sum of duty in the State. To exalt the hierarchy, and to put down Puritanism and Calvinism, was the sum of duty in the Church. The defenders of orthodox doctrine, practical godliness, and civil freedom, were on the same side on those days. Arminianism, Prelacy, and Tyranny, were leagued together on the opposite side. At one time the civil element, at another the religious, was most conspicuous; but never were they altogether separate throughout that long struggle.

As our business is chiefly with ecclesiastical affairs, we shall only refer briefly to political events, presuming that our readers are familiar with the general history of these times. Simply to enumerate some of the chief movements, with the dates when they successively occurred, will, however, be useful for recollection and for reference.

The leading idea in the political course of Charles was, as we have said, absolute monarchy; the exercise of regal authority irresponsible to Parliament, and the power of issuing ordinances by which laws might be controlled or set aside. This idea he inherited from his father, James, one of whose sayings was, that "the nation was to its King as a chessboard, on which he could make a pawn take a bishop or knight if he chose." Charles was surrounded by flatterers and sycophants who fostered his ideas of Royal prerogative. Clergy and laity vied in their terms of adulation. Finch, the Speaker of his first Parlialiament, opened the House in a speech of most base subserviency, assuring the King of their readiness to fulfil all his wishes. 66 We stand," he said, "for hundreds and thousands, for figures and cyphers, as your Majesty, the supreme and Sovereign auditor, shall please to place and value us; and like coin to pass, are made current only by your Royal stamp and impression only." Dr. (afterwards Bishop) Mainwaring, one of the Court Chaplains, in a sermon preached before his Majesty in 1626, said, "The King is not bound to observe the laws of the realm concerning his subjects' rights and liberties; his Royal will and command in imposing laws or taxes without consent of Parliament doth oblige the conscience of the subject upon pain of eternal damnation!" No wonder, then, that the King, shortly afterwards, on finding that resistance was offered to his arbitrary claims, thus addressed the Members of the House:-"Remember that Parliaments are altogether in my power, for their calling, sitting, and dissolution; therefore, as I find the fruits of them good or evil, they are to continue, or not to be."

or punishment, but by judgment of his peers,
according to the laws of the land.

punishment against all malcontents, and ending with this announcement:-"And, whereas for several ill ends, the calling of another Parliament is divulged, his Majesty declares that the late abuse having for the present driven his Majesty unwillingly out of that course, he shall account it presumption for any to prescribe any time to his Majesty for Parliaments; the calling, continuing, and dissolving of which, is always in the King's own power." Thus was the constitution of the realm by force overborne, and the laws and liberties of England laid prostrate for a time under the power of the King and his ministers.

