authorities as the late Bishops of Winchester and Salisbury insisted as they did upon the actual necessity for, and absolute importance of, such a work, it is astonishing, and not very creditable, that no steps have been taken to supply a want which has been so long felt. If it is thought necessary that the Isle of Man, with its forty-five clergy, should possess the privilege of exclusive episcopal care, surely the clergy and congregations on the Continent should not be left practically without a bishop. Nor would any greater difficulty occur as to jurisdiction than exists at present if the proposal-made long since, and advocated both by Bishop Sumner and Bishop Wilberforce-were carried out of separating the Channel Islands1 from the diocese of Winchester, and joining to the duties of their bishop the superintendence of the Church of England chaplaincies on the Continent. With regard to the present condition of foreign chaplaincies, we have seen that much has been done. They have increased largely in numbers; they have increased in efficiency, and in the character of their clergy. Nor must we fail to acknowledge that, in addition to the benefits which resulted from the circular letters and enquiries of Bishop Blomfield and his successor, much good has been effected, up to a certain point, by the Colonial and Continental Church Society. They have multiplied chaplaincies, and they have at least secured to them the ministrations of clergy of unimpeachable personal character. And yet, while acknowledging the good work which they have done, we must regret that such a work has been left to this society to perform, because we cannot feel that it has sought to represent the Church of England as a branch of the Catholic Church, as which claims to the full as high a position as an integral portion of the Church of Christ as that which the Church of Rome arrogates to herself alone. An extract from a recent report of this society will speak for itself. The report of the chaplain at Lyons is thus prefaced : 'It will be seen that he delights to co-operate in every possible way with the Protestants of Lyons and their pasteurs. Where this is the case there is no fear of the Church of England being looked on, as she is too often by foreign Protestants, with suspicion, or of her true character as a Protestant Church being forgotten.' Probably few of the supporters of this society know much of Protestantism in France, but even from their point of view they would feel alarm if they were aware of the divisions 1 The Channel Islands alone possess a population of 90,563, with forty-nine clergy. which exist among its followers. That sacraments are depreciated and administered by those who have no more right to such a ministry than any layman in England might, we fear, be considered as of little account by those who are ready to co-operate with the ministrations of Dissenters at home; but that Socinianism should be openly preached in many French Protestant chapels, that doubts should be cast upon the truth of the miracles, upon the articles of the Christian faith as expressed in the Apostles' Creed, upon the Divinity of our Lord-this would possibly be a surprise to them. And yet it is with French Protestants that the Colonial and Continental Church Society delights to cooperate, regardless of the sacrifice of Church principles, so long as they may join in a protesting attitude towards Rome. We cannot wonder that many Romanists on the Continent express surprise when they find that we are Christians, because they do not concede this name to many of their Protestant countrymen. And although we cannot but suppose that the chaplains of this society avoid those pasteurs who are known to be Socinians, and co-operate only with those who, though lax in doctrine and discipline, and possessing no orders, are yet earnest and sincere believers in Christ, we have no assurance to this effect, and are rather left to infer that, whatever their chaplains may find out for themselves, the society at home supposes all kinds of Protestantism to be equally good. Nor is it possible to feel satisfied with the provision made by this society for the services of our Church, which are presented generally, not in the simplicity of her own Catholic worship, but depressed very much below her level. Daily services and weekly Communions are rarely to be found in any chaplaincy connected with this society; and however strongly we deprecate the abandonment of their own Church by English people because they do not find what they might justly look for, it is unhappily the case that many have been induced to worship in the churches of the Roman communion because of the inadequate provision in their own. One case certainly existed within the last two years, in which the ministrations provided by this society were confined to a single 1 A friend of the writer's relates the following recent experience :"At a pension at Evian-les-Bains I met several well-educated French people-lawyers and others. We conversed on the subject of religion, and they were all astonished to hear that we used and accepted the Apostles' Creed, that we claimed episcopal succession from the Apostles, and believed the miraculous birth of our Lord from a virgin. They thought we were "Protestants."' afternoon service on Sunday, with an occasional celebration of the Holy Communion at the same time. The frequent practice of holding these services in the French Protestant chapels leads many, naturally, to attend the French services, where, as we have shown, they may hear such questionable teaching, but which, as we have been often told, they find so good as a lesson in French. The use of German and Swiss chapels is generally open to the same objections. That there are difficulties to contend with, all who have ever filled the office of a foreign chaplain must be well aware. Sometimes the only place available for service is a room in an hotel, and arrangements must be specially made upon each occasion, but even then the services may be orderly and reverent, if requisite care be taken. No clergyman abroad, any more than in a country parish at home, should be above acting as