Since then we have received an account of his last hours, which we shall gratify his many friends by now appending.

For a considerable period it was evident to his friends he would not be much longer with them, and although his feebleness rapidly increased, yet the change happened at a moment when they looked not for it.

For several days he had partially taken to his bed, on the day, however, preceding his death he appeared much revived, this was succeeded by a good night, and in the morning feeling much refreshed he proposed going to another room for a few hours, and when the bed was prepared, walked without assistance, laid down, complained of drowsiness, and fell asleep. In about half an hour his attendant perceiving his countenance somewhat changed, on going nearer found he had ceased to breathe; he slept it is true, but it was the sleep of death.

"He slept in Jesus and was blest."

His friends had long marked an increasing spirituality of mind, he appeared daily more weaned from the world, and more than once expressed a conviction that his time was short, and hoped whenever his change did take place it might be sudden.

To a

His extreme debility prevented his talking much; it is enough to know his confidence was unshaken, his mind tranquil. friend, he said, "You see how frail I am, what should I do if I had religion to seek now? but what a mercy that it is only Look and live,''Look unto me and be ye saved,' the work is finished and I can manage to

look." The last utterance relative to his state of mind was, "I want no other Saviour." It was on the 3rd of July, 1850, that he departed, being in the seventy-ninth year of his age. His remains were interred in the buria: ground attached to the chapel; the Rev. John Phillips then of Southwell, Notts, but now his successor in the pastorate, officiating on the occasion, and on the following sabbath, preached his funeral sermon from Matt. xxv. 21. The hundreds attending the funeral and thronging the chapel when the sermon was preached, proved the high estimation in which the deceased was held as "a good man full of the Holy Ghost and of faith."

MISCELLANEA.

THE BAPTIST MAGAZINE.

Several meetings of the proprietors of this work have recently been rendered necessary by providential dispensations which deprived us at the same time of the services of both treasurer and secretary. The decease of the former, which took place on the 9th of June, has already been recorded; and Mr. Wilkin's

health fell into a state which compelled him in the beginning of July, to request the acceptance of his resignation. The following resolutions were therefore passed unanimously by the proprietors at their earliest meeting :—

1. That having learned with regret that the treasurer, Mr. John Penny, has been removed from this present world, this meeting desires to acknowledge the important services which he has rendered to the Baptist Magazine, during an official connexion with it of more than twenty years, and the kind interest which he has ever manifested in the welfare of the widows to whose relief its profits have been devoted; and directs that a resolution embodying these sentiments be placed on the minutes, and sent with cordial expressions of sympathy to his bereaved family.

2. That thanks be presented to Mr. Simon Wilkin for the services he has rendered as secretary during the last nine years; and that in accepting his resignation, in compliance with his request, the meeting desires to express its hope that his health may be restored, and that he may be honoured with many years of future usefulness in the church of Christ.

Arrangements were then made for the temporary performance of those duties which required immediate attention.

We have now great pleasure in announcing that, at the request of the proprietors, Joseph Tritton, Esq., of the firm of Barclay, Bevan, Tritton, and Co., 54, Lombard Street, has accepted the office of treasurer, and William Day Hanson, Esq. of Brixton Hill, that of secretary. To the widows of many country ministers who in the early part of this century were accustomed to partake of the hospitalities of Mr. Day of Newgate Street, whenever they visited London with "Cases," the name of his grandson in connexion with our fund will be peculiarly acceptable.

REV. JEREMIAH ASHER.

At the request of this worthy brother who has returned to Philadelphia, after spending some months in this country soliciting contributions towards a place of worship for the coloured church of which he is pastor, we beg to apprise his friends of the success which has attended his exertions. His accompts having been examined minutely and carefully by Samuel Gale, Esq. of 70, Basinghall Street, the following certificate was signed for the satisfaction of his American friends by Dr. Hoby, and Messrs. Trestrail, Angus, and Groser:-"We beg leave to state that the utmost reliance may be placed on the accuracy of Mr. Gale's examination of the foregoing accompts; and further, that in our opinion Mr. Asher's expenses have been surprisingly small; viz. £149 17s. 10d.; and we rejoice that so large a sum as £525 has

been secured, clear of all expenses, for the object."

