good practical result, especially when under the sanction and countenance of the Bishop of the Diocese. The result, accordingly, in the present instance, has been as already stated, an increasing interest in and attendance at the meetings. The Conference held in Oxford, in the beginning of last month, numbered some hundreds of the élite of the parish priests from the Diocesan counties of Berks, Oxon, and Buckingham, which we believe were pretty equally represented, and included the three Archdeacons, besides the Bishop. The object of the assemblage is described in the Secretary's Letter of invitation, as "A Meeting of the Clergy of the Diocese for United Devotional Services and Conference on Ministerial Subjects." It is not the first time that we have expressed our hearty acquiescence in this particular aim and plan, and our conviction that it would issue in the prevalence of Catholic truth, and in the advancement of Church principles, more effectually than the larger and mixed Congresses, for this, if no other reason, that the attendance is limited to the Clergy, and the questions brought under discussion are, therefore, of a more exact Theological kind, and are treated in a less popular and superficial manner, than is usual or possible in meetings where laymen, and even ladies, form a considerable portion of the audience.

True it is, that in the Secretary's last letter of invitation, (we do not remember whether in previous years or not,) the clergy are "requested to invite lay friends who may wish to attend." But we were glad to find in fact that the privilege was not acted on, or on so very small a scale as not to be even noticeable; and we retain our conviction that, for the above practical reason, it were far more honoured in the breach than the observance.

The method of proceeding at these Conferences has generally been as follows. The clergy meet, on some specified day, and at some specified place and hour, in order to say office together, commonly a somewhat late matins, and to listen to a sermon by some select preacher on a subject prescribed, which is intended to serve as a key-note to the subject-matters of the coming discussions. The Rev. J. R. Woodford was the preacher selected on the last occasion, as he has been more than once before; and the prescribed subject was "The Incarnation." The place of service was S. Mary's. The sermon was a very remarkable one in exposition of the Scripture pre-intimations of Antichrist and the Man of Sin, in connection with denial of the Catholic doctrine of the true Di

vinity and Humanity of our Blessed LORD. We presume that the sermon will be published, as usual, together with the papers and prepared addresses, delivered at the meetings. And this leads us to observe, what a very imperfect notion is conveyed to the public of the actual character and spirit of the meetings, by a record which excludes the very pith and marrow of the Conference, viz. the debates which follow the delivery of the set addresses. The readers of papers,

for the most part, are selected from clergymen out of the diocese, of a moderate and broad school, who, as representative men and from their special knowledge of their subject, command the respect of opposite parties in the Church, but can scarcely be said to be identified with any. On this occasion, they were as follows: Rev. M. F. Sadler, Vicar of S. Paul's, Bedford; Rev. E. H. Perowne, Hulsean Lecturer, C. C. C., Cambridge; Rev. W. Cadman, Incumbent of Trinity Church, Great Marylebone; the Dean of Ely; the Dean of Cork; and Archdeacon Bickersteth. Now, certainly, the published papers, which we fear is all that we may expect in the way of authorised notice of the Conference, cannot but suggest a very erroneous impression of the actual proceedings at the several meetings, and of the prevalent theological tone and bias of the diocesan clergy who attended them. The defective and hesitating theology of several of the opening addresses was invariably supplemented and corrected by the after-criticism of more exact and advanced Catholic minds. But all notice of this after-criticism is excluded from the only authorised report. We can easily illustrate the necessary incompleteness of such a record by reference to one or two incidents of actual occurrence on this last occasion. A paper was read by the Hulsean Lecturer on the Incarnation, "its relation to the Church in the Resurrection and Ascension of CHRIST to the right hand of GOD." Here certainly was a fair field for expatiation at large on the enduring Priesthood and perpetual Intercession of our ascended LORD, which one might have expected that it was scarcely possible to avoid. But almost all reference to the subject was omitted, the writer stopping short at the dogma of the Atonement through the One Oblation finished on the Cross, and even expressly denying the truth of a Christian priesthood, sacrifice, and altar in any proper sense beyond it. The omission of course was instantly supplied, and the erroneous assertion contradicted, by more than one speaker that followed; the Vicar of S. Thomas', Oxford, especially pointing out (we quote from a summary notice in the Churchman newspaper) "that Mr. Perowne's address had omitted to carry his subject on to the present work in heaven, of our Great High Priest on the right hand of GoD, and he showed the consequences of a full reception of that doctrine on the whole theory of the Church; that her sacramental ordinances, her priesthood, and her altar depended on it." Mr. Medd, of University College, and others, followed up with the Scripture argument for the use of the terms Sacrifice and Altar, and remarked on the fact, which is so often overlooked, that the present Prayer Book of Edward VI., though dropping the latter term, was accompanied with an express disclaimer of any intention of doctrinal change. The Protestant view of the question of course running in the extreme opposite direction, was characteristically defended by the worthy Rector of S. Aldate's, Oxford; and with his usual