Sir Edward Coke had the honour of drawing up this Bill of Rights; and during the whole of these proceedings the wisdom and eloquence of the venerable Judge were of the highest benefit to the cause of freedom, having the more weight, in that during the early part of his life he had been jealous of the advancement of popular privileges.* The passing of the Bill of Rights was a great mortification to the King, and triumph to the popular party. Charles, however, with his habitual disregard of truth, and contempt even of written obligation, proceeded to break the enactment which he had recently signed. The two first Articles of the memorable A Bill was depending in the House to grant Protestation, drawn up by the Parliament his Majesty the duties of tonnage and pound- previous to its dissolution, shew the spirit by age. Before it was passed, the Custom-house which the popular party was animated, and officers, by command of the King, seized the furnish a key to all the political and ecclegoods of three eminent merchants for non- siastical events of this reign, until the time of payment. The merchants were themselves the Long Parliament and the breaking out of also heavily fined and imprisoned. The the civil war. The Articles were these :House of Commons, notwithstanding a mes- "First, that whosoever shall bring in innovasage from the King that these acts had taken tion in religion, or by favour seek to extend place by his orders, determined to proceed or introduce Popery and Arminianism, or against the officers who had illegally seized other opinions disagreeing from the true and the goods. The Speaker, Sir J. Finch, here- orthodox Church, shall be reputed a capital upon declared he had the King's order to enemy to this kingdom and commonwealth. adjourn the House. Sir John Elliott affirmed Secondly, whosoever shall counsel or advise that the right of adjournment belonged to the taking and levying of tonnage and poundthe House itself, and proposed that a firm and age, not being granted by Parliament, or dignified remonstrance be made to the King. shall be an actor or instrument therein, shall Finch declared that he must act according to be likewise reputed an innovator in the the King's instruction, and was about to leave Government, and a capital enemy to this the House. Upon this Mr. Valentine, and kingdom and commonwealth." Let it be Mr. Hollis, son of the Earl of Clare, com- noted how in this Protestation the love of pelled the Speaker to resume the chair, and truth and the love of liberty appear united. to sit until some Resolution should be passed These men loved freedom much, they loved by the House. The King, hearing that the the Gospel more:-"It was not" (says Caradjournment had not taken place, sent a lyle, in his "Life of Cromwell,") "Constitumessenger for the Sergeant with his mace. tion,' Liberty of the people to tax themThe House stayed the Sergeant, and one of selves,' 'Privileges of Parliament,' 'Triennial the Members, Sir Miles Hobart, locked the or annual Parliaments,' or any modification door. The Usher of the Black Rod being of these sublime privileges,' now waxing next sent, he was denied entrance; and the somewhat faint in our admiration, that mainly King, in violent rage, then sent orders to the animated our Cromwells, Pyms, and HampCaptain of his guard to force the door. dens to the heroic efforts we still admire in Before this could be done the House had retrospect. Not these very measurable prividrawn up a Protestation,† and adjourned. leges, but a far other and deeper, which could not be measured; of which these, and all grand social improvements whatsoever, are the corollary. Our ancient Puritan Reformers were, as all reformers that will ever much benefit this earth are always, inspired by a Divine purpose. To see God's own law, then, universally acknowledged for complete as it stood in the holy written Book, made good in this world; to see this, or the true unwearied aim and struggle toward this: it was a thing worth living for and dying for! Eternal justice, that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven: corollaries enough will flow from that, if that be there; if that be not there, no corollary good for much will flow. It was the general spirit of England in the seventeenth century. That England should all become a Church, if you like to call it so a Church presided over not by sham-priests in four surplices at Allhallowtide; but by true God-consecrated ones, whose hearts the Most High had touched and hallowed with his fire:-this was the effort of some." prayer of many, it was the godlike hope and

Hollis, Valentine, Elliott, and other leading Members, were next day summoned before the Council-board, and sent to the Tower. Their confinement was rigorous, and their usage cruel. Elliott died within a few months. The others were visited with heavy fines, and exposed to great personal hardships. Although the leaders of the popular party were for a time silenced, the cause of freedom had received an impulse which it was impossible for the King by any force finally to arrest. On the 10th of March, a week after the "scene" in the House, the King went to the House of Lords, and, without sending for the Commons, dissolved the Parliament. In order to meet the rising clamour of the people the King soon after published a "Declaration," justifying his recent proceedings. But this vindication not having the desired effect, a "Proclamation" was issued, threatening

The King having, in spite of the remonstrance of the House, continued to levy subsidies of tonnage and poundage, to force illegal loans, and by fines and imprisonment to coerce those who resisted, the Parliament drew up the famous PETITION OF RIGHTS, to which they insisted on obtaining the Royal assent before voting any supplies. What regard the King paid to this assent during the twelve succeeding years is well known, but it was a bold and well-timed move on the part of the Commons, throwing on the King and his advisers the responsibility of the events that subsequently happened. By the BILL OF RIGHTS every privilege enjoyed by the subject, from the time of Magna Charta downward, was claimed and confirmed. It was asserted that no freeman could be detained in prison by King or Council, without a legal cause of commitment being expressed; that a Habeas Corpus ought not to be denied when the law permits it; that no tax nor loan be imposed without Act of Parliament; and that no man be condemned to death, exile, applause."-Parl. Hist., vol. viii., p. 332.

* Coke died in 1634, in the 86th year of his age. When Solicitor and Attorney-General under Elizabeth he was too often a supporter of the severe measures of the Court. When Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, under James I., he defended the authority of law against the encroachments of Royal prerogative; and so incurred the displeasure of the King, that he was displaced from his office of Chief Justice, and was thereby enabled to serve his country in Parliament.

