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and thanksgivings, &c.," as the occasion or the exigency may require. It is needless to add, that the Episcopal Church in Scotland always adopts the forms of prayers drawn up on these occasions by the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.

Situated as the church now was, a happy and prosperous union having been formed, with only one or two exceptions, between all the clergy of English and Scottish ordination, it became necessary that some proceedings should take place respecting a review of the canons for enforcing Episcopal order and jurisdiction. In the days of their depression, the Scottish prelates, as Bishop Skinner observed in a letter on this subjeet to Bishop Sandford, "had enough to do in keeping up a pure Episcopal succession, till it should be seen what, in the course of Providence, might be farther effected towards the preservation, though not of an established, yet of a purely primitive church in this part of the United Kingdom." It appears that the members of the Episcopal College, in 1743, prepared and sanctioned some canons, which then indeed answered the purposes for which they were intended, as connected with the peculiar circumstances of the church at that period. But now that these circumstances had been changed, it was necessary that a more complete code of ecclesiastical discipline should be exhibited than that of 1743, which was probably merely temporary, and consequently defective. The Church of England has a code of canons, but many of them are connected with that Church as the Established National Church by law, and cannot therefore have any application to a communion so situated as is that in Scotland. Of this Bishop Skinner was well aware. "The English canons," says the Bishop in the letter above quoted, "are in general inapplicable to our situation; and of the whole (141 in number), there are not above four or five that could, even with some alterations, be adopted and enforced among us." These cogent reasons were therefore assigned by the Bishop as arguments that "we should turn our attention to the means which Providence has put in our power of making the best use of our situation, and rendering it as conducive as we possibly can to the great and good design for which our Church has been so happily preserved, so signally supported-even the glory of its Almighty Protector, and the comfort and edification of his faithful people."

Bishop Skinner having obtained the cordial assent of the Episcopal College, he, as Primus, summoned, by a circular addressed to the dean of his own diocese, which was also done by the other Bishops to the deans of their respective dioceses, a general ecclesiastical synod, to be held at Aberdeen on the 19th of June, 1811. This synod was composed of the College of Bishops, the deans of the several dioceses, and a clergyman from each of these dioceses, elected by his brethren as their delegate or representative VOL. III.-Feb. 1833.

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in the synod. On that day the synod assembled, and was regularly constituted by Bishop Skinner as Primus. Its business occupied two complete days, and after having framed "the code of canons for the Episcopal Church in Scotland," it was dissolved.

It would occupy too much space to give an abstract of these canons, which are now binding on all the clergy of the Scottish Episcopal Church. They are of course chiefly illustrative of the discipline and government of the church, and are framed solely to preserve order and regularity in a communion which, though once the national establishment, is now merely tolerated by law. As a proof of the strict adherence which is maintained towards the doctrines and services of the Church of England, it may be mentioned, that, by the 16th canon, all alterations and insertions in the morning and evening service of the church are prohibited, and in no case is a deviation from the ipsissima verba of the English Liturgy allowed. The 15th canon, however, which, as the Rev. Mr. Skinner observes, was framed by the Rev. Archibald Alison, Prebendary of Sarum, who was the delegate for the diocese of Edinburgh, and the Rev. Heneage Horsley, Prebendary of St. Asaph, the delegate for Brechin, sets forth that, although permission is granted "to retain the use of the English Communion Office in all congregations where the said office had been previously in use, the Scottish office is considered as the authorised service of the Episcopal Church in the administration of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper," and "to be used in all consecrations of Bishops;" every Bishop, when consecrated, "giving his full assent to it, as being sound in itself, and of primary authority in Scotland; and binding himself "not to permit its being laid aside, where now used, but by authority of the College of Bishops." It may be necessary to remind the reader that the communion office here mentioned is that of the Scottish Liturgy of the reign of Charles I., drawn up by the Scottish prelates of that period, and revised and approved of by Archbishop Laud, and Dr. Wren, Bishop of Norwich, the latter having been selected for that purpose by the Archbishop on account of his great learning in the ancient liturgies. The other services of the Scottish Liturgy are for the most part the same as that of the Church of England. What may be the comparative merits of the Scottish Communion Office and that of England, I shall not attempt to decide. It has occasioned some little controversy even among the Scottish Episcopal clergy, a few of whom retain it, especially in some congregations north of the Tay; but in the opinion of one well competent to judge, the late Bishop Horsley, it is decidedly superior to the English, and that learned prelate declared, that if he had the power to choose, he would certainly adopt the Scottish office rather than the English, admirable

though the latter confessedly is. Those who wish to ascertain all minute particulars in which the Scottish Liturgy differs from that of the Church of England, will find them pointed out in Hammond L'Estrange's "Alliance of Divine Offices," London, folio, 1669; as also in the second vol. of the "Life and Times of Archbishop Laud," London, 8vo, 1824.

