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Church of England, and, I trust a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ.

'Nov. 27: Lord's_day-Between Smyrna and Boujah I met an Armenian funeral. Several Priests holding lighted candles in their hands, chanted the funeral dirge. The corpse was not exposed to sight, as it often is among the Greeks; but was in a coffin. The impression made on my mind while observing the rites and customs of eastern Churches, the Roman-Catholic of course not excepted, is always a very painful one. There is much outward pomp and splendour for the eye; but for the heart there is scarcely any thing at all. That Word which is able to make men wise unto salvation is not taught or preached: it is only chanted in a language unknown to the mass of the people.

'Dec. 31-At the end of the year, it is desirable that I should give a short account of what I have been doing in the distribution of the Society's Publications, both in Turkish and Modern Greek. On my arrival here, I found a considerable number of books, which were left by the Rev. Messrs. Jetter and Fjellstedt; and to these I added some supplies from Syra and Malta. The total number of books issued from the Depository, since my arrival at Smyrna, is 1552 copies. Of these, 1112 are Turkish, and 440 Modern Greek. Part of them have been sold; but I am unable to tell how many, not having yet received the account from the booksellers. I am thankful to the Lord for what I have been able to do in this important branch of my Missionary Labours. May His blessing rest upon it; and may many a grain of the good seed thus sown grow up and bring forth fruit to the glory of His Holy Name!'

Openings for Missionary Labour among the Mahomedans.-In a letter dated Oct. 28, 1842, Mr. Wolters thus explains his views of the degree in which Missionary Labour may be hopefully carried on among the Mahomedans ::

'It is a remarkable fact, that while Christian Missionary Societies are zealously endeavouring to spread the Gospel among the Heathen, comparatively very little is done for enlightening the Mahomedan Nations. And why is this? Because, humanly speaking, the door for entering into

this wide field of labour appears still to be shut. But the important question arises, Whether it is not the duty of Christians to knock at the door, by the hand of prayer, faith, love, and hope? May not the Lord here and there open, if not a large and wide door, at least a wicket, for the entrance of one or other of His servants? or, Shall we not attempt to bring the Gospel of Peace to the deluded followers of the Prophet of Arabia? While we feel compassion and love for the souls of the poor Heathen, perishing for lack of knowledge, should we not also feel for the Mahomedans? Are they not likewise without God and without hope in the world? Does not the command of our Blessed Saviour, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, charge us, in the most solemn manner, not entirely to exclude the Mahomedans from the sphere of our Christian benevolence, but to do for their salvation what our hands find to do?

'There are some providential openings-not, it is true, for doing as much as is done in Heathen countries at the present time; but much may be done in preparing the way of the Lord, and making His paths straight. İ would particularly mention

1. The distribution of the Holy Scriptures. Although for the present it is not to be expected that great numbers of copies could be distributed, yet if a Missionary is acquainted with the language of the people, and has formed acquaintances among them, he may find opportunities of giving the blessed Word of God into the hands of some individuals.

2. Besides the Holy Scriptures, other good and useful books may be prepared and put into circulationbooks which may contain a great deal of moral and religious knowledge, and even portions from the Sacred Scriptures. It is an encouraging fact, that the few elementary books published by the Church Missionary Society at Malta are accepted and bought by individuals. A Greek Bookseller at Constantinople desired me to send him 500 or 1000 copies of each, for sale; but, for important reasons, I find it advisable to send him smaller supplies. Many books might be mentioned, which would be of great value if they could be prepared in the Turkish Language.

3. With regard to the preaching of the Gospel, I do not hesitate to express my humble but decided opinion that every attempt to do it in a public and direct way, and with the view of making converts, would be of fatal consequence at the present time. The Mahomedans do not yet appear prepared to suffer, much less to favour, such an undertaking: but in conversations with individuals, the blessed truths of the Gospel may be communicated without hesitation.

I was told by a Greek of Constantinople, who is a truly-enlightened and pious man, and a man of sound judgment and ripe experience, that in conversing with Mahomedans less danger is to be apprehended than in distributing books among them; as by this their suspicion and fanaticism are much more strongly excited, than by a simple conversation on religion, occasioned, perhaps by the Mussulman himself?

COLONIAL CHURCH SOCIETY.

