The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-30 00:00:00

4.71107--------"evert of the o
verie:lment of the CYlirch,
Still less Cu:l it supply tho pla:e cr
aisthy of her friend:!, the hostility ofy her Tv IfsiiiissAA,,'iAi,ll--. vs,
should they ❑nha it be waiting, in -
minist:T, on whose spoatane -sus enerry, though te',
its\lf overcome all difti.:ulties, more uudoub:ediy
tIGn on any ocher human instrument or agene,„*",:,
soever." y-"( 7-
At p. 1i the Bishop alludes to a projected peen VV- 'ma
iaafrrat
arrangement, made with an evident wish to benefit
the diocese, but in that conditional mood which all
the thoughts of Dr. Thirlwall so naturally assume as
their appropriate form of expression ; he proposes, if
there should happen to be a surplus of episcopal in-
come at " the next septennial cycle" of his occupation
of the see, to devote that surplus to the augmentation
of certain poor livings. Tnis prospective benefit
being of course subject to the further contingency of
Bishop Thirlwah's translation or death. In pp. 19-
2S the present state and prospects of the Church of
England, with the probable judgment of posterity
upon them, are surveyed with characteristic fluctua-
tions of vision. Hitherto the frequent use of nega-
tive propositions, and the introduction of qualifying
phrases, such as "I do not mean that it is not," be-
fore,behind, and in the midst of every statement, have
tended ranch to perplex the reader's perceptions ; but
entering now upon more abstruse matter, it must be-
hove him to exert his keenest powers. Dr. Thirl-
wall has evidently given much time and thought to
the consideration of the various ecclesiastical questions
literary
of the day • and it is impossible duly to estimate his
patiently following his steps
labours without
through the labyrinthian depths of polemic disquisi-
tion. Versed in the subtile niceities of disputation,
athned eruditeto Bishop proceeds, with unwonted docility
"Gorham V. extahaleine theish
opeccof
ecclesiastical question of
Exeter." Emu-
B
lating the toils of Sisyphus, he industriously
endeavours to ascertain " the amount of
the agreement and the variance exhibited"
by the parties and their advocates.
lie
le
none of them distinctly knew
"that ambiguity which
raised the difficulty," nor understood
tahlegsteastethoatf
the question which they argued. Long bandying in
solitary repercussion the opinions of these hostile the-
ologians,
he pauses to
.investigate the probability and
improbability of Calirvesadopting a certain disputed
dogma; and after devoting no less than 30 pages of
his charge to such academic exercises, leaves the sub-
ject under the very same circumstances which his
Lordship describes the Court of Appeal to have done:
i. e., "Involved in a degree of obscurity
and per-
plexity through which they could not find their way
to a clear determination !" Alas ! for the unlucky
clergy of his diocese who had perhaps presumptu-
ously expected to be able to understand, when set
before them in print, the series of propositions which
had orally baffled their keen intelligence; for now,
hopelessly posed, they reproachfully confess with Dr.
Blackmore :
" We no solution of our question find,
Your words bewilder, not direct the mind."
Henceforth let each remember the varied reading of
a great philosopher's injunction : "If a man's wit be
not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him
study 'Dr. Thirlwall.' " Like the departed heroes
of Ossian, Bishop Thirlwall is a Son of the Mist, and
always travels in his cloud. Obscurity invests him,
his pages are emphatically shades, where the nameless
and undefined forms of certain personages glance in
and out, now in disconsolate soliloquy, then in disso-
nant ;colloquy, ever with restless steps and feeble
movement, treading uncertainly back wards
and forwards through the intricate mazes of error.
" Words," says Locke, "are made to declare some-
thing ; where they are by those who pretend to in-
struct, otherwise used, they conceal indeed something,
but that which they conceal is nothing but the igno-
rance, error, or sophistry of the talker, for there is in
truth nothing else under them." When first begin-
ning to make out a foreign book, the learner pauses
at ,intervals to translate the difficult idioms into
words of plain sense in his native tongue. Such
must likewise be the course of the diligent
student in perusing the writings of Bi-hop Thirlwall.
That " extemporal readiness of wit" which the ju-
dicious Hooker deprecated in all f xponents of his
terse paragraphs, may more profitably perhaps he
summoned now to assist the weary faculties of labo-
rious students with some bright and happy conjec-
tures as to the probable ultimate meaning of the
various involutions, convolutions, and revolutions of
Bishop Thirl wall's disquisitions. His Lordship next
discusses at some length the questions of Church
Synods, Papal Aggression, and Liturgical Innova-
tions, leaving upon these, as upon all ;other subjects,
th© ends of his arguments hanging like the
floating filaments of gossamer thrown short
of their mark by the weaving spider.
The Bishop throughout intermixes intimations with
dissertations : opinions and reasons on which those
opinions are poised. It is well known that the effect
of literary compositions both in prose and verse is
often greatly enhnced when a piece happens fortu-
nately to be read under a similar combination of cir-
cumstances to that in which it originated. The dis-
courses of Dr. Thirlwall ever breathe the most tedious
extension of leisure, therefore a very deliberate, con-
siderate, and oft-repeated perusal becomes absolutely
indispensable to their perfect comprehension and en-
joyment—that enjoyment consisting in the spectacle
of ingenuity afforded by incessant counterbaiancings :
that perfect comprehension being only an assured con-
viction, that

