6

formists. And we are sure that in the innermost heart of the Nonconformists themselves, however loud may be the cry of some of the leaders who have made themselves either the guides or the tools of political agitation, there is yet a strong feeling that their whole position would be changed, if the Mother Church were shattered to pieces, and if there were to be thenceforward no centre of Erglish religious life out of which the others might go forth, and to which they might at least from time to time return. The energy of these its Nonconforming children come back into the Church itself; its toleration and its world-wide grasp go out more or less to them. As there is no Churchman so exclusive as not to claim for himself the hymns of Isaac Watts or of Charles Wesley, the parable of the Pilgrim's Progress,' or the poem of Paradise Lost," so there is no Nonconformist so exclusive as not to find pleasure in the hymns of the Christian Year' and of Bishop Ken, in the stately prose of Hooker or of Jeremy Taylor, in the touching prayers of the Liturgy, or the all-embracing charm of the Authorised Version. The cathedral, the country church, the parish churchyard, are still theirs as well as ours. The founders of most of the Nonconformist sects received their spiritual life within its pale. As amongst the different Churches of Christendom there is still a common element, which has descended from the earliest times of the Gospel, so among the different Churches of the Anglo-Saxon race there is a common national element which belongs to all of them, and of that element the hearth and cradle is the Church of England. Whatever estrangement may have grown up between it and them, yet there is still a deep and inextricable union. When the tidings ran through the country last September that Canterbury Cathedral was in flames, every educated Englishman, however Puritan, however disapproving from conscientious scruples even of the existence of the English Church, yet felt as if he were about to lose a personal friend. like manner we are convinced that the very same persons, if they could accomplish the downfall of the Church itself, would not see without a pang of grief the obliteration of so valuable, so interesting, so intimate a part of our English history and English institutions. What would be the processes—what the results-of such a downfall, no one can venture, no one does venture, to predict. But it must be remembered that nothing short of the most complete and total destruction of the institution would satisfy the logic or the sentiment of the assailants. So long as a single church or cathedral remains part of the national property, and by the law of the nation

And in

is appropriated to religious use, so long the offence of union of the Church with the State continues; the offence which the Liberationists, whether from within or without the Church, profess to find. so intolerable. It was with the utmost consistency that a venerable minister of the United Presbyterians in Scotland declared in the General Assembly of that body, last year, that he for one could never rest satisfied unless the stately edifices of the National Church were put up to auction and sold to the highest bidder. This, he said, and this alone, would meet the full requirements of the separation of the Church from secular control, and of the absolute equality of the different religious communions.

But we are firmly persuaded that this cry will pass away, unless it be encouraged for ulterior purposes by those who do not themselves believe in it, or unless the rulers of the Church should prove themselves inadequate to guard and to improve the institution committed to their charge. It is a saying trite even to wearisomeness, that in these days institutions can only exist in proportion to their proved efficacy and capacity for growth and amelioration. Of no institutions is this so true as of those which, by their connexion with religion, pretend to a higher ideal than belongs to the mass of human ordinances; and of religious institutions there is none to which this so much applies as to a Church which, by claiming to be national, claims the support and sympathy of the whole nation. All Englishmen, as we have said, have a share in the Church of England; not only those who teach, not only those who communicate, not only those who are converted to this opinion or to that feeling, not only those who agree with all the statements of its formularies, but those who widely differ from many of them-all have an interest in its continuance and its reformation. By the feebleness of our interest in it it grows feeble; by our indulgence in foolish fancies it grows fanciful and childish; by the strength of Englishmen it ought to grow strong; by the enlargement and enlightenment of English literature and science, and the elevation of English public opinion, it ought to become enlarged and enlightened, and elevated. Every ramification which connects the Church with English society is a source, not as the Puritan and Sacerdotal schools would affirm, of weakness, but of strength. What it has to dread is not the oppression or interference of the laity, but their contempt

A curious instance has occurred within the last few weeks of the advantage of this connexion. So long as the prayers for fair weather

and indifference, which is the cankerworm of the Catholic Church in France, Spain, and Italy. It was said, at the time of the fire in Canterbury Cathedral (how far truly we do not exactly know), that one chief cause of the rapid spread of the conflagration was the accumulation of rubbish, straw, sticks, nests of every kind, which the birds of successive generations. had stored or left in the capacious vacancies of that forest of ancient timber. This is a true parable of the peril which besets a venerable institution such as the English Church. It consists in the gradual growth of old abuses-of forms which have lost their meaning—of stumbling-blocks of needless offence, which are innocuous in ordinary times, but in moments of excitement furnish the most dangerous combustibles. These are the dry fuel on which in such seasons the spark of popular passion falls, and the gust of party violence fans the flame, and the whole institution is exposed to ruin. It is to clear out these elements of destruction that the energies alike of all Liberal and of all Conservative Churchmen should be engaged. Amongst the wise maxims scattered through Sir Arthur Helps's Thoughts on Government' there is none more clearly and usefully worked out than that in which he insists on the constant need of the class-the rare class-not of Destroyers nor of Defenders, but of Improvers. The true Church defenders are the Church reformers, and the true Church destroyers are those who resist all attempts at change and improvement.

