"For, do you not perceive, that together with the responsibility of man, his liberty, his spontaneity, his moral dignity have been diminished? Do you not understand, that, by relieving him from the imputability of his actions, you have made of him a minor, a being unfit for life? In order to protect him the better, you have degraded him. Extraordinary inconsistency! Those proud systems which boasted that they would regenerate humanity, destroy modern slavery, set the nations free, what do they claim from man as his first pledge? Only the throwing away of his most precious qualities, his mind, his free activity; they want him to submit himself to the most galling despotism that ever existed; indeed, what tyranny can be compared to the rule of a society armed with all the rights which belong to individual man? What slavery is equal to that of the being, who has been stripped of all the prerogatives which ennoble human nature?

"The theory of social responsibility can produce nothing but apathy and lethargy of the soul. What is the use of intellect, of mental endeavour? If the state watches over us, why should we watch over ourselves? If the state is bound to feed us, why should we work? Delivered from the care of selecting a line of conduct in the present, we are at the same time dispensed from the necessity of providing for the future. The STATE, that wonderful being, allpowerful, infallible, omniscient and all-sufficient is compelled to possess, in our stead, strength, activity, wisdom, and forethought." -Du Roman, pp. 296, 297.

The very fault of the French nation is, that they are always inclined to trust too much to government. They have, generally, so little the habit of self-reliance that they are glad when some person or some association of persons, steps in and relieves them of the arduous duty of thinking; they like to find their political obligations ready carved out for them, and they would almost thank the gendarme, whose paid loyalty enables them to forget that there are such things as laws to be discussed, or the common interests of a nation to be provided for.

In the face of a decided disposition on the part of the French to exaggerate the authority and the functions of the administrative power, it might have been supposed that the efforts of political reformers would have tended towards a contrary direction; but the very reverse has taken place, and the most specious sophisms, the most glowing descriptions, have been profusely disseminated for the purpose of persuading the people, le plus spirituel de l'univers, that man is never so worthy the name of man as when he is transformed into a piece of unintelligent machinery.

From the foregoing remarks it will not be difficult to deduce M. Poitou's conclusions. A speedy reaction towards moral and religious ideas is the only way of stopping the dissolution of society.

"Whatever may be the state of the question respecting the æsthetics of dramatic literature, we may affirm that the theatre will realize the true conditions of art only when it binds itself to the respect of the laws which rule the moral world. Let our writers, if they please, attempt untrodden paths, but let them not stray beyond the boundaries of nature. Let them invent new forms, but not conjure up an imaginary creation, peopled with chimeras or monsters. The rules of Aristotle may be discussed, and poets are quite at liberty to believe themselves more or less qualified to throw off the irksome restraint these rules entail; but moral truth is a superior law which is never broken with impunity on the stage; and there is a principle which obliges the dramatic writer to show to us duty struggling against passion, and passion, if not overcome by duty, at least punished in the very enjoyment of its triumph. Such a principle is not to be found in treatises on rhetoric; but it has been promulgated by the conscience of mankind, it has received the sanction of taste, and it gives to literature its most elevated character."-Du Roman, p. 324.

If we may venture to add somewhat to M. Poitou's statement, or rather to explain it more fully, we shall just say that the revival of right axioms of morality must necessarily find their source in a return to the doctrines of Evangelical Christianity. Philosophy can never save either France or any other community, not even when it presents itself under the shape of those generous sentiments, so powerfully advocated by M. Jules Simon. The reign of Louis Philippe was the golden age of spiritualised metaphysics, and yet what have been the results? No! revelation alone can supply us with a safe guide through life, and a hope for eternity; and after all the sad failures which sages have encountered in their attempts to find out the problem of happiness independently of the Bible, the wisest way for them would be to acknowledge their own mistake.

It only remains for us, in conclusion, to recommend most heartily to our readers M. Poitou's work, and to express a hope that we may soon have the pleasure of welcoming him again in the field of literature.

* Cf. that writer's volumes, "Le Devoir," ," "La Liberté de Conscience," "La Religion Naturelle." Paris: Hochette.

ART. VI. Exeter Hall Sermons for the Working Classes. Eleventh Thousand. London: Partridge & Co., Paternoster Row. 1857.

A REVIEW of the above-mentioned sermons would probably be considered by most persons a work of supererogation; and consequently we do not mean to enter upon it. Our principal reason for noticing them is that we may have the opportunity of touching upon the great subject which has thus been tested, with so satisfactory a result.