A LETTER has been received from the Rev. Edward Hall, Civil Chaplain at Corfu. He gives particulars of the visit of the Bishop of Gibraltar, in the course of a visitation of the Churches in his Diocese in the Mediterranean. The Bishop had been successively at Athens, Constantinople and Smyrna. A Confirmation was held in the Palace Chapel. Mr. Hall says, 'I had prepared twentysix candidates, and the Military Chaplain the same number. In addition to these, a number of sailors and naval officers were admitted. The ordinance was solemnly administered, and some were deeply affected. The Bishop delivered a plain and suitable charge. On the following Sunday he preached twice: in the morning from Isa. lx. 1-3, dwelling much on the state and prospects of our own branch of the Church of Christ both at home and abroad, together with the duties and responsibilities of its ministers and members: in the afternoon from Rom. viii. 2, 3. The Communion was administered in the morning, and we had a large attendance, several of the younger members of the congregation who had just been confirmed, communicated for the first time. My private lectures during the six previous weeks were regularly attended, and the parents of several of the young people requested permission to attend with them. Some in examination I found in a very hopeful state. Oh that all might prove to be like trees planted by rivers of water! May the leaf of their profession not wither! May the fruits of holiness be brought forth in their season!

'I have much pleasure in informing you that I have been long intimate with a gentleman who has held

some of the highest preferments in the Church of Rome, and has_addressed several letters to the Pope stating his reasons, convictions, &c.

'He is well read in Classics and Theology, and a very eloquent man. He has been confined by the Inquisition, but liberated. His papers have been examined by the Bishop of Gibraltar, and he will endeavour to retain him in Corfu, for the purpose of preaching to the Italian and Venetian population, several of whom have from time to time earnestly requested him to commence a religious service; but this he declined till recognised by a Protestant Bishop. In fact there is a congregation ready for him if we can only obtain a building. Among the Jews likewise, who are very numerous here, I trust there will be a stir after a season, as education on more liberal principles is progressing, and many of the children come to Christian schools. Thus it would seem as if the fields of this region were becoming here and there, if not ripe for the harvest, yet at any rate more fit to receive the good seed of everlasting life. May the Lord revive his work in the midst of these years!'

The Archbishop of Corfu (of the Greek Church) was absent from home during our Diocesan's late visit, but a deputation of Priests waited upon his Lordship to shew their respect to him and the English Church. I consider these interchanges of courtesy very important, as stepping-stones to further intercourse. It is our part, in dependance upon wisdom from on high, carefully to watch and diligently to improve the opportunities of Divine Providence; but the motto, "he that believeth, doth not make haste," must be our watchword.

THE CHRISTIAN GUARDIAN,

AND

CHURCH OF ENGLAND MAGAZINE.

SEPTEMBER 1843.

PRIMARY CHARGE OF THE LORD BISHOP OF CASHEL, WATERFORD, AND LISMORE, DELIVERED TO THE THREE DIOCESES IN JULY, 1843.

My Reverend Brethren,-As the inscrutable providence of God has placed me in a situation of authority in his church, it is my bounden duty to set myself to discharge the office committed to me, in reliance on Divine help. We are not able of ourselves to do anything as of ourselves; our sufficiency in every position, must be of God. His grace is necessary to the discharge of our duty in the most humble walk of life; the same grace is sufficient for us in the highest office to which he may be pleased to call us.

I trust that you, my Reverend brethren, feel the need and sufficiency of Divine strength for the performance of your work, and that for the supply of your strength you go continually to him out of whose fulness we can all receive grace for grace. I should be ungrateful if I did not remember the mercy and truth that have followed me all the days of my life; the grace which laid hold upon me, and drew me, I trust, to the service of God, in the dangerous days of my youth-which kept me through all the temptations of my maturer years, and which I may, without presumption, trust will not leave me when I am old and grey-headed, but will still bring it to pass that as my day so shall my strength be.

I am fully aware of the awfulness of the position which I now occupy; and if I have ever trembled at the thought of addressing a congregation of immortal souls upon the things that belong to their peace if I have ever felt the difficulty of rightly dividing the word of truth, and giving to each man his portion of meat in due seasonhow much more must I feel overwhelmed at the thought of addressing myself as an instructor to the clergy, and attempting to give counsel and advice to those who have, many of them, been long engaged in the ministry of the word. But even in this position, God's

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grace is sufficient for me, and his strength shall be made perfect in my weakness.

