emphatically than all the rest, justifies us in arguing strongly, feeling powerfully, and expressing our sentiments with vehemence, it is that branch of the State which, because it is sacred, because it bears connexion with higher principles than any involved in the mere management of worldly concerns, for that very reason, entwines itself with deeper feelings, and must needs be discussed, if discussed at all, with more warmth and zeal than any other part of our system is fitted to rouse. But if any hierarchy in all the world is bound on every principle of consistency, if any Church should be forward not only to suffer but provoke discussion, to stand upon that title and challenge the most unreserved enquiry, it is the Protestant Church of England; first, because she has nothing to dread from it; secondly, because she is the very creature of free enquiry-the offspring of repeated revolutions-and the most reformed of the reformed Churches of Europe. But, surely, if there is any one corner of Protestant Europe where men ought not to be rigorously judged in Ecclesiastical controversywhere a large allowance should be made for the conflict of irreconcileable opinions-where the harshness of jarring tenets should be patiently borne, and strong, or even violent language, be not too narrowly watched-it is this very realm,

in which we live under three different Ecclesiastical orders, and owe allegiance to a Sovereign, who, in one of his kingdoms, is the head of the Church, acknowledged as such by all men; while, in another, neither he, nor any earthly being, is allowed to assume that name-a realm composed of three great divisions, in one of which Prelacy is favoured by law and approved in practice by an Episcopalian people; while, in another, it is protected, indeed, by law, but abjured in practice by a nation of sectaries, Catholic and Presbyterian; and, in a third, it is abhorred alike by law and in practice, repudiated by the whole institutions, scorned and detested by the whole inhabitants.

*

If there is any part of England in which an ample licence ought more especially to be admitted in handling such matters, I say, without hesitation, it is this very Bishopric, where, in the 19th century, you live under a Palatine Prince, the Lord of Durham; where the endowment of the hierarchy, I may not call it enormous, but I trust I shall be permitted, without offence, to term splendid; where the establishment, I dare not whisper, proves grinding to the people, but I will rather say is an incalculable, an inscrutable blessing-only it is prodigiously large; show

ered down in a profusion somewhat overpowering; and laying the inhabitants under a load of obligation, overwhelming by its weight. It is in Durham where the Church is endowed with a splendour and a power, unknown in Monkish times and Popish countries, and the Clergy swarm in every corner, an' it were the Patrimony of St. Peter-it is here where all manner of conflicts are at each moment inevitable between the people and the priests, that I feel myself warranted on their behalf, and for their protection-for the sake of the establishment, and as the discreet advocate of that Church and

that Clergy, for the defence of their very existence to demand the most unrestrained discussion of their title and their actings under it. For them, in this age, to screen their conduct from investigation, is to stand self-convicted; to shrink from the discussion of their title, is to confess a flaw; he must be the most shallow, the most blind of mortals, who does not at once perceive that if that title is protected only by the strong arm of the law, it becomes not worth the parchment on which it is engrossed, or the wax that dangles to it for a seal. I have hitherto all along assumed that there is nothing impure in the practice under the system; I am admitting that every person engaged in its administration does every one act which he ought,

and which the law expects him to do; I am supposing that up to this hour not one unworthy member has entered within its pale; I am even presuming, that, up to this moment, not one of those individuals has stepped beyond the strict line of his sacred functions, or given the slightest offence or annoyance to any human being; I am taking it for granted that they all act the part of good shepherds, making the welfare of their flock their first care-and only occasionally bethinking them of shearing, in order to prevent the too luxuriant growth of the fleece proving an incumbrance, or to eradicate disease. If, however, those operations be so constant, that the flock actually live under the knife-if the shepherds are so numerous, and employ so large a troop of the watchful and eager animals that attend them (some of them too with a cross of the fox, or even the wolf, in their breed)—can it be wondered at, if the poor creatures thus fleeced, and hunted, and barked at, and snapped at, and from time to time worried, should now and then bleat, dream of preferring the rot to the shears, and draw invidious, possibly disadvantageous comparisons between the wolf without, and the shepherd within the fold? It cannot be helped; it is in the nature of things that suffering should beget complaint; but for those who have caused the pain to complain of the

outcry and seek to punish it-for those who have goaded to scourge and to gag, is the meanest of all injustice. It is, moreover, the most pitiful folly for the Clergy to think of retaining their power, privileges, and enormous wealth, without allowing free vent for complaints against abuses in the establishment and delinquency in its members; and in this prosecution they have displayed that folly in its supreme degree.

"We know not whether any actual orders "were issued to prevent this customary sign of mourning; but the omission plainly indicates "the kind of spirit which predominates among "our clergy. Yet these men profess to be followers of Jesus Christ, to walk in his footsteps, "to teach his precepts, to inculcate his spirit, to promote harmony, charity, and christian love! "Qut upon such hypocrisy!"

That you may understand the meaning of this passage, it is necessary for me to set before you the picture my Learned Friend was pleased to draw of the Clergy of the Diocese of Durham, and I shall recal it to your minds almost in his own words. According to him, they stand in a peculiarly unfortunate situation; they are, in truth, the most injured of men. They all, it