men should hear the Word of life are not themselves partakers of its spiritual benefits do not profess to be converted men - would resent it as an injury, if one should call them converted men.

Nor will this be considered strange if we regard the circumstances by which—in a great multitude of cases men are influenced in addicting themselves to the clerical profession in connection with the Established Church. Take, as the first element in our calculation the fact that there is a sum, variously estimated at from five to twelve millions sterling a year, not equally distributed among her sixteen thousand clergy, but divided into unequal prizes; of which the smallest may 'be sufficiently insignificant, as many a threadbare curate could testify, but rising by degrees, till Paul's "true saying" acquires a meaning of which he and Timothy never dreamed, "If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good business." In what way are these splendid prizes to be secured? They do not come as the reward of talent, learning, eloquence, high moral worth, soundness in the faith, devoted piety, generous selfsacrifice in the great cause of truth and righteousness: not through the suffrages of the congregation by whom the golden tribute is paid, and by whom the ministrations which it secures are to be enjoyed; but by favor of the man who happens to have the gift of a living in his sole and irresponsible power. A Christian man he may be a man who makes no pretension to serious godliness he is far more likely to be; and who would be little inclined to require any thing of the sort in the successful candidate for his preference. Peradventure the patron of a benefice may elect to dispose of it for a consideration; in which case the shepherd of the flock will be the man who comes, or whose father comes for him, with the largest sum of money wherewith to buy the living, precisely as he would buy any other commodity, from a London land-agent, or auctioneer. The following advertisements in the London Times will illustrate :

"To be sold, the next presentation and advowson of an Ecclesiastical rectory in the West of England, commuted at the net annual value of £247.10; the present incumbent in his 75th year. For particulars apply to Messrs. Beal, land-agents and auctioneers; 151 Piccadilly."

Here is another, still more tempting, which appeared in the same number of the Times:

"Next presentation. To be sold by private contract, the next presentation to a rectory in Yorkshire, very pleasantly and healthily situate. Net income £250 a year. A good house, &c. Incumbent near 80, in bad health, and very early possession may be relied on. Price £1700. Apply to Mr. Murray, land-agent, 8 Great James Street, Bedford Row."

Better still is the following, and might answer for a very gentlemanly successor of the apostles.

"Next presentation for sale, to a most important Living, within a short distance from London; comprising a very commodious Rectory, offices of all descriptions, Garden and large pleasure grounds, with an income of nearly £2000 a year. The incumbent is of very advanced age, and the rector has disposition of other appendant patronage. Principals or their solicitors may have full particulars on application to Mr. Ancona, 8 John St., Adelphi, London."

The disposal of these church livings constitutes an extensive and lucrative branch of business in London, as the following advertisement from the Times will show :

"Advowsons and next presentations disposed of by Messrs. Mair & Son, successors to the late well known Mr. Valpy. No charges made to vendor, beyond expenses out of pocket, unless a sale is agreed to. Their list of Church Property for sale is published weekly, and contains particulars of many eligible livings. Clerical Agency Offices, 7 Tavistock Row, Covent Garden."

A successor of the apostles in distress for want of a flock to feed never hesitates to make his necessity known through the same universal medium, the Times.

"Advowson wanted, to purchase, with prospect of early possession, to a living in a healthy locality, not too distant from a Railway Station, and offering a good family residence. Address M. A., care of P. G. Greville, Esq., 42 Lombard St."

Let it be noted now clearly this would-be incumbent manages to foreshadow his qualifications. His address, M. A., indicates that he is a Master of Arts, and so a graduate of Cambridge or Oxford. He is a gentleman, moreover, and in cir

cumstances which entitle him to choose his "place of rest." It must be "a good family residence," "in a healthy locality," and "not too far distant from a railway station,”-on a road leading to London of course - from which it is to be inferred that his friends, his tastes, or his amusements will take him rather frequently to the great metropolis. Sometimes an exigency is apparent, and personal attributes are set forth with more distinctness, rather than the parsonage and its locality:

"Next presentation wanted, with a prospect of early possession. Price not to exceed £1600. The Clergyman is under 40, active, and an acceptable preacher. Address Rev. A. B., Post-Office, Croydon."

One prominent feature in both classes of advertisements will be noticed, to wit, the present incumbent old, and not likely to live long! This sort of thing is of too frequent occurrence to excite remark in England; the sale being in some instances private, but quite as often by public auction. It is no uncommon case for one man to obtain possession of several livings, giving to each congregation one service a week, or hiring a poor curate, for a small salary, to "do all the duty," as the phrase is. Assuredly it requires no prophet to determine whether, with such a system, the great mass of pastors are likely to be peculiarly distinguished by a primitive and apostolic spirit.

