that there is not now a church or a service in England which has not, in some degree, acknowledged its power.

We have still in the Church two principal "Schools of Thought" as they are termed, High and Low, Catholic and Protestant. The Catholics may be

subdivided into those who are satisfied with such ritual as they believe to be plainly prescribed by the rubrics, and those who assert that many ancient practices are lawful, because they are not forbidden, and were not ordered in the Prayer Book, because all acknowledged their propriety, and accepted them as a matter of course.

High and Low differ (and those, who are thoroughly in earnest, agree to differ and to respect each other's convictions) as to what is meant by "the Church," as to the Grace of Holy Orders, the Virtue of the Sacraments, the observance of fasts and festivals. They represent those two dispositions of the religious mind, which, however incongruous, are alike sincere, the one deriving help in its devotions from things beautiful to the eye and sweet to the ear, ornate and stately buildings, with all the appliances of sculpture, colour, and music (as Divinely ordered by the Great Architect of the universe, when "Solomon built Him an House"); the other loving simplicity, desiring only to worship in spirit and in truth, and regarding all else not only as superfluous, but as distracting the mind, and diverting the attention, from the one thing needful.

There is a third section, of recent origin, amphibious, unstable, colourless, benignly patronizing

High and Low, without the faith, or the zeal, or the sympathy, of either. It is called "Broad," but its ways are not so pleasant in my eyes as the Broadway of New York.

If you come to England you will recognize the disciples of these three schools by their outward appearance, for "the apparel oft proclaims the man. The High Churchman is close-shaven, with a collar, high vest, and long coat, like "yours sincerely"; the Low Churchman, with whiskers, and neckerchief, is neatly attired in customary suit of solemn black, desiring to appear, and appearing, more as the minister than the priest; while the Broad Churchman disports himself in a straw hat and short jacket, which always reminds me of Robert Lowe's reply to a deputation which consulted him as to the name of a new district in New Zealand. "Well," he said, "gentlemen, you've got O-tag-o, and you've got O-rag-o, allow me to suggest O-bobtail-o," - sometimes adorning his countenance with a huge moustache, and looking like a dragoon on furlough.

What vagaries and caprices there have been throughout the ages as to the abrasions and arrangements of the hair! The Greeks, you know, made marble wigs for their statues, so that their gods and goddesses and defunct celebrities might always be in the height of the fashion. Pope Julius the Second, and King Francis the First, of France, are said to have encouraged by their example the wearing of beards; but I read in a memoir of Lord Rokeby, published in 1708, that his beard formed

one of the most conspicuous traits of his person, and that he was the only peer, perhaps the only gentleman in Great Britain or Ireland, who was so distinguished; nor do I remember in my boyhood or youth more than one or two examples of this capillary and now common appendage. The moustache was restricted to cavalry officers; and a Lancashire gardener exclaimed, on seeing for the first time a Skye terrier, and hearing from his master that it had been given to him by a gentleman in the Eleventh Hussars, "I guessed as much; it favvers (favours) 'em i' th' face."

We must not dwell on these minute distinctions, nor indeed on far more important differences, within and without the Church. Of the latter (I don't know how many religious communities you have in America, but we have over two hundred, fully justifying the remark of Ude, the great French cook, that the English were a strange people, they had fifty religions and only one sauce!") I will only express my conviction that they are very largely the result of apathy and neglect, that the sheep wandered from the fold in search of the food which they could not find there; that no reunion will ever be effected by the bitterness of debate, or by mutual recriminations; that we should try to see what is best in each other; to treasure in thankful hearts the great truths which we believe in common; and to set before us, as our chief emulation, who shall do the best service for his Master and his fellow-men.

I was greatly impressed by the description of a

dramatic incident, which was given to me by the chief performer. He was one of a very large party in a London drawing-room, when a sceptic approached him, with an expression of cheerful scorn upon his countenance, and said, "I've been wondering how you Christians can expect us rational men to accept your doctrines, when you are so ridiculously unable to agree among yourselves. I see here to-night English Churchmen, High, Broad, and Low, a Roman Catholic, a member of the Greek Church, a Presbyterian, a Wesleyan, a Baptist, a Congregationalist, an Irvingite, and a Quaker-where, and what, is Truth?" "If I can obtain our host's permission," it was answered, "to make an experiment which has come into my thought, you shall hear what I have to say to Pilate's question." This permission was conceded, silence was requested, and my informant earnestly besought the company to give their most serious attention to a few words. of supreme importance, which he had leave to speak. "I appeal to you," he said, "in the cause of our common Christianity, and I solemnly call upon those, who believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and the Son of Mary, that He came into the world, was made flesh, and was crucified to save sinners, that He rose again from the dead, ascended. into Heaven, ever liveth to make intercession for us, and will come again at the end of the world to judge the quick and the dead, I ask you to kneel and repeat with me the prayer, which He has taught us." And all knelt but one.

III.

PREACHING AND PREACHERS.

Earnest Preaching and Written Sermons - The Education of the Memory - Simplicity and Brevity - Pusey and Newman Wilberforce Canon Liddon - Living Preachers.

THE laity are sometimes said to be cruel critics of sermons. "You expect us," I have heard the clergy reply, "to be all of us ready and impressive orators, but when you yourselves are called upon for a speech, five out of six begin to cough, and hesitate, and stammer, and fail." But I agree with the laity. I have known instances of undue severity on their part, as when in a time of great drought the inhabitants of a country village requested their vicar to offer the Prayer for Rain, but when, soon afterwards, the rain came and continued to come, a farmer met his neighbour and said, "Well, John, we're having a sup too much of this," and John made answer, Yes, it's just like our parson; he overdoes everything." But, in this matter of preaching, I go with the laity. I remember, when I read my sermons, copying largely, that I regarded any indications of drowsiness, closing of the eyes, gradual declension and sudden elevation of the head, like a float when some apathetic fish is indolently nibbling at the bait, as symptoms of a reprobate mind; but when I had to listen to others, many of whom were as stale and tame in the matter

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