every creature, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

"And whereas in the fulfillment of this mission, our branch of the Church, Catholic and Christian, has her part and duty to perform.

"And whereas, we have reason to believe and confess that we have left undone some things which we ought to have done.

"And whereas, the Preface to our Book of Common Prayer and Administration of Sacraments accepts and reäffirms, as a cardinal and Catholic principle-a truth received always, everywhere, and by all, the following, namely, that It is a most invaluable part of the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, that in his worship different forms and usages may, without offense, be allowed, provided the substance of the faith be kept entire; and that in every Church, what can not clearly belong to doctrine, must be referred to discipline; and therefore, by common consent and authority, may be altered, abridged, enlarged, amended, or otherwise disposed of as may seem most convenient for the edification of the people, according to the various exigences of times and occasions.'

"And whereas, the Church of England has also, in the Preface of her Book of Common Prayer, reaffirmed this Catholic and cardinal principle of the Universal Church of Christ in the words following, namely, 'The particular forms of worship and the rites and ceremonies appointed to be used therein, being things in their own nature indifferent and alterable, and so acknowledged, it is but reasonable that upon weighty and important considerations, according to the various exigences of times and occasions, such changes and alterations may be made therein, as to those in places of authority should seem either necessary or expedient.'

"And whereas, it did seem necessary and expedient to those in places of authority at our last General Convention to appoint a Commission of Bishops to consider and report upon a memorial of sundry Presbyters 'touching the actual position of our Church with reference to the great social and moral necessities of the day,' 'presenting the inquiry whether the period has not arrived for the adoption of mea. sures to meet these moral exigences, more comprehensive than any yet provided for by our present ecclesiastical system.'

"And whereas, the Diocese of Louisiana, loyal alike to apostolic truth and order and to the divine mission of Christianity, is, from the importance and influence of her great commercial mart, New-Orleans, from her geographical position and extent of territory, and the diversity of races and faiths of her population, an extensive, peculiar, and important field of labor and enterprise for the Church, requiring the wisest and most effective employment of her means, appliances, and agencies in the dissemination of the truth as it is in Jesus.

"Therefore resolved, as the sense of this Convention, that the circular issued by the Commission of Bishops opens and presents to us questions of the most momentous and comprehensive nature; and that those questions demand from all the gravest and most dispassionate and candid consideration.

"Resolved, That a Diocesan Commission, or Committee, consisting of the Bishop as chairman, three Presbyters, and three Laymen, be appointed by the President of this body, charged with the duty of considering and drafting replies to the questions of the circular of the Commission of Bishops, and of embodying the same in a report to be laid before the next Convention of this Diocese."

The above preamble and resolutions, seconded by ex-Governor Johnson, a lay delegate from Trinity Church, New-Orleans, and supported by a few remarks by the mover, were passed with entire unanimity.

The Diocesan Commission consist of the following: Of the Clergy: Right Rev. Leonidas Polk, D.D., Chairman; Rev. Chauncey Colton, D.D.; Rev. William T. Leacock, D.D.; Rev. Elijah Guion. Of the Laity: Hon. Henry Johnson; L. C. Duncan, Esq.; J. L. Lobdell, Esq.

TENNESSEE.—The Committee on the State of the Church, in their report to the Convention say:

"From accounts which the Committee have received, from other sources beside

the address of the Bishop, of the large number of people who attended with interest the laborious and self-denying efforts which he has made during the past year to spread abroad through the Diocese the truths of the Gospel of Christ, and as these truths are embodied in the order, discipline, and services of the Church, the Committee can not attribute the deplorable state of the Church to any cause which may not be obviated and overcome by proper efforts on the part of the clergy and laity."

The report of this Committee elicited an interesting discussion, and led to the appointment of a Committee of Ways and Means for Church Extension, which reported to the Convention the following:

"The Committee appointed to take into consideration what measures can be adopted to promote the extension of the Church in this Diocese respectfully report, that it becomes their duty first to inquire into the causes of the present circumscribed condition of the Church in Tennessee, that they may be the better able to suggest the remedy.