Another cardinal circumstance is the fact that a clergyman is a gentleman by Act of Parliament. The term clergyman, in England, is by conventional usage, applied exclusively to a minister of the Established Church. The clergy occupy a high social position by virtue of their office. A poor clergyman is admitted to circles from which rich merchants are excluded. Moreover the clerical profession is the direct highway to the loftiest distinction. The poorest and humblest student at the University, who is preparing himself for holy orders, may be presented to a rich living, and set up his carriage. He may marry a rich wife, the wealthy merchant's only child and heiress; or may even wed the Lady Ann, the daughter of a proud peer. He may come to be an archdeacon, a dean, or even an archbishop, and may take his place among the proudest nobility in the great senate of the land.

Is it strange that the clerical profession attracts to itself men

of the very highest classes-not only the sons of rich merchants and bankers, but the younger sons of baronets, earls and dukes? In some cases these clerical sprigs of nobility take the designation of Lord, as a matter of prescription. In other cases they are called Honorable. This depends on the dignity of the father. Thus the son of Viscount Exmouth is the Hon. and Rev. Edward Pellew, while the son of the late, and younger brother of the present Marquis of Bristol, who is also a clergyman, is called Lord Arthur Hervey. We have seen a wealthy knight, and living in a proud castle, go into holy orders and retain the prefix Rev. to the end of his days, though nothing could possibly be farther from his thoughts than ever to discharge any function whatever pertaining to the Christian ministry.

There is no section of the universal church in which a man may attain to a more enviable distinction, as a scholar, a theologian, or an eloquent preacher, than in the English Establishment, as all the world knows. Yet the demand which is imperatively made upon a man, in any one of these respects, in order to the reputable maintaining of his position, as a Christian minister, is nowhere less than there. As regards the devotional parts of public service, he finds all that in the Prayer Book. The exceedingly beautiful and impressive liturgical forms of the Church of England effectually cover up all deficiencies here. It is enough that he can read his mother tongue with correctness and propriety. He has quite as little to fear as to preaching on the score of his own incompetency. Though he could not compose a grammatical sentence, it matters not. There is neither statute, nor canon, nor popular sentiment, by which necessity is laid upon him to make a single sermon in the whole course of his ministry. To be sure he is expected to ascend the pulpit on the Sabbath and read a sermon of some fifteen or twenty minutes; but by whom that sermon has been prepared, is a question which no one thinks of asking. We once obtained for the Sabbath evening preacher to a fashionable London congregation of the Establishment, an entire set, in bound volumes, of the American National Preacher, thus procuring for a goodly number of our countrymen an honor of which we presume they were wholly unconscious that of preaching, by proxy, in the

great Babylon, and in a pulpit closed against their personal presence.

Is it not as certain as the law of gravitation, that the result of such a combination of circumstances must be mainly a feeble, incompetent, secular ministry? We affirm with deliberation, that if there is one consideration which has more influence than any other in designating a man for the sacred calling in the English Establishment, it is his incompetency for secular professions. The son of a rich and proud family who is unfit for the courts of law, or for the army or navy, will do very well for a clergyman. In a work published in London entitled “Disphonia Clericorum," or "Clergymen's Sore Throat," by Dr. Macness, an English physician and a churchman, we find the following statement:

"In any given number of young men about to start in their professional careers, no particular choice may have been made in the the first instance, as to their several fitness for the peculiar actions they may have to perform; but it generally happens, that should there be any deficiency of health, or other physical obstructing cause; or doubt of the capability of the youth thus ready prepared to take the field, the universal cry is, 'O, I don't think, poor fellow, that he will be fit or strong enough for anything but the church.'”

It were well if this incompetency were only physical. Unhappily, it is quite as frequently mental. Strange, and even incredible as the statement may seem, we hesitate not to say that there is not in all the Christian world a religious community where a man devoted to the clerical profession can sustain himself with an amount of natural capacity or acquired knowledge, more meagre than may, and often does suffice in the Church of England. The clergy of the Establishment are — with few exceptions-graduates of Cambridge and Oxford. But this circumstance affords not the smallest guarantee either for talent or mental discipline. It is only too notorious that great numbers, perhaps the majority of English University students are indolent, idle, profligate, and almost wholly inattentive to study during the entire period of their residence at college. They manage to get through their examinations by a species of sham, and go away as ignorant almost as they came. And if we may rely on the testimony of churchmen and graduates, that