In 1634 also died Attorney-General Noy, one of the chief
counsellors of Charles in his arbitrary measures. He
began his carcer as a flaming patriot, but having been

gained over to the Court, he became, as is usual in such
cases, conspicuous on the side of oppression.

†The Speaker refusing to read the Protestation, Hollis
did so, "at the close of each Article the House giving loud

The first appearance of Oliver Cromwell in public affairs was in this Parliament, in bringing up the Report of the Committee on Grievances of Religion. He complained that the preaching of Arminianism and of "flat Popery" was encouraged; and that Montague, Mainwaring, and other divines, publicly censured by Parliament, had received Church preferment. "If this be the way to Church preferment," he added, "what may we expect?"

(Laid before the Venerable the Synod of the English Presbyterian Church, at Sunderland, April 21, 1847.)

IN laying before this Venerable Court a Report on Sabbath Desecration, your Committee do not deem it necessary to enter at large into all the arguments which may be drawn from Scripture, and from the history of the Church, in vindication of the Lord's-day-or to review at length the flimsy and sophistical reasons by which men, otherwise enlightened, have attempted to shew that the Sabbath was, and is, only a Jewish Institution, fitted to serve a temporary end or purpose.

REPORT ON SABBATH DESECRATION. | and remonstrances have been sent to both Houses of Parliament and to various Railway and other companies, but these have hitherto proved of but little avail. The desecration of the Sabbath, on a large scale, has been begun, with the sanction of our Civil Rulers, but in express defiance of the God of nations, by whom only kings reign and princes decree justice; and such desecration is fast increasing, while scarcely a standard against it is being lifted up. By traffic on railways, by traffic with steam vessels, by traffic on canals, by the running of the common mail, and by the delivery of letters on the Lord's-day, desecration is carried on to a fearful extent, yea, to such an extent as almost to have blotted out the day of God from the tablets of man's memory. Thousands, yea hundreds of thousands, there are in all our cities and towns who keep not the Sabbaths, and who reverence not the sanctuary. For these, pleasure trains must be run, and pleasure excursions by water must, it may be, be provided. Sabbath pleasure trains are common on many, if not on all, of our railway lines; and it is fearful to contemplate the results to which these invariably lead. The stillness of a Sabbath in the country-formerly broken only by the song of the bird, the hum of the bee, the bleating of the sheep, the lowing of the cattle, the whispers of the wind, or the murmurs of the stream-is now broken by other, and very different sounds-sounds not calculated in the remotest degree, "to lead from nature up to nature's God." The voice of praise and of prayer is all but drowned in the noise of revelry, in the outburstings of frantic mirth. The scenes too in the cities and towns are but little calculated to lend a hallowed influence to our devotional feelings as we walk to and from the house of God. But your Committee grieve to say, that there are other ways in which the Sabbath is desecrated to a fearful extent; and that too, by professing Christians, yea, by members of the Churches of the living God. Many frequent news-rooms, or read newspapers in private; many spend a considerable portion of the day in feasting, visiting, and pleasure walking. Many have no scruples in travelling by railways, and otherwise, on the Lord'sday, leaving their homes purposely on the Saturday or early or later on the Sabbath, as it may be, that they may, by means of the Sabbath, and at the expense of the Sabbath, save a portion of their business time in the ensuing week.

Your Committee, on the matter of Sabbath observance, are contented to abide by the clear and unerring dictates of God's Word, and by the plain and explicit doctrines contained in our standards. It is not for a moment to be forgotten that God is the supreme Ruler of the Universe-and that He has rested from all His works on the Sabbath, sanctifying and hallowing it, and laying this clear command upon all his intelligent creatures, "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy." (Exodus xx. 8-11; and again, in Exodus xxxi. 13-17. Again in Isa. lvi. 4-7; lviii. 13, 14.) No less explicit are the standards of our Church. "As it is of the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God, so in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him, which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which in Scripture is called the Lord's day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath." By these statements of God's Word, and the standards of this Church, as your Committee fully believe, all the members of this Venerable Court, and the members of our Church generally, are prepared to abide, whether or not stigmatized as Puritans, as righteous overmuch, or as partaking of the narrow and illiberal spirit of a by-gone age. This is not a time to be silent, but a time to speak out. It is not a time to be tampering with our principles, but a time to hold them in all their pristine vigour and integrity. We do not, as a Church, and we cannot sympathize with principles in regard to the province of the civil magistrate as to matters of religion, which, carried out to their full extent, would leave the Sabbath rest, and the Sabbath privileges, altogether unprotected; and would permit companies and individuals alike to do that which is right in their own eyes, on the Lord's-day, as in those days when there was no king in Israel.

