24 MARCH 1888, Page 21

The Homilist. Vol. LVIII. (Houlston.)—There are some things in this

volume to which we cannot assent, to the complaint, for instance, of a "Clerical Critic" that the "clergy will soon be bound hand and foot to the Bishops." Was there ever such a wild notion ? There is no worse scandal in the Church than the difficulty which a Bishop finds in exercising the most moderate and reasonable control over his clergy. They may be careless, incapable, disreputable, all but actually criminal, and yet he cannot touch them. But there is much good matter in the Homilist, and its contributors and editors do not forget the maxim on the title-page,—" The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."