After the business of the synod had been completed, a circular was addressed by Bishop Skinner to all the Archbishops and Bishops of the United Church of England and Ireland, inclosing a printed copy of the canons. Most of these prelates acknowledged the Bishop's circular in the most paternal manner, especially the Bishops of Salisbury, Peterborough, Carlisle, Sodor and Man, Cork and Ross, Leighlin and Ferns, and Cloyne. The sentiments of the then excellent Bishop of Cloyne (Dr. Bennet) ought not to be omitted on this occasion. After thanking Bishop Skinner and the Right Reverend Bishops in Scotland for the copy of the canons transmitted to him, his Lordship adds, "I have always highly esteemed the Christian piety and honourable independence of the Episcopal Church in Scotland, and earnestly pray, that, under the guidance of her excellent prelates, she may continue that purity of doctrine for which she has been so long and deservedly celebrated."

From this period to the year 1816, the year in which the Scottish Episcopal Church was deprived, by death, of her active and zealous governor and premier, Bishop Skinner, of Aberdeen, no event of any consequence occurred in her history.

But although nothing of public importance occurred in the history of the Scottish Episcopal Church from the year of the Synod of Aberdeen (1811) to the year 1816, the bishops and clergy were not inactive, nor the laity less attached to the principles of apostolical truth. On the contrary, the church continued extending her borders on every side. Some new congregations were formed where previously none had existed, and we may particularly mention that of Kirkcaldy, Fifeshire, which was formed chiefly by the exertions of the present Bishop of Edinburgh, the Right Reverend Dr. Walker. Many persons, too, who had formerly been Presbyterians and Independents, became members of the church; while in some places, new and even handsome chapels were erected by the exertions of the laity, assisted by subscriptions and donations from many distinguished and benevolent friends of the church in England. These new chapels formed a striking contrast to the obscure and uncomfortable places in which many of the country congregations had assembled since the violence and persecution of 1745. On reviewing all these circumstances, we cannot fail to perceive the hand of God visibly protecting his own institutions, supporting, strengthening, and comforting his servants in the discharge of

their sacred duties. Laws and enactments may deprive the church of many important political privileges; but these can never affect that glorious building, of which its divine Protector and Saviour is "the foundation and chief-corner stone."

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How like those sudden and incoherent transitions through which the agitated and confused dreamer is whirled, are the awful changes of public opinion within the last two or three years. Before that time the church was the theme of admiration at home and abroad, her institutions were revered, her moderation extolled, her blessings acknowledged.

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The fame of Hooker was built upon the services he had performed in her defence; and even yet, as in the days of Walton, "his books, and the innocency and sanctity of his life, were so remarkable, that many turned out of the road, and others (scholars especially) went purposely to see (the dwelling and the church of) the man whose life and learning were so much admired."* But now, so strange a revolution of sentiment has taken place, that this very ministry and church establishment, of which he so ably vindicated the apostolical and sound foundation, as well as its practical and rational polity, seems to be considered as one universal blot, as a very pest-house, "full of wounds and bruises and putrifying sores." To maintain its excellence is peremptorily set down as a mark of ignorance, narrow-mindedness, and bigotry. My very confidence is shaken in the attraction which the view of Bishopsbourne Church and Parsonage will present to my readers, when I am compelled to state that its architecture is not remarkable; and that its principal, if not only, claim to interest them is its having been the scene of the last ministrations,-of the last moments of the " JUDICIOUS" Hooker. Evil surely are the days in which these remarks are extensively applicable among members of the established church. May they not be ominous of times and troubles like those which followed in a few years after this good man had been taken from such calamitous trials, and which, with almost prophetic spirit, he seems to have contemplated in his last moments. I cannot resist laying before my readers,-and I wish I could im

* Walton's Life of Hooker.

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BISHOFSBOURNE CHURCH & RECTORY.
The Living of the Celebrated Hookeras seen from Sir Mulcasters l'ark

Printed by Challmandel.

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