to such as, after notice to the Council, have not been objected to by the Episcopal Referees: and such Committee shall not propose to the Board to suffer any book or tract on the Society's Catalogue to remain out of print, or to be removed from the Catalogue, until the consent of the Episcopal Referees has been obtained.

5. That it be referred to the Standing Committee to consider and report upon the period during which the appointment of the present Tract Committee shall continue; and also upon the best method of appointing such a Committee in future; and upon any other measures which may

be necessary for the effectual discharge of the duties with which the Tract Committee are entrusted.

Agreed unanimously, that the cordial thanks of this meeting be offered to His Grace the President, for his courteous and christian-like conduct in the Chair.

S.P.G.-DIOCESE OF NOVA SCOTIA.

ALLUSION was made, in the last CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER, to the effect which the removal of the annual Parliamentary Grant from the S. P.G. F.P. was likely to have upon the late flourishing university institution at Windsor, in Nova Scotia, where candidates for holy orders in that diocese had been wont to receive their ministerial education and their degrees, and where exhibitions, founded by that Society, have very mainly contributed to the support of fit candidates for orders, until they could be sent, where many of them are now faithfully labouring, into the missionary field.

The last two numbers of the "Churchman," a religious periodical published at New York, in the United States of America, which have reached England, convey the information that a candidate for holy orders, in the diocese of Nova Scotia, had removed into the United States of America that he might receive the benefit of his theological education in the admirable theological seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, which

has been established in New York, chiefly through the influence and instrumentality of the great and good Bishop Hobart.

Every English Churchman must rejoice to find that Churchmen there are awake to the importance of uniting religious with their other instruction in their seminaries; and that, since a minute doctrinal religious education is impracticable upon the comprehensive scheme, they have the wisdom to effect their object, as Presbyterians and others do, through colleges and seminaries which are strictly sectarian or denominational. The increasing reputation of this and of the other theological schools of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, must, also, delight every Churchman on this side of the Atlantic; and we wish them multiplied, and all filled to overflowing, with pupils of piety and promise; but we could not read the above notice without emotion. When Churchmen hear read, as they do, of one and another missionary's leaving our own Colonial Church in British North America (the supply of whose Clergy is, notoriously, lamentably inadequate), and joining the sister Church in the United States; and when they trace up this, as they do the fact of any young candidate for orders going to reside for education in America (whence, in all probability, he will never return, so great is the want of Clergy there also) to the obstacles which the Church in our own Colonies has met; and when it is known that the precarious state of the Church, and the uncertainty of the maintenance of the Clergy, has occasioned several very promising youths who were about to enter orders in Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and the Canadas, to alter their holy intention, the thought comes across the mind of the English Churchman, that the withdrawing of that parliamentary grant from the S. P.G. F. P., and the breaking up of those solemn engagements which former Governments had made to that Society, is an instance of most atrocious niggardliness on the part of those, whoever they may be, who may have recommended it. Surely, if the possession

of those colonies be of any value to the mother-country, policy, at least, would seem to recommend that the members of the Church there, who are utterly unable to support the

teachers of religion for themselves, should enjoy the means of that worship which has hitherto linked them closer far than any other tie to this, the land of their fathers!

THE following Pastoral Letter was, in July last, addressed to the native Churches and Missionaries in Southern India, by the Bishop of Calcutta, and upon which, a private communication, which we have just received from Trichinopoly, has the following remark: "Our good Bishop has lately sent a very decided order to Madras, to do away with the distinction of caste among the native Christians, which some religious people regret, because they think, as this prejudice is so deeply rooted in the native mind, and is one of so many years' standing, that the effort, all at once to do away with the least observance of it, may tend to keep them heathens; but the result remains to be proved." We know that the views of Bishop Heber coincided with the above, as appears from a letter dated March 21, 1826, to the Rev. D. Schreivogel. The decision of the present Bishop is, however, a bold one, and we hope his expectations will be fully realized, and his labours amply rewarded.

