are sorry to say, confirmed the decree of the company; so that this faithful minister of Christ has been deprived of his functions. The Church of Geneva will long lament this decision. Mere policy, to say nothing of better motives, should have induced the company to retain such a man as Gaussen within the pale of the established communion, rather than have forced him and all his numerous friends to become Dissenters.

In the mean while, we rejoice to say that "the Evangelical Society" prospers, and that the theological seminary has been founded and is in action. We have felt much interested in reading the opening lecture of the professor of theology, and strongly recommend the new seminary to the liberal assistance of British Christians, as it stands greatly in need of aid. We subjoin some passages relative to the Evangelical Society and the Seminary :

The great object of the Société Evangélique is to restore the true and orthodox doctrines of the Gospel, which, through a vain philosophy, have been so long lost to the Genevan church, and one of the most effectual means for accomplishing this end is the establishment of a Theological Academy, to train up young men for the ministry in sound and orthodox principles. This institution has already been set on foot; the professors engaged are men of distinguished talent, expressing their firm adherence to the doctrines contained in the Articles of the Church of England, and the Helvetic Confession of Faith."

The founders of this school desire that

the churches should know that it is undertaken in faith. When they resolved to establish it, they saw only the necessity of the institution, and their own inability for the undertaking. It was in faith they looked for means and for success. In taking upon themselves a task of which both the importance and the extent were apparent, they believed themselves encouraged to commit the issue with humble confidence into the hands of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Head of the church. To Him accordingly they committed it, and on His faithfulness they rely."

"This school was indispensable; and it is but too easy to prove the fact. If the youths who go to the academies of France and Geneva, to qualify themselves for the ministry of the Word of Life, are there taught the Unitarian doctrines ;if the very truths, for the sake of which our professorships were founded, our schools opened, and our institutions formed, are there condemned;-if the studies in those schools are not free, that is to say, if the pupils attached to the faith of the Apostles and Reformers are not at liberty to follow the instructions which correspond with their faith and satisfy their consciences;-if pious parents, desirous of devoting their sons to the ministry of the Gospel, are compelled to condemn them to consume the four best years of their youth in studies which subvert the foundations of our faith :-in a word, if it be true that Arianism saps the very foundations of the Gospel, then assuredly the establishment of a new school of theology was indispensable."

THE RIGHT REV. DR. TURNER, BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. (Continued from Appendix for 1831.) THE Memoir of Bishop Turner in the Appendix to our last volume, related chiefly to his life, up to the period of his voyage to India, with some account of the closing scene of his mortal existence. We passed briefly over his labours in his diocese, hoping to furnish a fuller notice of them in a future Number, and we are happy in being able to lay before our readers the following particulars drawn up by Archdeacon Corrie, and printed, by his permission, in Calcutta.

"It is due to the memory of this excellent prelate, and may not be unacceptable to those who feel an interest in the progressive improvement of British India, to take some notice of the events by which that progress has been marked during the brief period of his episcopate, events in the accomplishment of which he himself took so prominent a part. That period did not exceed one year and seven months, of which eight only were passed at Cal

cutta; and yet during this short space of time he originated so many useful and benevolent measures, that, brief as it was, the period must always be viewed as an important era in the history of this set

tlement."

"One of the first things which struck the late bishop, on his arrival in India, was the indispensable necessity of taking steps to encourage a due observance of the Lord's Day among the Christian community. Having only recently quitted a part of the world where that observance is enforced by law, he thought it incumbent on him at least to invite the voluntary practice of it in Calcutta, and by that means prevail, if possible, on its Christian inhabitants generally to set an example, which the government itself, yielding to the force of public opinion, might perhaps eventually be brought to imitate. He was aware that his predecessors, Bishop Middleton and Bishop Heber, the one officially, and the other privately, had endeavoured to prevail on the government to enforce such observance in the public departments, but without success; and

