The first body of Colonists will find prepared to receive them Mr. Godley, a Member of the Association, who has been appointed its resident chief Agent in New Zealand.

Mr. Godley is well known as the principal originator of the scheme, and is as such the fittest person to carry out the work which he has begun. No other man could have been selected so likely, as the author of the plan, to keep the end steadily in view, so well qualified to adapt to it the requisite means, and so certain to pursue it with steadiness and consistency.

When, in addition to this, we speak of him as a man distinguished by all high qualities of head and heart, of known and undoubted attachment to the Church, of great energy, and of very considerable Colonial experience, we feel that we may look with confidence to a plan brought forward and conducted towards completion under such auspices.

The time is rapidly approaching at which it must be decidedwhether the Canterbury Colony is to be a reality or a dream. At no distant period 33,000 acres of land must have been purchased, or the Association will forfeit their right of pre-emption, and the tract of land, at present secured to them, will cease to be available for their purposes. It is, therefore, necessary that those who may feel inclined to join the band of Colonists should lose no time in making their intentions known.

Numbers there must be who might answer the description given of the first Colonists of New England in the letter of Brewster and Robinson to Sir Edward Sandys, quoted by Hutchinson in his 'History of Massachusetts':

'The people are, for the body of them, industrious and frugal, we think we may safely say as any company of people in the world. We are knit together as a body in a most strict and sacred bond and covenant of the Lord, of the violation whereof we make great conscience, and by virtue whereof we hold ourselves strictly tied to all care of each other's good, and of the whole. And, lastly, it is not with us as with other men, whom small things can discourage, or small discontentments cause to wish ourselves at home again.'

Men there must be who will not hesitate to cast in their lot, in the relations of Bishop and Clergy, with such a band as this, and who will not be slow to accept the task of leading it to the new land; which will, under their associated endeavours, put to shame the abortive caricatures which have rendered the very name of Colonies distasteful to high-spirited men, who in old times would have felt it a privilege to be allowed to devote their lives in such a cause.

The spirit in which the new sphere of duty must be entered upon has been so well expressed by the admirable Prelate, who has himself exhibited as perfect a type of the character of a Missionary Bishop as any age has seen, that to him we leave the

few words of mingled warning and encouragement, which ought to sound in the ears of the emigrants as they leave our shores, and remain engraven in their hearts long after those shores shall have faded in the distance :

From the very first, you must have a social compact one with another; all the leaders, and all the Clergymen, with all their bands of labouring men and settlers, that they all go out to found, so far as God may be with them, a Christian Colony; that they must agree to support one another“like people, like priest "—in every good and holy usage of their Mother Church; and as they will leave their native country amidst the prayers and blessings of all whose names are already written on the land of their adoption, so their course of devotion must be carried on on shipboard with their own loved and chosen Chaplain, till they see their own Bishop, or one who will be to them as their own, standing on the beach to welcome them on their arrival; that their first act may be prayer and thanksgiving, and that the first building into which they enter may be the house of God.'

One word more, by way of suggestion to Churchmen, especially to Clergy. In our parishes, town and country, cases are constantly presenting themselves of persons desirous of emigrating, or, at any rate, for whom emigration is felt to be the best course; who are in difficulties here, have strength, and health, and would improve their condition greatly by removing to a Colony. Such persons often go to their parish Clergyman to ask his advice. On the present system of emigration many Clergymen feel a difficulty in using any persuasion with such persons to adopt this course, on account of the sad spiritual destitution, and the wild and confused state of society, which would await them in their new country. The Canterbury scheme, however, does offer something of a home, and some regular religious influences and supports to emigrants; and the Clergy may be enabled, by means of it, to recommend emigration more confidently to such parishioners, and others in whose religious interests they may be concerned.

On our Church must mainly rest the responsibility of the success or failure of this undertaking. In the eloquent language of Mr. Wynter:

'She can assume the sacred embassy if she will. The will alone is wanting. There is no other hindrance in her way. The ground is yet unoccupied. No settler has set foot there. Only one lofty spirit, forsaking station, hereditary fortune, fair prospects here, is on his way to lay the first foundation of a future home for himself and others. The pollutions of our sins the dregs and lees of our prisons-have not yet tainted that sincere atmosphere: thank God for that! for (as Lord Bacon says) "it is a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum of people and wicked condemned men to be the people with whom you plant." There are no natives there to vex its future tenants; it may become a nursery-plot for God's people, if the Church will be the nursing mother.

'If she lead the way, bearing with her the precious and eternal truths of light inaccessible—if she take the Bible in one hand, and the means of

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intellectual culture in the other-an accomplished laity will not lag behind. As of old, "gentlemen of aunciente and worshippeful families, ministers of the Gospel of great fame at home, merchantmen, husbandmen, and artificers," persons of condition, education, fortune," "noblemen and gentlemen," will follow. These, according to the old writers, emigrated aforetime; why should they not again? Why should not noblemen and gentlemen embark for the Colonies now, as well as the labourer and artisan? Is there not one in the ranks of our peerage ambitious of the fame of the illustrious Lord Baltimore, and of the wise conciliatory Bellamont? Not one among the children of the peerage, who having no well-defined sphere of duty at home, yet feeling himself to be a minister of Divine Providence, a steward of creation, a servant of the great family of God, would be content to exchange inglorious ease for the honourable toil of building up God's Church in a distant wilderness, and of perpetuating a noble name and lineage in a new world?'

