Pastoral Letters. By William Dalrymple Maclagan, Archbishop of York. (Wells
Gardner, Darton, and Co.)—These letters, which are supplemented by similar papers, such as addresses, charges, &c., were written by Dr. Maclagan when he was Bishop of Lichfield. The "pastoral letters" are seventeen in number, and are certainly characterised by practical good sense. Not unfrequently the writer's advice is put in a pointed and forcible way. The benefit of pastoral visitation, for instance, could not be better expressed than by the remark that while "the pastor has many opportunities of speaking to his people, this alone affords an opportunity for the people to speak to him." We observe that he blames the custom that has recently grown up of restricting the utterance of the words "I believe" in the Creed, and "Our Father" in the Lord's Prayer, to the minister.
Previous page
