the subject of their omission from Scripture very fully. The oracle having thus spoken already it is clearly unnecessary to give a second response. Unhappily we are of that select few who have not read the Essay referred to; or having read it, have shamefully forgotten its reasonings and we are unable therefore to say how it is proved to Dr. Whateley's satisfaction, and to the conviction of all people who are not so bold as to hold a contrary opinion, that the Apostles' Creed is quite without trace in the pages of Holy Scripture. But we fancy the author must understand something different by the word "Creed" from what we ourselves have been accustomed to take as its meaning. Creeds, he says, (p. 52,) are "otherwise called Articles' or 'Confessions."" We certainly remember something about the " Articles of the Christian Faith," but we did not know before that Creeds (such as we are familiar with) were ever called" Articles," by themselves articles. This is indeed a term commonly used of the Thirty-nine Articles, but then they are certain" Articles of Religion," imposed on the clergy alone, whereas "the Articles of the Christian Faith" are binding on all who own the name of Christian. We remember too that Creeds have been called "Baptismal Confessions;" but the term "Confessions," as used by Archbishop Whateley, seems to carry us to certain long-winded productions not so old by fourteen or fifteen centuries, such as the "Confession of Augsburg," the "Confession of Wurtemburg," &c., which are from fifty to a hundred times as long as all the three Creeds put together, and totally unadapted for the purposes to which Creeds are applied. The Creeds of the Church being, too, statements of doctrine, while the aforesaid Confessions are expositions of doctrine, it cannot but be that something else than the Creeds of the Church must have been present to the logical mind of the archbishop, when he wrote, "Creeds are otherwise called Articles,' or 'Confessions."" This, too, may account for the assertion that they are omitted from Holy Scripture, for no doubt a great portion of the Protestant "Confessions" is not to be found there, or "proved thereby."

Yet afterwards we are referred to our old familiar Creeds, and that for the purpose of correcting an error into which the framers of the Prayer-Book, and almost all others who have thought on the subject since their time, had fallen.

"Among those who are far better taught than to confound a profession of faith in certain doctrines with an address to the ALMIGHTY," [the author has been censuring the habit of some poor people who are so ignorant as to say the Apostles' Creed in their prayers,]" you will find not a few who suppose a Creed to be designed as a summary of all the most essential points of Christian Faith. And this misapprehension is the more needful to be guarded against, because it does appear that the framers of our Services,—at least of the Baptismal Service, and the Catechism,-must have regarded the Apostles' Creed as a compendium of

necessary Christian doctrine. And this mistake has been fostered by the writings of some very well-known divines of much learning and ingenuity, but who have taken altogether a wrong view of the subject."

Certainly all who have hitherto expounded "all the articles of the Christian Faith," as we were accustomed in our childhood to "rehearse" them in the Apostles' Creed, have hitherto taken this view of them. Such theologians as Thomas Aquinas, Pearson, Bull, Barrow, &c., did so. Probably nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand of Christians that ever lived have done so too. Archbishop Whateley however thinks differently. We can only express our regret at this divergence of opinion, reserving for the present our adhesion to that of the archiepiscopal expositor.

We cannot afford space for going further into the principles on which this little volume is written. From what has been shown them our readers will perceive that the Parish Pastor is not (as they might have supposed from the title,) a practical manual of instruction as to the office and work of the person so designated, but a collection of controversial lectures (scraped together, for the most part, out of other publications of the author), on subjects connected with fundamental principles of Church authority, and the current belief of Churchmen; interspersed with a few remarks— very few-applying the author's most peculiar views to the parochial labours of the clergy. It is a work altogether sui generis. It is not like Burnet's "Pastoral Care," for that excellent volume contains much pious and loyal churchmanship: nor is it like the Ordination Addresses, for they are fervid, eloquent, orthodox, and heartsearching: least of all is it like Professor Blunt's well-known volume, for that is an embodiment of practical knowledge, orthodox belief, and temperate wisdom. In fact, when one has said that the "Parish Pastor" is Archbishop Whateley's Parish Pastor, there is little more to be said. Little more, in fact, than to express a fervent hope that it will be taken as a guide book by the most limited number possible; and that the Church of England may long be preserved from a clergy cut out after its pattern.

SPIRITUAL RECREATION FOR THE WORKING

CLERGY.

A Plea for seasons and places of spiritual retirement for the working Clergy, to which are added Instructions and Meditations for an annual retirement of ten days. Oxford: Shrimpton.

A CLERGYMAN's holiday is a recognized necessity where it may be had. Too often those Priests who need it most are just the very ones who cannot get it. Parish business, in a well-worked parish will not stop. The payment of a locum tenens—to a conscientious man the choice of one-is a serious difficulty. To many the trip loses half its beneficial effect from the knowledge that it has to be paid for out of a little saving that has been carefully treasured up for some spiritual need of the parish. And yet if any class of men want a holiday, it certainly is the working Clergy. Body and mind alike require it. In large spheres the fatigue and excitement of work make change an absolute requisite for healthful continuance. In small spheres the very outward smallness would produce a cramping effect upon the minds of educated men such as most of the English Clergy proportionate to the intensity with which they realize the greatness of the individual spiritual work which they have to carry on. But then for what purpose is the holiday? and what must the character of a Clergyman's holiday be?