he thought that an application from the Christian community at large, after agreeing to conform to it themselves, might be more effectual. With this view he circulated a paper, inviting all sincere Christians to declare that they would personally in their families, and to the utmost limits of their influence, adopt, and encourage others to adopt such measures as might tend to establish a decent and orderly observance of the Lord's Day, that as far as depended on themselves, they would neither employ, nor allow others to employ on their behalf or in their service, on that day, native workmen and artizans in the exercise of their ordinary calling; that they would give a preference to those Christian tradesmen who were willing to adopt this regulation, and to act upon it constantly and unreservedly in the management of their business, and that they would be ready, when it might be deemed expedient, to join in presenting an address to the Right Hon. the Govenor-General in Council, praying that orders might be issued to suspend all labour on public works upon the Lord's Day, as well as all such business in the government offices, as could, without embarrassment to the service, be dispensed with.

"The expressions used in this paper are those of the act of the British Parliament which is in force on the subject. The declaration, as already stated, was framed only for Christians, and especially for those who are convinced of the duty of attending to Christian obligations. The purpose of the circular was to invite and to encourage the voluntary practice of those observances which in England are enforced by law. Christian individuals were invited to pursue a Christian object on Christian principles; and yet this measure, so strictly in accordance with what his situation as head of the Established Church in India rendered it proper in the bishop to adopt, was met by a portion of the community professing themselves Christian, with a degree of hostility and misrepresentation, for which no difference of opinion as to the mere expediency of the course proposed to be pursued for effecting an object so desirable in a Christian point of view, can, we conceive, be considered by any reflecting person, as a sufficient apology. When warned, which he previously was, of the obloquy which would probably be cast upon him for the attempt, he replied, that personal considerations of that sort would never deter him from doing his duty.' He persevered, and the result proved the anticipation to have been well founded. He had the satisfaction of knowing, that notwithstanding the hostility and misrepresentations in question, the object in view, namely, the due observance of the Lord's Day, was even here extensively promoted by the measure, and at one of the sister

presidencies his endeavours for the same purpose were afterwards still more successful.

"But it was not the spiritual interests of Christians alone, that occupied his attention: he felt the deepest concern in the operations of the Missionary Establishments generally, and in all proceedings set on foot for the purpose of disseminating Christianity among the natives; and for the furtherance of the views of the Calcutta Church Missionary Society, of which he was the patron, he was earnestly engaged in devising plans and making arrangements when his last illness overtook him. The Diocesan Committees of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge and of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, have recorded their grateful sense of the attention paid by him to the interests of these bodies.

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"But the measures from which the greatest benefits may be expected to be derived, are those introduced by the Bishop to improve the system of public instruction, and which, had he been spared to see them carried into effect, would in all probability have realized on that head as much as is attainable in this distant quarter. With him originated the Infant School, the first which was ever instituted at least in this part of India, and the whole expense of which was borne by him till his death. In the Christian Intelligencer for October 1830, this institution is spoken of as follows: It is highly gratifying to see the facility with which some of the children add and subtract by means of the Abacus; and the progress the elder ones have made in reading, writing, and needle work, is quite surprising. Indeed altogether the scene is highly interesting. Every humane heart must rejoice to see so many infants snatched like "brands from the fire," and placed in an institution where their innocent and tender minds will be trained up in the fear of the Lord, and in habits of order, cleanliness, and usefulness. The Bishop of the diocese has, we think, done much for the rising generation in establishing this interesting institution, and we trust the example will be followed not only in all the parochial districts of Calcutta; but likewise in other large towns, and also in the other presidencies of India.'

"The graduated system of which he laid the foundation, and which was intended, by means of the Infant School, the Free School, the High School, and Bishop's College, to provide for the intellectual wants of infancy, childhood, youth, and opening manhood, would have left nothing hardly in this respect for the Christian community to require, but his views, as already stated, were not confined merely to that community; he thought he saw in the state of things which had already been effected, an opening through which Christian instruction might be successfully im

of commons, by a larger majority than even before; and has been received so far with acceptance by the house of lords, as to be marked down for a second reading. There can be little doubt that it will ultimately pass in substance, either with or without a creation of new peers. This last particular will probably be regulated, according as government may find its strength require in the details in the committee. We can only repeat what we said twelve months ago, that the question having been once proposed, the sooner it is settled the better. Would that the evils which have been caused by the procrastination and virulent political contentions consequent upon it could be blotted out. It seems to be felt by all moderate men, that the risk of another rejection would be fearful indeed. The tone of Lord Harrowby and Lord Wharncliffe, was peculiarly temperate; and the Bishop of London, and, it is understood, other members of the Right Reverend bench, have determined to support the bill.

