distinction, have ceased to encircle them, and their present wearers are, almost to a man, dutiful members of that Church into which their forefathers refused to be forced, but which has since, by a milder and more natural mode of suasion, attached to itself gradually the whole aristocracy of Scotland.”*

Now the writer in the Glasgow Herald will hardly, we imagine, be prepared to maintain that piety and intelligence were absolutely nonexistent among this section of his countrymen. For our own part, we hold that so far as the English Church has lost influence over a portion of the middle classes in England, so far there has been something wanting, and that she might take a lesson from Scotland; that, so far as Presbyterianism has lost influence over the upper classes in Scotland, so far there has been something wanting, and a lesson might be gained from England. For the Christian Faith was intended to bind together all that is good and pure in every rank of life: intended, in the language of Dr. Tulloch, "to mould into religious unity classes widely separated in material rank and in intellectual and artistic culture.”

66

more.

4. We cannot bring ourselves to think that a system has been working well," which, up to the present time, has been so singularly barren of theologians. Of the fact, there cannot, we presume, be a doubt it is asserted by Professor Blackie, Sir W. : Hamilton, and many Our opponents may indeed urge that they do very well without theologians. But this never can be true. A Church, without a theology of her own, must needs live on the labours of other Churches ; and, in fact, Presbyterians are compelled to study the writings of Anglican Divines, if they would aim at becoming proficients in sacred science. The chief branches of Theology are, Dogmatic, Exegetical, Devotional, Moral, Liturgical. There is scarcely one of these branches in which England has not produced great names, or in which she is not at this moment adding to her strength. There is scarcely one in which Scottish Presbyterianism has effected anything of great moment. Her most famous divines have been Episcopalians: and, strangely enough, two of the most theologically gifted in our day, Dr. Lindsay Alexander and the late Professor George Wilson, were not Presbyterians, but Congregationalists. Her greatest exegetical divine, Macknight, quite broke away from the standard of the Westminster Confession; and Mr. Campbell of Row was on this very ground deposed from the ministry. If any would learn how much of general Scottish culture in the 17th and 18th centuries came from England, let him look at the critique on Mr. Buckle's second volume, which appeared in the North British Review. That article was from no Episcopalian pen: it was understood to proceed from one of the most accomplished ministers of the Free Church.

* Macmillan's Magazine, Vol. IV. p. 373.

But until such men as Professor Eadie, Dr. Fairbairn, and others can redeem this deficiency, Presbyterianism ought not to be regarded as working “completely to the satisfaction" of so intellectual a people as that of Scotland. Scarcely a nation in Christendom has better materials for making theologians than the Scottish; and union with the English Church would enable Scotland to supply some important lacunæ in Anglican divinity, in departments of thought with which the northern understanding is far more fitted to cope than that of the southern.

5. Is the moral state of Scotland one of the grounds of this complete satisfaction? We can hardly think it. Take a single point, that of drunkenness. It will not be questioned but that Scotland furnishes the most drunken portion of the British population; it is doubtful whether there exists any in Europe-any nation more addicted to drunkenness. Now we wish, if possible, to be fair and just. Let all attempts to account for this deplorable state of things be duly weighed: let us make allowance for every element that can really be held to bear upon it. Let there be considered the effect of climate, the effect of race, the effect of the particular form in which alcohol is most commonly imbibed in Scotland; let there be reckoned in also-what Dr. Begg considers a chief source of temptation, and most honourably makes a crusade against-the want of fresh air and good house room in the great cities of the land. But after every reasonable deduction has been made, will any fair observer arrive at the conclusion that Presbyterianism has nothing whatever to do with it; that it is wholly blameless on this score? It is hard to believe this. The paper on Scotland, published in an early number (we think the third number) of Temple Bar, is well worth perusal in connection with this topic; not the less so for that its author is evidently Scotch, and has no thought of balancing the claims of rival communions. The question of the precise relations between religion and morality is certainly a less easy one than it might appear at first sight. But the moral condition of Scotland, as compared with that of other nations, cannot be affirmed to be such as to suggest to a truly patriotic mind a mere and unalloyed sentiment of complete satisfaction.

It may be that our Presbyterian brethren, if we are fortunate enough to obtain any readers from among them, will take comfort in the thought that, at any rate, the particular theological difficulties which just now harass the English Church are scarcely felt in Scotland. In no spirit, we trust, of exultation or rivalry, but simply from a desire to set forth the truth, we must declare our solemn conviction that such confidence, if it exists, will ere long prove illusory. The tendencies to Universalism, the problems respecting Inspiration, are simply questions of our times-questions which cannot by any possibility be long

VOL. II.-NO. XII.

2

confined within the limits of any single Church-within the limits of any single country. They are being discussed at Paris, at Berlin, among both Protestants and Roman Catholics, with almost as much keenness and interest as in the Convocation of Canterbury. Far be it from us to ignore or to undervalue the aid, both political and intellectual, which the Scottish nation might lend the English in the discussion of such themes; but oh! how far more effective would the resistance to rationalism prove, if terms of accommodation could be but discovered, and if the Amorite and Philistine might find Jerusalem again built up as a city that is at unity with itself.

If any of our comments appear to fair judges to be harsh or uncharitable, we shall much regret it. We have no wish whatever to ignore the good features presented by religion in Scotland; its zeal and energy is great, and it has in many respects achieved very wonderful and deserved successes. But its praises are sung by so many writers with or without names, by the Duke of Argyll, and the great majority of the contributors to its serials and newspapers, that the other side of the case is at least deserving of some little attention, were it only on the ground of comparative novelty.