Your Committee are exceedingly desirous, that, in these days of liberality, so wide and so extensive, as plainly to tend to licentiousness, a testimony for the rest of the whole Sabbath be lifted up by this Venerable Court, so strong, so decided, so explicit, that he who runs may read it. That there is a special call, in God's providence, for a testimony, so strong and so explicit in this kingdom, your Committee cannot but believe. No general or special efforts have ever been made by the Established Church in this kingdom to prevent Sabbath desecration; and in the divided state of views and sentiments on this point, among other bodies of Christians, we cannot expect anything like a vigorous or a united movement. Petitions

Your Committee, indeed, do not pretend to enumerate one-half of the ways in which the Sabbath is more or less desecrated by all; neither do they undertake to describe the numerous and wide-spread evils which must accompany or follow such desecration of a day which God hath required to be kept holy unto himself. "Those that honour me, I will honour; those that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed."

But your Committee, while they would most unfeignedly deplore the evils to which they have called the attention of this Venerable Court, would also take encouragement from the signs of the times even in England. Railway directors, and shareholders, are becoming more alive to the question of the Sabbath. Three or four petitions were lately sent from one of the shires in England, praying both Houses of Parliament to refuse henceforward to insert any clause in railway bills which would permit Sabbath travelling.

The letter carriers in various places have petitioned for freedom on the Sabbath.

Some of the tug companies in Liverpool, have come to the resolution not to take out

or bring in vessels on the Lord's-day. Sabbath observance Societies have been formed; and to the Sabbath Observance Society in Newcastle in particular, great gratitude is due for their noble and persevering advocacy of the Sabbath, amid obloquy and opposition which would have caused less devoted spirits to quail.

But looking away from England, your Committee would record their highest satisfaction, and would call upon this Venerable Court to record the same, at the noble and the persevering efforts put forth by our devoted brethren in Scotland, in upholding and in seeking to secure to all men the rest-the peace-the hallowed privileges of the holy Sabbath. Upheld by the Lord of the Sabbath under all trials, sustained under all difficulties, guided amid all opposition, made even to hope against hope, these noble Christian heroes have persevered, and their labours have been greatly blessed of God. The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway has now no passenger-trains, and in regard to these, and all other trains, your Committee would say, Let such running cease for ever!

Your Committee had much pleasure in seeing that many of the Sessions and Presbyteries of our Church, lent effective aid on that occasion to their brethren in Scotland, by bringing their knowledge and their influence to bear on the shareholders in England, namely, such as held shares in the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway.

In conclusion, your Committee would recommend the formation of a much larger Committee than has ever existed in connexion with this most important question; and that such Committee should correspond with the moderators and clerks of Presbyteries, to arouse all to a still deeper interest in the Sabbath cause, by setting apart days on which the attention of the various congregations within their bounds might be called to the subject; by holding public meetings, if necessary; by transmitting petitions, memorials, &c., to Parliament, railway companies, and others; and by doing generally all that might tend to uphold and perpetuate to latest generations the sanctity, and the blissful privileges of the Sabbath, apart altogether from the pretended necessity and mercy trains of the morning and the evening of the Lord'sday.

The Committee feel that they cannot close this Report more appropriately than in the words of good old Willison of Dundee. "The Sabbath is God's weekly market-day, and a free market it is, wherein we may buy, without money, and without price, the richest commodities that heaven and earth can afford, even the bread and the water of life for the lives of our souls, the wine of Christ's blood to cheer us, the milk of his Word to nourish us, the gold of his grace to enrich us, and his precious eye-salve to enlighten us, and his white raiment to clothe and adorn us. Is this day so profitable to us, and will we not regard it? It is God's stated alms-day or public deal-day, wherein he scatters blessings and crumbs of the bread of life among needy souls. It is the day for ascending Mount Tabor to see Christ transfigured before our eyes, and for getting to the top of Pisgah to get a sight of the promised land."