his own sacristan, and no man is fit to minister abroad who will not give personal attention to all the details of each office. For want of this we often hear complaints of the slovenliness of English services; and the deep injury caused to our Church not merely with Englishmen, but in the eyes of members of other communions, is greater than is generally imagined. Quite recently we heard of a case in which, after a service held in the salon of an hotel, the vessels used for the Holy Communion were left lying about uncleansed during the remainder of the day, to the annoyance and disgust of some who were present. There is indeed little excuse not only for such gross want of reverence, but for the use of hotel salons, as there are few cases in which the landlord of an hotel will not give, or at all events let for a moderate rent, a room to be set apart for the English Church. Unfortunately, those who are sent abroad to serve what are known as summer or season chaplaincies have often no knowledge of the Continent or of the language of the country in which they are placed; and, however legitimately these chaplaincies may be allowed to assist hardworking clergy to a holiday abroad, it is most desirable that no one should be appointed to any chaplaincy in which no place is set apart for service who is not qualified, both by experience and by his knowledge of the language, to negotiate for the separate use of some room or building for the purpose. The work which has been done by the Colonial and Continental Society has been due to the liberal support which has been given, not by congregations abroad, but by subscribers at home; and were English clergymen to contribute as liberally to the Continental Chaplaincies Fund of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, they would not so often hear complaints as to English services abroad. A most important work, besides the mere support of foreign chaplaincies, is the building of churches in which the services may be rendered with fitting solemnity and reverence. The Propagation Society is able to accept the trust of such buildings, and it is impossible to find any equally satisfactory tenure of the property of the Church in all parts of the Continent. There is ample room for the operations of both these societies, and we rejoice that they are working harmoniously at the present time, no new chaplaincy being undertaken by either without previous reference by the Bishop of London to the other society. We would not willingly depreciate any good work, and we trust that the Colonial and Continental Society, which has accomplished so much, may show itself more distinctly a Church society, an aspiration which we believe to be shared by some of its own chaplains. It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of the work of our Church abroad, and we need there, fully as much as in England, to show a united front against the rapid growth of infidelity. 'La religion n'est que l'immoralité,' was the hasty utterance of an educated Frenchman to the writer of these pages some years ago, and similar sentiments are too often to be heard on the Continent to-day. They are a cruel slander against a large body of devoted priests, but they are founded on a germ of truth which has borne bitter fruit. With such discontent against the clergy, and increasing assumptions and intolerance of the Papacy, unbelief has spread widely over Continental Europe. 'Je ne veux pas,' said a pious Frenchman lately, 'qu'un professeur dise à mon fils, "Demain je vais vous instruire comment créer Dieu." Ultramontanism on one side, infidelity on the other, a divided and often rationalising Protestantism struggling between them-such is the unhappy aspect which is presented in France, in Switzerland, in Germany, and, though possibly in a lesser degree, in other European nations. May it not be the office of the English Church to preserve the true faith in the midst of heresy and disunion? She preserves the entire faith, such as our Lord left it with the Apostles, to evangelise the world. She believes all which the undivided Church believed, as of faith.'1 May she be so faithful to her high calling that when in God's providence the scattered members of Christ's Body, awakened possibly by the perils of utter apostasy which are without, shall lay aside The Truth and Office of the English Church. By E. B. Pusey, p. 259. their unnatural and unhappy divisions, and concentrate their whole strength against the common foe of their Lord and of their brethren, our beloved Church may be the centre to which all may turn, and in which they may find preserved to them the rich treasure of the faith once delivered to the saints. ART. V.-READINGS ON THE TABLES IN THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER FOR FINDING EASTER. 1. The Prayer Book Interleaved. (Rivingtons, 1873.) 2. Astronomy without Mathematics. By Sir EDMUND BECKBart. ETT, 3. Some Observations on Easter Tide, suggesting and advocating a Change in the Mode of Determining the Paschal Limits. By the Rev. J. NEWLAND SMITH. (Longmans, 1872-1873.) 4. General Proof of Gauss' Rule for finding Easter Day. By SAMUEL BUTCHER, D.D., Bishop of Meath. PART I. 3 IT is somewhat remarkable how difficult it is to find any simple explanation of the Prayer Book tables for finding Easter. Dr. Stephens, in his edition of the Prayer Book, gives none. Wheatly' is not exact enough. Sir Edmund Beckett2 and Professor de Morgan (and the Prayer Book Interleaved, which, in fact, is only an echo of de Morgan), the Lord Macclesfield of 1750, and even the encyclopedias, are in general too scientific or condensed. And yet the subject is a little too technical for everyone to be his own interpreter, so that it may be no waste either of our space or our trouble to offer as intelligible an account as we can of these important tables. 'TABLES AND RULES 'For the moveable and Immoveable Feasts . . through the whole Year. 'Rules to know when the Moveable Feasts and Holy Days begin. 'Easter Day (on which the rest depend) is always the First Sunday after the Full Moon which happens upon, or next after, the Twenty 1 On the Book of Common Prayer. |