Some persons will at once point to the Rhine and the Alps, to Norway or the United States, and would have a Clergyman cast aside his parish coat and his white tie, and endeavour to forget that he is a Priest. We can conceive nothing more damaging to a zealous man alike to himself and to his work. A holiday should be of such a kind as really to bring a man home fitted to do his work with ease. It is not given for mere pleasure, but for refreshment; so that every energy may have fresh vigour for work upon returning home. To a Clergyman, therefore, there must be something more than bodily rest, or physical effort. The spiritual system requires its own development. The holiday must be a time not of spiritual torpor but of spiritual energy, in which the spirit may energise for itself in freedom from the weight of parochial care. We do not deny that bodily recreation and muscular exertion may be most beneficial in their proper subordinate place in a Clergyman's holiday. We only wish to point out that they fail of sending him home refreshed for his work unless there is something else. He may come home with a refreshed body, but it is with a depressed spiritual tone. Spiritual effort having been laid aside becomes more difficult. There may be energy to undertake parochial works, but it is a secular energy. The great refreshment of a

Clergyman's holiday should be found by him in the knowledge that it is a holy day, a day of special communing with GOD. Fellowship with GoD is the secret of his strength. In his work he is working for GOD, and in his holiday he seeks to have his inner life revived by more uninterrupted personal intercourse with GOD. It may seem strange to say so; but the prophet's forty days in the wilderness are very much the type of what a Clergyman's holiday should be. The prophet's voice would gain more strength to shake the world in such a holiday than by the most approved training under Alpine guides. If the holiday is but a short one, the highest object of the holiday should be chiefly attended to. If there is time for that physical recreation which is often very desirable, though very often taken when there is no need for it, yet certainly the spirit should have its refreshment by Divine sustenance and heavenly sympathies in holy meditations, prayers, and Eucharists: it should return home with the memory of Divine responsibilities intensified, the understanding of Divine mysteries enlightened, the will for the accomplishment of the Divine Mission invigorated it should come to its sphere of action again with a consciousness of the inner house being set in order, with a clearer perception of what work there is to do, with a resolution to do it in some definite way better than before, and not with a flurried sense of having to make up for six weeks' idleness in the half-hushed avowal that though health may have been sought for in the holiday, yet God's glory has been a very minor consideration.

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For several years past it has been the habit of many Clergy to meet together at some parsonage-house for a few days of spiritual refreshment, so as to give to their holiday the holy, earnest, Divine character which we have endeavoured to show to be so necessary. One out of the number has generally been chosen to deliver addresses calculated to revive the spiritual energies of faith, and to establish by systematic considerations the holy resolutions formed in consequence.

We learn by personal inquiry that the author of the pamphlet which is placed at the head of our article has, with many of his friends, long cherished a kindred desire without knowing that these other Clergy were practising it. So does the Spirit of GOD lead men at the same time towards the same objects.

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We owe this Clergyman a debt of much gratitude for publishing a very scarce and beautiful work, translated from Bishop Godeau by Basil Kennett, in A.D. 1703. To these translated meditations he has prefixed some remarks of his own. We shall be most thankful if his suggestions lead to some practical consequences. bably under our present circumstances it will be impossible ordinarily to find any other home for retreatants than a parsonage; but doubtless many a Clergyman would be glad to welcome one or several of his brethren for a few days either of solitary or combined retreat,

if asked to do so. Where Diocesan Colleges are established, they naturally form the home for such persons during vacation time. We cannot think that any Bishop would hesitate about allowing Diocesan buildings to be used for this holy purpose. The sympathy of united meditation and prayer is certainly a valuable element of a retreat, provided the numbers are not too large.

We believe that a meeting of Clergy for retreat will be held in London shortly before Advent. It is desirable that all Clergy should read the pamphlet we have been noticing. It will help them to understand the purposes and benefits of a retreat. We may add that if any Clergy would like to be put in communication with those who are in the practice of annual retreat, a letter addressed to the Editor of the Ecclesiastic, and expressing that wish, will be immediately attended to.

DR. ROWLAND WILLIAMS AND THE BISHOP OF S. DAVID'S.

Letter of the Vice-Principal of S. David's, Lampeter. London: Bell and Daldy.

ATTENTION has before been called in this Journal to the state of the Church in Wales. It is now again claimed by the pamphlet before us, which is written by a late Fellow and Tutor of one of the leading Colleges in Cambridge, distinguished there by very high academical honours and prizes, but putting forth now from his place, as Professor of Hebrew and Vice-Principal of S. David's College, Lampeter, a remonstrance under the title of "An earnestly respectful Letter," to his Diocesan, the Bishop of S. David's, who was himself one of the most distinguished scholars of his day at the same University. This is not published in Wales as if it were intended by Dr. Williams for his countrymen especially who must be more particularly concerned in it, but at a London and Cambridge Publisher's, as though it would, and we think it well may, attract the notice of Churchmen throughout the land. But whatever affects largely the vital interests of one body of Christians as the subject of this Letter does, must be a matter of some concern to all members of the Church.

It has been said that a change of the word Respectful, into Disrespectful, in this title, would best prepare a reader for the contents of the book. But whether this censure be beyond the mark or not, we must confess to having felt the present description on the title-page as somewhat incongruous with the pages which follow, when it is recollected that they are addressed by a Vice-Principal to the Visitor of his College, and by a Clergyman to the Bishop of his Diocese.