It is impossible to estimate the advantage of the ministerial office to society, until the aggregate of the services of men, who have all their allotted field of action throughout the kingdom, be well weighed. Let any one examine minutely into the benefit which one parish receives from a resident incumbent, who faithfully discharges the duties of his office; and if all do not so, it is the fault of the individual, and not of the system:—let him observe, not merely the general advantage derived by all from the residence amongst them of a well informed and well conducted man,—at once the scholar, the gentleman, and the Christian,—but of one who is the authorized medium through which abuses are to be checked and corrected, vice discountenanced and reproved, virtue encouraged and rewarded, relief administered to distress, instruction to ignorance, comfort to sorrow, and the light of the Gospel diffused amongst all,—its offers addressed to all, its consolation imparted to all. Then let him attempt to calculate the amount of instruction conveyed through “the alacrity, the zeal, the warm-heartedness which the Established Clergy have manifested for the education of the poor;” {149} of comfort derived by suffering in its hour of need and sorrow, from its faithful pastor; and of benefit imparted to all, either directly or indirectly, either temporally or spiritually, by the appointed and responsible teachers of the Gospel, throughout the parishes in the kingdom. And then let him form a judgment as to what degree of confidence is to be placed in the wisdom, what sense of obligation is to be entertained for the services,—_not of those_ who are labouring with _earnest_ diligence to “feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made them overseers,”—_of those_ who by impoverishing the Clergy would deprive them of the means of affording temporal assistance to the poor and needy; and by calumniating the Clergy would impede the discharge and frustrate the efficacy of their spiritual ministrations. Alas! it is because the full value of the quiet and unobtrusive labours of all ranks in the Church is so little known by those who are actively engaged in public life, that plans are devised, which, possessing some plausibility, and coming recommended with much eloquence, are eagerly embraced by many, who would indignantly reject them were they aware that, if adopted, they would injure the present and endanger the eternal welfare of millions. As men, as statesmen, and as Christians, let all who have inconsiderately joined in the cry against the Church forbear, until they have ascertained for themselves, by minute and impartial investigation, whether it is as wealthy and proud, as grasping and worldly, as bigoted and intolerant, as intermeddling and domineering, as inefficient and corrupt, as its enemies have represented it to be. Could it be proved to be such, every sincere Christian, whether cleric or laic, would at once say, free it from the abuses which