'I am sure (says the Bishop of St. David's) that the clergyman who is labouring most diligently in his appointed sphere, is the most efficient member of the Church of England Defence Institution, whether his name appear in the roll of its associates or not. I am equally sure that no one is doing the work of the Liberation Society more effectually than one who neglects his duties, lowers his ministerial character, and forfeits the affection and respect of his people.'

What is said here of the great mass of ordinary ministrations is equally true of the larger questions which call for

were proposed by the leaders of Roman Catholic or Nonconformist churches of the Church of England, the public acquiesced in silence; but the moment that the Primate stirred in the matter, the nation at large was moved, and the public press teemed with criticisms and suggestions of every kind. It is by such demonstrations, even if unfriendly, that the true interest of the National Church is tested; and that its frame is interpenetrated with the national life, which in turn is vivified by a religious spirit that else would stand apart from it.

legislation, and which affect the beneficial working of the whole institution.

To sum up all that has been said, in the concluding words of Mr. Curteis:-

'Every loyal son of the Church of England should, in these days, engrave upon his memory and upon his conscience this simple maxim: Efficiency [and unity] within, candour and conciliation to those that are without, these would be the certain means of restoring, ere many years are past, the old historical Church to an unchallenged position of dignity and usefulness in this country, such as at no former time she has ever held; and such as no other Church in the whole world has any prospect or any opportunities of holding. Men now-a-days judge practically. They look not to the theories of things, their orthodoxy, their harmony with other truths, or their remote logical consequences, but to their results. And that religious communion will, in the long run, most commend itself to Englishmen, which displays the greatest efficiency in winning souls to Chris; which proves, by a long firm grasp of its spiritual conquests, the stability and force of its methods; which makes men "men," and not merely bigots or spiritual invalids; which shows masterly boldness in grappling with that special characteristic of our time, an ever-widening and ever-deepening knowledge of nature; and which has vital power and elasticity enough to adapt itself to all sorts and conditions of men, and to the ever-varying necessities of our modern life.'

And let us add also the closing words of the gallant Charge of the Bishop of Manchester:

'We wish for no exclusive privileges which stand in the way of the fullest, freest enjoyment of their religious liberties by other men. We have no thought of reviving in the nineteenth century the spirit and aims of the seventeenth. The sword of persecution, let us trust, is for ever sheathed. At least, ours shall not be the hands to draw it. And though we hear on many sides, and in bitter angry tones, the old Roman Censor's ruthless cry, "Delenda est Carthago," we trust, if we only do our duty, that the doom of Carthage is still remote from the Church of England, and that, under God's good providence, we shall transmit an institution pregnant with capacities for usefulness, not only unimpaired, but reinvigorated-strengthened, broadened, popularisedto generations yet unborn.' (P. 112.)

ART. IX.-1. Gazetteer for the tricts commonly called Berar. Commissioner of West Berar.

Haiderábád Assigned DisEdited by A. C. LYALL, Bombay: 1870.

2. Reports on the Administration of the Hyderabad Assigned Districts for the years 1869-70 and 1870-71. By CHARLES B. SAUNDERS, Esq., C.B., Bengal Civil Service, Resident at Hyderabad. Printed at the Residency Press.

IT is gratifying and encouraging to all well-wishers of India,

to observe that of late years the history and vicissitudes of several great Indian provinces have attracted public attention and interest in an unusual degree, and that the labours of those public servants to whom the task of compiling and arranging local records of past events and present condition was committed, have been recognised by their fellow-countrymen, whose hearty sympathy and encouragement have been freely expressed. It is true that the subjects have, as yet, been few; but it is evident they are the precursors of a great national work of statistical survey and local history, which will include every province of India; and in the pages of this Review, the Rural Annals of Bengal,'* and Grant's 'Gazetteer of the Central Provinces of India,'t have already received the notice due to their value and merit, while, more recently, the Orissa' of Dr. W. W. Hunter, which is one of the most graphic and instructive works ever written on an Indian subject, has attained a wide circulation and well-deserved popularity among English readers at large. Nothing, indeed, could be more satisfactory in regard to the subject in general than the recognition, by the English public, of interest in, and sympathy with, classes of fellow-subjects from whom they are so widely separated, not only by distance, but by custom and belief; and we feel assured that as the Indian Statistical Survey gives further results of its labours, they will increase in value and in popularity. The recent address of many eminent ratives of India to Mr. Fawcett proves that they are highly sensitive to the notice taken of India by the speakers and writers of this country.

In the present instance, the official publications noted at the head of this article, enable us to present to our readers, briefly, the condition and circumstances of Berar, a province not inferior in general interest to any in India, whose value and

*Ed. Rev., No. celxiii. Art. viii.

† Ed. Rev., No. cclxxv. Art. viii.

VOL. CXXXVII. NO. CCLXXIX.

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