though her name is not so indicative of the sacred object for which she is gone, have the Lord with her, and may she be the means of bringing Him to those who are at present afar off from Him!

In 1579 we read of a patent being granted to Sir Humfrey Gilbert for settling in America, which was followed by his expedition to Newfoundland; and from all we hear of his character-from his tranquillity in the midst of the storm at sea-from his pious answer, when reminded of the danger they were in-"We are as near to Heaven by sea as by land"-from his determination not to forsake his little company, with whom he had passed so many storms and perils we must think that, if he had been allowed to accomplish his purpose, he would indeed have made it one of his first objects that the true word of God should be preached, and his church planted, among those to whom he came.

In 1610, Mr. Guy, of Bristol, an enterprising man, undertook to found a colony in the island, and seems to have gone forth with hopes too sanguine, and schemes too vast, for his having a chance of realizing them, with the means and agents at his command. The only interesting incident of his expedition that now occurs to us is, that, when he returned to England, he left the colony in charge of William Colston, who took a much juster view of the real difficulties with which they had to contend. But the name and history of William Colston assures us that, in the brief space in which he administered the affairs of the colony, the glory of God and the souls of men would not be neglected and unthought of.

Captain Whitburn was sent out to Newfoundland by the government of England in 1615, to correct some abuses which had been committed in the Fishery; and again, in 1618, to superintend a small colony, which Dr. Vaughan, a Welsh gentleman, had planted there. But from his account of both expeditions we cannot gather that much was done to promote religion; except, indeed, that he mentions that crimes of a very cruel and heinous kind were common; that little or no regard was paid by many to the sanctity of the Sabbath; and also that the lords of the Privy Council addressed a letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, by which we might infer that some steps were taken for advancing the church in that colony, which they were so earnest in formning.

On Lord Baltimore's expedition to Avalon, we need not dwell. His reason for quitting England, and the name which he gave to his new abode, both show that he considered religion to be no vain thing, but his very life-and though, in the form in which he promoted it, there was, as we believe, an admixture of much error, still we must consider it a cause for thankfulness to God, that in this neglected land Christ should have been preached at all, and especially

desolate spot, hitherto but seldom cheered with the enjoyment of the means of grace."-Quarterly Paper of S. P.G., No. xxxi.

"The Hawk arrived at St. John's on Sunday, Sept. 15, after a prosperous voyage of only sixteen days from Torquay."-Quarterly Paper of S.P.G., No. xxxii.

The name of Avalon was given to this settlement from the ancient name of Glastonbury, where Christianity was first preached in Britain.-Sir R. Bonnycastle.

by those who were so much in earnest as, for the sake of worshipping him after the manner of their fathers, to give up their homes, and their friends, and much of what is counted dear in life.

But all these passed away, and no trace of their efforts to plant the church, if they made any, is left; and during the long period from 1630 till 1705, we can find no mention of a single effort being made in Newfoundland to declare "the only name whereby men can be saved." Ships went every year to the coast, and returned to their several countries, laden with the wealth which they had gained there, but though very much of the food, which was eaten on fast days by the members of the church, came from Newfoundland, it neverseems to have occurred to these persons to remember the inhabitants of that land, or the people employed in procuring the produce of it. The account which the historian of New England gives of the state of things with respect to religion in Newfoundland at this time, may convey to our minds an exact picture of its deplorable condition. "I have heard," he says, " that one of our ministers, once preaching to a congregation there, urged them to approve themselves a religious people from this consideration, that otherwise they would contradict the main end of planting this wilderness,' whereupon a well-known person then in the assembly cried out, Sir, you are mistaken! You think you are preaching to the people at the bay. Our main end was to catch fish.' Truly, 'twere to have been wished," adds the narrator, "that something more excellent had been the main end of the settlements in that brave country."

All this time, for seventy years, we hear of nothing but squabbles among the different nations for the right of fishing, and reports of the corrupt and degraded manners of the persons whom they employed. To yield fish and to nurture seamen were the only purposes for which Newfoundland was thought to have been created; and whether the people, who dwelt there, had souls or not, or whether Christ died to redeem those souls, seemed to be a matter of indifference with the various branches of the church, in our own land or elsewhere.