adroitness and tact, as chairman, in summing up, the Bishop most skilfully essayed to prove the substantial agreement of the two parties in the debate, in spite of their apparent wide verbal discrepancy. The next day's discussion in the Convocation House was certainly not less interesting or important. Two admirable papers, so far as they went, were read by the Deans of Cork and Ely, on "the Foundations of Faith" and its "Difficulties in the present day," respectively. The Dean of Cork, in the course of his address, laid down, somewhat emphatically and peremptorily, that the rule of faith, according to the judgment of the Church of England, was solely the letter of Holy Scripture. His argument was, if we understand it rightly, an inference from the 6th Article, that nothing need be received de fide but "what is read therein, or may be proved thereby;" and also from the 8th, which grounds the acceptance of the Creeds on their proof" by most certain warrants of Holy Scripture." The Dean of Cork appears to us to possess, in a very singular degree, all the mental qualities most opposite to the ordinary Irish character; viz., freedom from prejudice, a remarkable candour and love of strict truth, a no less remarkable clear-headedness and logical ability, and—last, not least -a far more than common sympathetic and conciliatory temper. It is all the more surprising, therefore, that he did not see the plain untenableness of his position on this head. In truth, we believe that he did half see it, though not quite clearly, and therefore hesitated to propound it. The question, however, was again taken up by the Vicar of S. Thomas', Oxford. He pointed out that the letter of Holy Scripture, as interpreted by the Catholic Church, or tradition, or the Creeds, was rather, in the judgment of the Church of England, the authoritative regula fidei; and he referred, in proof of his assertion, to the 20th Article, that "the Church hath authority in controversies of faith;" i. e., practically, in the interpretation of Holy Scripture. That, in short, Scripture rightly interpreted, and not the letter of Holy Scripture, was the rule of faith; and the right interpretation was the traditional doctrine of the Catholic Church, as "the pillar and ground of the truth." Another speaker pointed out the further logical difficulty of the faith delivered to the saints being, in fact, anterior to the existence of the New Testament Scriptures; and that the canonicity of Scripture would have been determined by its agreement with the pre-existent deposit of faith. The Regius Professor of Theology, the Rev. Canon Payne Smith, attempted to meet this difficulty, by asserting that the living voice of the Apostles during their lifetime was the rule of faith, and was superseded by their

1 We were much struck by two of the most scholarlike speakers at this meeting, the one a Cambridge, the other a Dublin graduate, pronouncing the penultimate of fidei long; whereas the Oxford speakers as emphatically pronounced it short. We are unaware of any rule or precedent for the former pronunciation; and certainly fidei defensor would sound very oddly in our ears.

own inspired writings after their decease. He referred vaguely to some passage in Tertullian in proof of this assertion. But the remark after all did not touch the practical point at issue, whether Scripture was to be interpreted by Catholic tradition; and the only passage in Tertullian1 which we can recall, as bearing on the question, expressly affirms the teaching of the Apostles in all the churches to be the substance and the rule of faith.

