Rev. J. C. F. Tuffnell, to the Rectory of a Prebendal Stall in the Cathedral Church Edburton, Sussex. Rev. R. Wegg, to of Wells. Rev. T. Wintle, to the Pre. the Rectory of Frenze, Norfolk. Rev. bend or Rectory of Leckford, Hampshire. John West, M.A., to the Perpetual Cu--Hon. and Rev. Alfred Wodehouse, B.A., racy of Coleford.Rev. R. I. Wilber- of Christ Church, to the Rectory of force, to the Vicarage of Burton Agnes, Litcham, with East Lexham annexed, Yorkshire.- Rev. W. Downes Willis, to Norfolk. DEATHS. August 20, in the 72nd year of his age, the Right Rev. Wm. Otter, D.D., Lord Bishop of Chichester. He was formerly a Fellow and Tutor of Jesus College, Cambridge, and proceeded B.A., 1790, in which year he was fourth Wrangler; M.A., 1793; B. and D.D., 1836. He was the first Principal of King's College, London, and was consecrated Bishop of Chichester in 1836, on the translation of Dr. Maltby from that See to Durham. Aug. 3, Rev. R. Proctor, 34 years Perpetual Curate of Hornby, Lancashire, in his 81st year. August 3, at Swinhopehouse, Lincolnshire, in his 80th year, Rev. Marmaduke Alington, Rector of Walsoken, Norfolk.- August 5, Rev. A. Hunman, Curate of Ulpha. - August 6, Rev. E. Ince, 23 years Vicar of Wigtoft, with Quadring, Lincolnshire. — August 16, aged 67, Rev. Francis Baker, Rector of Wylye, Wilts, and Vicar of Coombe Bisset, with West Harnham, in the same county. August 18, in his 81st year, Rev. John Noble, 40 years Vicar of Frisby, Leicestershire.— August 21, aged 71, Rev. Edward Chave, Rector of St. Mary Arches, Exeter. August 31, at Bedwell Park, near Hatfield, Rev. J. W. Carr, Perpetual Curate of Southborough, Kent. NEW CHURCHES BUILDING AND CONSECRATED. The Lord Bishop of Lichfield has presented a valuable communion service to the new chapel of Dalby, Isle of Man. On the 31st August, the foundation stone of the new district church of the Holy Trinity, was laid on Twickenham Common. It is to be of the Gothic style, and to contain 600 sittings, one half of which will be free. W. Pownall, of Spring Grove, Hounslow, has subscribed £500. -On Sunday, the 19th July, Dilham church, Norfolk, was re-opened, after having been repaired and enlarged, so as to afford 100 additional sittings. The Lord Bishop of Norwich consecrated the new church at Haynford, on Tuesday, 28th July. The Very Rev. the Dean of Norwich, laid the foundation stone of a new church at New Cotton, in the parish of St. Clement, Norwich. On Tuesday, August 18th, the Lord Bishop of Lichfield laid the first stone of St. James' church, Wolverhampton. On Thursday, the 27th August, the Lord Bishop of Lincoln held a confirmation in the parish church of Holbeach, and afterwards consecrated the new chapel of St. John, in Holbeach Fen. In addition to the Bishop's munificent subscription of £800, his Lordship has since given £50 towards the endowment of the chapel, and intends to present to it a service of communion plate. The new church erected by subscription at Coalville, was consecrated by the Lord Bishop of the the Diocese. The Rev. F. Meriweather, Vicar of Colcorton, at same time presented the church with a service of communion plate, and a liberal subscription was made by the congregation. Lady Mostyn Champneys, and the Hon. E. | Mostyn, have given a site for a new church at Llandrino, and the former has presented the church with a communion service. The Rev. J. Colly has given the sum of £500 towards the endowment of Trinity church, in the parish of St. Julian, Shrewsbury. -Trinity church, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, was consecrated lately by the Bishop of the Diocese. It contains 900 sittings, of which 600 are free, and the site was given by the Marquis of Hastings. Mrs. Oakeley, widow, of Plas Tau-y-bwlch, in the county of Merioneth, laid the first stone of the THE CHURCH The annual Synod of the Clergy of the Diocese of Aberdeen met in St. Andrew's chapel here, on Wednesday the 19th current. Morning prayer was said by the Rev. Mr. Pressley, Fraserburgh; the sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Grieve, Ellon; and thereafter the Dean and Clergy were addressed by the Right Rev. the Bishop. The Bishop, in his charge, alluded to the happy and quiet condition of the Episcopal Church, and made particular reference to the bill recently introduced into Parliament by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and which has now received the Royal Assent, by which the unity of principle between this Church and the United Church of England and Ireland, is still more completely manifested. The annual general meeting of the Aberdeen Diocesan Association of the Scottish Episcopal Church Society, was held in St. Andrew's chapel here, on Tuesday the 18th current. The Right Reverend the Bishop in the chair. The Secretary read to the Association a statement of the proceedings of the Society since last general meeting, from which it appeared that its funds were in a flourish ing condition, that much benefit had already been derived from its operations, and that there was every prospect of the warmest wishes of its friends being realized. A draft of a report for this Diocese was approved by the meeting, and will in due time be published and distributed among the members of the Church. The interest taken in the proceedings of this excellent society was shown by a very respectable attendance of the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of Aberdeen. There has been for some time in agitation amongst the influential members of the Episcopal Church of Scotland a plan The new church of St. Davids, near the Ffes tiniog slate quarries, on Thursday, the 23rd July, to contain 350 sittings, all of which are free, and the site of