its active powers revived on its present footing; nor do we suppose that any reasonable man for a moment entertains such an idea. It was natural, however, and altogether in the character of the English nation, that any movement for the attainment of new powers should take its rise in connection with the venerable, though obsolete forms, of an old institution. Here, as in every thing else, the present must be based upon the past-the new must develop itself out of the old. Various, therefore, as are the elements of which that movement is now composed, and slight as may be our sympathy with some of those who are its chief promoters, we cannot help regarding the recent events as the inauguration of a great principle, and the hopeful token of a better day for the Church of England. Assuredly the combination of such men as the Bishop of London and the Bishop of St David's, the Bishop of Oxford and the Archbishop of Dublin, in behalf of this measure, is enough to divest it of every suspicion of a party character, and to put down the imagination that it is the project only of a few extreme and hot-headed men. We believe it is the result of a deep and growing conviction in the minds of religious men, that something of this kind is absolutely necessary to meet the requirements of the times; that the present state of things cannot continue with

out imminent peril to the most vital interests of religion and of the country; that it is neither right nor safe that the foremost church of the Reformation, and the most influential religious community in Christendom, should be the only corporate body bereft of all corporate life and action-should be without a voice to speak or a hand to act, in the most important and critical moments of the church and of the world.

We exceedingly regret to find our evangelical brethren within the Episcopal pale so generally standing aloof from, or arraying themselves in positive opposition to this movement. We can fully enter, indeed, into the fears and misgivings which actuate them in this course, but we cannot approve either the wisdom or the safety of that course itself. Depend upon it, this movement, if right in principle and called for by the exigencies of the age, will inevitably go on, and work itself towards a solution of one kind or another, whether they will or no. They may stand still, but the world, and events, and God's providence, will move on the while. A solemn voice summons the Church of England to arise and gird on her strength for new and mightier tasks, and woe be to her if she turn a deaf or careless ear. Now, therefore, is the time for all right-hearted men to be up and doing; to cast in their weight into the right scale; and by taking part, on sound scriptural, protestant principles, in these proceedings, assist in guiding them to a safe result. Let them ask for a true representative council of the church-not a mere clerical conclave, but a synod of the whole Christian body. Let them not act as the mere obstructives of evil, but as the resolute and strenuous promoters of the sound and the true. So shall they prove indeed equal to the times in which they live, and, by God's blessing, contribute to guide to a sound conclusion the course of a movement which, according to the direction which it may take, may be fraught either with incalculable blessing, or with untold disaster to the Church of England.

ART. VII-1. Census of Great Britain in 1851. Religious Worship in England and Wales. Abridged from the Official Report made by HORACE MANN, Esq., to GEORGE GRAHAM, Esq., Registrar-General. London, 1854.

2. The Results of the Census of Great Britain in 1851, with a Description of the Machinery and Processes employed to obtain the Returns, &c. By EDWARD CHESHIRE. London, 1853.

THESE are very remarkable documents, and evidently destined, by the facts they disclose and the lessons they teach, to exert

no ordinary amount of influence on the future action of churches, the opinions and proceedings of statesmen, and the legislation of Parliament. Hitherto the national census has dealt only with the numbers of the population, and with questions affecting their material interests. Now, for the first time, it has embraced the far more vital subject of their ecclesiastical and spiritual condition. This was a great desideratum; and, as regards England and Wales, in at least some most important particulars, it has been fully supplied. It is highly creditable to the Government under whose auspices the decennial census of 1851 was conducted, that this fundamental branch of national statistics was included in their programine; and still more, that it was followed out in the face of all the difficulties and discouragements they had to encounter in carrying it into effect. The subject was not pressed upon them either by Parliament or by the public voice. Not only so, but when it became known that it was actually to be embraced in the census schedules, ecclesiastical jealousy was aroused, and the question was raised in, the House of Lords, whether it was competent to the Government to require from the clergy the information that was sought. The opinion of the law officers of the crown, to whom this disputed question was referred, having proved to be unfavourable, the Government in these circumstances wisely resolved to lay the claims of mere authority aside, and to trust to the courtesy and good sense of the parties concerned. The issue sufficiently proved that their confidence was not misplaced.

It may not be uninteresting to our readers briefly to describe, in the outset, the process by which these religious statistics were obtained. The value of statistics consists in their accuracy and completeness. Without these qualities they are worse than useless, leading, as in that case they inevitably do, to false and often mischievous conclusions. Although it would certainly be a rash thing to affirm of the statistics now in question that they are altogether unexceptionable, they appear to be well entitled to a large measure of confidence. It will be manifest from the statement we are about to make, that no pains were spared by the Government officials to secure returns as full and as correct as the nature of the case and the means at their disposal allowed.

The primary object of the census was, of course, the numbering of the people. For this purpose, the entire area of England and Wales was subdivided into no fewer than 30,610 districts, for each of which a separate enumerator was provided. This immense army of enumerators was placed under the oversight of the 2190 registrars of births and deaths,-a class of functionaries who have as yet unfortunately no exist

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ence in Scotland.* As the first and fundamental step towards obtaining the information required, each enumerator was instructed to procure, in the course of the week preceding Sabbath the 30th of March 1851, an exact list of all buildings or apartments within his allotted district in which religious services were statedly performed, and also of the names and residences of the ministers, or other persons connected with these places of worship, most competent to answer the queries that were about to be issued regarding them. These queries respected chiefly the amount of accommodation; the numbers in actual attendance on the 30th of March 1851; the date and cost of erection of the several places of worship; whether these places were separate edifices or mere apartments; whether they were used exclusively for the purposes of religious worship; and to what religious denomination they respectively belonged. There was also a specific inquiry, in the case of all Roman Catholic places of worship, and to which we shall afterwards have occasion to allude, as to the space allotted as standing-room for worshippers." It must be abundantly obvious, that these inquiries were fitted to bring out a mass of most valuable information, if only the parties entrusted with the investigation were skilful and painstaking, and fortunate enough to get them answered. In this respect their success,- -a success well merited by their exertions,-would seem to have been very great; and this notwithstanding that, for the reason already explained, they had to trust for answers exclusively to the public spirit and right feeling of the parties addressed.

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The schedules of queries having been lodged with the proper person towards the close of the week preceding the 30th of March, they were collected by the enumerators on Monday the 31st, and placed in the hands of the local registrars. After being revised, and as far as possible perfected by these officers, they were transmitted to the Census Office, London. Here the Clergy List, and every other available means of authentic information, was employed to check the returns. In this way the fact was ascertained that there were still a very considerable number of deficiencies. To get these supplied, communications were made direct from the Census Office to the ministers, or other individuals, best able to furnish the necessary returns. Where this appliance failed, the case was remitted again to the local registrar, with instructions to obtain from the most reliable source the information that was wanting. As the result of these persevering efforts, a return was at length obtained with respect to every place of worship mentioned in the enumerators'

We observe with satisfaction that a Registration Bill for Scotland has been announced as forthcoming in the present session of Parliament.