JOHN GARDNER, Convener.

AFFLICTIONS always make us better or worse. Thus fire either hardens or melts. HE who puts off good duties shows he has no heart to perform them.

THE COLONIAL BISHOPS.

PRINTED with the votes at the end of last Session, there appears a petition to the House of Commons from the Rev. Thomas Wigmore, clerk, complaining of oppression and wrong, in the arbitrary revocation of his license by the Bishop of Tasmania, in July, 1844. It appears that the Bishop, without any previous notification, then issued a document, under his hand and seal, revoking the license granted to this Mr. Wigmore as chaplain, by his former diocesan, the Bishop of Australia. The petitioner, on this, addressed a communication to the Bishop, requesting to be furnished with the charges laid against him, in order to taking steps for justification or redress. His Lordship by letter replied, that "it would not be compatible with a due regard to the maintenance of his authority to do so, and that he felt himself under the necessity of declining to comply with the request."

By this summary mode of proceeding the petitioner has been deprived of his right of appeal, and, consequently, of all redress by ecclesiastical law. The case having been laid before an eminent civilian of the Court of Arches, Mr. Haggard gave it as his opinion, that "the Bishop has erred in proceeding to revoke without cause shown; the party not having had an opportunity of answering in any form, either in foro domestico, or in open court, the charge on which it proceeded."

Now, we say nothing either about the offences of Mr. Wigmore, or about the injuries sustained by him. Of the former we know nothing; and as to the latter, the petition complains of his being "ruined in his reputation; expelled from the Church of which he has been an unrebuked minister for twenty-eight years; deprived of all means of support for himself and his family, a wife and nine children, who are left in Van Dieman's land to the sympathy of the community for subsistence."

that, while disapproving of the principle, he
would in the special circumstance of the case,
as a matter of special favour, allow the burial
to take place; adding, that he did this on
his own responsibility, not knowing what
might be the mind of the Bishop.

66

The matter was brought before the Governor, but his Excellency replied, that as permission had been granted in the present instance, it did not then seem necessary to enter into the general question."

Shortly afterwards another case occurred: An American gentleman, who had come to Malta for the benefit of his health, died after a short illness. Before his death he happened to have given special instructions that he should not, on any account, be buried with the Episcopal service. The Bishop had by this time returned to Malta. There being no friend of the deceased in the island, the American Consul took charge of the funeral. Application was made to the Bishop for burial in the Protestant cemetery, and the result was a point blank refusal! Application was made to the Governor; he could not interfere, but pointed out a piece of ground where the interment might take place, promising to have that piece of ground enclosed with a wall and kept in proper order. Week after week elapsed, and nothing was done to fulfil this promise. Whatever influence had been at work, it was at length alleged, that the Ordnance objected to any wall being built or tombstone erected there. The last accounts inform us, that the American Consul had received instructions from the relatives of the deceased to have his remains disinterred and sent to America, since they could not receive a decent resting-place on the British soil of Malta.

Now this is really disgraceful. These colonial bishoprics are troublesome enough to the living, but they might leave the dead alone. In a place like Malta, whither so many invalids resort annually for their health, and where so many find a premature grave, it is intolerable that a prelate should thus, by the ceremony of "consecration," virtually

The

We are opposed to this system of colonial prelacy, both on civil and religious grounds. Colonization is increasing, and likely to be carried out to an extent hitherto unthought of. And it is a bad look out for these young settlements to have this hierarchical element already introduced into their free Institutions. And, above all, with regard to the spread of the Gospel, we lament the setting up of these colonial bishoprics. Who can but admire the zeal and wisdom of the Church Missionary Society in its early days, and the apostolic devotion of its agents? But the tendency now in the Church of England is to send out prelates instead of evangelists, and ecclesiastics instead of missionaries. Word of God cannot be trusted without the Prayer-book and Canons accompanying it. This may be all very well for the interests of the Anglican Church, the ignorant natives in our remoter territories may be astonished at the sight of great Bishops, clad in purple and fine linen; and conversion to Christianity may proceed more rapidly than heretofore by the easy process of baptismal regeneration; and the colonies may enjoy the pomp and eclat of hierarchical establishments. But we doubt whether the vital interests of truth and godliness will gain by this substitution of the ecclesiastical for the Christian element, in the conduct of the English Church in its colonial and missionary affairs.