The fearful disease with which it has pleased God to afflict this, in common with many other countries, has been mercifully moderated in its progress. Its incursions, however, are sufficient to create great anxiety; and in the metropolis especially, not only the malady, but the commercial and other evils connected with its presence, have been very serious. The eye of the Christian, in a season like this, will be directed upwards with faith and prayer, that it may please God in the midst of judgment to remember mercy. The precautions used have in His infinite goodness, been permitted hitherto to moderate the ravages of this plague; but every person must feel how completely it is beyond human controul, and how entirely we are in the hands of Him who is infinitely wise, and merciful, and just.

The state of the Established Church of Ireland has again caused much discussion in and out of parliament. The commutation of tithes seems not only desirable, but necessary: our only fear is, that the measures in progress are a prelude to the appropriation of at least a portion of the ecclesiastical revenue to other purposes than the maintenance of a Protestant Church-Establishment. Any plan that shall recognise the Papal Church, as a national institution, would be utterly contrary to those principles which as Protestant Christians we ought to adhere to, even in sight of the rack and the flame. The temporal emoluments of the church are quite a secondary matter: but to patronize the corrupt and delusive system of Rome, would be wholly unscriptural, and a stain on England that would blot out the brightest memorial of her escutcheon as the bulwark and glory of the Refor

mation.

Closely connected with this question is that of the instruction of the infant Irish population; yet, anxious as we are for

the extension of education, we rejoice as Christians and Protestants to perceive the decided stand which has been made against the proposed plan of mutilating the Scriptures, in compliance with the opinions of the papal priesthood. There may have been considerable exaggeration in the popular statements of the question, and all such phrases as " tearing the Bibles out of the people's hands" had been better avoided, as not strictly descriptive of the fact; and we are willing also to believe, that those who have proposed the plan, or rather adopted it upon the frequent recommendation of successive commissioners, meant only to encourage intellectual, moral, and useful education, and were not aware that the measure involved the exceptionable principle which has called forth such powerful remonstrances; but the principle itself we cannot but think highly exceptionable and anti-Protestant, and we trust that even yet a plan may be devised which shall afford popular education on a national scale, without any dereliction of religious and conscientious feeling. If such a plan cannot be discovered, it were better, much as we should regret to relinquish a system of national education, that the population should be left to its own efforts and the assistance of private Protestant benevolence. In any case we earnestly trust that the Kildare-place Society, the Hibernian Society, the Irish Society, and kindred institutions, will be enabled by public Christian liberality, not only to continue but to extend their respective systems, so as to continue to afford to Ireland the advantages of scriptural education.

Among the notices in our last Number, we had intended, under the head of India, to advert to the subject of the countenance afforded to the atrocities of the native superstitions by the East-Indian government. There has been considerable discussion on the matter in the newspapers, and Mr. Poynder has given notice for a motion respecting it at the board of the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge on the third of April. We have seen a copy of his proposed memorial, which is so temperately worded that we can perceive no impropriety in the Society's adopting it; having already memorialized both the Government and the East-India Company on other occasions, particularly the question of bishops in India. Society appeared to us to go further out of its way when it petitioned parliament against Roman-Catholic emancipation, than it would in adverting to a question which has a very obvious bearing upon the cause of Christianity in India, one of the most honoured seats of its Christian exertions. The horrible scenes of licentiousness and cruelty exhibited at Juggernaut and the other native temples, ought' not for one moment to be upheld by European countenance; for the taxation of an article renders it licit in the public eye,

The

just as gaming houses and the abodes of vice have been taxed in various countries, and the wages of iniquity allowed to curse the fiscal chest.

