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England's Sacred Synods. A Constitutional History of the Convocations of the Clergy from the earliest Records of Christianity in Britain to the date of the Promulgation of the present Book of Common Prayer, &c. &c. By J. WAYLAND JOYCE, M.A., one of the Proctors for the Clergy of the Diocese of Hereford. London: Rivingtons. 1855.

IT is, of course, beyond our province to review this work at length. It contains a great deal of very valuable information, and is written by a faithful son of the English Church. The author would, however, add very considerably to its value by condensation, of which it is very capable.

Meditations and Prayers on the Ordination Service for Priests. By the Rev. J. H. PINDER, M.A., Principal of Wells Theological College, and Canon of Wells Cathedral. London: Rivingtons. Wells: Green. 1855.

WE can truly say of Mr. Pinder's work, as we said last year of a similar publication by him on the "Ordination Service for Deacons," that it is a valuable addition to our books of devotion. It is well adapted for the use of young Clergymen who are preparing for Priests' orders, and for those also who would review the vows which are already upon them.

Spiritual Progress. Four Sermons preached in the Chapel of Exeter College, Oxford. By G. H. CURTEIS, M.A., Fellow and Catechist. Oxford: Parker. 1855.

THE Reviewer has been much interested by Mr. Curteis' Sermons, and has derived profit from them. They are very thoughtful, and are calculated to be useful. The author was formerly Fellow of St. Augustine's College, Canterbury.

THE Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has lately published No. XXVIII. of "Missions to the Heathen," being a very interesting report of the Mission of Milagraya and Galkisse, in the Diocese of Colombo, by the Rev. J. Thurstan.

The Society has also brought out seventeen large Diagrams illustrative of its Missions in different parts of the world, and has, besides, published a Key to them, which would be found useful by any one wishing to lecture on any particular Mission. It contains a great deal of information, and refers to books in which materials for lectures may be found.

WE have received the first two numbers of "The Literary Churchman "-a weekly journal published by Messrs. Parker of Oxford and London. We cordially wish it the good success which it deserves.

471

Colonial, Foreign, and Home News.

SUMMARY.

THE Bishop of NEWFOUNDLAND baptized eleven adult persons of colour, at Somerset Church, Bermuda, in the evening service, on Easter-day. Some of them were far advanced in years. On the following day, April 9, he commenced the usual series of Confirmations, to be continued every Monday, till all the parishes have been visited. The Committee appointed at the Meeting of the Bishop of NOVA SCOTIA, the Clergy, and the Representatives of the Society, to prepare a Constitution upon which the proposed Synodical Action in the Diocese should be based, have agreed on a Declaration of Principles, and on a Constitution and Regulations for a Diocesan Assembly, which will be submitted for adoption at the meeting of the Assembly, to be held in October next.

A Statement and Appeal have lately been circulated very widely by the Foreign Missionary Committee of the Church in the UNITED STATES. They say that they have sent every month intelligence of their wants to every clergyman. "But more than one-half of the clergymen have manifested no responsive interest whatever. We fear that a charge like this might be brought against us at home.

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In the State of NEW YORK, a "Church Tenure Bill" has been introduced into the Senate, and, after passing that body, has been agreed to by the House of Representatives, by a majority of 93 to 9; the object of which is, to declare that all ecclesiastical endowments must be vested in several trustees, and not in one individual, and escheating to the State all property given in defiance of the Act.

On the Festival of the Ascension, May 17, the Rev. John Weeks, D.D., was consecrated, in the parish church of St. Mary, Lambeth, Bishop of SIERRA LEONE. The officiating prelates were, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Winchester, and Oxford. We bid the new Bishop, God speed. He has had a varied Missionary experience, for he was formerly a clergyman at Sierra Leone, and has for some years been the incumbent of a District in Lambeth, many parts of which are as unchristian as any part of Africa, and as much in need of Missionary efforts.

We regret to learn that the Bishop of COLOMBO has been obliged by the state of his health to leave his Diocese for a time. We hope that he will be restored by his voyage to England.

