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chapter of the Book of the Acts, where it is said, "Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." This Society is sanctioned by ecclesiastical authority. It has been, in fact, formally and regularly established by competent episcopal power, and in a manner perfectly consistent with the principles of our church. In tracing this society back to its origin, we have to go upwards, and not downwards. Besides, it is the society of the whole church, and not of a party in the church. It is entirely free from the objection which is very frequently brought against other religious societies, such as the Bible Society, and the Church Missionary Society, that they have originated with parties in the church, and not with the heads and governors in the church. It is not merely a society appointed by the church, but it is a society commensurate with the church; or, as the Report says, it is the church acting through” a Society. We have, in fact, the church and the society both acting in harmony and concert. The church, as the pillar and ground of truth, holding out the doctrines, and the society giving a noble specimen of the practice, which our holy religion inculcates and enjoins. We have the church exhibiting the faith, and the society, to a certain extent, exhibiting the works, of the Gospel, and proving that Christian principles are not mere empty and refined speculations, but the roots and germs of valuable and substantial practical godliness, bringing forth the fruits of righteousness to the praise and glory of God. And this society should act as a centre and bond of union, as it supplies principles and prescribes a work in which all consistent churchmen should unite,-the clergy and the laity, each in their proper place and department, ardently and harmoniously co-operating in this work of faith and labour of love. But I must make some reference to the objects which our society has in view. These, as the report says, are stated clearly and concisely in the 40th canon of the Scottish Episcopal Church. The first, and certainly the most important, is the giving assistance to the poor and destitute ministers of our church. And here, Right Reverend Sir, I cannot express my feelings, when I reflect upon the frequent application, in the report which has been read to-day, of the words," poverty and destitution" to ministers of our holy religion. I can scarcely refrain from stating my clear conviction that this circumstance reflects considerable disgrace upon the laity of the episcopal communion in Scotland. And when we read in that report that, at our meeting last year, our venerable Primus rose up in this assembly, and applied to ministers of the Gospel a passage of Scripture, not certainly applied to them when it was first uttered66 the poor shall not cease out of the land"-should not every countenance in this meeting blush for the fact that grounds should have existed to warrant the application of such a text to those whose office it is to minister to the spiritual instruction of members of our community who are able to raise them above that condition of penury in which they are undeservedly sunk ? I regret to think that such poverty exists — I regret still more that there are any-as I fear there are who should be indifferent to its existence. But I do trust that this society will be the means of removing this destitution to a considerable extent. Clergymen, Right Reverend Sir, cannot live upon air. They must have at least

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the necessaries, if not some of the comforts, of life, if they are to devote themselves to their sacred duties in a manner that is likely to lead to their efficient performance. In order that a minister should be useful he must be raised above poverty and want, and freed as much as possible from the common anxieties of life. When called upon to administer the consolations of our holy religion, his mind should be calm and tranquil and this can never be so long as he is filled with distressing cares about the temporal maintenance of himself and of his family. And I feel myself at liberty to speak boldly upon this point, and to say, distinctly, that the temporal support of a minister should be provided for, not as an act of charity, but as a sacred right, for he who " gave some apostles, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ," has sanctioned by his Holy Spirit this important rule-"The labourer is worthy of his hire." And upon this point I would be pleased to see some of the nobility and gentry of the episcopal communion in Scotland acting as some in my own country, (Ireland,) have done, attaching rentcharges to their properties for the maintenance of a Christian minister. If the episcopalian heritors in some of the different districts of the country would join in such a plan as this, the objects of our society would be attained in a better way, and one more agreeable to the feelings of the ministers of our Church.