The first cause which your Committee would mention why the Church, after the laborious efforts of the present Bishop of the Diocese for twenty years of hard sercice, is so little extended among a population now amounting to nearly one mil. lion and a half, is the little security for temporal support to clergymen in accepting the charge even of old-established parishes.

"There is scarcely an exception where the Rector of a parish has not been compelled to teach for five days in the week, in order to secure the means of support for himself and family, so that he could preach the Gospel on Sundays almost without charge to the people; and this not merely in the organization of the parish, but long after the time when he might reasonably hope to be released from so toilsome a task. And this is true of Bishop, Priest, and Deacon. Out of the seventeen parishes in the Diocese, only six give a salary which exempts their ministers from teaching or other means of support. Six derive aid from the Diocesan or Domestic Board of Missions.

"Now your Committee ask, How can men so occupied with other duties than those which their ordination-vows impose, find time to do missionary-work beyond the limits of their respective cures? It is manifestly impossible. Your Committee are sure that the clergy of the Diocese are not indolent men, desiring snug parishes and easy duty. They are as a body hard-working men; not afraid of the ploughhandle, but ready and willing to labor to the extent of their ability for the extension of the Church; and by it, as God's instrumentality, for the salvation of men through the blood of the Redeemer. All they ask is a bare support, that they may devote themselves mind and body to their labor of love; and this they feel that they have a right to demand at the hands of those for whose best interests they spend their strength.

"Another cause pointed out by the Committee, of the circumscribed condition of the Church in the Diocese, is the substitution of the Parochial for the Itinerant system. The natural order of things, says the Committee, has been inverted. The parish system has been attempted first, until, by a mortifying failure, we have been driven to see the error. The truth is, the Church is aggressive; she must begin her work on individuals-she is first to gather in-this is the work of an itinerancy: she is then to keep and train-this is her work, as seen in her parochial system,

"A third cause of the evil complained of is, in the opinion of the Committee, the want of information as to what the Church really is. To remedy this, the Committee recommend the establishment of book-depositories at Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville. The Committee further recommend the meeting of the Clergy in Convocation, at the four seasons of ordination. It is to be hoped that this plain statement of the wants of the Church may have a beneficial effect upon the minds of all who love our Zion, and stir up the laity to greater diligence in cooperating with the self-denying Clergy of the Diocese."

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC RECORD.

For the convenience of our readers we give a list of some of the principal works which have issued from the press, both in the United States and in England, during the past few months.

BOOKS LATELY PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES.

MODERN AGITATORS; or, Pen Portraits of Living American Reformers. By David W. Bartlett. 12mo. Pp. 396. Portraits. Miller, Orton & Mulligan, New-York. Price, $1.25.

THE SAINTS' EVERLASTING REST, accurately collated with the Various Editions published in the Author's Lifetime; with a Life of the Author, an Introductory Essay, and Original Notes; besides accurate translations of all the Latin notes contained in former editions. By the Rev. John Johnston Carruthers. 8vo. Pp. xxvi., 662. Portrait. R. Carter & Bros., New-York. $2.

OUTLINES OF LECTURES on the Neurological System of Anthropology, as discovered, demonstrated, and taught in 1841 and 1842. By Joseph R. Buchanan, M.D. In Four Parts: Part 1, Phrenology; Part 2, Cerebral Physiology; Part 3, Pathognomy; Part 4, Sarcognomy. 8vo. Pp. iv., 384, 16. Illustrations. Office of the Journal of Man, Cincinnati. $2.

THE DAILY LIFE; or, Precepts and Prescriptions for Christian Living; SABBATH MORNING READINGS in the Old Testament, Book of Leviticus. 12mo. Both by Rev. Dr. Cumming, London. Published by John P. Jewett & Co.,

Boston. 75 cents each.