We have in Scripture a precedent for an episcopal visitation of the clergy, in Acts xx., where Paul sends for the elders of the Church of Ephesus, and having first reminded them of his own work and conversation among them, he thus addresses them :— "Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and unto all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood." And he found them in the prospect of circumstances of danger, from without and from within, not very different from those in which I find our Church placed, when I now address you; for he says, "I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."

I would desire to follow the example set by the apostle. I would, considering dangers without and within, address you upon these two points: take heed unto yourselves-take heed unto all the flock.

Take heed unto yourselves. In order to ministerial usefulness and faithfulness, the first indispensable requisite is personal religion. No mere external decorum, no attention to the outward duties of the clerical profession will avail for the good of the Church, unless there is spiritual life in the minister-unless he be a man that has had his own eyes opened, and has been "turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God."

'A lifeless minister will have a lifeless flock, and cannot feed living souls; and to the dead state of the ministry, during the last century, we can attribute the low state of the Protestant religion in this country. There were amongst the clergy, whether in the higher or lower orders, too few who cared for their own souls, and consequently they cared not for the souls of others. The Lord has done great things for our Church in the part of this century which has already gone by. He has revived personal religion, spiritual life, to a very great extent in the ministers of our Church, and by that means has done much to make our Church the instrument of spiritual good amongst our people.

'St. Paul, in his Epistle to Timothy, seems further to subdivide his admonition to the Ephesians, when he says, 1 Tim. iv. 16, "Take heed unto thyself, and to the doctrine; continue in them; for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee." Whilst this exhortation suggests in the first place, as we have remarked, the necessity of vigilance as to the life and truth of those who hold the office of the ministry, it also suggests to those who are alive and sound in their doctrine, the necessity of continual attention to keeping up personal health in their souls, and conforming their standard of doctrine to the standard of the truth as it is in Jesus. As a man with a body liable to disease, living in an unhealthy climate, should continually attend to his health, that he may be useful, so a minister spiritually alive, with a nature prone to evil, and living in an unhealthy moral atmosphere, should continually seek supplies of spiritual life, and increased doctrinal truth, to his soul. It is not enough that he should be unceasingly employed in the active duties of his ministry :

if he will prosper, he must keep his soul continually refreshed by drawing water out of the wells of salvation; he must take heed unto himself and unto the doctrine. Thus the apostles said, they would "give themselves continually to prayer," as well as to "the ministry of the word:" to prayer, as a means to make them able ministers of the word.

'But it is necessary that I should speak more particularly of that part of the exhortation, "take heed unto the doctrine."

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This may be divided into two heads

I. That a man take heed unto the doctrine, by taking heed that he goes for it to the infallible unerring repository of truth.

II. By taking heed that he draws out of that source, and lays peculiar stress on whatever is the prominent feature, and is set forth as the paramount subject contained in, or to be deduced from, that repository of truth.

1st. That he goes to the infallible repository of truth, that is, to the Holy Scriptures, and to them alone-"the Scriptures given by inspiration of God, and profitable for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness-that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." The Scriptures are the only divine informant of religious truth: there may be, and there are, many other helps and valuable guides; but the writing of God's inspired penmen can alone claim to be the voice of God. Had we the writings (which we have not) of all those that heard the inspired words of the apostles, yet could not these uninspired reporters of what they heard claim that their writings should be considered as the word of God-they could not say of the things they taught, "God hath revealed them to us by his Holy Spirit," and "we speak them not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." Those who heard what St. Paul said, as to the day of the Lord being at hand, mistook his meaning; and, if they had been taken as infallible guides, would have misled the Church. How much less should we take as divine informants the writers of succeeding centuries, who might not only mistake the meaning, but be deceived as to the fact, of what the apostles actually said.

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'Let us hear the language of our Church in her Article ;-" Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." And of the three creeds she says, They ought to be thoroughly received and believed," (not because they have the universal consent of the Church, but) "for they may be proved by the most certain warrants of Holy Scripture." And I ought not to forget the language of the Church so lately addressed to myself:-"Are you determined, out of the Holy Scriptures, to instruct the people committed to your charge, and to teach or maintain nothing as required of necessity to eternal salvation, but that which you shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the same?" She directs her bishop or her ministers to no source of truth but the Scriptures-no tradition-no catholic consent-nothing but the word of God.

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The second point on which we should take heed to our doctrine

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