In 1705, we read of Mr. Jackson being sent by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to St. John's; and from his letters to the Society, describing his great poverty, his large family, and the various difficulties in which he was plunged, we cannot suppose that much good could have come from his labours. It was at a time when the church did not take an adequate measure of its duties and responsibilities; and therefore we cannot be surprised that the arrangements made for administering God's word and sacraments to our people beyond the seas were scanty and mean, and the persons found to carry them into effect, in many points poorly furnished for so high and holy an undertaking. All the religion we hear of in Newfoundland at this time consisted in the periodical visits and services of two or three missionaries from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at the principal settlements of the island.

*A more full and particular account of the blessings brought by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel to Newfoundland at this time may be found in Mr. Anderson's History of the Colonial Church, just published. An excellent book, VOL. XXVII.-June, 1845.

2 U

In the meantime the colony was improving, trade increasing, the people multiplying; but, alas! religion was at the very lowest ebb. There was enough to bear witness for God, and to condemn those who professed to be his servants, and that was all. And though there may have been even then some "hidden saints," as there have been always in the darkest places, they do not seem to have made any decided effort to "let their light so shine before men, that they might see their good works, and glorify their Father which is in Heaven."

We find that, in 1772, Methodism was introduced into the colony by the Rev. Laurence Conglane, a clergyman of the established church. In 1778, the Presbyterians set up their first meeting house, under the pastoral superintendence of Mr. John Jones; and in 1786, the Roman catholics sent out their first prefect and vicar-apostolic, Dr. O'Donnel. And as we recount these things, can we forbear lamenting that Christians should be so divided? What a sight to the poor, ignorant dwellers on those dark coasts must it have been to see so many differing teachers all naming the name of Christ! And well might they have asked, Is Christ divided, as you his followers are?

To our shame be it spoken, the church of England made no real efforts for the promotion of religion. Though most of the principal merchants of Newfoundland, both at home and there, professed to belong to the church of England, we hear of no great sacrifices, or indeed any sacrifices at all, being made, either by individuals or companies, for the sake of strengthening and enlarging the church, either to build places of worship, or to establish schools, or to endow ministers. All was left to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which did what it could; and, with its then limited amount of men or money at its command, that was little enough.

In 1820, a feeling of the deplorable state of the colony was awakened in England by Mr. Codner and others, who had been eye-witnesses of the dreadful ignorance and vice into which the greater part of the inhabitants had fallen, through the want of the means of religious instruction, and of the public worship of God; and, in consequence, the Newfoundland School Society was instituted, which did its best to remedy the evil, by sending schoolmasters, and setting up schools, in some of the principal stations of the island. But a society is not the church, nor are schoolmasters men "on whom a dispensation of the Gospel is laid" to preach with authority the Gospel of Christ: and when we say that something higher and better was wanted, we have the authority of an eye-witness, who thus touchingly laments the want of ordained ministers. "But I am ashamed of speaking of any wants when I remember the grand distress, the terrible want of all, the want of churches meet for Christian worship, the want even of the homeliest churches; and, much more, the want of men to officiate in them. For I see that many irregular and slovenly practices pass

and full of valuable information to those who are interested in comparing the progress of Christianity with that of colonization. See vol. i. chap. xi. for a very good account of the steps which have been taken at different times to extend the church of Christ in Newfoundland; which, if it had been seen in time, would have made the present sketch wholly unnecessary.

unnoticed when the schoolmaster becomes the minister; and it is plain that the fishermen, simple though they be, are not simple. enough to be contented with this imperfect arrangement."

