The Sun.
London, England, 1861-02-12 00:00:00

tions, it is hardly necessary for me to consider. I look at
the problem actually presentee to us, and, so looking, I am
anxious to secure all that sound principle demands, without
insisting upon all which we may think desirable, nor even
all which most of us may think reasonable.
" The principle to be contended for, and never by us to
be abandoned, is the union of Church and State in every
nation calling itself Christian.
"This indispensable object would seem to me to be in-
sured by retaining church-rates as the legal instrument of
providing for the maintenance of the edifices and church-
yards, even if the support of the special services of the
Church were no longer insisted upon.
"To require the maintenance of these edifices as a stand-
ing monument of the nation's faithfulness to God, is not
open to the most specious, and therefore the most effective,
argument commonly used for the abolition of church-rates
—namely, that such a charge is inconsistent with the rights
of conscience; for very many are thus made to support a
system of doctrine and of worship to which they are con-
scientiously opposed. Whether this argument is reason •
able or not I forbear to inquire ; I would rather seek to
render it inapplicable. This would be accomplished by
acting on the very simple expedient which I have sug-
gested. For thus the great national object would be secured,
without leaving any grievance of which any reasonable
man could complain.
" I rejoice in thinking, too, that all which wo should find
practically necessary would be obtained. For, the neces-
sary charges for public worship are not of a formidable
amount, and those which are unnecessary—such as for
organs, for lighting, warming, and the like—may be (shall
I be afraid of saying ought to be) no longer demanded of
those'who cannot enjoy the use of them.
" In examining the list of strictly necessary charges, the
first particular is at once the largest and most important—
the supplying the elements at the Holy Communion. But
this, I hesitate not to say, is most unfit to be made a charge
on any man. None but those who actually communicate
ought to be, I will not say compelled, but permitted, to con-
tribute. In the Primitive Church, to make offerings of
bread and wine, out of which the elements were taken, was
a privilege, from which all but the faithful were strictly
excluded ; and it appears from the rubric at the end of the
Communion, in the first Book of Common Prayer of Edward
VI., that the earlier reformers were careful to observe the
same principle. That rubric ordered that the pastors and
curates shall find at their cost sufficient bread and wine for
the Holy Communion, and that in recompense of such costs
and charge the parishioners of every parish shall offer every
Sunday, at the time of the offertory, the just value and price
of the holy loaf to those their pastors and curates, in such
order as they were wont, and that one at least of that house
in every parish to whom by course it appertaineth to offer
for the charge of the Communion, or some other whom they
shall provide to offer for them, shall receive the Holy Com-
munion with the priest.' Thus careful, I repeat, were our
reformers that the offering of the elements should not be
made by those who were not communicants.
" To carry out this principle in consistence with our
present object, the simplest and easiest method would pro-
bably be to take the cost of the bread and wine out of the
moneys collected at the offertory ; and we need not doubt
that devout communicants would offer somewhat more
largely in consideration of this charge.
" The other necessary expenses are really very small ;
and these, as well as those which are not strictly necessary,
might be safely left to voluntary contribution. Some charges
are made by the State for its own purposes, such as pro-
viding and keeping registers, and making returns of the
same, which the State itself would doubtless provide for.
" In conclusion, let me add the expression of an earnest
hope that in any modification of the existing law on church-
rates, which shall now be adopted, the enforcement of them
would be transferred from the ecclesiastical to the tempera`
courts. Common prudence and the manifest interest o
peace demand the transfer.—l am, dear Mr. Archdeacon
ours very faithfully,

" H. EXETER.

"P. S.—l have ornittri one consideration, which, how.
ever, strongly commends the measure above stated to my
own acceptance. It leaves no ground for exemption in
favour of any ; for it recognises a common duty, resting on
a principle which none ought to evade.
" I have also omitted all reference to the course to bo
adopted for ascertaining from time to time what repairs of
the churches are really necessary, and by what authority
they are to be ordered. These aro matters which are to be
left to the judgment of Parliament."

LENTEN PASToRAL OF CARDINAL
WISEMAN.

The following pastoral from his Eminence Car•
dinal Wiseman was read on Sunday in the several
Roman Catholic churches and chapels in the Arch.