WHY gaze ye on my hoary hair,
Ye children young and gay?

Your locks beneath the blast of care,
Will blanch as white as they.

I had a mother once like you,
Who o'er my pillow hung,
Kiss'd from my cheek the briny dew,
And taught my faultering tongue.

She, when the nightly couch was spread,
Would bow my infant knee,
And place her hand upon my head,
And kneeling, pray for me.

But then there came a fearful day,
I sought my mother's bed,

Till harsh hands bore me thence away,
And told me she was dead.

I pluck'd a fair white rose and stole
To lay it by her side,

And thought strange sleep enchain'd her
For no fond voice replied. [soul,

That eve I knelt me down full low,
And said a lonely prayer,
Yet still my temples seem'd to glow
As if that hand were there.

Years fled, and left me childhood's joy,
Gay sports and pastimes dear,
I rose a wild and wayward boy,
Who scorn'd the curb of fear.

Youth came-the props of virtue fled,
But oft at day's decline,

A marble touch my brow congeal'd,
Blest mother! was it thine?

In foreign lands I travell'd wide,
My pulse was bounding high,
Vice spread her meshes at my side,
And pleasure lured my eye :

Yet still, that hand, so soft and cold,
Maintained its mystic sway,
And when amid my curls of gold,
With gentle force it lay,

And with it breathed a voice of care,
As from the lowly sod;
"My son-my only one, beware!
Nor sin against thy God."

Ye think, per chance, that age has stole
My kindly warmth away;
And dimmed the tablet of the soul,
Yet when with lordly sway,

The plumed helm on high displayed
That guides the warrior throng,
Or beauty's thrilling finger stray'd
These manly locks among,

That hallowed touch was ne'er forgot
And now, tho' time has set
This frosty seal upon my lot,
These temples feel it yet.

AMERICANUS.

sent subsisting between the Church and the State in this kingdom. That such attempts, if successful, will be productive of great evil-that they will tend to the general decay of religion and morality throughout the land-and that their baneful effects will be felt not least sensibly in those religious communities which dissent from the Established Church; these are assertions which the past history of our country fully warrants: But the point to which I wish particularly to call your attention is, in what manner ought the present state of public feeling and opinion to operate on the minds and conduct of the Clergy? Surely it ought to stimulate them to increased diligence in the discharge of their pastoral duties; to render them more earnest and assiduous in ministering both to the temporal and spiritual wants of their flocks; more circumspect in their conversation and deportment; more pure and holy in the whole tenor of their lives. Let not those who scruple not to resort to any mode of attack when the object is to injure the Established Church-let them not be enabled to give weight to the objections which they urge against the system, by appealing to the negligence or misconduct of the individuals by whom it is administered. A single vicious, or frivolous, or even careless Minister of religion produces a more mischievous impression on the minds of al classes of society, and adds greater numbers to the ranks of infidelity or dissent, than the most ingenious arguments which can be advanced against the evidences of Christianity, or the particular doctrines and discipline of our own Church.Charge, pp. 9, 10.

His Lordship then enlarges on the disposition and character required of Ministers, and referring to the solemn question put to every candidate for the office of Deacon when presented to the Bishop for ordination; Do you trust, that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take upon you this office and ministration, to serve God for the promoting of his glory, and the edifying of his people?' adverts to the language of the Apostle, "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel," and thus proceeds:

'Will it be said that his was a pecu

liar case? that he was specially called by God to be the instrument of converting the Gentiles? and that he possessed in the miraculous powers, with which, in common with the other apos→ tles, he was endowed, certain assurance that he was moved by the Holy Ghostan assurance which we, at the present day, cannot possess? We admit the fact, we admit also that the candidate would give way to unnecessary scruples, who should doubt his own fitness, beeause he felt not the warmth and ardour in the cause of the Gospel-the perfect self-devotion which is implied in St. Paul's language. But the actuating principle must be the same, though it may not operate with equal intensity. He cannot truly say that he is moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon himself the Ministerial office, who does not feel, to use the apostle's language, that a necessity is laid upon him; who does not feel that deep sense of the love dis→ played by God, in the plan of man's redemption, which, as it were, constrains him to become the instrument of bringing others to a practical knowledge of its gracious provisions. It were to think unworthily of the Holy Spirit, to ascribe to his suggestions a motive less exalted than zeal for the glory of God, and the eternal happiness of man,-Pp. 14, 15.

After noticing various particulars concerning titles for orders, testimonials, books to be read, &c. His Lordship states,

a

By the advice and recommendation of those who possessed the best means of informing themselves of the wants of this extensive Diocese, I determined to adhere to the rule laid down by my predecessor-to receive as candidates for deacon's orders none who had not either been graduates at the University, or at least passed the examination required for a degree. I am aware that many are disposed to question the propriety of this rule, on the ground that, in the course of studies prescribed at the University, instruction in that which may be termed the professional learning necessary to a minister of the gospel does not occupy a sufficient space. far am I from participating in the feeling which dictates this objection, that I should deeply regret any change which gave to the studies of our Universities more of a strictly professional character. My view, which was also the view of those wise and learned men who prescribed the course of academical studies

So

my view of those studies is, that they are designed to discipline the mind of the student; to form in him habits of patient and persevering attention, and of accurate reasoning; to communicate to him those general principles, without the knowledge of which it is scarcely possible successfully to engage in any literary pursuit; to lay, in a word, the foundation on which the structure of professional learning is afterwards to be raised. A strictly professional education, commenced at too early a period, has, for the most part, a tendency to cramp the mind, to narrow its views, to subject it to the trammels of system, to dispose it to acquiesce without examination in the conclusions laid before it, perhaps even to unfit it for the task of examination. The advantages derived from it are rather of a mechanical character; it places a set of tools in the student's hands, and renders him expert in the use of them; but their applieation is confined within narrow limits. Observe, on the contrary, the quickness and energy with which one whose education has been conducted on a more liberal plan applies himself to professional studies; he displays at once an aptitude to any pursuit, however foreign to his former occupations; nothing comes amiss to him; he soon places himself on a level, in extent of professional learning, with those whose life has been directed to that single object: while, in the application of his learning to practice, he possesses an incalculable advantage, in the power which the habit of close and accurate reasoning confers, of seizing at once the important point of every question, and in the copiousness of illustration, which his stores of general knowledge supply.

