retain they are retained.'" In the first exhortation, in the Communion Service, any person, whose conscience is disquieted, is, by the Priest, expressly invited, in these words, "Let him come to me, or some other discreet and learned Minister of God's Word, and open his grief, that, by the Ministry of God's Holy Word, he may receive absolution, together with ghostly counsel and advice." And, in the Visitation for the Sick, it is ordered, "that the sick person be moved to make a special confession of his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter. After which confession the Priest shall absolve him (if he humbly and heartily desire it) after this sort. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power in His Church to absolve all sinners, who truly repent and believe in Him, of His great mercy forgive thee thine offences, and by His authority, committed to me, I absolve thee from all thy sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.'"

Now, in the parochial system of the Church of England, there is, I believe, a very general attention to the Visitation of the Sick, but scarcely any confidential communication on reli

gious matters with the "whole;" there is very little "opening of griefs," or administering of

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ghostly counsel or advice," little confession of sins, and, I apprehend, absolution is very seldom administered in sickness, and never in health. This part of the priestly office has fallen into desuetude.

The absence of confidential religious communication between the priest and the people, when in strength and health, is one of the greatest drawbacks in the Anglican Church. I do not mean that such communication is unknown, but still it is far from general; the majority of Clergy would be much surprised if their parishioners began to to come to them with cases of conscience, and "open their griefs" to them by special confession, and desire their ghostly counsel and instruction how to act in particular cases. Some Clergymen would doubt whether any such authority were given them; many would feel it difficult how to act; not so much from the absence of Christian sympathy, as from want of practice. And from not meeting with timely counsel and encouragement, I apprehend that many a stricken soul, which might have been plucked from the burning, relapses into indifference, and

some are driven into other communions, where they hope to find more sympathy.

Again, in consequence of the popular mode of preaching, and the neglect of penance, or of any substitute for it, by personal communication with the Priest, many, I fear, are fatally deceived by the supposed facility of repentance. They fall into sin and worldliness, and receive some startling warning-are struck by some sermon, or some portion of Scripture-some lively representation of the sinfulness and danger of sin, and of Christ's mercy to those who will believe in Him. Their mind assents, and they believe. This is a good beginning. They should go on to repent, to amend their lives, to "do works meet for repentance," to make amends for injuries done, give earnest of better things to come, accustom themselves to new ideas, inure themselves to a life of godliness, of love, and of faith. In all this, the ancient Church greatly aided her penitents. The Romish Church retained somewhat of the ancient method, but grievously corrupted it with superstition and impostures, making shameful gain of the penitential efforts of her

children, or reducing them to formal and perfunctory observances.

The Reformers of the Anglican Church swept away the abuses which had been suffered to intrude; but their successors have gone further than they, and have suffered the remains of ancient discipline, retained by the Reformers, to lapse into disuse, to the very great practical injury of true religion.

CHAPTER XII.

THE PRACTICAL DEFECTS OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH. THE SCHISMS WHICH ABOUND IN THE NATION. HOW FAR, AS A CHURCH, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE ERRORS.

ANOTHER most grievous drawback to religion in this country is the disgraceful state of schism which exists among us.

At the same time it is not very easy to discern what right the Romanists have to boast over us, as they are accustomed to do, on this score. We have no more to do with the sects which abound in England than they have. The sects are no more parts of the Anglican Church than of the Romish. If the Romish Church declares that the sects in England are off-shoots from the English Church, we may, with equal truth, declare that all the Protestant denomina