A Synodal Address. Delivered at Perth, September 11, 1866. By
G. Wordsworth, D.C.L., Bishop of St. Andrew's. (Macmillan.)—We can scarcely imagine the Scotch folks, even in their present state of indig- nation, being much affected by the plea for Episcopacy, except for a reason that we shall mention presently. The Bishop has to make too much use of "not improbably," and "it would seem to imply," and such like phrases; and the Scotchmen must by this time have made up their minds in the matter, and have come, no doubt, to the conclusion that St. Paul, who was a plain-speaking man in what he deemed essential, would have given the necessary directions in explicit terms, if he had intended to institute a particular order of ministry that was to convey a special grace. But there is a reason in the present instance why the perfervid bile of the Scotchman should be moved. The Bishop has actually slipt into their own arsenal and got hold of a weapon forged by Dr. Candlish himself for the defence of their cherished bit of Judaism, the Sabbath ; and he now tarns it against them, and armed with all its terrors demands their submission to Episcopacy. "Scripture," says Dr. Cand- lish, "gives in many cases not formal and explicit deliverance,s, not over- whelming evidence, which no man can refuse to accept, but sufficient evidence, sufficient materials, to enable any one who examines the whole matter impartially to see what the will and mind of God has substan- tially revealed." We really think that the Bishop makes out an excel- lent case for Episcopacy on the strength of this principle, and if the Scotch Church insists on binding on our necks the heavy burthen of the Sabbath "without explicit deliverances," let it accept its own penalty, and bend the knee to the prelates, or let us be free in both countries.
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