For some months prior to the commencement of this course, the Church of England was being twitted on all sides with the inefficiency of her clergy, and the success of Mr. Spurgeon; and the assertion was made indirectly over and over again, that we had no one in the church at all able to compare with him. For our part we most heartily rejoice to be able to say we have not. In the power of addressing large audiences we have many who are his equals: but in inordinate vanity and self-conceit, in insufferable vulgarity, in low pulpit jesting and buffoonery, and in ignorance of the true doctrines of the Gospel, we freely concede we have few, if any. Nor be it remembered, was he the first who preached to large congregations in Exeter Hall. Dr.. Cumming, was we believe, the first to do so, during the alterations in his own chapel, and the large room was thronged night after night to listen to him. Nor were members of the aristocracy wanting in his audiences. Only his friends were not quite so diligent in finding out and publishing, to the praise and glory of man, the names of all those who came: in fact in Dr. Cumming's case we imagine the task would have been a hopeless one. Nor was Mr. Spurgeon the first to use a platform ten or twelve feet long, instead of a pulpit, as he did in Exeter Hall; Gavazzi had already done that in an inimitable way; so that it is altogether a mistake to point to Mr. Spurgeon as if he were the originator of a movement which he alone could sustain. In glancing briefly at the recent experiment at Exeter Hall, we cannot refrain from thanksgiving to the Author and Giver of all good gifts, that he has so wondrously overruled events as to enable the Church of England to make the movement. We are not politicians in the usual sense of the word; but we watch the religious bearing of politics with a jealous eye. For although we do not want to introduce politics into religion, we should indeed heartily rejoice to see religion prevading politics; and until that is the case, the stain will

never be wiped off the word political; which, alas, signifies far more generally party expediency, than good citizenship or true patriotic government. It is impossible not to perceive in the Exeter Hall movement a striking evidence of the result of religious influence in political matters. What as a rule is more entirely a matter of political expediency than the appointment of bishops: a tutor in a high family, a clever pamphleteer, an inefficient public schoolmaster, a redhot partizan, have each in their turn proved irresistible claims upon a bishopric. It has been reserved for the present administration, whatever other reasons may have privately existed, to appoint, as a rule, men of earnest piety, sound evangelical truth, and enlarged views upon Church

matters.

And the gracious overruling of the providence of God in behalf of our Church and the cause of Gospel truth, is the more apparent, when we remember, that eighteen months ago the Exeter Hall movement would have been simply impossible. We have no intention of saying anything disrespectful of those who have passed from this busy scene; but it is clear that it was necessary to get rid of certain traditions of Church dignity before such a step could be taken. We say traditions, because it has been all along assumed by opponents of the measure, that the movement has been most thoroughly unecclesiastical, and contrary to the spirit of the Church of England. Were this so, we should say so much the worse for such a spirit. But is it so? Of what does the Church of England consist? In walls and roofs and long drawn aisles? Or in clergy, or in congregations? Her own definition in her nineteenth Article is as follows: The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly administered according to Christ's ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same." In what sense then can the Exeter Hall services be unecclesiastical? How against Church order? Surely our strait-laced brethren would have charged our Lord with breach of ecclesiastical discipline for his sermons on the mountain side, in dwelling-houses, on the sea-shore, or in a ship! "Oh," but it will be objected, "that was in a different age. Then there were no churches, only the Temple in Jerusalem, and a synagogue in each city." True, but synagogues and Temple were as holy in the sight of the Jews as consecrated buildings are indispensable in the estimation of High Churchmen. And yet "to the poor" "in the streets and lanes of the city," "in the highways and hedges," the Gospel was preached. Our Lord had no sympathy with the ecclesiasticisms of the

Pharisees and Scribes, or the traditions of the Elders, but he went about teaching wherever there were persons to be taught, and doing good wherever good was to be done. However, it

is evident that the Exeter Hall services have been in accordance with the requirements of the Gospel, and not in the slightest degree contrary to Church's teaching. It needed but Lord Shaftesbury's Act to legalize such services, or rather to prevent their being regarded as illegal, and the appointment of evangelical bishops who were not afraid to act upon their convictions, to rouse into life an entirely new order of things, and to lay down the first step in the solution of the vast problem "how shall we reach the masses." To defend such services would indeed be a work of supererogation, and, consequently, we shall not enter upon their defence; as well might we proceed to prove the great importance of the sun-light to our earth. But the value of these services as an impulsive movement cannot be over estimated. Not only have we the cheering sight of the Church of England caring for the godless thousands of our city, and adapting her services to their necessities; not only have we seen three bishops and some of her leading clergy taking the initiative, breaking through routine, and preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified, but we have seen the example spreading through the length and breadth of our land. Our Church has burst her traditionary bonds of fancied dignity, and by her seasonable and active movements, is raising around her a bulwark of warm attachment and devoted service, which, under God's blessing, bids fair to gain her in reality what she has long been in name, the honourable, though responsible position, of a national Church.

But still, much as has been done, successful as these efforts have been, we are most anxiously looking to see what permanent good is likely to result from the movement. As an experiment it was tried, as an experiment it has succeeded beyond all anticipation. Is it to remain on record merely as a successful experiment? The felt want has been declared-the way to satisfy it ascertained; but what next? We cannot expect Lord Shaftesbury to be responsible for the expense of all such movements; and as, in all places where they are most likely to be successful, because situated in the most destitute localities, there there is the least likelihood of means being raised. The two points which seem to press the most earnestly for solution are: How are buildings to be erected? and How are the clergy to be maintained?

How are buildings to be erected? We lay it down as a law at starting, that no building used for public services on