CASTE AMONG NATIVE CHRISTIANS. To the Reverend Brethren, the Missionaries in the Diocese of Calcutta, and flocks gathered by their labours, or entrusted to their care.

Palace, Calcutta, July 5, 1833.

REV. AND DEAR BRETHREN.-Having heard that some usages of an unfavourable nature prevail in certain of the native Churches, and more particularly in the southern parts of the peninsula, I am led by the obligations of my sacred office to deliver to you this my paternal opinion and advice. My honoured and revered predecessors in this See, now with God, laboured to abate the inconveniences to which I allude. And I am much relieved in discharging my own share of this duty, by the memorials of their previous admonitions which I have had the opportunity of consulting. Their

abstinence from any official interference ought to have commended their advice to your cheerful acquiescence, and to have superseded the necessity of my now entering upon the subject. But as their forbearance and kindness have failed to produce the desired effect, you will not be surprised, if I feel compelled, as the Pastor and Bishop of souls, under Christ our Lord, in this diocese, to prescribe to you what seems to me essential to the preservation of the purity of the christian faith amongst you.

The unfavourable usages to which I refer arise, as I understand, from the distinction of castes. These castes are still retained-customs in the public worship of Almighty God, and even in the approach to the altar of the Lord, are derived from them-the refusal of acts of common humanity often followprocessions at marriages and other relics of heathenism are at times preservedmarks on the countenance are sometimes borne-envy, hatred, pride, alienation of heart, are too much engendered-the discipline and subjection of the flock to its Shepherd are frequently violatedcombinations to oppose the lawful and devout directions of the missionaries are formed. In short, under the name of Christianity, half the evils of paganism are retained.

These various instances of the effects of the one false principle, the retention of caste-might be multiplied. They differ, no doubt, in different places. In some stations they are slight and few; in others, numerous and dangerous. Many, many native congregations are, as I trust, free from them altogether. Many have nearly accomplished their removal. I speak therefore generally, as the reports have reached me; I throw no blame on individuals, whether ministers or people. It is to the system that my present remarks apply; and it is in love I proceed to give my decision.

The distinction of castes, then, must be abandoned, decidedly, immediately, finally; and those who profess to belong to Christ must give this proof of their having really "put off, concerning the

former conversation, the old, and having put on the new man" in Christ Jesus. The gospel recognizes no distinctions such as those of castes, imposed by a heathen usage, bearing in some respects a supposed religious obligation, condemning those in the lower ranks to perpetual abasement, placing an immovable barrier against all general advance and improvement in society, cutting asunder the bonds of human fellowship on the one hand, and preventing those of christian love, on the other. Such distinctions, I say, the gospel does not recognize. On the contrary, it teaches us, that "God hath made of one blood all the nations of men:" it teaches us that whilst "the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them," it must not be so amongst the followers of Christ; but that, "whosoever will be great amongst them is to be their minister, and whosoever will be chief amongst them, is to be their servant: even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

The decision of the apostle is, accordingly, most express. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." For if the strong separation between the holy nation and the Gentiles, which was imposed by God himself, and had subsisted from the first legation of Moses, was abolished, and the wall of division dug down, and all the world placed on one common footing under the gospel; how much more are heathen subdivisions, arising from the darkness of an unconverted and idolatrous state, and connected in so many ways with the memorials of polytheism, to be abolished!

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Yet more conclusive, if possible, is the holy apostle's language in another epistle: Seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds: and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him where" (in which transition, when this mighty change has taken place) "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all." So overwhelming is the flood by which all petty distinctions of nation, caste, privilege, rank, climate, position in civilization are effaced, and one grand distinction substituted-viz. that between those who are

I am confirmed in my decision by two circumstances, the one, that in Bengal no distinction of castes is known amongst the converts-it is renounced in the very first instance: the other. that apostasies to heathenism have been of late but too frequent in the congregations where the distinction is permitted to remain.

In the practical execution, however, of the present award, dear brethren, much wisdom and charity, united with firmness, will be requisite.