The ministers occupying the baptist board, London, at a special meeting convened by requisition, "to consider what measures should be taken with reference to the case of the coloured brethren in Philadelphia represented by the Rev. J. Asher," addressed also the following letter to the ministers in Philadelphia and others by whom his appeal to Christian benevolence in England had been recommended.

"DEAR BRETUREN,-The recommendation annexed by you to the case of the Shiloh baptist church in Philadelphia, brought to this country by the Rev. J. Asher, having been submitted to our notice, we feel it our duty to make upon it a few observations which we trust you will receive in Christian kindness.

"You allege that cases of chapel building are, in your new country, too numerous for you to meet them, and that, in consequence of emigration from our shores, you have a sort of claim upon England.'

"We could have understood this language if the case borne by our brother Asher had been that of a white church; but upon inquiry we find that the Shiloh church consists of coloured persons exclusively. It is evident, therefore, that the document which you have signed does not tell all the truth; and there is too much reason to fear that the fact which you have suppressed has a very material relation to the recommendation you have given. It is, it may be apprehended, only because their Christian brethren are persons of colour that the money required for the safety of their chapel cannot be raised for them in Philadelphia; and your appeal to the liberality of England on their behalf has the aspect of being mainly designed to cover the indulgence of an unrighteous and unchristian prejudice.

"This apparent want of simplicity and candour affects us very painfully; but still more painfully are we affected by the prejudice itself which seems to have given occasion to it. We cannot but hold it culpable in itself, and wholly irreconcilable with the law of Christ, adapted to grieve the Holy Spirit, and to entail the chastisement of God, that persons of colour should be so unkindly treated in places of worship as to create for them a necessity, or in them a preference, for separate assemblies; but surely, if professing Christians who happen to be of one colour drive from them professing Christians of another, the least that could be expected would be a degree of pecuniary liberality that should provide them with ample accomodation. To refuse them this is to aggravate the first wrong by a second; and the whole case strikingly illustrates the tendency of every sin to harden the heart, and of one sin

to prepare the way for another. How happy will the day be, and how honourable to the gospel we profess, when hearts which have been opened to give a Christian welcome to their brethren of every shade, shall find no difficulty, either in liberality on the one hand, or in integrity on the other.

"In conclusion we wish to state, that brother Asher has commended himself to the cordial esteem of ourselves and of our brethren in this country, throughout which he has been welcomed to every token of Christian fellowship; and that the remarks we have made have arisen, not from any suggestion of his, but exclusively from the impression which the document on which we have animadverted has made upon our minds."

THE POPE'S BULL.

The following document, entitled "Letters Apostolical, Pius P.P. IX.," is of sufficient importance to lead us to think it desirable to give it a place in our pages. The translation is one sold by the Roman catholic booksellers :-

The power of ruling the universal church, committed by our Lord Jesus Christ to the Roman pontiff, in the person of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, hath preserved through every age in the apostolic see, that remarkable solicitude by which it consulteth for the advantage of the catholic religion in all parts of the world, and studiously provideth for its extension. And this correspondeth with the design of its divine Founder, who, when he ordained a head to the church, looked forward, by his excelling wisdom, to the consummation of the world. Amongst other nations, the famous realm of England hath experienced the effects of this solicitude on the part of the supreme pontiff. Its historians testify, that in the earliest age of the church the Christian religion was brought into Britain, and subsequently flourished greatly there; but about the middle of the fifth age, the Angles and Saxons having been invited into the island, the affairs, not only of the nation, but of religion also, suffered great and grievous injury. But we know that our holy predecessor, Gregory the Great, sent first Augustine the Monk, with his companions, who subsequently, with several others, were elevated to the dignity of bishops; and a great company of priests, monks, having been sent to join them, the Anglo-Saxons were brought to embrace the Christian religion; and by their exertions it was brought to pass, that in Britain, which had now come to be called England, the catholic religion was everywhere restored and extended. But to pass on to more recent events, the history of the Anglican schism of the sixteenth age presents no feature more remarkable than the

care unremittingly exercised by our predecessors the Roman pontiffs to lend succour, in its hour of extremest peril, to the catholic religion in that realm, and by every means to afford it support and assistance. Amongst other instances of his care, are the enactments and provisions made by the chief pontiffs, or under their direction and approval, for the unfailing supply of men to take charge of the interests of catholicity in that country; and also for the education of catholic young men of good abilities on the continent, and their careful instruction in all branches of theological learning: so that, when promoted to holy orders, they might return to their native land and labour diligently to benefit their countrymen, by the ministry of the Word and of the sacraments, and by the defence and propagation of the holy faith.