The Plurality Bill is proceeding through its stages in the house of lords, but not without so much opposition, and from adverse quarters, both there and elsewhere, that the Most Reverend prelate who introduced it has been disheartened, he says, at this untoward reception, and has almost felt inclined to relinquish it altogether. The obvious cause of the difficulty is, that the bill is not founded on any basis of sound principle. Even pluralities (as distinct from dualities) are not abolished by it; and dualities are positively sanctioned and facilitated, the archbishop being authorized to grant a dispensation for them, provided the benefices are not more than thirty miles apart; the dispensation to be granted as a matter of course, where the livings are together under 400. per annum, however large the population; and in all other cases, if the incumbent be a Master of Arts, or otherwise recommended for learning and character, however large the population or the emolument. It is on all hands understood that the archbishop is to grant the dispensation as a matter of course: if he do not, there is an appeal to the privy counsel; but let the reader mark, there is no such appeal to reverse his sentence, where he joins livings which ought not to be joined. The whole bill is constructed on this lax system: it prohibits not only pluralities, but dualities; but, having verbally prohibited them, it goes on to leave ample openings for the former, and actually facilitates the latter, as his Grace expressly stated. A bill thus proceeding upon no solid principle, which goes so far as to provoke those, who, like Lord Wynford, regard the church as a matter of property and family emolument, without going far enough to satisfy those who really wish for its spiritual efficiency, and desire to see a resident incumbent in every parish, could not but meet with opposition; and it is nothing but the present perilous state of the church, and the fear of causing mischief by excitement, that has prevented the table of the house of lords being covered with petitions, praying that the fundamental enactment of the bill should be retained, and its dispensing clauses be restricted to those cases in which the two livings are under a specified moderate value, contain not more than such a population, and are not distant above such a number of miles as may allow of their being efficiently superintended by one incumbent, with or without a curate. trust even yet, that the bill will be amend ed and made reconcileable to sound principle; for the plan hitherto pursued, of trimming and paring in matters of church legislation, just to secure this or that vote without offending another, never pleases any party, and leads only to mi

We

serable weakness and abortion. There wants but the intellect to grasp, and the virility to pursue, a sound principle, to gain for it in the end a triumphant course; and it were better to be vanquished once or twice and succeed in the end, than to nibble bit by bit while the whole fabric is crumbling over our heads. The wellinformed, religious, and respectable portion of the public, especially those who have the interest of the church at heart, are far in advance of the present bill; and it cannot therefore satisfy them, while it is as distasteful to those who view the church as a mere money-making matter, as if it went further and set the question at rest effectually. The church-building bill of last year is a case strongly in point, and instead of a weak ricketty measure, the public now enjoys a law of a truly salutary and efficient character. We do implore the heads of the church to reconsider this matter. If they take it up upon sound principle, the whole nation will be with them as one man, and they need not fear the force of interested opposition; but at present they lie aground between ebb and flood, and no one cares to offer a life-boat for their assistance. Let them cast themselves upon the providence of God, to bless their religious and disinterested labours; and their exertions, we feel persuaded, will not be in vain. One of the first effects would be the adequate augmentation of poor livings, which will never take place under the present system, for the cumulators of patronage and preferment do not wish it, as it would do away with the only pretext for pluralism. We are far from intending our remarks to be couched in a tone disrespectful to the Right Reverend bench, and least of all to the Most Reverend prelate who brought in the bill. moters of it have considered what they thought could be carried through the house of lords, rather than what they themselves thought desirable. They consulted the feelings of lay-patrons, instead of the plain common sense of the ques

tion.

The pro

We respect their motives, but we lament their decision; and the more so, as by it the most favourable opportunity will be lost which has ever been afforded since the days of the Reformation, of putting an end to this opprobrium of our church.

We rejoice to hear, on every hand, of efforts in progress for the better observance of the Lord's-day. Our readers will have perused with much interest, in the sequel to the obituary of Bishop Turner, the efforts made by that excellent prelate in India; and we have a variety of valuable communications from friends to the same object, not only at home but in America and on the continent of Europe. We subjoin, with much satisfaction, the following passage from the Dublin Christian Examiner, stating the present sentiments of the Archbishop of Dublin,r elative to