which was given by Lord Newborough, of Glynllifon, in the county of Carnarvon. · Hon. Charles S. Peters, attorney-general of New Brunswick, has piously subscribed the annual sum of £10 towards the sti pend of the clergyman of St. John's parish, in that colony, and transferred by assignment to the corporation of the church a lease of property paying that rent for the term of twenty-one years. IN SCOTLAND. for erecting an Episcopal College in Edinburgh, where a course of study similar to that pursued in the English universities, will be adopted. At a convocation of the Bishops which was held there lately, the subject was taken into consideration, and measures, we believe, are now in progress for the establishment of an institution which cannot fail of diffusing amongst the numerous and increasing body of Episcopalians in Scotland more accurate knowledge of the principles of the apostolic church to which they belong. Our Edinburgh correspondent informs us, that there are several new congregations incourse of formation in Scotland: one each in Jedburgh, in Airdree, in Falkirk through the influence of Mr. Forbes of Callender, and another in Dunfermline. These congregations all meet in the meantime in the upper-rooms of houses, till money can be collected to build chapels. There is now such a rattling among the dry bones, as betokens an extension of the Redeemer's kingdom and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in that benighted country. On the 26th of August, a diocesan synod of the clergy of Moray, Ross, and Argyle, was held in the vestry of St. John's chapel, Inverness. Morning prayers were read by the Rev. J. E. Troughton, of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge. The clergy made returns of their respective congregations to the Very Rev. Dean Fyvie, who presided in the absence of the Right Rev. Bishop Low. By commission from the Right Rev. Dr. Low, Bishop of Moray, the Rev. W. C. A. Maclaurin, of Trinity chapel, Elgin, inducted the Rev. Jonathan Douphrate, A.B. Oxon, to the pastoral charge of the Episcopal chapel at Fochabers. PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION AT ST. ANDREWS. Continued from p. 518. THE rebellious assembly of the kirk met at Glasgow on the 20th of November, 1638, in the cathedral of that city, a venerable edifice, which had certainly never before been desecrated by the presence of a set of men collected together for so unholy a purpose. All the lay-elders, and most of the ministers, were armed with swords and pistols; and the clamour and tumult which they raised was such as to offend even Bailley, the spectator and vindicator of their general proceedings. But I can only give an outline of what passed on this occasion a minute detail must be sought for in the general histories of the church. The king's commissioner was very soon obliged to leave them, as they refused to pay any regard to his mandates; but previously he commanded them to dissolve, in his master's name, a command which they met by setting him at defiance, and declaring their sitting to be permanent! They then proceeded to depose from their sacred office all their brother ministers whom they suspected of malignancy, i. e., of loyalty and episcopacy; and not only so, but they announced their determination to do the same to "all such ministers as disobeyed their sentence." The acts of the six previous lawful General Assemblies this unlawful one pronounced null and void, on the pretext that they were subject to " court influence;" and thus, at one blow, they abolished episcopacy, the five articles of Perth, the canons, and the liturgy. Their next measure was the daring excommunication and deposition of their "pretended archbishops and bishops," as they werepleased to call them. But here a formidable difficulty occurred. Most of these refractory presbyters had been ordained by the said " pretended" prelates, and, according to the universal practice of the church catholic, had, at their ordination, taken an oath of canonical obedience to them. How then were they, with any show of consistency, to depose from their holy office those whom they had sworn to obey? Their expedient was this:-They passed an act "annulling the oath exacted by prelates from ministers when admitted to their callings!' We have all heard of the pope granting dispensations to his spiritual subjects from the observance of oaths; but it was a new sight to behold Protestants dispensing themselves from the observance of their own oaths. Yet we need not wonder, 4 D VOL. II. for extremes meet. "Puritanism," says Dr. South, "is only reformed jesuitism, as jesuitism is nothing else but popish puritanism; and I could draw out such an exact parallel betwixt them both, as to principles and practices, that it would quickly appear they are truly brothers as ever were Romulus and Remus, and that they sucked their principles from the same wolf." When the above difficulty had been thus jesuitically removed, some persons appeared at the bar of the assembly, who charged the bishops with every crime which the vocabulary of their language afforded-charges which the members were but too eager to receive, as some apology for their wickedness in so treating their ecclesiastical superiors. When unprincipled men are bent on any favourite object, they do not allow conscientious scruples to stand in their way. The bishops accordingly were deposed and excommunicated, were "declared infamous, and commanded to be so holden by all and every one of the faithful, and to be denounced from every pulpit in Scotland, as ethnicks and publicans," and all on the plea of" zeal for the glory of God, and the purging of the kirk." These sentences were read by Alexander Henderson, the