The Queen has been pleased to constitute the Island of LABUAN with its dependencies to be a Bishop's see and diocese, and to appoint the Rev. Francis Thomas M'Dougall, D. C.L., to be ordained and consecrated Bishop of the said see. We believe that the consecration is likely to take place in St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta, in the course of a few months.

We regret to learn that the Bishop of GIBRALTAR has been suffering from the effects of a sun-stroke at the seat of war.

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWledge. May 8th. The Bishop of St. Asaph in the chair. The Tract Committee for the year ensuing were elected. A grant of 150l., which had been made for the erection of a church at Bloem Fontein, in the “ Sovereignty," beyond the Orange River in South Africa, which place is deserted by the English now that it has been abandoned by the British Government, was transferred for a similar purpose to such place as the Bishop of Grahamstown shall approve. The Bishop of Melbourne addressed the meeting on various matters connected with his Diocese. He stated that the claims for help from England were founded-1, on the immigration annually of many thousand poor persons from England; and 2, on the return of most of the rich to England. Thus poverty was constantly flowing into the country, and wealth flowing out of it. A letter was read from Rev. J. Wallace at Koulalie Hospital, in which he says, "Pray send as many Greek Bibles and Prayers as you can give, and Turkish Bibles. Greeks and Turks are very fond

of them."

SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.-May 18th. The Archbishop of Canterbury in the chair. A grant of 1,5001. for the present year was made to the Bishop of Grahamstown, in order to enable him to take advantage of the assistance offered by the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, for the civilization and Christian instruction of the native tribes.

A vote was passed expressing the Society's great respect for the late Sir Robert H. Inglis, Bart., one of the Vice-Presidents, and its regret for the loss it has sustained by his death. According to a notice given at the previous meeting, the ninth Bye-law of the Society, relating to the election of incorporated members, was altered, so that for the future it will stand as follows:

"That any persons being members of the Church of England may be elected into the Corporation, at any of the monthly meetings; notice of the intention to propose them for election having been given at a previous monthly meeting.

The following shall be eligible for election:

First. Any person who shall be recommended by the standing Committee.

Secondly. Any person who shall be recommended by a member, provided that (1.) he shall have subscribed to the General Funds of the Society not less than one guinea per annum for a period of three years last past or (2.) shall have contributed not less than 201. in a single payment: or (3.) shall have acted for three years last past as Secretary, or Treasurer, of any district or parochial Association: or (4.) being a clergyman, shall have in his parish an Association in aid of the Society, or an annual sermon with a collection in its behalf.

Provided also that the individual recommending any such person shall certify that he is desirous of being incorporated."

We omitted to announce in May that the rooms of the Society at 79, Pall Mall, have been opened for a monthly meeting of its friends and members for conversation. The second meeting was held on the evening of May 22. About one hundred persons were present, and among them were the Bishops of London, Lichfield, and Glasgow, Earl Powis, Sir J. B. Robinson, Bart., Chief-Justice of Upper Canada, the Rev. Dr. Jelf, Hon. and Rev. A. Duncombe, Hon. and Rev. M. Villiers, Hon. and Rev. R. Liddell, Rev. Dr. Mazuchelli, Guyanender Mohun Tagore, Jacob Esh Shelaby, Rev. Dr. Wesley, Rev. Dr. Irons, Rev. Dr. Stebbing, Captain Lefroy, R.A., H. Tritton, Esq., John Muir, Esq., J. D. Powles, Esq., R. B. Todd, Esq. M.D., E. Wyndham, Esq., F. H. Dickinson, Esq., Thos. Turner, Esq., R. Brett, Esq., Rev. Principal Kay, of Bishop's College, Calcutta, Revs. Ernest Hawkins, R. C. Trench, H. Alford, T. P. Wright, J. E. Kempe, H. Mackenzie, R. Gregory, W. T. Bullock, R. Montgomery, H. Hutton, H. Howarth, T. B. Murray, John Evans, J. V. Povah, W. Scott, W. H. W. Bowyer, R. G. Baker, D. Butler, Thos. H. Greene, &c. Principal Kay addressed the meeting on the hindrances to the Propagation of the Gospel in India. The next meeting is fixed for Tuesday, June 19th.