JENNY LIND AND THE BISHOP OF NORWICH.

SOME of the English Church papers are expressing surprise that the Lord Bishop of Norwich should invite Jenny Lind to be his guest at the Palace during the Norwich is "President of the Linnæan Society," and Music festival. They forget that Dr. Stanley has written a work "On Singing Birds;" who, therefore, could with better grace entertain" the Swedish nightingale ?"

We wish the Bishops never did anything worse. If "The English Churchman," and of the Church, are seriously thinking of turn"The London Record," and other champions

That which alone concerns us is, this monstrous exercise of arbitrary authority, whereby a clergyman is deprived by a colonial Bishop of THE RIGHT OF TRIAL, a right which the exclude all Protestants but those of the ing Reformers, we can furnish them with a

British Constitution claims for the most guilty felon!

But it is not the clergy alone who are exposed to the arbitrary authority of these colonial Bishops. The following instance will show how the laity also in our colonies, and all who have relations and friends there, may be affected by their proceedings.

English Church from a decent burying-place.
In the grave, at least, these bishops might
cease from troubling, and let the weary be at
rest. If Episcopalians must bury in con-
secrated ground, let them do so by all means;
and let Bishops be sent out to procure those
spiritual benefits or privileges connected with
this ceremony.
But let a portion of the
ground be reserved for others, where they
may bury their dead without that form of
service to which they have conscientious ob-
jections.

long list of abuses more worthy of notice. The Bishops of London and Exeter are committing offences every week far more heinous than this of being "given to hospitality."

"NO MAN CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS."A man may serve many masters, if they all command the same things, or things subordinate to each other; but he cannot serve two masters, if their commands clash and interfere with each other. And such are the commands of Christ and the flesh in a suffering hour. Christ says, "Be thou faithful to the death;" the flesh says, Spare thyself, and secure the comforts of life. A dog follows two men while they both walk one way, and you know not which of the two is his master; stay but a little, till their path separates, and then you will quickly see who is the master. better-Flavel's " Touchstone of Sincerity."

Ón the Island of Malta there has been long a Protestant cemetery, open to all British subjects for the burying of the dead. No one asked whether the corpse was that of an Episcopalian, or Presbyterian, Baptist, or In this matter of burials (and also with Methodist. It was enough that it was regard to marriages and other matters) it is "THE ENGLISH BURYING-GROUND,' de- high time that the British Government should signed for all British subjects who objected interfere, and put a check upon the encroachto the burial service of the Church of Rome. ments of Puseyite and High Church intoleSuch was the state of matters when Malta rance. 'Only let these encroachments be recently came under the yoke of A COLONIAL allowed to go on unnoticed and unresisted, BISHOP. The Bishop of Gibraltar, in whose and British residents abroad will speedily diocese Malta is now placed, visited the find themselves in a situation little island, and, amidst his other Episcopal pro- than when the Test Act still disgraced the ceedings, he "consecrated" this ground. The statute-book of this kingdom."* "English burying-ground" thenceforth became a sectarian cemetery.

A young gentleman soon after died, whose father being an English Dissenter, and objecting to the use of the burial service of the Church of England, was desirous that his son might be buried without the service. Application was made to the resident civil chaplain, Mr. Cleugh, in the absence of the Bishop, to know if this would be acceded to. The answer of Mr. Cleugh was to the effect

66

We cannot conclude our remarks without expressing our deep regret at the present attitude of the English Church in foreign parts. Those designs which the vigilance and firmness of Christian men at home have succeeded in baffling,† are carrying out with better success abroad.

Letter in the "Edinburgh Witness" from the Rev. J. Baillie, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, lately returned from Malta, who witnessed the proceedings above referred to.