moderator of the assembly, a presbyter, who had himself been ordained, and of course bound to spiritual obedience, by Gladstones, Archbishop of St. Andrews. In the time of Knox and Melville the ecclesiastical estate had been held to be one of the three estates of the realm, and so had continued down to the present time; but now the assembly abolished this as "an anti-christian usurpation;' not from any principle of self-denial, as has been alleged, but in order that they might concentrate more power in their general assembly; a power which they accordingly exercised, as we shall see in the sequel, with the most tyrannical and murderous sway, till the invasion of Cromwell, who very unceremoniously stripped them of it. Lastly, this assembly decreed a severe penalty against "such as should speak or write against their covenant," or be "malicious against their church," or denyers of the acts of their assembly." Thus were the civil and religious liberties of Scotland swept away by these insurgent presbyters and lay-elders in the course of twenty-nine days sitting, and all under the pretext of glorifying God, and advancing the interests of true religion! I have no hesitation in saying that, had the days of miraculous interposition not passed away, as the earth opened and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, for their rebellion against Moses and Aaron, so it would again have swallowed up these wicked men for their shameless and unprovoked rebellion against the civil and ecclesiastical rulers. 66 But we must now return to the persecuted primate. When he saw his countrymen plunging into rebellion, his sovereign insulted, his church overthrown, and himself and his order proscribed, he thought it prudent to leave Scotland, where his person was no longer safe, and retired to 1 Vol. iii. p. 535. 2 Gladstones presented him to the parish of Leuchars, near St. Andrews, but he was at that time unpopular, and had to be inducted at the point of the bayonet. This shows how fickle and uncertain a thing is ministerial popularity. In 1638 he was one of the most popular men in Scotland. In justice to Henderson's memory it ought to be mentioned that there is good reason to believe that he repented on his death-bed of the part he had taken against his church and his king. See his Life by Aiton. Newcastle, depressed in spirits, and in a very infirm state of health. From thence he wrote to the king, resigning into his hands his office of chancellor, which he could no longer exercise to his advantage. The king was pleased to accept his resignation, and sent him a very ample and honourable acknowledgment of his fidelity and good services. When he grew a little better he proceeded to London, but there he soon became worse, and was visited by his friend, Archbishop Laud, from whose hands he received the holy eucharist. He died on the 26th of November, 1639. By command of the king he was buried by torch-light in Westminster Abbey, near the tomb of James VI.; a great number of the nobility and gentry then in London following his remains to the grave, and the dean and prebendaries of Westminster celebrating his obsequies according to the ritual of the Church of England. Thus he received from strangers that honour to which his merits justly entitled him, but which a large portion of his misguided countrymen were incapable of appreciating. His last will and testament contained the following words: "As touching the government of the church, I am verily persuaded that the government episcopal is the only right and apostolic form; parity among ministers being the breeder of all confusion, as experience might have taught. And for those ruling elders, as they are a mere human device, so they will prove, when the way is more open to them, the ruin of both church and state." This prediction was abundantly confirmed by the disasters which followed. It is due to the memory of Spottiswood to state that he built, at his own expense, the beautiful parish church of Dairsey, near St. Andrews. This was sacrilegiously defaced after the overthrow of episcopacy, but has lately, through the good taste of the neighbouring proprietors, been restored to its original state, excepting that the presbyterian pulpit occnpies the place of the altar. Spottiswood also wrote an excellent history of the Church of Scotland, to which I have had frequent occasion to refer; a history full of valuable materials, and written in a luminous and pleasing style. The author never affects a neutrality in the episcopal and presbyterian questions which he did not feel; but he betrays no bias, except in favour of "truth and soberness," and defends no principles but those of inflexible loyalty and primitive Christianity. Of the other Scotch bishops eight were obliged to save themselves from personal violence by flight; three remained at home, and, to their disgrace, recanted, and from having been consecrated bishops sank down into the rank of presbyters; and though, like their brother bishops, they had been deposed for every imaginable vice and declared infamous, no objection was made to their becoming parochial ministers in the newly constituted kirk! One bishop, Dr. John Guthry, bishop of Moray, would neither flee nor recant, but patiently endured excommunication, confiscation of goods, imprisonment, and other sufferings; and, in the midst of them all, maintained the apostolical institution of episcopacy till his death. I have remarked before that Charles's great fault was to make concessions to his subjects when it was no longer in his power to refuse them, 1 The arms and initials of the pious founder, beautifully cut, are over the west door, with this inscription, "Jehovah, dilexi decorem domus tuæ. |