convicted Miss Martineau of ignorance and falsehood, it only remains for us to lay one single document before the public, for the purpose of at once, and for ever, refuting the charge brought against the colonists, of an indisposition to the religious instruction and education of the negroes—a charge it will be seen at once malignant and unfounded; and which is only preferred for electioneering purposes, as the abolitionists hope that the really pious will be caught by the apparent hostility of the planters to religion, and exert themselves to return candidates to the new Parliament favourable to their own views ;-not, be it remembered, on the West-India question only-but upon all subjects, where they have some private interests to forward. We hope that the warning voice here raised for the exposure of charlatanry and hypocrisy will not be raised in vain; and that the true friends of religion, and its strongest palladium, the Church of England, will not be induced by the war-cry of "No Slavery!" to vote for Dissenters and Socinians, who would strike a blow at the Established Church through the medium of the slavery question. In conclusion, we request an attentive perusal of the subjoined official paper. Extract from the Estimate of the Amount required to be raised by Taxes in the District of Demerara and Essequibo, in the Colony of British Guiana, for the Service of the Year, 1832. Provision for the respective religious Establishments throughout the Colony. No. 1. Parish of St. Mary, renewal of the vote of last year towards building a Guilders 10,000 5,200 4,400 8,800 440 3,898 15,440 2,160 4,947 13,405 Guilders 68,690 8. Parish of St. Peter, renewal of the vote of last year towards building a These sums form a grand total of two hundred thousand seven hundred and twenty-four guilders;-equal, when exchange is at par, to sixteen thousand seven hundred and twenty-seven pounds sterling; to which, if we add three hundred pounds voted for the support of the schools, and the sums raised by the annual charity sermons, and voluntary contributions for the same purpose, we shall have, in the government of British Guiana alone, a sum little short of twenty thou sand pounds, devoted to the advancement of true religion. We hope we shall never again be called upon to reply to the aspersions of the Anti-Slavery Society; but we have facts and documents as conclusive as the foregoing, for their especial edification, should an occasion arise. This refutation of their grand charge of indifference to religion may, however, possibly have a beneficial effect, and induce them, both in their publications and through their lecturers, to adhere a little more strictly to TRUTH. The Grants to these parishes are not known: probably because the vestries had not made an estimate of the expenditure in sufficient time to be laid before the Court of Policy at the period of voting the remainder. LITERARY REPORT. NNNN A Sketch of the History of the Church of England, to the Revolution 1688. By THOMAS VOWLER SHORT, B.D. Student of Christ Church, and Rector of Kings Worthy, Hants. Oxford: Parker. London: Rivingtons. 1832. 2 vols. 8vo. Pp. xxxvi. 495. xxv. 478. MANY of the younger Clergy, no less than the author of the work before us, are doubtless distressed to find, after they have taken orders, that their "knowledge of the sects among the philosophers of Athens is greater than which their information on questions " and affect the Church of England; the deficiency, in this respect, will in general have been owing to the want, rather than the neglect, of the means of acquiring it. That an acquaintance with the ecclesiastical history of his country is incumbent upon every candidate for the ministry, amounts almost to an axiom; but the channels in which it is diffused are so various, that it is almost impossible to pursue them without a guide; and no guide, at least no efficient one, could hitherto be found. As a popular compendium, Southey's "Book of the Church" is beyond praise; but, from the omission of references, it is useless to the student: Carwithen's History is faithful as far as it goes, but it fails in the relation of collateral events: and other works are partial either in spirit or in extent. With a view to remedy these defects, Mr. Short has presented us with a comprehensive summary of the entire History of the English Church, from the first establishment of Christianity in the British Isles to the Revolution of 1688. The work defies analysis, being only an analysis itself; a sort of outline map, in which the great land-marks are distinctly laid down for the direction of the student in his ecclesiastical progress. To have filled up this outline in detail, a work of ten times its dimensions would scarcely have sufficed; but the references to the sources from which the materials may be VOL. XIV. NO. X. drawn, will enable the student to pursue his course, without interruption, in the investigation of a chain of connected events in this most important branch of history. Especial attention is paid, as it ought to be, "to those points which constitute the history of the Church of England, as it is at present established, to the thirty-nine articles, for instance, the translations of the Bible, and the Prayer-book ;" and we would particularly recommend the perusal of the appendices, in which these matters are discussed. Upon the whole, we regard Mr. Short's "Sketch," as one of the most valuable elementary works, with which we are acquainted. Two Letters, by "FIAT JUSTITIA," and Ball. 1832. Pp. 121. of proposed modifications in the system of Congregationalism is also added 4 L by a Dissenting friend. The arguments against the Church, in the above letters, have been refuted ten thousand times over, and particularly in sundry papers in the Christian Remembrancer of 1829, which we recommend our author to peruse; but the Appendix contains facts, which will serve us for food for some time to come. The letter of the Hon. and Rev. W. B. Noel, is certainly a very pretty specimen of "consistency" and orthodoxy. More anon. The Protestant Episcopal Pulpit; being a Series of Original Sermons, by Divines of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the United States of America. New York: Moore. We have just received six numbers of the above work from New York, and in them we have an excellent specimen of the pulpit eloquence of our protestant brethren in America. The subjects chosen are good, and practically treated; and when we say that such men as Hobart, White, Onderdonk, Griswold, Fuller, Smith, and Clark, are ranked among its contributors, we are sure that their names will be a sufficient guarantee for the general utility of the work. The numbers appear monthly, and one or two engravings of different American Bishops will adorn each volume. To the spirited publisher, Mr. John Moore, the Americans are much indebted for the able manner in which the work is "got up;" so much