Perhaps even more conspicuous have been the exertions made by our predecessors for the purpose of restoring to the English catholics prelates invested with the episcopal character, when the fierce and cruel storms of persecution had deprived them of the presence and pastoral care of their own bishops. The letters apostolical of Pope Gregory XV., dated March 23, 1623, set forth that the chief pontiff, as soon as he was able, had consecrated William Bishop, Bishop of Chalcedon, and had appointed him, furnished with an ample supply of faculties, and the authority of ordinary, to govern the catholics of England and of Scotland. Subsequently, on the death of the said William Bishop, Pope Urban VIII., by letters apostolical, dated Feb. 4, 1625, to the like effect, and directed to Richard Smith, reconstituted him Bishop of Chalcedon, and conferred on him the same faculties and powers as had been granted to William Bishop. When the king, James II., ascended the English throne, there seemed a prospect of happier times for the catholic religion, Innocent XI. immediately availed himself of this opportunity to ordain, in the year 1685, John Leyburn Bishop of Adrumetum, vicar apostolic of all England. Subsequently, by other letters apostolical, issued January 30, 1668, he associated with Leyburn, as vicars apostolic, three other bishops, with titles taken from churches in partibus infidelium; and accordingly, with the assistance of Ferdinand archbishop of Amaria, apostolic nuncio in England, the same pontiff divided England into four districts, namely, the London, the Eastern, the Midland, and the Northern, each of which a vicar apostolic commenced to govern, furnished with all suitable faculties, and with the proper powers of a local ordinary. Benedict XIV., by his constitution, dated May 30, 1753, and the other pontiffs our predecessors, and our congregation of propaganda, both by their own authority and by their most wise and prudent directions, afforded them all guidance and

help in the discharge of their important functions. This partition of all England into four apostolic vicariates lasted till the time of Gregory VI., who, by letters apostolical, dated July 3, 1840, having taken into consideration the increase which the catholic religion had received in that kingdom, made a new ecclesiastical division of the counties, doubling the number of the apostolical vicariates, and committing the government of the whole of England in spirituals to the vicars apostolic of the London, the Eastern, the Western, the Central, the Welsh, the Lancaster, the York, and the Northern districts. These facts that we have cursorily touched upon, to omit all mention of others, are a sufficient proof that our predecessors have studiously endeavoured and laboured that, as far as their influence could effect it, the church in England might be re-edified and recovered from the great calamity that had befallen her.

Having, therefore, before our eyes so illustrious an example of our predecessors, and wishing to emulate it, in accordance with the duty of the supreme apostolate, and also giving way to our own feelings of affection towards that beloved part of our Lord's vineyard, we have purposed, from the very first commencement of our pontificate, to prosecute a work so well commenced, and to devote our closer attention to the promotion of the church's advantage in that kingdom. Wherefore, having taken into earnest consideration the present state of catholic affairs in England, and reflecting on the very large and everywhere increasing number of catholics there; considering also that the impediments which principally stood in the way of the spread of catholicity were daily being removed, we judged that the time had arrived when the form of ecclesiastical government in England might be brought back to that model on which it exists freely amongst other nations, where there is no special reason for their being governed by the extraordinary administration of vicars apostolic. We were of opinion that times and circumstances had brought it about, that it was unnecessary for the English catholics to be any longer guided by vicars apostolic; nay more, that the revolution that had taken place in things there was such as to demand the form of ordinary episcopal government. In addition to this, the vicars apostolic of England themselves, had, with united voice, besought this of us; many also, both of the clergy and laity, highly esteemed for their virtue and rank, had made the same petition; and this was also the earnest wish of a very large number of the rest of the catholics of England. Whilst we pondered on these things, we did not omit to implore the aid of Almighty God that, in deliberating on a matter of such weight, we might be enabled both to discern and rightly to accomplish what might be

