CONTENTS. PAGE I. RITUALISM And the EcclesiaSTICAL LAW. By Benjamin Shaw, M.A. II. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE CONDITIONED: SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON AND JOHN 1 III. MODERN GREECE. By E. H. Bunbury, M.A.. IV. ANCILLA DOMINI: THOUGHTS ON CHRISTIAN ART. By the Rev. R. St. John III. THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN. By the Rev. Thomas Markby, M.A. IV. THEODORE PARKER AND AMERICAN UNITARIANISM. By the Rev. Professor VI. THE FREEST CHURCH IN CHRISTENDOM. By a Clergyman of that Church VII. MODERN THEORIES CONCERNING THE LIFE OF JESUS. By J. A. Dorner, II. DR. PUSEY'S EIRENICON. By the Dean of Westminster IV. PASTORAL WORK. By the Rev. W. G. Humphry, M.A. V. THE CONSCIENCE CLAUSE. By the Rev. E. H. Plumptre, M. A. TITLE AND INDEX. The Directorium Anglicanum; being a Manual of Directions for THANKS to popular writers on the Constitution, from De Lolme to Mr. Albany Fonblanque, most of us can give some answer to the question, "How are we governed?" But to the ordinary every-day Englishman a mist still hangs over one department. Ecclesiastical law is to him a sort of Cabala-a thing to be revered or scoffed at, according to the turn of his mind and his politics, but in any case a thing incomprehensible. This is the more to be regretted, because controversies as to Church rites and ceremonies have for some years been prevalent, and have excited much attention. We venture to think, therefore, that we shall do some service to inany worthy persons if we seek to throw some light upon this subject, to indicate the rules and authorities by which such controversies are decided, and afterwards to apply them to a specific instance by way of illustration. But we must premise a few words as to the way in which the disputes now so rife on such subjects have, as we conceive, arisen. It is well known to most persons of the present generation that after the great political changes thirty years ago, when it seemed likely that the connection between Church and State would be less intimate than in former days, the minds both of clergy and laity were naturally driven back upon the Divine origin and commission of the Church. In proportion as Government patronage was lessened or withdrawn, the clergy especially sought to recall the great fact that the Church existed independently of, and anterior to, its alliance with the State. For this purpose they set themselves to trace out afresh its historical continuity, through all the changes of secular events, from patristic times down to the nineteenth century. Now it is obvious that the continuous existence of a visible and corporate body is usually to be established by tracing those outward signs and acts which are, so to speak, the tokens of its life. Accordingly, much stress came to be laid, not only on the sacraments, and on the succession of the episcopate, but on many minute points of ritual, by means of which a legitimate ecclesiastical descent from the earlier ages was thought to be established. But in the conduct of the argument, when pressed to this extreme, a difficulty arose. The English ritual, as understood and practised thirty years ago, was by no means in complete accordance with that which careful inquiries showed to have prevailed in certain previous ages. For this difficulty, however, a solution was at once proposed. The Church of England was a branch of the Catholic Church; her reverence for antiquity, and her adherence to all that was deemed catholic, distinguished her from the Protestant bodies by whom she was surrounded. Hence, to prove that any rite was generally practised in ancient times was, per se, to establish its claim to be sanctioned and revived. In many cases the rites in question witnessed to doctrines; this was, in fact, their highest meaning and value. Hence by degrees the doctrines in question came into favour likewise, and with many minds formed a powerful reason for contending more strenuously for the rites themselves. It was early foreseen by many that questions of so much importance, and which threatened to change so materially the outward face of the Church, must soon demand an authoritative decision. And for |