so, that we rarely meet with such typographical neatness, in the productions of our transatlantic brethren. We wish the undertaking success. The System and Practice of Congregational Dissent, unfavourable to Religion. By a LAYMAN. London: Printed by R. Clay, Bread-streethill. THE above appeared in our number for June. At the solicitation of many able and zealous friends we have published it in a separate tract, with an advertisement" by the author; and also, some additional proofs of his remarks. We wish merely to call the attention of the Clergy to it as a most useful little work for distribution, particularly in districts where Dissenters abound. The facts it contains are not easily to be controverted, or "Fiat Justitia" would perhaps have attempted it. We would here request our readers to correct one error in it, and for presents, read pew rents, p.10, eight lines from the bottom. A Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese of Gloucester, delivered in July, 1832, at the primary visitation of the Right Rev. James Henry, Lord Bishop of Gloucester. Printed at the request of the Clergy. London: Rivingtons: 1832. 8vo. Pp. 35. THE delivering of this charge was announced in our last number. There are one or two points in it, however, on which we deem it right that the excellent prelate should be heard throughout the land. We accordingly subjoin the following extracts; more especially as we were not altogether correct in our former notice : "The residence of a minister among the people committed to his care is so obviously essential to the effectual and edifying performance of his various pastoral duties, that it would be waste of time to enter into any argument to prove what no reasonable person can dispute. The non-residence of a considerable portion of our parochial clergy has been termed the opprobrium of the Church of England: in this Diocese, as well as in some others, it ought rather to be called its misfortune; for, in nearly every case where a parish does not enjoy the benefit of a resident Pastor, the cause is to be found in the want of a parsonage-house.* After all deductions have been made, there remain above a hundred benefices in the Diocese entirely destitute of a residence, or any thing which can be converted into a residence, for the Pastor. In some of them indeed either the incumbent or the curate does find an abode in a hired house, or in lodgings within the limits of the parish; but in far the greater part of the cases to which I refer, not even this precarious accommodation is afforded to the Minister: he is in consequence compelled to live at a distance, and sometimes a considerable distance, from those among whom his duties require his constant presence, and who have in fact an undoubted claim upon his uninterrupted services and attention. "In all cases where the value of the living will bear the expense of building a residence for the incumbent, it is obviously my duty to require that recourse should be had to similar means with as little delay as possible. • But the income of far the greater part of the livings of which we are speaking does not amount to the annual sum of 150l.: so unequal are they to bear the expense of building a dwelling-house for the incumbent! This poverty of a large proportion of the benefices in my Diocese is the circumstance that has occasioned me more painful reflections than any other, ever since I was placed in this seat: it gives me concern to see so many of my brethren worse provided for than their station in society, their education, and their merits demand; while the same cause renders them less useful labourers in Christ's vineyard than it is their duty, and I believe their wish to prove themselves: but I lament it above all, because it is difficult to discover any means by which this unhappy deficiency may be speedily and effectually removed." Pp. 8-11. "The subject of plurality of livings held by the same incumbent, is one which occupies, at the present time, a large share of public attention. "But in this Diocese we should look in vain for instances of pluralists enjoying excessive revenues, or such as are described to be unfitting the condition of a churchman. There are certainly many cases of two benefices being held by the same person; but they are in most instances very small ones, and such as are singly inadequate to the decent maintenance of a clergyman. The poverty of so many preferments is the real evil which draws other bad consequences in its train and it is to their improvement, up to a moderate amount, that we must look for the reformation of our Church in respect to pluralities. An Act of Parliament, which passed in the Session of 1831, has materially facilitated the improvement of livings in the patronage of ecclesiastical per sons or corporations, by enabling them to charge upon their estates an augmentation of the benefices with which they are respectively connected; an enactment of which several ecclesiastical patrons have already availed themselves. The property of the See of Gloucester is for the most part leased in such a manner that I could hardly effect any improvement in small livings by those methods, except such an one as would commence at a very distant period, and probably not till the present generation had passed away. It is my intention not to satisfy myself with prospective improvement, but to devote, from the present time, a tenth part of the revenue of my See to the augmentation of small benefices; employing the sums so allotted in the manner most required by the circumstances of livings, and most likely to produce other improvements in their condition. The smallness of the endowment of my bishoprick occasions me regret only because the assistance which it is in my power to extend to this object, as well as to the building of churches, chapels, and school-rooms, and other matters essential, to the cause of religion, cannot correspond with my own wishes, or with the real wants of the Diocese. But even my example may perhaps not be without effect: I entertain a strong hope that all ecclesiastical corporations will adopt such measures as are within their reach for improving the smaller livings in their gift, either immediately or prospectively. I may here mention that the Dean and Chapter of Westminster have recently come to a resolution to augment, without any delay, all their livings which are below 2001. a year in value, so as to raise them at least to that amount." Pp. 14-16. Besides the subjects of non-residence and pluralities, the bishop speaks at large respecting the necessity of performing two services on every Sunday; of non-licensed Curates; of the Signature of Testimonials; of Registryreturns; of Bonds of Resignation; of qualifications for Ordination; and of clerical duties in general. Upon all these topics, the Charge affords a pleasing specimen of Episcopal moderation, christian disinterestedness, and conscientious integrity. |