The following account of a quarterly meeting of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, has been forwarded to us by the Rev. R. R. Hutton, Secretary to the Local Association at Barnet. We have much pleasure in inserting it :

The quarterly meeting of the Barnet Branch Association of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was held under circumstances of more than usual interest, on Wednesday, the 23d ult. The Secretary selected Ceylon as the diocese by which to illustrate the work of the Society on the occasion, and had secured the attendance of the Honourable Gerald Talbot, who had just returned, in consequence of ill health, from a high civil appointment at Galle in Ceylon.

The meeting was held in the Grammar-schoolroom; and the Secretary, in opening the proceedings, took occasion to remind the audience that he considered that room almost hallowed for Missionary meetings, from the fact that Bishop Broughton had received his early education there. He then said that generally he had little difficulty in introducing those who came to address them on these occasions, because they were clergymen known either from their living in the neighbourhood, or from their connexion with the Parent Society, or they were Missionaries, to whose accounts all were ready to give attention. But, on the present occasion, a layman who had spent half his life in Ceylon, and therefore was little known in England, had kindly consented to give an account of what he had seen of the work of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in the island which had been the sphere of his employment; and as anything the Secretary said on the character of Mr. Talbot might be considered flattery, he thought it better to introduce him in words from a private letter which he had himself received only a short time before from the 0 0

NO. XCVI.

Bishop of Colombo," Mr. Talbot was one of the best-minded Churchmen in my diocese, and in every respect a most estimable person; one whom Ceylon could ill afford to lose from its civil service both in point of character and judgment."

The Honourable Gerald Talbot then addressed the meeting in a simple and most interesting speech, stating how much honoured he felt by such language concerning himself being used by such a man as the Bishop of Colombo. He then gave a clear and connected account of the progress, and, alas! retrogression of Christianity in Ceylon. He stated that much had been done by the Church Missionary Society, but that the highest praise was due to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, from the fact of its having been the first to send out educated men into the Missionary field; and he assured the meeting that none but highly educated men could, under God, have any influence with the deeply read and scientific Brahmins and Buddhists. The Bishop, however, had taken up the right point in using all his endeavours to promote the training of a native ministry; for which purpose he had, principally at his own expense, and that of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, built a college, and was in every way leading a life of true self-denial, literally spending and being spent for the Lord's sake, and for the sake of souls in Ceylon.

The Rev. T. Jackson, Rector of Stoke Newington, followed, and briefly alluded to the interest attaching to the "quaint old cloistered Elizabethan building" in which they were assembled, from its connexion with the early days of Bishop Broughton, whom he had himself so well known in former times. He called particular attention to Mr. Talbot's last remarks on the importance of having a trained native ministry; and pointed out that if we would refer to early Church history, we should find that the second or third bishop of a newly Christianized country in those days was always a native-and how could this be, unless the first efforts of the early propagators of Christianity had been directed, in planting the Gospel anywhere, to make it indigenous, and reproductive of itself? He concluded in a most eloquent appeal to his audience, not only to give far more abundantly than they had hitherto done to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, but, after the example of their fellow-townsman, Bishop Broughton, to give themselves to this glorious work.

The interest of the meeting was greatly increased by the masterly original drawings of Ceylon, by Mrs. Chapman, the Bishop's excellent wife, being hung around the room; amongst which the recently engraved drawings of the Cathedral and College, and a portrait of the wife of Christian David, seemed to attract the greatest attention. Mr. Talbot, also, very kindly lent for the occasion some most beautiful specimens of Singhalese workmanship in silver, ivory, ebony, grass, &c. The room was densely thronged; and, to complete the satisfaction of the well-wishers of this little Branch, the Treasurer announced that the subscriptions sent by it to the Parent Society had increased from

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