Let it not, however, be inferred, from these remarks, that the future candidate for holy orders possesses at the University no opportunity of acquiring the learning peculiar to his profession. Quite the contrary. He may, if he thinks fit, obtain instruction in every branch of theology; or at least, be directed to the sources from which it is to be obtained. The Norrisian Professor at Cambridge has published a syllabus of the Lectures which he delivers; and every competent judge will say, that a thorough acquaintance with the subjects of those Lectures, of itself, constitutes no mean proficiency in theological learning. The volume of Lectures on the Ecclesiastical History of the first century, recently published by the Regius

Professor of Divinity at Oxford, proves that there also every source of information is open to the student. Let me add that, both at Oxford and Cambridge, the study of the Hebrew language has of late years received encouragements which did not formerly exist. They, therefore, who assert that the English Universities do not afford the candidate for holy orders the opportunity of acquiring the knowledge necessary for his profession, advance a charge which is destitute of foundation. -Pp. 24-27.

His lordship adds in a note :

I acknowledge it, however, to be very desirable that a longer interval, than is usually interposed at present, should elapse between the candidate's first degree and his admission into holy orders. In 1819, when Regius_Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, I suggested, in a Commencement Speech, that all who were designed for a ministerial office, should, after they had taken the degree of Bachelor of Arts, be required to attend a course of Lectures in Divinity, and to pass an examination in the subjects of those Lectures, before they received letters testimonial from their respective Colleges.

This extract brings us at once to Mr. Raikes' remarks ;- -a volume which we have read with great pleasure;--which deserves the most serious perusal by all who are looking forwards to the sacred ministry, and from which they may obtain most valuable information; though at the same time, containing some positions, from which, notwithstanding our great respect for the author, we are compelled to dissent. For, while Mr. Raikes contends that,

At no period has the church forfeited its character of being the source of sound learning; at no period have its members had occasion to blush for the insufficiency and ignorance of the champions whom she sent forth into the field of controversy; at no period has the cause of falsehood or of error been overwhelmed by such preponderance of strength, as when the church raised up her force, and came forth clad in the whole armour of God, to meet the unbeliever or the sceptic :

and observes that

The bulk of the force, the main strength of the army, has been furnished

While this has been confessedly the case, we feel that it has resulted from a providential combination of circumstances, rather than from any specific provision for the purpose. Theology has never been cultivated as a science, with a view to such effects. No system was organised in our universities, for the purpose of raising up such combatants, or of supplying them with the arms which they needed.-P. 4.

And in a note, after stating that Dr. Henderson presides over the College at Highbury, and that Dr. Pye Smith is theological and biblical tutor at Homerton, he observes,

'We can have no hesitation in saying, that advantages are offered to those under their direction, superior to any which are to be found at present in either of the great Universities.'-p. 27. On the whole, therefore, he is led to suggest that,

A regulation, which should allow young men intended for the ministry to substitute studies more purely professional, for those which are pursued by others, during the last two years of their residence, would offer to the future parochial clergy a means of theological knowledge which must be considered as invaluable.-Raikes, p. 17.

The sentiments, therefore, of the Bishop of Lincoln and of Mr. Raikes are here very nearly at issue our own opinion is, that the Universities of Oxford and of Cambridge afford advantages to the theological student very far beyond what can elsewhere be obtained; while the fact which Mr. R. himself records, That some great names were always at hand which might be brought forward to redeem the character of the establishment, and to vindicate its claims to literary and theological eminence, ' might well have induced him to hesitate while pronouncing the opinion we have just quoted.

In briefly adverting, on a former

occasion, to the present volume, we stated, that we were not aware of any system capable of being adopted on a large scale, which would be found more adequate to prepare young men for the sacred profession than that which at present exists in our Universities.' It is easy indeed to form plans which may be applicable to small parties of picked men; such as those who are to be met with at the Church Missionary College, Islington, or the dissenting Colleges or Academies of Highbury, Homerton, Blackburn, &c. where the students are selected on the ground of their piety and talents; taken from other businesses or professions; supported principally, if not entirely, by the contributions of pious individuals, who devote their property with praiseworthy liberality to this object; but rules and systems applicable to such institutions, would be found very far from appropriate to a numerous and unlimited assemblage of individuals from every grade of society, and with very different plans and objects in view. Nor is it by any means clear that a separation of the theological from the mere literary students, would be attended with those beneficial effects which some imagine.

It appears indeed to us that almost every attainment which Mr. Raikes esteems desirable may be acquired by young men at our Universities, without materially interfering with the studies of the place, especially if the plan suggested by the Bishop of Lincoln were carried into effect. The grand defect appears to us to lie not in the plan, but in the execution; not in any lack of opportunity, but in that the opportunity is not more generally improved; and we are therefore anxious to call upon students in either University, to consider what is under existing circumstances practicable, instead of speculating on what may appear desirable; and