But, in the meantime, it is truly gratifying to find that in the very first year of the existence of this society, it has raised the incomes of thirty-two clergymen to the sum of 80l. a year. This is, indeed, doing much, but we do sincerely hope that when our principles and objects are more fully and generally understood, that the society will meet with such success as will enable it to go considerably beyond what it has already done. I do trust, Right Reverend Sir, that our collections in this city, on the 15th of this month, will be such as to prove that our expectations have not been in vain. I do then, without hesitation, affirm that our society has already done much good, and is calculated to do much more. It finds the church in a poor and destitute condition, and cannot certainly make it worse; whatever it does must have the effect of ameliorating and improving it. Besides, the future effect of this society is an important consideration. If we raise the respectability of the office, we shall secure to the church a respectable and well educated ministry. It should be seriously remembered by every episcopalian that we cannot do without this society. Our church is unestablished and unendowed. We are voluntaries, though not in the modern sense of the word, but in the sense of being left entirely to our own resources in providing for the temporal exigencies of our church. And yet our position has its advantages: we are free and unshackled; we can meet in synod and regulate our own proceedings and adopt whatever plans we consider necessary for the welfare of our community. Besides, we have no controversies to engage in-no fundamental principles to contend for no radical changes in our ecclesiastical constitution to propose. By simply and steadily adhering to primitive and apostolic order, we stand upon a rock, on which we feel so conscious of the solidity of our foundation, that we have no occasion to allow our minds to be drawn aside into any questions or controversies regarding our fundamental principles. Our interest as well as our duty is to remain in quietness and peace. And I

thank God that we are so, and that, while distressing storms are harrassing, and threatening the very existence of, other churches (which I sincerely lament), our own Church is enjoying a state of tranquillity and peace. Thus we have time to devote ourselves, without distraction or interruption, to positive and practical work. May we long continue to enjoy this peace; and may this Society, the first anniversary of which we celebrate this day, be the means of increasing, under the Divine blessing, the efficiency and utility of that Church which we all venerate and love.

The Reverend Robert Montgomery rose to move the second resolution. He said, I congratulate this meeting on the aspect which it presents; but I can never forget that it is a mournful thing that now, in the nineteenth century of Christianity, such destitution should exist in the Episcopal Church. What is the fact? That men who are under the guidance of God's Spirit, duly authorized for their work, and daily pursuing their round of usefulness, should not receive so much as the reward given to those who perform the drudgery of commercial life. Whatever may be the history of other Churches, the history of the Scottish Episcopalian Church contains many pages which might be written with tears, and cannot be read without sighs. While the spirit of chivalry has thrown its halo round the struggles of the Covenanters, the sufferings of the Episcopalians have been unlaurelled by the wreath of history, and unchanted by the muse of poetry. Where is the man with a heart in his bosom who can read the fragments of their history from 1738 to 1792 without a thrill of pity and a glow of admiration for the heroism of the men who nailed their colours to the mast of principle, and determined never to take them down, whether they waved in the sunshine and the calm of prosperity, or were rent in the gloom and storms of adversity. Let the example of those heroes of our Church plead eloquently to-day. I grant that we are now in a milder atmosphere. Prejudice and bigotry have shrunk away detected in the midst of the light of truth; yet we can never forget that we are a tolerated not a triumphant, a protesting not a prosperous Church; and that poverty is still our badge. I pass from this subject with one illustration; and, as a proof of the destitution which exists, I shall take the Isle of Skye. They have there engaged an active and energetic young minister; but so great is the poverty of the people, that he has been compelled to purchase wool, and to have it spun and woven into cloth, in order to clothe the children who attend the schools.

But I wish to direct your attention to another portion of the Episcopalian Church. I come from Glasgow; and in that city I can point out to you fields which have been opened, under the good providence of God, where your energy and philanthropy may have room to expatiate for years to come. After detailing the statistics of Glasgow, and mentioning that while 8,000l. per annum were spent on intellectual pleasures, 100,000l. were spent on ardent spirits alone, he stated that there were about ten thousand Episcopalians in Glasgow, besides considerable numbers in the adjoining towns of Greenock, Dumbarton, Airdrie, &c. He continued the most of these, who have come from England and Ireland, are in a state of poverty and destitution, and spiritual midnight, to an extent which I never saw realized before. Had you been accustomed, as

VOL. II.

I have been, to the sight of poverty in English villages-But, without wishing to make a dramatic representation of the subject, I never before saw so much of the abjectness of poverty. In visiting these people, I had to find my way through dismal lanes and putrid alleys, literally into the chambers of death. There were fifty children came to a Sundayschool which we lately opened, and we were compelled to clothe them; and so ignorant were they, that a boy, eight or nine years old, on being asked who Jesus Christ was, said he did not know; he had never heard of him! Such is the ignorance that exists among the poor Episcopalians in Glasgow. The question is-are we to stand still and do nothing; or are we to come forward on the basis of Christian and Church principle, and meet the exigency? I am sure there is not a heart present who will not respond in the affirmative, and, if so, it seems to me that they cannot refuse their support to this Society, which seems to me to be the adaptation of Church principle with the condensation of Church sympathy.