+ There was a Bill before Parliament last year, framed

HE that conscientiously observes God's precepts may confidently expect the fulfilment of his promises, and may draw comfort from them in every trial.

by the Bishop of London, and called the "Correction of Clerks' Bill." Fortunately there were some men of sufficient penetration and spirit to expose and defeat the wily schemes of that enactment, by which the whole inferior clergy of England would have been subjected to the arbitrary power of Bishops, with secret Committees nominated by them, and deprived of all right of public trial. There are abuses enough, it is true, in the present courts of law, and in the ecclesiastical courts worst of all; but this is no reason why new unconstitutional courts and proceedings should be instituted or allowed.

ENGLISH PAPISTS AT ROME.

STRONG efforts are at present being made to procure the alliance and protection of Great Britain for the Pope. To send an Ambassador or representative to Rome is the point to which attention will be first turned. The Papists of this country are aware that a civil and political move will be less opposed than an ecclesiastical one such as the endowment of their priests in Ireland, and in the end will turn out more for their advantage. An Englishman at Rome has been writing letters, which occupy a conspicuous place in "The Times," urging this step. This writer, who signs himself" Anglo-Romanus," lets out the secret, that the idea of the Turkish envoy, Chekib Effendi, visiting the Pope, was "suggested by an English clergyman now in Rome." The object of that move is also now disclosed,-viz., "that by establishing direct intercourse between the Ottoman Porte and the Romish See, the protection of Catholics in the Turkish empire, at present devolving upon the Ambassadors of Austria and France, might be transferred to the Papal representation at Constantinople. This representation," it is added, "would have great influence, both at Court and in the provinces where the protectorate extends. The tendency would be also fostered which exists among many bodies of separated Christians to enter into communion with Rome." Morichini, Nuncio at Munich, has been already recalled, in order to his being sent as Envoy to Constantinople. Count Rossi, the French Ambassador, has, however, interfered, declaring that the moment a Papal Envoy sets foot in Constantinople, the protection of the Oriental Catholics by France should cease. Thus the case stands at present.

There is deep and wise policy in these movements. We have for some time been apprehensive of the influence of the Oxford converts and other English Papists at Rome. Their knowledge of the state of feeling in England, and their well-organized conspiracies and well-directed efforts, make them to be justly dreaded by us. We would beseech Protestants to pay a little more heed to what is going on in the citadel and head-quarters of Popery, instead of allowing all their attention to be directed to the suburbs of the great city, to Maynooth, or Tahiti, or Oxford. The anxiety shown by the English Papists at Rome to have a British Envoy there, is sufficient reason for our opposition to the design, if the present Government venture to propose it.

SAVINGS' BANKS.

To the Editor of the English Presbyterian Messenger.

DEAR SIR,-A Government "Blue Book" has recently been issued, containing, inter alia, a very elaborate report of the state of the Savings' Banks throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, at 20th November, 1845 (the latest yet compiled or published), in which there are very numerous and minute of part of these I have put into a space which details on many points. The general results I hope you will be able to afford them in the next "Messenger," trusting you will not consider its pages an unfit medium for conveying such intelligence.

Depositors.