" True no meaning puzzles more than wit."
That the Bishop by his present charge has neither
aided the judgment of his clergy, nor kindled their
pious zeal, is but too obvious, from the irresolute un-
certsinties and frigid indifierenc,,e with which the
whole composition is fraught. A few brief sentences
on pp. 78-9 alone identify it; as the work of a
Christian chief-pastor. To teach a fellow-being to
think is the highest privilege of gifted intellect. The
unblessed work of the feeble and the perverse is to
lead other minds to hesitation, sceptism, and universal
doubt. Far be it from us to depreciate the value of
any species of learning : all, in their several degrees,
are of important use, and deserve proportionate
honour. But the knowledge which blesses the
Christian Church by its diffusion can never be the
indecisive result of scholastic disputation delivered
with latitudinarian coldness. It is, it must be, the
rich treasure, accumulated by an earnestly inquiring
mind, poured forth by a full heart, intent on per-
suading others to trust an enlightened judgment, to
sytnpath!s3 in humanity's holiest feeling, and zealously
to share the heavenly work of aiding mortal sinners to
become immortal saints.

THE PRESS IN 2'11.E UNITED STATES
The following is a statistical account of the nzws-
paper press in the United States. The whole num-
ber journals in the United States on the Ist of
June, 1850, amounted to 2,800. From calculations
made cn the statistics reported to the Secretary of
the Interior, it appears that the aggregate circulation
of these two thousand tight hundred papers and
periodicals is about 5,000,000, and that the entire
number of copies printed annually in the United
States amounts to 422,600,000. The following table
will show the number of daily, weekly, monthly and
other issues, with the aggregate circulation of each
class :

Number. Circulation.
Dailies 350 750,000
Tri-weeklies
Semi-weeklies 125 80,000
Weeklies
Semi-monthlies 50 300,000
Monthlies
Quarterlies 26 20,000
Tot al I 2,800 5,000,000

Number of Copies
printed annually.

235,000,000
11,700,0 0
8,320,000
149.500,000
7,200,000
10,8,;0,000
0,000

422,600,000

Since the census was taken a large number of new
journals have been established, chiefly in the State of
California and in the territories of Oregon-, New
Mexico, Utah, and Minesota. There is a kAirnid,
edited with spirit and ability, among the Cnero"
Indians, which is printed in the Cherokee 100gu0geaiy
and characters. Co9it3 of a t►bat vanyrof tlyle two_
papers are sold at 'lie cent' each ;
thirds ate sold at frotalwo to
above nuinber of publicationN
Eastern States, --A '44 in the Western States.
Southern States, o,° 7eir r 7,184 free inhabitants.
876 in tior Middle
Stores,
There is one journai four
areb teats.ut
issued -e a r i
Ofn ,thetLe
In the great eYstheeoclfitheirs
pisapbeort.h
'Tie
above statement
only check ...
PrlLter and publis
exhibits the extent and power of the
lle utmost liberty is allowed ; the
Tfoororf c
proprietor,aes
of libel.
Ameriesnyir,ietsinhte9jarwirt

New ZlALAND.—Letters and papers from Wei.
lington to the 16th of September have been received, but
they do not furnish much information beyond matters of
purely local interest. The state of the colony is described
as generally satisfactory.

RAILWAY COLLISION.--On Saturday, between
twelve and one o'clock at mid, day, as the mail train which
leaves Birmingham at 6 A. 31. arrived near Liverpool, on the
London and North-Western line, when between Huyton and
Roby stations, the express train, due about the same time,
came in contact with it, and several passengers by the former
train received severe injuries. The mail train, was, never-
theless, allowed to proceed on to Liverpool, those who were
injured bleeding profusely all the way. In one carriage six
persons were very seriously and three dangerously wounded.
One of them, Miss Rogers, of Huyton, was convoyed to the
house of Dr. Bainbrigg, in Islington-square, where it was
found that she had sustained great injury in the hoed,skull being in one place laid completely bare.
were promptly dressed, but the y imp, lady iV 88 too ninth
(L..' A as conveyed to
injured to permit of her return home, and progressing
the house of a friend in Liverpool, where 3.a-
favourably. The wounds

COTTON MILL
DEETRoyso Br FILM—One of the
mills belonging to Mr. Elkanah Cheatham, of Stockport,
~
called the Lower Carr Mins, was on Friday morninc, dis-
covered to be on fire. The loss is estimated at about 4,0001.,
covered by insurances.
Two little
girls, named Caroline and Hannah
Lewis aged respectively
four and a half years and fifteen
months, the children of poor parents, niet an untimely death
by fire, on Tuesday, at Gloucester, during the absence of their
i mother, who left them alone in the how.