1. The catechumens preparing for baptism, must be informed by you of the Bishop's decision, and must be gently and tenderly advised to submit to it. Of course, the Minister informs the Bishop or Archdeacon a week previously to the intended baptism of each convert, agreeably to the directions given by my honoured predecessor, in his charge delivered at Madras, in November, 1830; and this will afford an opportunity for each particular case being well considered,

2. The children of native Christians will, in the next place, not be admitted to the holy communion without this renunciation of castes-their previous education being directed duly to this, amongst other duties of the christian religion, no material difficulties will, as I trust, arise here.

3. With respect to the adult Christians already admitted to the holy communion, I should recommend that their prejudices and habits be so far consulted as not to insist on an open, direct, renunciation of caste. The execution of the award in the case of all new converts and communicants will speedily wear out the practice.

4. In the mean time, it may suffice that overt acts which spring from the distinction of castes, be at once, and finally, discontinued in the Church; whether places in the Church be concerned, or the manner of approach to the Lord's table, or processions in marriages, or marks on the forehead made with paint or mixture, or differences of food or dress-whatever be the overt acts, they must, in the Church, and so far as the influence of the Minister goes, be at once abandoned.

5. Subjection in all lawful things to the Ministers and Pastors set over them, must, further, accompany this obedience to the gospel. The resistance to due discipline, the tumults, the slanders, the

spirit of insubordination, the discontent of which I hear such painful tidings, must be renounced; and the temper of evangelical piety and obedience, according to the word of Christ, must be cultivated.

6. The only effectual means, dear brethren, Missionaries and Pastors of the native congregations, of restoring the simplicity and purity of the gospel, is to preach and live yourselves more fully according to the grace of the New Testament. The union of scriptural doctrine with holy consistency of conduct, is the secret of all revivals of the decayed piety of Churches.

Full of love to you all is the heart which dictates these lines. 1 long to be able myself to visit you, and see the effects of this my pastoral letter upon you. Think me not too harsh, severe, or rigid. God knows the tenderness with which I would cherish you, as a nurse cherisheth her children. It is that very tenderness which induces me to grieve you for a moment, that you may attain everlasting consolation. Faithless is the shepherd who sees the wolf coming,

and fleeth, and leaveth the sheep. So would be the bishop, who, hearing of the enemy of souls ravaging amongst you, shunned, from a false delicacy, to warn you of the danger. Rather, brethren, both ministers and people, I trust that my God will give an entrance to his word, by however weak and unworthy an instrument, into your hearts. Rather, I hope you will be ready, before you read these lines, "to put away from you" these practices, which weaken your strength, and dishonour the "holy name wherewith you are called." "Yes,' let each one say, 'It is the voice of the good Shepherd that we hear-we will follow the call-we will rejoice to renounce for Christ's sake our dearest objects of affection-we will offer our Isaac upon the altar-we will give up ourselves without reserve, not only in these instances, but in every other, to Him who hath "lived, and died, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.'

To the grace of this adorable Saviour I commend you, and am,-Your faithful Brother,

(Signed)

DOMESTIC.-If we were asked what was the cause of dissent? we should reply, the desire of schismatics to deprive those "who minister about holy things" of any share of the sacrifice, by which Scripture declares they shall live.

If the question were, what are the objects of dissent? we should answer : The plunder of the Church, and defilement of the Sanctuary.

If its effects are demanded, but one solution remains - Infidelity, or the substitution of human theories for the revealed will of God.

To the above précis we request the peculiar and undivided attention of our readers, as they are suggested by the proceedings in both Houses of Parliament. In the Lords, the Chancellor, the sworn defender of the Church of England, has propounded two measures relating to a reform in the Establishment-in the concoction of which he has not condescended to communicate, directly or indirectly,

VOL. XVI. NO. VI.