We must now briefly advert to the evening discussions, which, being of a more practical, were of a more diffuse and animated character. Mr. Cadman offered his suggestions on "the alleged alienation of the operative classes from public worship in towns, and its remedy." The debate gave rise to an emphatic denunciation of the pew system. But by far the most important element of "mutual improvement" to the clergy who took part in or listened to this discussion, was the very candid expression of his conviction by the Dean of Cork, founded entirely on his personal experience and observation of the comparative attendance at Roman Catholic and Protestant places of worship in his own city, by poor working and uneducated people,-that the ritual in the former case was the attractive cause, and accounted for the crowds assisting at the daily Service; and the lack of ritual in the other, together with the bareness and coldness, to an unlettered mind, of an overintellectual liturgy, acted as a repellent, and discouraged the masses from taking part in that with which they felt so little sympathy. The Bishop of Oxford very happily carried on the idea so suggested, and insisted on the need of importing into our ordinary Anglican forms of worship a clearer notion and realisation of an Object to be worshipped.

The most noteworthy incident in the second evening's debate, on the kindred subject of Pastoral Visitation, was the unreserved and very earnest manner in which the Archdeacon of Buckingham, who opened the discussion, drew the attention of his clerical brethren to the almost universal neglect of the plain precept of our Prayer Book, as to taking the initiative in "moving the sick person to make a special confession of his sins." He alleged his own personal experience of the great comfort and blessing to the penitent of practising the precept; and suggested the expediency of acting on system and as a matter of course in the matter, in order to overcome the natural shyness which was felt on the part no less of the priest than the penitent, in this very delicate office of ministration. Some innocent and, we think, very useful banter was, in the course of the evening, levelled by the Bishop of Oxford and the Deans of Cork and Ely against the unreal and cut-and-dried methods of pastoral influence so often adopted by ultra-Protestants, such as books of texts for several occasions, Christian young men's

1 Tertullian in his Treatise “De Præs. Hær." distinctly affirms the Creed to be the Rule of Faith:-"Regula fidei est illa, qua creditur unum omnino Deum esse," &c.

associations, which filled the members with self-conceit, and others which previous speakers had recommended; banter, we are bound to add, which was no more remarkable for its common-sense shrewdness and very clever wit, than for the imperturbable goodhumour with which it was borne by the one or two victims who ran the gantlet. The whole terminated with an able sermon by the Bishop on "Dogmatic Teaching."

We think, then, enough has been said as to the actual transactions of the Conference (and much more might be added in the same direction) to prove the two points which we undertook to show; viz., that the printed papers alone are a very inadequate record of the meetings; and that the result of the meetings is favourable to the prevalence of Catholic truth, and to the propagation and advancement of Church principles. We cannot but imagine that the country Clergy of the three counties must have returned to their several parishes more or less edified and stimulated by what they saw and heard at the July Oxford Conference. We believe this to be commonly the case, as the result of these annual occasions is in a higher degree and in a healthier direction, than follows the attendance at the larger and mixed congresses. We should be glad, therefore, to see the movement spread, and be taken up as cordially, in all the dioceses of the Church of England. For this purpose we have brought the matter thus prominently forward, and heartily commend it to the attention of our readers, in the hope that they will use whatever influence they may possess in suggesting and supporting a similar organization in their several archdeaconries or dioceses.

CERTAIN SERVICES OF THE CHURCH OF SARUM, TRANSLATED WITH NOTES.

II. CHRISTMAS DAY.

AT THE MIDNIGHT MASS.1

Matins having been said, whilst the Responsory to the Ninth Lesson is being sung, let the deacon and subdeacon, with the thurifer and taper-bearer, and the acolyte carrying the processional Cross, all solemnly vested for the incensing of the Altar, proceed through the midst of the choir to the pulpit, where the deacon, having first received a blessing from the officiating priest, shall sing the Gospel as follows:

The LORD be with you.

B. And with thy spirit.

The beginning of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.
Glory be to Thee, O LORD.

The book of the generation of JESUS CHRIST, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob;

1 In Nocte Nativitatis Domini-Ad Missam in Gallicantu-Miss.