BOTANY OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. In Two Parts: Part 1, Structural and Physiological Botany, and Vegetable Products; Part 2, Description of Southern Plants. Arranged in the Natural System. Preceded by a Linnæan and Dichtomous Analysis. By Prof. John Darby. 12mo. Pp. 612. A. S.

Barnes & Co., New-York. $1.50.

THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. By Ludwig Feuerbach. Translated from the second German edition, by Marian Evans, translator of Strauss' "Life of Jesus." 12mo. Pp. 442. Calvin Blanchard, New-York. $1.25.

CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT NATIONS COMPARED in their Three-fold Relation to Wealth, Knowledge, and Morality. By the Rev. N. Roussell, of Paris. With an Introduction, by the Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel, of London. 8vo. Pp. 322. J. P. Jewett & Co., Boston. $1.50.

ENGLISH, PAST AND PRESENT. By Richard Chenevix Trench. 12mo. Pp. 213. J. S. Redfield, New-York. 75 cents.

THE RICH KINSMAN. The History of Ruth the Moabitess. By Rev. S. H. Tyng, D.D. 16mo. Pp. 425. R. Carter & Bros., New-York. $1.

A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF HOMICIDE in the United States. By Francis Wharton. 8vo. Pp. 537. Kay & Bros., Philadelphia.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF SECTARIANISM; or, a Classical View of the Christian Sects in the United States, with Notices of their Progress and Tendencies. Illustrated by Historical Facts and Anecdotes. By Rev. Alexander Blaikie, Boston. 12mo. Pp. 362. Phillips, Sampson & Co., Boston. $1.

HISTORY OF ENGLAND; From the First Invasion by the Romans, to the Accession of William and Mary in 1688. A new edition, as enlarged by Dr. Lingard shortly before his death. 13 vols. Phillips, Sampson & Co., Boston. Per vol. 75 cents.

THE HISTORY OF VIRGINIA; in Four Parts. By Robert Beverly. The History of the First Settlement of Virginia, and the Government thereof, to 1706; the natural productions and conveniences of the country, suited to trade and improvement; the native Indians, their religion, laws, and customs, in war and peace; the present state of the country, as to the polity of the government and the improvements of the land, the 10th of June, 1720. Reprint from the author's second revised edition, London, 1722; with an Introduction by Chas. Campbell, author of the "Colonial History of Virginia." 8vo. Pp. xx., 264. J. W. Randolph, Richmond, Va.

HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. By Rev. Charles Hase, D.D. Translated from the seventh and much-improved German edition, by Charles E. Blumenthal, Prof. of Hebrew and of Modern Languages in Dickinson College, and Rev. Conway P. Wing. 8vo. Pp. 720. $3.

OUR PASTOR; or, Reminiscences of Rev. Edward Payson, D.D., Pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Portland, Me. By one of his Flock. 12mo. Pp. 360. Tappan & Whittemore, Boston. $1.

TRI-COLORED SKETCHES IN PARIS, during the years 1851-2-3. 12mo. Pp. xvi., 368. Harper & Bros., New-York. $1.25.

PROGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES in Population and Wealth in Fifty Years, as exhibited by the Decennial Census from 1790 to 1840. By Prof. Geo. Tucker. With an Appendix, containing an abstract of the Census of 1850. 8vo. Pp. 211, viii., 68. Press of Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, New-York.

MY BROTHER'S KEEPER. By the author of "Dollars and Cents." 12mo. Pp. 385. D. Appleton & Co., New-York. Paper, 75 cents; cloth, $1.

WATSON, (Rev. THOS.,) Select works of: comprising his celebrated "Body of Divinity," in a series of Lectures on the Shorter Catechism, and various Sermons and Treatises. 8vo. Pp. 776. R. Carter & Bros., New-York. $2.

THE HISTORY OF SWITZERLAND, for the Swiss People. By Heinrich Zschokke. With a continuation to the year 1848, by Emil. Zschokke. 12mo. Pp. xi., 405. C. S. Francis and Co., New-York. $1.