In England, No. 1, 846.445
2, 10,171
3,
Total-865,389

8,773

Amounts. £24,238,748

539,627 1,151,891

£25,930,266

The fact is, that, in England and Scotland,
the law proposed to be enacted for Ireland,
by the present measure, exists at this moment.
And here I must observe, that the language
of the Bill is, in a measure, insulting to the
Presbyterians. It terms them, the people
called Presbyterians.' It might just as well have
said, 'the people called Englishmen,' for the
Presbyterians are just as much established in
Ireland, as are those professing the doctrines
of the Church of England. The Quakers are
not established, and therefore they are termed
the people called Quakers; but the Presby-
terians are upwards of 2,500,000 in number.
They are established by law, and include
some of the most eminent men in the king-
dom. The Bill proposes to give to the Irish
Presbyterians, supposing them ignorantly and in the returns, into three classes, which, for
The depositors in these banks are divided,
absurdly, as differing from the English and brevity's sake, I shall call Nos. 1, 2, and 3:
Scotch Presbyterians, the right of being No. 1 being "Individual depositors;" No. 2,
sworn, not by kissing the book, but by holding" Charitable Institutions, in account with
up their right hand. This it does with as Savings Banks;" and No. 3, "Friendly
much seriousness as if it were not the law of Societies, in account with Savings' Banks."
evidence at this day-as if it had not been At the date already mentioned the total
acted upon for a century—as if a Presbyterian number of each of these classes, and the
had not been sworn in the Court of Queen's amounts invested by each, inclusive of in-
Bench within the last twelve months in that terest, were as follow:--
way—as if a man had not been convicted,
capitally, at Newgate, upon the evidence of a
Presbyterian sworn in that way—as if in the
year 1745, the question had not been raised
at Carlisle, on the trial of the Scotch rebels,
by a Presbyterian refusing to take the oath
in the accustomed way, and who, being
allowed to take it by holding up the hand, the
judges, on being appealed to, decided that he
had a right to do so. But what is the difficulty
it is alleged to be necessary to remove? In
the year 1781, the Irish Parliament chose to
bring in a Bill giving to seceders the right of
being sworn like the Presbyterians of England
and Scotland, namely, by holding up their
hands. This Act is no relief to them (for they
possessed the right before); and instead of
being an extension of their privileges, it
actually abridges them, for it excludes them
from being witnesses in criminal cases unless
sworn in the ordinary way; so that if a
person commit murder or robbery in the
presence of a Seceder, the latter is not com-
petent to become evidence of the fact, unless
at the sacrifice of his conscientious scruples.
I have alluded to the manner in which this
Bill is framed, in order to show how they ex-
ecute the business of legislation in another
place. There never was such ignorance ex-
hibited as in the framing of the Act in
question; it astonished English lawyers at
the time, and it would no doubt astonish them
more to see the English Parliament following
in the wake of those in Ireland, and by
giving their assent to the present measure,
exhibiting equal ignorance of the law.

"When men profess to be law-givers, it is
not too much to expect that they should
know a little of the law with which they
propose to meddle. This evidently has not
been the case with the framers of the present
Bill, who could neither have read its preamble
nor that of the Act of 1781. It states that
it is expedient to extend to seceders farther
reliefs, but gives them that which is no relief
at all. If ever there was a measure sent up
to this House which exhibited hopeless
blundering, total incapacity, complete ig-
norance-it is the present preposterous and
ridiculous piece of legislation; and I there-
fore hope that your Lordships will unite with
me in rejecting it."

GOOD men are sometimes guilty of great
follies;
these bid us beware of trusting in
Man at his best estate is vanity.

man.

In Wales,

72,608

£618,099

35,891 57,493

No. 1,
2,

3,

18,231
220
465

£ 531,902

13,582

£1,185,545

To this grand total there is added in the official return another item, without any details, but simply thus: "Number and amount of Friendly Societies in direct account with the Commissioners for the reduction of the National Debt," " depositors 488, amount invested 1,913,0567." These Societies have no connexion with Savings' Banks, and appear to have been added in order to show the entire aggregate amount invested in all the Institutions of this character throughout the country; and with this addition, the total number of depositors is raised to 1,063,418, and the amount of investments to 32,661,9247.

Averages, also, are given of the amounts invested in each country by each depositor, excluding the item last mentioned; these averages, however, being stated only in pounds. On making complete calculations for my own satisfaction, and testing the correctness of these by two distinct methods, I found the omitted remainders of shillings and pence to be rather important in three of the countries, and I therefore give the results in full. These are as follow, and shew the average sum invested by each depositor at 20th November, 1845, including interest to that date:

included by a long line of decimals; but | M'Farlane, and Mr. S. O. Dodd, (Free these in no case affect the amount stated to Church). The name of the Rev. Mr. Arnot, the extent of one farthing. of Glasgow, has been much before our own Church in connexion with our College. This circumstance, and the importance of the subject, induce me to forward a brief report from a Glasgow paper, of a discourse by that gentleman on the Temperance Reformation. In the hope that it may appear in your pages, I am, &c., A MINISTER.