It is with these feelings that we recommend the publications of the Canterbury Association to the attentive consideration of all who are interested in these great social problems. An experiment is about to be tried, upon the success or failure of which hang consequences not to be lightly contemplated. Our reputation as a colonizing people, the character of our Church as a colonizing Church, depend more or less on the success which it meets with. We see, for our part, no extravagance or undue enthusiasm in the scheme; we see no reason why it should not succeed. It comes before us as the mature result of long thought and discussion amongst intelligent, disinterested, and practical men; and we again recommend it especially to the attention of the Clergy, who, with their great influence in their respective parishes and neighbourhoods, may contribute so effectually to the supply of emigrants for carrying it out.

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ART. VII.-1. Church Matters in MDCCCL. No. 1.-Trial of Doctrine. By the Rev. JOHN KEBLE, M.A. London: J. H. Parker.

2. A First Letter on the present Position of the High Church Party in the Church of England. By the Rev. W. MASKELL. London: Pickering.

3. The present Crisis in the Church of England: illustrated by a brief Inquiry as to the Royal Supremacy. By the Rev. W. J. IRONS, B.D. London: Masters.

4. A Letter to the Rev. W. Maskell. By the Rev. MAYOW WYNELL MAYOW, A.M. London: Pickering.

5. The Church, the Crown, and the State. Two Sermons, by the Rev. W. J. E. BENNETT, M.A. London: Cleaver.

6. A few Words of Hope on the present Crisis of the English Church. By the Rev. J. M. NEALE, M.A. London: Masters.

THE pamphlets, the titles of which we have here quoted, are sufficient evidence that matters of no ordinary interest and anxiety are occupying the thoughts of Churchmen. It would be superfluous to draw attention to them; they are sure to be read. We trust that we shall not be thought wanting in respect due to their writers, if, instead of commenting directly upon them, we make use, in our own way, of the facts and thoughts for which we are indebted to them.

The present are days of reform, and claiming of rights. The principle is universally acknowledged, that every real interest and substantial power in England may justly ask, in its due place, and according to its importance, for whatever is necessary to enable it to do its own proper work. If it is allowed to exist, it ought to be allowed to perform its functions; it is a contradiction in a well-ordered State, that a body, or a class, or a religion should be recognised, and yet hindered from realizing the objects of its existence. The State may ignore or disallow it, but not impede what it owns. Further, interests clash and powers conflict; and in reconciling these, the general power of the State is not bound to accept in their full extent the claims of either party; but though both may over-state their claims, none can judge as well as themselves what they require for their own efficiency. And accordingly, one after another, various interests have submitted their claims to the arbitrage of the general power of the State, have gained a hearing, and further have gained, if not all they wished for, yet much that was necessary or important to them. Roman Catholics, Dis

senters, the great towns, the manufacturing interests, have asked and obtained, not privileges, but release from disabilities and impediments; such a fair field as was due to them as important elements and real powers in England.

There is no reason why the Church of England should not have her reform, and claim her rights, as well as the dissenting, or the manufacturing, or the colonial interest. Church reform, indeed, has been long talked about; and some specimens of it we have already seen. We are not now going to complain of the way in which Parliament has dealt with Church property or Church privileges. It may have had reason for thinking the one ill-administered or ill-applied, and the other out of date and inconsistent with the present state of things; and may have wished in each case to apply a just remedy, and at the same time to deal fairly and honourably with the Church. though it be very proper to prevent the Church from wasting her money, or bearing hard on the social and political position of other Englishmen, this is not the same thing as removing the possible hindrances to her efficiency, much less it is restoring or strengthening her powers according to her own constitutional system. She has objects and wants, she has also difficulties and embarrassments, to her of the most real and serious kind, which are impalpable and intangible to the most benevolent Parliament. There are innumerable things which she may wish to do and put right, for which no one is competent but herself. There is no reason why she should be considered tied to an obsolete state of things, more than the nation at large, or separate interests of it. There is no reason why Parliament should consider itself capable of discharging all necessary functions of Church administration or legislation, any more than administering or legislating for the internal affairs of the Great Western Railway Company, or the Baptist body. There is no reason why the Church should find more difficulty in gaining Parliamentary sanction to the exercise in a restored form of her own intrinsic and constitutional powers, or even of new and hitherto unknown ones, than other religious or secular bodies. There is no reason why she should not be allowed, under Parliamentary sanction and guarantee, to carry on reforms of her own, to adjust her position to altered circumstances, to administer her own laws, to take counsel for her own interests. There is no reason why in her case all these important matters should be kept out of her own hands, and left in those which are not her own. There is no reason why Parliament should be strictjustly and rightly strict-with her in the use of her revenues, and look with jealousy, not merely on her exemptions, but on her influence on general legislation; and should insist, on the