basis so wide as that of the rights of man in society, to finish by a civil constitution for the clergy."* We have ended our imperfect resumé. In taking an affectionate leave of our author, we may be permitted to offer a single observation. We shall not reproach him, as M. Charles de Rémusat does in his article in the Revue des deux Mondes, with aiming too high; the principle of liberty and the separation of the two powers, of which M. E. de Pressensé's book is a splendid defence, are no longer a Utopia, and are becoming so less and less, in that France on which the eye of the pastor of Taitbout so complacently rests. But we would say that his generous heart has very probably led him astray in his too favourable appreciation of the French clergy, particularly at the beginning of the period of which he treats. That there were men of principle and faith like those he points out, and that the Assembly acted despotically, is clear beyond all doubt; but our author says almost nothing of the ignorance, ambition, and immorality by which the French clergy were stamped. We may be allowed to credit the testimony of a priest. In his work upon "Les Affaires de Rome," the Abbé Lammenais thus judges the epoch of the Revolution : "The clergy, taken collectively, had separated its interests, its wishes, its hopes, its past as well as its future, from the rest of the nation; and, having sold itself to the power which favoured its usurpation, it had become, by little and little, its servile instruments in order to secure its favours; and as the power, freed from the barriers which had formerly limited it, had become transformed into a pure despotism (as Fénélon had remarked with terror), the clergy shared in the hatred inspired by the despotism. Another cause of weakness was, that the same clergy, partially corrupted, offered in many of its members, and particularly in the prelates and court abbés, and in the opulent occupants of benefices, as well as in most of its religious orders, the scandal of an idle, worldly, and sometimes dissolute life; and dogmatic infidelity, at first secretly mixed with disorderly morals, at length appeared in broad daylight almost unveiled. The priests who were faithful to their duties, the true ministers of Jesus Christ, in a word, the labouring class, as the tonsured lacqueys of a degenerate royalty were wont to call them, were allowed to vegetate in a state bordering upon indigence, while the riches of the church, the patrimony of the poor, devoured by the titled, mitred, crosiered, clerical aristocracy, only served, by the contrast between its sacred destination, and the monstrous use of it made by men calling themselves men of God, to shake the faith of the people, and to dishonour the priesthood. . . . In short, from the time that, through a pusillanimous fear of free thought, and even of learning, arbitrary obstacles had been thrown in the way * Histoire des 4 Concordats. Tome ii. pp. 18 et 27. Political Economy and the Christian Ministry. 287 of the free element of the human intellect, science, breaking the bonds that had formerly closely united it to religion, had developed without her, and receding further and further from her, had ended by setting itself at open war with her doctrines. Allied under different forms to the spirit of the age, she received its character and lent it her strength. The antichristian party presenting itself as the defender of all liberties, and the promoter of light, the clergy, already imbued with different maxims, confounded the errors of a radically atheistical philosophy with what was just and pure in the cause which it was supporting. They associated their interests more than ever with those of despotism, provoked iniquitous rigours against their enemies, believed in the power of royal ediets and parliamentary decrees more than in that of the truth, and, in this manner, accredited the prejudice which represented the Church as the enemy of knowledge, of discussion, and of the researches of reason, and as the natural stay of tyranny." A professor of the University of Ghent, in a remarkable work upon Church and State, treats at length of the epoch of the Revolution. Doubtless, M. F. Laurent falls into the opposite extreme from M. de Pressensé. In reading his work, we feel that hatred of the clergy predominates, but he has penetrated further into the disorders of that class, into the cupidity of those men whose property was worth more than 5,000,000,000 francs, who were receiving more than four millions of tithes, and whose wealth in buildings was valued at five hundred millions, while their moveables were estimated at the same rate! A perusal of the book of the learned priest would not be without fruit, even after that of our eloquent author. ART. IV.