the Gospel, amounted to £13 7_s._ And yet the incumbent of one or them (St. Andrew’s, Wells Street) stated in evidence before the Ritual Commission, that the cost of his choir alone was “about £1000 a year.” Is it not high time that men lay to heart the proportion to be observed between ritual and the reality of religion? But now let us go a step further, and apply this law of proportion to what is commonly called the sacramental system. I heard this well defined not long since, in a very able sermon by an advanced Ritualist. He supposed a person in America anxious to communicate with his friend in England, and asked the question whether he would do so by direct communication through the air, or through the medium of the telegraphic wires. “Just so,” said he, “the question is whether God has been pleased to communicate direct with the soul, or has chosen to do so through the medium of His priests and sacraments.” My own belief is that that was a very fair statement of the point at issue, and I am anxious to bring it to the test of the law of proportion, and to ascertain as far as we can what proportionate place this intermediate system occupies in the Word of God. But here I meet with a great difficulty, for when I turn to my Bible the system, as a system, is not to be found. I know not therefore how to bring it to the balance; all I can attempt therefore is to consider it in detail, and to examine separately the different parts of the telegraphic system. Let us begin with confession and absolution.