In 1827, the church in Newfoundland was comforted and refreshed by the visit of the Bishop of Nova Scotia, of whose diocese it then formed a part; and his affecting journal in the report of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for 1828, may give us some idea, not only of the lamentable spiritual destitution which prevailed throughout the land, but of the self-denying labours and costly sacrifices made by many of the clergy to supply it. That visit of the Bishop of Nova Scotia did much more for Newfoundland than merely set things in order there, for it made known in England the actual state of religion in the colony; and those who had the cause of God and the welfare of the souls of men at heart saw that it would not do to leave so large and increasing a portion of the church void of that polity and government which are absolutely necessary to its efficiency. First of all, an archdeacon was appointed by the government at home, and the Rev. Edward Wix was selected to fill the office; and his most touching journal of a Six Months' Visitation still further enlightened the minds of men on the subject of the needs of the church there. Then, in 1839, a bishop was appointed, to whom the government allowed the salaries heretofore paid to the two archdeacons of Newfoundland and the Bermudas; and Dr. Aubrey Spencer was consecrated to the bishopric. During the three years of his prelacy, the number of the clergy in the island was increased from eight to twenty-five. Readers and schoolmasters were appointed in almost every station; Sundayschools were everywhere originated or revived; a theological seminary of future missionaries was established at the capital. More than twenty churches were erected, and many buildings, already consecrated for divine worship, were enlarged and repaired. Such were the external appearances of improvement in the short space of time that Bishop Spencer occupied the see of Newfoundland. In 1843, Bishop Spencer was translated to the see of Jamaica, and the Rev. Edward Field, D.D., was consecrated Bishop of Newfoundland on Sunday, April 28th, 1844.

For a review of the proceedings and prospects of the church under his superintendence, I will trespass on your pages in the next Number. R. D.

JEWISH REFORM AT HOME AND ABROAD.

SIR, AS some of your readers may not know what is passing amongst the Jews of our own country, and still less what occupies the attention of religious and devout Israelites abroad, it may not be displeasing to them to have a few notices on the subject of reform derived from Jewish sources. About ten years since, some members of the London synagogues began to express dissatisfaction with the oral law, and consequently, with the liturgies of the synagogues, in which the divine authority of that oral law was unequivocally asserted, and some

striking specimens of Talmudic legends and ancient intolerance were preserved. They demanded a revision of their Prayer-books, and the exclusion of that which they deemed objectionable. Their demands were rejected, and therefore they withdrew, performed the work of expurgation themselves, and in Burton-crescent, fitted up a new synagogue, and formed themselves into a new congregation. In 1811, the first volume of their Prayer-book appeared, with an English translation and a temperate preface, in which they thus set forth the principles by which they were guided :

"Two indispensable requisites of a petition, with which man may approach his God, are, first, that the prayer should be perfectly intelligible to the mind of the humble suppliant; and, secondly, that the sentiments which it expresses should be of a pure and elevating character. In our collection, we have, with all solicitude, retained those portions of the common rituals only in which these essentials are to be found. We have removed those parts of the service which are deficient in devotional tendency; and have expunged the few expressions which are known to be the offspring of feelings produced by oppression, and are universally admitted to be foreign to the heart of every true Israelite of our day."-To review their labours and compare the new Prayer-book with the old, may be the work of a future day; but would, at present, lead me away from my hasty sketch of the fate and progress of reform, especially on the continent of Europe. The secession and the Prayer-book drew forth from the unreforming party the two following documents, which are worthy of preservation :

Vestry Room, Bevis Marks, 13 Sebat, 5602,-24th Jan. 1842. The gentlemen of the Mahamad, take this method to make known to the members of the congregation generally, the following Proclamation which was read at Synagogue on Sabbath last.

PROCLAMATION.

The gentlemen of the Mahamad, with deep regret, publish to the congre gation a "Declaration" signed by the ecclesiastical authorities of our nation in this country, which has been forwarded to them for publication. The Mahamad at the same time having received information that a place of worship is about to be opened by persons calling themselves British Jews, wherein a ritual is to be observed, which has been proscribed by authority; the Mahamad caution every true Israelite from attending any such place of worship, or sanctioning or countenancing in any way such establishment.

COPY OF DECLARATION.

"Information having reached me, from which it appears that certain persons calling themselves British Jews publicly, and in their published Book of Prayer, reject the oral law, I deem it my duty to declare that according to the laws and statutes held sacred by the whole House of Israel, any person or persons publicly declaring that he or they reject, and do not believe in the authority of the oral law, cannot be permitted to have any communion with us Israelites in any religious rite, or sacred act. I, therefore, earnestly entreat and exhort all God-fearing Jews (especially parents), to caution and instruct all persons belonging to our faith, that they be careful to attend to this declaration, and that they be not induced to depart from our holy laws." (Signed) "S. HIRSCHEL, Chief Rabbi.”

"23, Bury-street, 24 Elul, 5601, A.M."