CURRENT LITERATURE.
Endowed Territorial Work. The Baird Lecture for 1875. By the Rev. W. Smith, D.D. (Blackwood.)—" The Baird Lecture" is a recent foundation having for its object "the illustration and the defence of vital truths" connected with Christian dogmas and Church government. We sincerely trust that it may prove as productive, it might not be extravagant to say more productive, of works of real merit than the " Bampton Lecture" has been ; though this latter has certainly not been barren, witness the lectures of Dean Manse!, of Dr. Ilessey, and of Pro- fessor Mozley, to speak of recent years only. Mr. Baird's work is an elaborate and, as it seems to us, already, indeed, prepossessed that way, a successful defence of Establishment, or rather, for Dr. Smith's notion of the function of the State in matters ecclesiastical would certainly differ from ours, of Endowment. The matter is indeed very difficult to discuss, for Voluntaryism has nowhere been fairly tried. We say nowhere, as the experiment in America is too recent to be conclusive, if indeed it were possible to estimate its results. It might almost be said that it never can be tried. The disendowment of the Church of England would pro- bably be a division rather than an alienation of endowments. All the larger and more popular Communions would probably acquire property with great rapidity—we do not know of any one that takes a vow of poverty—and the lapse of a century or two would see wealthy Churches, not improbably assailed by newer and poorer rivals, and resisting a repetition of the process by which they were originally enriched. Yet there are arguments available and relevant. There is that, for instance, both probable a priori and supported by actual experience, that Volun- tary places of worship have a tendency to "drift away" from poorer to richer neighbourhoods. We do not know why Dr. Smith should call these migrations "unworthy and recreant," for they are probably neces- sary, but still it is a striking fact when he can allege that in Liverpool "more that fifty such deserted sites may be traced on the map of the town, and thirty-three chapels have occupied one hundred and thirty different sites, the congregations in their corporate capacity remaining
the same." Dr. Smith, indeed, uses stronger language than we think
seemly, but his arguments are forcible. At the same time, he is alive to the fact that the territorial system wants pliability, and he has his remedies. It is well that a church should not be moved from the poor neighbourhood, but there is no reason why it should be left in an empty ono.
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