ishop of Winchester says--"We believe that we do possess, as we
cannot see that others do, Christ's direct commission for our ministry,
and a certainty and fulness, therefore, of His presence and of His
Sacramental working, which, to say the least, may be lacking elsewhere.
If we do not hold as much as this we must dissent from the plain language
of our own Ordination Service." The Bishop also denies that it is a
superstitious theory that "the clergy can convey to the soul by a
material intervention some spiritual influence in an occult manner."

The Rev. E. Blenkinson, in the "Church and the World," a book presented
to Convocation by the Bishop of Oxford, says the Protestant bodies have
"cut themselves off from the participation of the one Spirit as living in
the Church and flowing through the Sacraments, which are the veins and
arteries of the body." The last utterance on the subject is that of the
Bishop of Ely, who places the first and undisputed General Councils as of
equal authority with Scripture. The Catechism teaches Baptismal
Regeneration. The clergy also tell us that they are called by the Holy
Ghost, that the Bishop has conferred on them spiritual graces by the
laying on of hands. This is the theory of the Church of England. In
accordance with this in time past, it drove out the Evangelicals on
Bartholomew Day, and has at any rate till our time prosecuted Broad
Churchmen for heresy.

The bitterest opponents of this theory are the Evangelicals. It is a
singular and noteworthy fact, that the theology dearest to the hearts of
the people is that which teaches in the plainest manner the literal
inspiration of the Bible, the doctrine of Original Sin, of
Predestination, of everlasting damnation, of a Devil ever thwarting the
designs of a benevolent Deity, and seeking whom he may devour. Yet the
character given by Dr. Arnold of the Evangelical clergy is still true,
and accounts for the little influence they have in educated circles.
Another fact also becomes increasingly prominent: their readiness to
swallow their words, to quietly accept whatever may be offered them by
their opponents apparently merely for the sake of position in society.
Every now and then a crisis occurs in the history of the Church. If
Baptismal Regeneration, for instance, be ruled to be permissible they
must leave, and then when the time comes for them to arise and become
martyrs, they quietly pocket their principles and remain. Of co