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RESENTMENT OF THE TORY PEERS.

of reproach to any man, and above all to a Christian Bishop, one of whose chief duties is "to seek peace and ensue it." Party spirit, however, recognizes no obligations but those that are conducive to its own ends; and it was long before the part which Bishop Blomfield had acted during the progress of the Reform Bill, was forgiven,-if by some it ever was forgiven,-on the part of the more violent of the Tory Peers. An amusing, and at the same time instructive, illustration of the feeling which they entertained towards him, was afforded in the next session of Parliament, by the Duke of Newcastle, who, be it remembered, had, in the ruins of his princely mansion at Nottingham, unmistakable ocular demonstration of the practical results of the policy which he so much admired. In the course of the debate on the Irish Church Temporalities Bill, the Duke, feeling dissatisfied with the conduct of the Bishops, who, he thought, were "looking too much to consequences, and too little to principles," asked, in pointed allusion to Bishop Blomfield, "whether the Right Reverend Prelate had collated himself to the office of high priest in the temple of expediency." To this taunt the Bishop made the following characteristic reply:-"As to the question which the Noble Duke has suggested,namely, whether or not I have collated myself to the high priesthood in the temple of expediency,—I beg to reply, that I do not feel myself worthy of such a station; but I tell that Noble Duke that I consider expediency is a material point, when tried by the rule of morality and truth. I surely need not remind the Noble Duke that one of the most eminent moralists of our times, (I mean Dr. Paley,) has admitted that expediency was a proper ground to proceed upon, under particular circumstances. In my opinion, Dr. Paley is mistaken, to a certain degree; and I should have guarded myself, by a more explicit statement, against those misconceptions and misrepresentations to which his opinion has given rise I am not,

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however, unwilling to enlist myself as the follower of that great man; and if the Noble Duke will invest me in the situation to which he has referred,-although I certainly do not think that he is qualified to do so,—I am not reluctant to receive the investiture even at his hands."

As a repartee, this half-humorous, half-serious answer leaves nothing to desire. But it is worthy of record chiefly because of the light which it throws upon the train of moral reasoning by which Bishop Blomfield arrived at the conclusions which regulated his public conduct. How, under the guidance of those conclusions, he sped in the progress of his career, the sequel will show.

CHAPTER VIII.

National iniquity --Judgment mixed with mercy-Approach of the Cholera-Its ravages in the Metropolis-Cholera Prevention Bills -Their Godless character-Impiety in the House of CommonsNational recognition of the Providence of God-General FastBishop Blomfield's Directions to the Clergy-His sermon at the Chapel Royal-Divine Government of the World-Nations Instruments in God's Hand-The Church of Christ and the Kingdoms of the Earth-Retrospect of the Recent History of the World -The War with France- Success dearly bought - Poisoned Cup of Prosperity Sagacity of Bishop Blomfield's Mind-Its Hesitation and its Boldness-Confession of National Sin —Searching Questions-Neglect of the Lord's Day-Duty of the Higher Classes-Effects of the National Chastisement-Demand for Church Reform-Exaggerated Notions of the Wealth of the Church-The "Black List "-Revenue of the See of LondonProposed Redistribution of Church Property-Desirableness of Inquiry Sanguine Expectations of Bishop Blomfield-Poverty of the Parochial Clergy-Financial Reform in the Church.

CN two points, during the period which we have passed

in review, it appears that the mind of Bishop Blomfield had become deeply impressed,―one, the apprehension of some calamitous visitation of the Divine displeasure on account of the overflowing of national iniquity, —the other, the anticipation of a severe ordeal, of a perilous crisis, impending over the Church. In neither of these prognostications, as the event proved, had he been deceived. The fiery trial that was to try the Church was, indeed, close at hand; and so was the chastisement of the Almighty upon a God-forgetting people. By the wisdom and goodness of

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Him who "in wrath remembereth mercy," it was appointed that the chastisement should come first in order; that before the violence of popular hatred and the subtlety of factious devices against God's Ordinance had time to run to the full excess of destruction on which they were bent, and to compass the overthrow of the Church of Christ in this land,—at least as a national Church,-the bridle of one of God's sore judgments should be put into their mouths, to humble the pride of the Great Ones of the land, and to curb the head-strong passions of the multitude. While the democratic frenzy which had been created by the authors and promoters of the Reform Bill was at its height, when the character of a successor of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ had become a name of reproach and a title to popular outrage, the first note of alarm was sounded, announcing the arrival on the shores of Great Britain of that devastating scourge which had for a number of years slowly but surely progressed from the land of its origin in the far east towards the European continent. As long as the malady was confined to a seaport town in a remote corner of the island, though watched by some with a feeling of dread, it was little heeded; when, early in the spring of the year 1832, it began to spread inland, popular alarm began to spread with it; but it was not until the pestilence had settled, like an incubus, on the metropolis, where it swept away thousands,—not until, satiated, as it were, with victims from among the ill-fed, ill-clad, illlodged inhabitants of crowded, ill-drained, and ill-ventilated courts and alleys, it marked for its ghastly prey— as if in derision of the levelling spirit of the age-the inmates of lordly mansions, confounding them with the common herd in the horribleness and loathsomeness of its deadly visitation, that the thoughts of men in high places could be induced to turn to the Hand from which the infliction proceeded, and from which alone deliverance could be obtained.

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GODLESS CHOLERA PREVENTION BILLS.

It is a remarkable fact, indicative, more perhaps than any other symptom, of the extent of the inroad which the spirit of irreligion had made upon the ancient faith of the nation, that when, early in the session of 1832, Bills were introduced into Parliament, empowering the Executive to adopt and to enforce such sanitary measures as might appear best calculated to oppose the march of the pestilence, the preambles of those Bills, reciting the visitation of the epidemic, contained not the remotest reference to the Providence of God, or to the need of the Divine help, and the Divine blessing upon the human means devised to check its progress. When attention was called in the House of Commons to this grave omission, so insensible were the members of the Government to the significance of the issue raised, that they treated the omission as a common oversight; and so little did they feel themselves called upon to repair it, that they deprecated a division upon the question, and actually prevailed on the Member who had moved the insertion of words recognizing the Hand of Divine Providence in sending the pestilence, and the need of Divine assistance for arresting it, to withdraw his amendment, and to allow the Cholera Prevention Bill for England to pass the Lower House in the godless shape in which it had been introduced. A still more curious and striking illustration of the spirit that had obtained the ascendancy in that assembly,-the spirit of treating the duty of reverence for the Divine Word and will with contempt, and regulating the decision of public affairs, even on religious questions, by deference to the will and the voice of the people,—was afforded on the Bill for Scotland coming under consideration. While the English Bill had passed the House of Commons like a document from an atheist pen, no sooner was it urged that the omission of all reference to the Providence of God would be offensive to the popular feeling in that part of the United Kingdom, than the House of Commons decided