LUTHERAN MANUAL ON SCRIPTURAL PRINCIPLES; or, the Augsburg Confession illustrated and sustained, chiefly by Scriptural Proofs and Extracts from standard Lutheran Theologians of Europe and America; together with the Formula of Government and Discipline adopted by the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States. By Prof. S. S. Schmucker, D.D. 12mo. Pp. 352. Lindsay & Blakiston, Philadelphia. $1.

EUTAXIA —; or, the Presbyterian Liturgies. Historical Sketches, by a Minister of the Presbyterian Church. 12mo. Pp. 260. M. W. Dodd, New-York. 75 cents. Fourth revised and

THE PRIMACY of the Apostolic See Vindicated.

enlarged edition. 8vo. Pp. 440. By Archbishop Kenrick. J. Murphy & Co., Baltimore. $1.

A VINDICATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, in a series of Letters addressed to the Right Rev. Henry Hopkins, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Vermont. 12mo. Pp. 334. J. Murphy & Co., Baltimore. 75 cents.

SIX DAYS OF CREATION. By Prof. Tayler Lewis. 12mo. Pp. 410. G. G. Van de Bogert, Schenectady, N. Y.

OUR COUNTRYMEN; or, Brief Memoirs of Eminent Americans. By Benson J. Lossing. Illustrated by one hundred and three portraits. 12mo. Ensign, Bridgeman & Fanning, New-York. $1.50.

A TRANSLATION OF THE GOSPELS. By Prof. Andrews Norton. 2 vols., 8vo. Pp. 565. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $4. Also by the same,

THE INTERNAL EVIDENCE of the Genuineness of the Gospels. 8vo. Pp. 309. $2.

ARMINIANISM; or, Divine Sovereignty Contrasted with the Arminian Doctrine of Predestination. By C. Webster. 12mo. Pp. 148. Smith & Eng

lish, Philadelphia.

BOOKS ISSUED FROM THE ENGLISH PRESS.

THE TRUE DOCTRINE of the Holy Eucharist as instituted in Scripture and received by the Catholic Church in all Ages, in refutation of Archdeacon Wilberforce's Book, and the Popish Views of that Sacrament in general. By J. Taylor. 8vo. Pp. 580. Longman. 12s. 6d.

CYCLOPEDIA OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY, in a Series of Tabular Views of Contemporaneous Events, from the Earliest Ages to the Present time; arranged Chronologically and Alphabetically. Edited by J. M'Burney and Samuel Neil. Post 8vo. Griffin. 10s. 6d.

COMPENDIOUS HEBREW GRAMMAR. By M. H. Bresslau. 12mo. Pp. 84. Weale's Educational Series. 1s.

HEBREW AND ENGLISH DICTIONARY, Biblical and Rabbinical; containing the Hebrew and Chaldee Roots of the Old Testament, past Biblical Writings, together with a compendious Hebrew Grammar. By M. H. Bresslau. 12mo. Pp. 280. Weale's Educational Series. 4s.

OUR LITURGY AND ITS HISTORY: a Manual for Churchmen. 12mo. Pp. 96. Hope. 2s. 6d.

MOHAMMEDANISM in its Relation to Prophecy; or, an Inquiry into the Prophecies concerning Anti-Christ, with some Reference to their Bearing on the Events of the Present Day. By A. L. Phillips. Dolman. 4s. 6d.

MEDIEVAL POPES, EMPERORS, Ete. By W. Busk. Vol. 2. Post 8vo. Hookham. 10s. 6d.

BUTLER, (J.)-Travels and Adventures in the Province of Assam during a Residence of Fourteen years. 8vo. Pp. 268. With illustrations. Smith & E. 12s.

BUCKINGHAM, (J. S.)-Autobiography, including his Voyages, Travels, Adventures, Speculations, Successes, and Failures, faithfully and frankly narrated; interspersed with Characteristic Sketches of Public Men with whom he has had intercourse during a period of more than fifty years. Vols 1 and 2. Post 8vo. With portrait. Longman. 21s.