-Political Economy and the Christian Ministry. THE BY REV. GEORGE N. BOARDMAN, BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK. HE science that has for its object the laws of wealth, must have many relations to a gospel intended specially for the poor. The names of Chalmers, Whately, and Wayland, suggest to every mind an association of Political *Affaires de Rome, ch. iv. Des maux de l'Eglise (France), p. 294. Etudes sur l'humanité, L'Eglise, et la Revolution, Par F. Laurent, Prof. à l'Université de Gand. From The Bibliotheca Sacra, January 1866. Economy and the Christian Ministry. The sermons of the period of the American Revolution shew that the pulpit has heretofore in stirring times considered the public weal as properly coming under its survey. The essays of such men as Dr Palmer, Dr Thornwall, Prof. Hodge, called forth by our civil war, shew that those who expound the laws of God consider it their right at least, no doubt their duty, to expound also the principles of civil government. The clergy of our land have never, to any considerable extent, relinquished the right to advocate such social virtues as temperance, and the observance of the Sabbath, nor will they, until they expunge the Decalogue from the sacred Scriptures, cease from their efforts to suppress profaneness and licen. tiousness. Still it may be questioned whether they have not left these works too much to occasions and transient excitements, whether they have sufficiently considered that the godliness which they preach has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. Domestic comfort, the supply of physical want, the use of worldly wealth, might have been made themes of popular discourse far more frequently than they have been, since in their connection with practical morality they force themselves upon the consideration of one who fills the office of both pastor and preacher. ६। It will be the aim of this article to state some of the advantages to be derived by the Christian minister from the study of political economy; also some of the advantages which his profession gives him for the pursuit of this science. Our purpose will not require a collation of the various definitions of political economy; it will be sufficient to say we use the term in its broadest sense, as the science of wealth, meaning by wealth not merely that which has exchangeable value, but that which contributes to man's temporal weal or well-being. I. It will be in place to begin with a few remarks on political economy as an intellectual discipline. The members of the clerical profession have generally recognised the importance of occasional intellectual exercises, undertaken for the purpose of retaining the culture of the mind at its highest elevation. For the promotion of such an end, no science is superior to political economy, while none is so nearly related to the great subjects on which the preacher of the gospel dwells. There is no science that makes a larger demand upon some of the best qualities of mind, as, the comprehension of a mass of facts; the ability to distinguish between the important and unimportant, the relevant and irrelevant; the ability to keep the eye on some one The Christian Ministry. 289 central truth of a discussion, distinguishing it from all its counterfeits, and recognising it under any of its Protean forms; the courage to lay aside all previous notions, and abide by a fair conclusion; the intellectual integrity that accepts a demonstration, though at first startling. If we add to these the patience of contemplation, and the continuity and consecutiveness of thought which the investigations call forth, we shall have before us qualities of mind which the preacher especially will consider desirable. Indeed, the style of the pulpit is becoming more and more germane to that which would be adopted in popular discussions of political economy. Sermons that have an aim at some useful result, that produce conviction by argument, while they sway the mind by a moral power infused into them, are recognised as best meeting the wants of a parish. And since religion extends its claims into the realm of morals, and absorbs its principles as being subordinately religious, no department of morals will be found more truly in accord with the proper aim of the pastoral office than the science before us. For Moreover, there are still open questions in the science, on which those who desire it may have opportunity for the full exercise of all their powers, and in which valuable results will be rewarded with the gratitude of the world. instance, the discussion still rages as to the wealth or poverty of the earth. Is population likely soon to outstrip the resources of nature, so that the earth will be too strait for her numerous family? Are the richer and more productive soils the first or the last to be brought into use? How are we to interpret the decrease in the value of capital as civilisation advances? Do the three per cent. paid for the use of capital in Europe, and the ten per cent. in Illinois, shew that relatively labour is more important in old countries, and so wages are really higher, or that capital and its universal concomitant labour, represented by wages, are becoming of less and less value together? These questions, and those of free trade and the currency, are subjects on which any one is at liberty to try his skill. Political economy furnishes some of the best illustrations of the truth, that in intellectual operations the battle is not always to the strong. The pulpit would do well to take note of the fact, and remember that he is the best reasoner who selects his premises best, not he who handles them most resolutely. Ricardo's theory of rent may be taken as an illustration. The world knew what rent was before his day, indeed, but no one seems to have separated it from everything else, and to have adequately defined it, as the |