I should wish now very briefly to view the principles of this Association in reference to the strange aspect of the times in which we live. I admire its apostolical symmetry. I bless God that, while the wants of the Church have been discovered, the Society has not let down a single principle to meet those wants. It has avoided that plague-spot of all the economics of our day-expediency. What is expediency? It is the creed of darkness-the delusion of the devil. It has shaded the throne; it has degraded the court; it has mangled the Bible; it has broken down the walls of eternal justice, and forged the broad seal of heaven to stamp its authority on a lie, that the end sanctifies the means. We will have none of it. Then look to popery. Without giving hard names to that system, I may say that it is an engine contrived by the Prince of Darkness to fit into the corruption of human nature: and it is true that we now shout the war cry of the Bible in the ears of the sleeping dreaming protestantism of the present day,-" Up, Samson, the Philistines are upon you." After alluding to the progress of socialism, and pointing out the service of the Episcopal Church, as being, next to the Bible, best fitted to counteract these many and varied evils, he concluded by saying,-Shall I remind you of the dignity of supporting such a cause as this? Is it nothing to be placed on a level with the eternal throne is it nothing to co-operate with infinite love-nothing to be the instrument in the hand of Providence in carrying forward those purposes. which before were hid in the secret recesses of the Eternal Mind, but are now made manifest in the incarnation and death of his Son-is it nothing to enjoy the privilege, worthy of the highest of the angels, to be allowed to co-operate with celestial love; that privilege which glowed in the bosom of the patriarchs, fired the songs of the prophets, and tenanted every sanctified heart up to the present hour? Let me remind you that the hour is coming when the Church shall be freed from her struggles. Though the Church is now fighting with sorrows, and drowned in tears, yet the hour is coming when He shall come whose right it is, and on His head shall be many crowns. Many here will say this night, Thy kingdom come. By your consistency in that prayer we beseech you to co-operate with us.

The Very Reverend C. H. Terrot, Dean of Edinburgh, spoke very forcibly in seconding the second resolution, and expressed his earnest hope that the Society would be enabled to fix the minimum income

of the ministers of the Church at 150l. a-year, which is the lowest income of the ministers of the Established Church of Scotland.

Mr. A. Urquhart, advocate, in moving the third resolution, adverted to the existence of the Episcopal Fund, and said there were two objections which he had heard urged respecting this Society in connexion with that Fund. The first was, what was the need of the Society when the Fund was in existence ? The second was, why continue the Fund now that the Society had commenced? To the first of these objections he answered, that of the four objects proposed by the Society, the Fund only partially embraced one; and that was the providing of an increase of stipend for ministers in destitute districts, and it could give no relief except to clergymen actually officiating. It took no account of the other three objects-namely, providing a fund for infirm and aged pastors, providing Episcopalian teachers for poor children, and forming diocesan libraries for the clergy. Then, with regard to the other objection, why was not the support of the Fund discontinued when this Society commenced? he answered, because this Society had altogether left out of view the principal object contemplated by the Fund, namely, to make some provision for the College of Bishops. No Episcopalian would deny that this was an object of vast importance; yet it was omitted by this Society; and all that the trustees of the Fund could raise for them, (he blushed to mention it), was sixty guineas per annum. He could well understand, however, how this important object had been left out of the views of this Society. It was formed under the sanction of a canon of the church; that canon must have been framed by the very reverend fathers the bishops; and they, with their accustomed disinterestedness, had overlooked their own claims and their own rights, in their anxiety to administer to the relief of the suffering clergy. He had only to mention that the two societies did not injure each other; on the contrary, the more this Society flourished, the more would the Fund be able to fulfil its principal object; for this Society would then take the relief of the clergy into its own hands, and leave the trustees of the fund free to give a more becoming allowance to the College of Bishops.

Dr. Russell, Bishop of Glasgow, seconded the resolution, which was agreed to.

On the motion of Sir George Leith, seconded by the Venerable Archdeacon Williams, thanks were voted to the Right Reverend Chairman, and the meeting adjourned.

THE COLONIAL CHURCH.

OUR Lord has left on record, that "Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required." These words apply but too truly to the Church and State of England; inasmuch as to no country, ancient or modern, has so much been given as unto England; which "has been summoned as the great teacher of Europe, and the Church as the great teacher of England." England has been made the direct deposit of the

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