It is in the spirit which is expressed in these words that I desire to offer the following notes on Mr. Ruskin's Letters. Among the charges which he brings against the clergy are the following:-- That we have no clear idea of our calling, or of the Gospel of Christ (Letters III. and IV.) That we profane the name of God in the pulpit (Letter VI.) That we teach that every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them (Letter VIII.) That we hold our office to be that, not of showing men how to do their Father's will on earth, but how to get to heaven without doing any of it either here or there (Letter VIII.) That we neither profess to understand what the will of the Lord is, nor to teach anybody else to do it (Letter VIII.) That we pretend to absolve the sinner from his punishment, instead of purging him from his sin (Letter VIII.) That we patronize and encourage all the iniquity of the world by steadily preaching away the penalties of it (Letter VIII.) That we gather, each into himself, the curious dual power and Janus-faced majesty in mischief of the prophet that prophesies falsely, and the priest that bears rule by his means (Letter VIII.) That we do not exercise discipline by keeping wicked people out of church (Letter VI.) That we do not require each member of our flocks to tell us what they do to earn their dinners (Letter IX.) That we encourage people in hypocrisy, by inviting them to the authorized mockery of a confession of sin (Letter X.) I cannot examine the evidence which Mr. Ruskin possesses in support of these charges, as he has not produced it in these Letters. Neither can I attempt to refute the accusations. To prove a negative is always difficult; it becomes an impossible task when the indictment is laid not against any individuals mentioned by name, but against a whole order. I will only observe, that even if all these charges be true, the people of England are not in such evil case as Mr. Ruskin fancies. The laity of England possess the inestimable advantage of not being dependent on the sermons of their clergy for either doctrine, or correction, or instruction in righteousness. Even though a clergyman should never utter certain doctrines of Christ from the pulpit, or reprove certain sins, he is obliged to do so at the font, at the lectern, and at the altar. Although from the pulpits of the fifty hundreds of clergy whom Mr. Ruskin heard, he never heard so much as _one_ clergyman heartily proclaiming that no covetous person, which is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God, he must have often heard this proclamation from the altar, in the epistle for the third Sunday in Lent, and from the lectern whenever the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians is read for the lesson.