most conducive to the good of the church. We also invoked the assistance of Mary the Virgin mother of God, and of those saints who illustrated England by their virtues, that they would vouchsafe to support us by their patronage with God to the happy accomplishment of this affair. In addition, we committed the whole matter to our venerable brethren the cardinals of the holy Roman church of our congregation for the propagation of the faith, to be carefully and gravely considered. Their opinion was entirely agreeable to our own desires, and we freely approved of it, and judged that it be carried into execution. The whole matter, therefore, having been carefully and deliberately consulted upon, of our own motion, on certain knowledge, and of the plenitude of our apostolical power, we constitute and decree, that in the kingdom of England, according to the common rules of the church, there be restored the hierarchy of ordinary bishops, who shall be named from sces, which we constitute in these our letters, in the several districts of the apostolic vicariates. To begin with the London district, there will be in it two sees, that of Westminster, which we elevate to the degree of the metropolitan or archiepiscopal dignity, and that of Southwark, which, as also the others (to be named next), we assign as suffragan to Westminster. The diocese of Westminster will take that part of the above-named district which extends to the north of the river Thames, and includes the counties of Middlesex, Essex, and Hertford; and that of Southwark will contain the remaining part to the south of the river, viz., the counties of Berks, Southampton, Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, with the Islands of Wight, Jersey, Guernsey, and the others adjacent.

In the northern district there will be only one episcopal see, which will receive its name from the city of Hexham. This diocese will be bounded by the same limits as the district hath hitherto been.

The York district will also form one diocese; and the bishop will have his see at the city of Beverley.

In the Lancashire district there will be two bishops, of whom the one will take his title from the see of Liverpool, and will have as his diocese the Isle of Man, the hundreds of Lonsdale, Amounderness, and West Derby. The other will receive the name of his see from the city of Salford and will have for his diocese the hundreds of Salford, Blackburn, and Leyland; the county of Chester, although hitherto belonging to that district, we shall now annex to another diocese.

In the district of Wales there will be two bishoprics, viz., that of Shrewsbury, and that of Minevia (or St. David's), united with Newport. The diocese of Shrewsbury to contain, northwards, the counties of Anglesey, Carnarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Merioneth, and Montgomery; to which we annex the county

of Chester, from the Lancashire district, and the county of Salop, from the central district. We assign to the bishop of St. David's and Newport as his diocese, northwards, the counties of Brecknock, Glamorgan, Pembroke, and Radnor, and the English counties of Monmouth and Hereford.

In the Western district we establish two episcopal sees, that of Clifton and that of Plymouth. To the former of these we assign the counties of Gloucester, Somerset, and Wilts; to the latter those of Devon, Dorset, and Cornwall.

The central district, from which we have already separated off the county of Salop, will have two episcopal sees, that of Nottingham, and that of Birmingham. To the former of these we assign, as a diocese, the counties of Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester, together with those of Lincoln and Rutland, which we hereby separate from the eastern district. To the latter we assign the counties of Stafford, Warwick, Worcester, and Oxford.

Lastly, in the eastern district there will be a single bishop's see, which will take its name from the city of Northampton, and will have its diocese comprehended within the same limits as have hitherto bounded the district, with the exception of the counties of Lincoln and Rutland, which we have already assigned to the aforesaid diocese of Nottingham.

Thus, then, in the most flourishing kingdom of England, there will be established one ecclesiastical province, consisting of one archbishop, or Metropolitan head, and twelve bishops his suffragans; by whose exertions and pastoral cares we trust God will grant to catholicity in that country a fruitful and daily increasing extension. Wherefore, we now reserve to ourselves and our successors, the pontiffs of Rome, the power of again dividing the said province into others, and of increasing the number of dioceses, as occasion shall require; and in general, that, as it shall seem fitting in the Lord, we may freely decree new limits to them.

In the meanwhile, we command the aforesaid archbishop and bishops that they transmit, at due times, to our congregation of Propaganda, accounts of the state of their churches, and that they never omit to keep the said congregation fully informed respecting all matters which they know will conduce to the welfare of their spiritual flocks. For we shall continue to avail ourselves of the instrumentality of the said congregation in all things appertaining to the Anglican churches. But in the sacred government of clergy and laity, and in all other things appertaining unto the pastoral office, the archbishop and bishops of England will henceforward enjoy all the rights and faculties which the other catholic archbishops and bishops of other nations, according to the common ordinances of the sacred canons and apostolic constitu|tions, use, and may use: and are equally