But if all that has here been urged should be deemed over-stated or irrelevant though this will surely be hard to prove-yet even then should we maintain that the existing division is of itself an evil; and that he who wilfully desires and seeks to perpetuate it is entailing on himself a grave responsibility. To a great extent in England, to a still greater extent in Scotland, the idea of separation being in itself a thing to be deplored, a thing opposed to the mind of Christ and his Apostles, has perished from among the people. That He, who can overrule evil to good, has brought benefits even out of our contests and rivalries, we cannot doubt. But this no more renders the separation good in itself than a fall into degrading sin could be rendered abstractedly good, because by it some proud and haughty spirit might be permitted to discover its own weakness and so be ultimately brought nearer to God. The Daily Review assures us that those only among Presbyterian ministers desire union, who are instigated by personal ambition, or by thoughts of the dignity to be derived from union with a hierarchy. To such an insinuation we shall make no attempt to reply; by all means let it have the full weight and influence that it deserves. Meanwhile, as we had the good fortune to find that several of the remarks in our last number had been anticipated in some previous publications of Bishop Wordsworth, which we had not seen; so it is now also, with much satisfaction, that we conclude our own attempts to show cause why Scotland should desire this union, by the repetition of his vigorous and comprehensive summary of the mischief wrought by our disseve

rance.

6

"The unity of your Church,' wrote Lord Bacon, addressing King James, the unity of your Church, excellent Sovereign, is a thing no less precious than the union of your kingdoms.' But however precious, experience has shown only too plainly that no way can be wisely or successfully attempted for effecting it, except through the enlightened wishes of the people themselves. And the people, I am persuaded, will wish it as many of their ministers, I know, already do-when they shall have been led to see how inconsistent with the will of God and with the gospel of Christ separation is; how many shortcomings of duty and how much unhappiness it entails both in families and upon individuals; how it palsies the strong arm of charity, except for purposes which are sectarian rather than truly charitable; how it chills the best sympathies and disorganises the most beneficial intercourse between rich and poor; how it prevents us, with a population so much divided, from grappling effectually with public evils of all kinds; how it tends to force minor points of doctrine into undue prominence, and, still more, to raise inferior qualifications to an undue ascendancy; how it gives advantage to impure, undisciplined living, to restless scepticism and lawless unbelief at home; and how it checks and discourages the propagation of the glad tidings of salvation in foreign lands."

SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH SOCIETY.

THE annual meeting of the Scottish Episcopal Church Society was held in the Music Hall, Edinburgh, on 14th December, when there was a very large attendance. The chair was occupied by the Right Rev. the BishopCoadjutor of Edinburgh; and among the other gentlemen on the platform were the Very Rev. Dean Ramsay, the Right Hon. R. A. C. Nisbet Hamilton, Sir J. Warrender, Bart.; Sir Charles M. Ochterlony, Bart. ; Sir H. Seton Steuart, Bart.; General Hope; General Macleod; Alex. Morison, Esq. of Bognie; James Johnstone, Esq., of Alva; Alex. Forbes Irvine, Esq., of Drum; Major Scott of Gala; William Forbes, Esq., of Medwyn; Hugh Blair, Esq., W.S.; James Steuart, Esq., W.S.; Adam Hunter, Esq., M.D.; Hugh Hope, Esq.; John Ronald, Esq.; Lawrence Davidson, Esq., W.S.; Colonel Lindsay; Nelson Rose, Esq.; William G. Don, Esq.; William Skinner, Esq., W.S.; George Auldjo Jamieson, Esq.; Hugh James Rollo, Esq., W.S., Treasurer of the Society; William Mitchell, Esq.; David Home, Esq.; Captain Bowman, Captain Hills, E.V.R.; Rev. Thomas Wilkinson, H.M.I.S.; Charles Steuart, Esq., W.S.; A. H. Wyllie, Esq.; L. L. Hyatt, Esq.; George Blanchard, Esq.; and a large number of the clergy. Apologies were intimated from the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord Rollo, and the Rev. Francis P.

Flemyng. The orchestra and gallery were occupied by the choir of St. Mary's Chapel, Dalkeith, the students of the Training Institution, and the children attending the Church Schools, who sung several anthems with great taste and precision to the accompaniment of the grand organ. The Chairman having called on the Rev. Mr. Montgomery, Joint Honorary Secretary, to read the Report, he requested that the Treasurer might be allowed to do so for him, as he was suffering from severe cold. Mr. Hugh J. Rollo, W.S., read the Twenty-sixth Annual Report, which referred to the reorganisation of the Society, and the visits of the Rev. F. P. Flemyng, Organising Secretary, to the various incumbencies, by whose efforts Committees had been formed in 148 out of the 157 congregations, leaving only 9 to be brought in. At the Annual Meeting on Claims, &c., held on the 17th November last, it was reported that the balance of capital held by the Society for the Bishops' Fund amounted to £4883 7s. 11d.; the balance of income available for division among the Bishops, £277 9s. 6d. ; the capital held by the Society for the Clergy Fund, £24,883 16s. 3d. (whereof £19,449 10s. 8d. is the former capital of the Society, which must continue capital, and of £5434 5s. 7d., the balance of the capital which has been collected under the new scheme, and which is available in aid of Endowment Funds); the balance of income available for division among the clergy, £2858 7s. 5d. (after defraying the grants paid in lieu of those formerly exigible from the Episcopal Fund); the sum set aside for educational grants, if voted, and which is provided for before the above balance of income for the clergy is stated, £615. As to the question of endowment, it was stated that grants were this year made by the Society, under the new system, to the amount of £3625. The effect of the efforts that had been made would be apparent by marking the contrast exhibited by the results of the old system up to 1863, when compared with the present amount of endowment funds belonging to the congregations of the Scottish Episcopal Church which have received endowment grants from the Society :

Under the new regulations of the Society grants will be continued