DANIEL CALCUTTA.

with the Bench of Bishops--and these two measures relate exclusively to the peculiar jurisdiction of the spiritual Peers. What does my Lord Brougham know of pluralities, or non-residence? Absolutely nothing, but what he learns from his pious friends, the "infidels and heretics of dissent. It may be said that our epithets are strongbut are these times to falter upon a phrase, or wrangle about a word? The house of God is surrounded by foes-the doors of the ark of our covenant are threatened with assault--the modern Belshazzars unblushingly advocate the desecration of the vessels dedicated to the service of the living God-Jesus Christ is pronounced, by one class of patriots to be an impostor whilst another class of the perusers of the Penny Magazine and the Tracts of the "Society for the Confusion of Useful Knowledge," denounce hell as a fable, and the ministers of the gospel as "knaves and cheats." The Yahoo Howitt

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raves about the "beggarly elements of State creeds;" and the “brawling Binney, that bellows and bawls,' curses the Established Church as the enemy of salvation!!!

And, although the Church of England has no representatives in the Lower House, and but a fraction in the Upper-although the idea of admitting the eligibility of Clergymen, who had no official charge, to a seat in Parliament was laughed at by an assembly of professed Christians-although our Convocation is denied us, and our temple dismantled of her outworks, yet the Emancipation Bill for the Jews is carried in the House of Commons; and Rabbi Iscariot may soon introduce a bill for the abolition of the Religion of the Nazarine whom he crucified!!!!

e say

Is this language too strong? Wes boldly, No. The first act of the Reformed House of Commons, in Whitsun-week, 1834, when it might have been supposed that these pious patriots, and christian legislators, were celebrating one of the most profound mysteries of our holy faith, was to admit the Jews to a seat in the Legislatureto admit the proclaimed enemies of Christianity, the descendants of the unholy tribe of assassins who slew the Lord of Life, to a place within the Sanctuary. Their next act was, in effect, to vote the observance of the Sabbath a nuisance. Faugh! faugh!!

RUSSIA. It really is delightful to turn from the contemplation of such disgusting and abominable sayings and doings to a country, where, if the religion does not appear so pure, it at least is respected—where, if the tenets of the national faith do not, in our opinion, accord so strictly with_the canon of Scripture, as received by Protestants, at all events, Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics, are not encouraged to insult the established faith.

These observations force themselves upon us by the accounts of the ceremonial of the administration of the oath to the Grand Duke Alexander, heir apparent to the Russian throne, which appears to have been very magnificent and impressive. The emperor and empress, and all the court, were present, and the young duke was led

by the emperor to the desk, on which the New Testament was placed; and then he swore, 66 Faithfully to serve the emperor, my father, in all things, even to the last drop of my blood, and to maintain, to the best of my power, all the rights and privileges of his Imperial Majesty; and, as successor to the throne of all the Russias, as well as of Poland and Finland, to maintain, in full force and unimpaired, all the ordinances respecting the succession to the throne and family iustitutions which are contained in the laws of the empire, as I shall have to answer to God in his last judgment. O Lord God, the Father and King of kings, teach, enlighten, and guide me in the great work that awaits me! send down thy Holy Spirit, that I may comprehend what is pleasing in thy sight, and conformable to thy commandments. Into thy hand I give my heart. Amen."

He was much affected while reading the latter portion of the prayer. He may have, indeed, a great part to play on the theatre of the world, and the happiness and misery of millions upon millions will depend upon him. May he labour to deserve that the prayer, which we doubt not he uttered with all the sincerity of a youthful heart, be heard with favour! The remainder

of the ceremony was solemn and affecting.

SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. In the former country Zumalacarreguy continues bravely and successfully to maintain the interests of his legitimate sovereign, despite the disgraceful league entered into between France, England, Portugal, and Spain; whilst, in the latter, King Miguel's cause is gaining ground. The rebel generalissimo, Don Pedro, has so thoroughly disgusted the foreign troops, that the majority of the British officers have resigned; having, in this instance, followed the example of that distinguished officer,General Anthony Bacon, who, with characteristic honour, refused to serve under a man who had violated every public and private pledge, and proved himself destitute of all principle.

BELGIUM. The family of King Leopold are plunged into the deepest