bound by the obligations which bind the other archbishops and bishops according to the same common discipline of the catholic church. And whatever regulations, either in the ancient system of the Anglican churches or in the subsequent missionary state, may have been in force either by special constitutions or privileges or peculiar customs, will now henceforth carry no right nor obligation: and in order that no doubt may remain on this point, we, by the plenitude of our apostolic authority, repeal and abrogate all power whatsoever of imposing obligation or conferring right in those peculiar constitutions and privileges of whatever kind they may be, and in all customs, by whomsoever, or at whatever more ancient or immemorial time brought in. Hence it will for the future be solely competent for the archbishop and bishops of England to distinguish what things belong to the executions at the common ecclesiastical law, and what according to the common discipline of the church, or entrusted to the authority of the bishops. We certainly will not be wanting to assist them with our apostolic authority, and most willingly will

we

second all their applications in those things which shall seem to conduce to the glory of God's name and the salvation of souls. Our principal object, indeed, in decreeing, by these our letters apostolic, the restoration of the ordinary hierarchy of bishops, and the observation of the church's common law, has been to pay regard to the well-being and growth of the catholic religion throughout the realm of England; but, at the same time, it was our purpose to gratify the wishes both of our venerable brethren who govern the affairs of religion by a vicarious authority from the apostolic see, and also of very many of our well-beloved children of the catholic clergy and laity, from whom we had received the most urgent entreaties to the like effect. The same prayer had repeatedly been made by their ancestors to our predecessors, who, indeed, had first commenced to send vicars apostolic into England, at a time when it was impossible for any catholic prelate to remain there in possession of a church by right in ordinary; and hence their design in successively augmenting the number of vicariates and vicarial districts was not certainly that catholicity in England should always be under an extraordinary form of government, but rather, looking forward to its extension in process of time, they were paving the way for the ultimate restoration of the ordinary hierarchy there.

And therefore we, to whom, by God's goodness, it hath been granted to complete this great work, do now hereby declare that it is very far from our intention or design that the prelates of England, now possessing the title and rights of bishops in ordinary, should, in any other respect, be deprived of any advantages which they have enjoyed here

VOL. XIII, FOURTH SERIES.

tofore under the character of vicars apostolic. For it would not be reasonable that the enactments we now make at the instance of the English catholics, for the good of religion in their country, should turn to the detriment of the said vicars apostolic. Moreover, we are most firmly assured that the same, our beloved children in Christ, who have never ceased to contribute by their alms and liberality, under such various circumstances, to the support of catholic religion, and of the vicars apostolic, will henceforward manifest even greater liberality towards bishops, who are now bound by a stronger tie to the Anglican churches, so that these same may never be in want of the temporal means necessary for the expenses of the decent splendour of the churches, and of divine service, and of the support of the clergy, and relief of the poor. In conclusion, lifting up our eyes unto the hills from whence cometh our help, to God Almighty and allmerciful, with all prayer and supplication we humbly beseech him, that he would confirm by the power of his divine assistance all that we have now decreed for the good of the church, and that he would bestow the strength of his grace on those to whom the carrying out of our decrees chiefly belongs, that they may feed the Lord's flock which is amongst them, and that they may each increase in diligent exertion to advance the greater glory of his name, and in order to obtain the more abundant succours of heavenly grace for this purpose.

We again invoke, as our intercessors with God, the most holy Mother of God, the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, with the other heavenly patrons of England; and especially St. Gregory the Great, that, since it is now granted to our so unequal deserts again to restore the episcopal sees in England, which he first effected to the very great advantage of the church, this restoration also which we make of the episcopal dioceses in that kingdom may happily turn to the benefit of the Catholic religion. And we decree that these our letters apostolical shall never at any time be objected against or impugned, on pretence either of omission or of addition, or defect either of our intention, or any other whatsoever; but shall always be valid and in force, and shall take effect in all particulars, and be inviolably observed. All general or special enactments notwithstanding, whether apostolic or issued in synodal, provincial, and universal councils; notwithstanding also, all rights and privileges of the ancient sees of England, and of the missions, and of the apostolic vicariates subsequently there established, and of all churches whatsoever, and pious places, whether established by oath or by apostolic confirmation, or by any other security whatsoever; notwithstanding, lastly, all other things to the contrary whatsoever. For all these things, in as far as they contravene the foregoing enactments, although a

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