appointment in the latter part of August, ❘ them the duty of erecting a house for the and it is presumed is now engaged in the performance of its duties, although no communication has as yet been received from him.* worship of the living God. Many of the people are rich, and they complied with my request. They have finished a very commodious house, which will conveniently hold 700 people. I preached the dedication sermon on the 15th instant, from lat Kings viii. 13 and 27. The Church was overflowing, and all appeared very solema. On the same day, with the assistance of twe ved for Church membership, nine persons from the world. With them, and six professors, I formed a Church of 15 members. I dispensed baptism to 3 adults. The whole of the exercises were attended t with the utmost solemnity, and I trust lasting impressions were made on all present. It was a day long to be remembered by the people of Western. The Lord's Supper was dispensed last Sabbath. The members unanimously resolved to become a Presbyterian Church, and two elders were chosen." He adds "thus, through divine grace, I have accomplished what I have long laboured and prayed for, and may the Lord build up this infant Church, and make it a praise in the earth." The Rev. John Dunlap, of the Associate Reformed Church, has spent another year in the service of the Society, as their missionary in the counties of Oswego, Oneida, Herkimer, and St. Lawrence. The Board have received from him a number of communica-ministers, there were examined and appro tions. During the year, he has formed four new Presbyterian Churches: one at Volney, one at Western, another at Vienna, and the fourth at Oswego falls. There had been at Volney a congregational Church of some years' standing, but it had fallen into ruins. After labouring there for some time, he, in the month of December, at their earnest request, organized them into a Presbyterian Church, of twenty-eight members, ordained three elders, and dispensed among them the Lord's Supper. In speaking of this event, Mr. Dunlap remarks, "this, I think, was the most solemn day I ever witnessed. The solemnities lasted three hours and an half. The weather was extremely cold; and, after taking some refreshment, I rode four miles, through snow two feet deep, and preached in the evening." He gives the following account of the organization of the Church at Western, in a letter of the 20th January. "I have the satisfaction to inform you, that Western, a town to which I had given a part of my services during the last year, has exceeded my expectations. It was in the most deplorable state when I first visited it, and the most unpromising field I ever laboured in. It had never enjoyed the stated ordinances of God's worship, but was a thoroughfare for Chrystians, and other sectaries. There was no place of public worship, except a very small meeting-house of the Friends. A request was made for a part of my services. I complied with it, and among other things urged upon Since the Annual Meeting, the Board have been informed that Mr. Davenport entered on his Mission in the beginning of October, and was still diligently employed in fulfilling its dutise. [To be continued.] THE REV. MESS. SCHERMERHORN [Concluded from page 432.] Niagara district contains about 12,000 inhabitants, and Grimsby town, 1 Episcopal Church, 1 Presbyterian Church. 1 Episcopal Preacher. Caiston town, chiefly Methodists. Gainsboro' town, 1 Presbyterian Church. Minister. Grantham town, 1 Episcopal Society, 1| shore of Lake Erie, a distance of fifty or • Presbyterian Church. 1 Presbyterian sixty miles, the country is very thickly settled; but there are no ministers in this region but Mr. Burns and Mr. Addison at Niagara. This is a very destitute region with respect to the Gospel, and calls very Niagara town, 1 Episcopal Church, 1 Presbyterian Church. 1Episcopal Rector, and 1 Presbyterian Minister. Stamford town, 1 Presbyterian Church, loud for missionary service. The people and 1 Dutch Church. are truly in a careless and stupid state; but Thorald town, 1 Presbyterian Church. | if a faithful missionary were sent to this re Willoughby town, 1 Mennese Society. gion, we have reason to believe it would be attended with good consequences. Many of the inhabitants are anxious to have mis Humberstone and Mainfleet towns, prin- sionaries visit them, and they mourn and cipally Mennese and Methodists. There is a Methodist circuit through this district, and one or two itinerants on the same. The Episcopal Preachers who reside at Ancaster and Grimbsby have lately arrived from England. The one who resides at Grimsby also preaches at Grantham, though we believe both these Societies were formerly Lutheran. weep over the deplorable situation of the country. Niagara, Queenston, Chippewa, and Fort Erie, it would be important for a missionary to bestow a great part of his labours upon. At Niagara there is a Bible Society organized. London district contains about 9,000 inhabitants, and the towns, Churches, and Ministers following: Rainham and Walpole towns, chiefly Mennese. Burford town, 1 Baptist Society. 1 Baptist Preacher. Blenheim town. Oxford town, 1 Baptist Preacher. Norwich town, 1 Presbyterian Society, I Quaker Society. The Rev. Lewis Williams, an Independent from England, preaches in Grantham, Lowth, and Thorald. Since the late war he has returned from a visit to England, and brought with him a number of Bibles, Psalm-books, &c. which were very much needed, and has sold them in different parts of the province. Mr. Eastman, who resides at Barton, in the district of Gore, preaches to the Presbyterian societies of Gainsboro' and Grimsby, within this dis-1 trict. The Rev. John Burns preaches in Niagara, where he resides, and in Queens-ham towns, 1 Methodist Church, 1 Presbyton and the Dutch society in Stamford. He terian Society, 1 Baptist Church. 1 Bapis in connexion with the Associate Reformed Synod in the United States. He has also the charge of the district school. The Rev. Mr. Addison is an Episcopal clergyman settled at Niagara, and also is the missionary to the Indians of the Six Nations on Grand River. The Scotch Presbyterian church at Stamford is a large and wealthy society. They are at present destitute, and are anxious to obtain a faithful pious man to be placed over them as a minister. Windham and Townsend towns, 1 Baptist Society each, 1 Presbyterian Church. Independent Minister, 1 Baptist Elder. Woodhouse, Charlotteville, and Walsing tist Elder. Houghton town. Bayham, Malachide, Yarmouth, Southwold, Dunwich, and Aldboro towns constitute the Talbot-Street set:lement. Delaware, Westininster, Dorchester, and Dereham, are new towns on the River Thames, and have but few inhabitants. This district, in many respects, is the finest part of the province; especially as it respects the climate. About twenty years From Niagara to Fort Erie, and along the since the Rev. Mr. Culver, a Minister, in connexion with Morris county Presbytery, Western district contains about 8000 in Orford, (East and West,) Howard, Har in New-Jersey, removed to Windham, habitants, and the following towns. where he has resided ever since. He is now very old and infirm, and entirely unable to wich, Raleigh, East and West Tilbury, preach. He organized a Church in this Romney, Mersea, Gosfield, Colchester, place and Townsend, to which have been Malden, Sandwich, Maidstone, Rochester, admitted about one hundred members since Shawneetown, Chatham,and Camden West. its formation, and he has been useful in This district we have not visited personpreaching through the region where he ally. We are informed there is an Episcoresides. pal Minister settled at Sandwich; that In Windham and Townsend there is a there is a Roman Catholic Priest settled very respectable congregation and Church. somewhere along the Detroit-river, and anThe people are chiefly from New-England, other as a Missionary among the Huron InNew-York, and New-Jersey, and they are dians. That on the Thames-river there is extremely anxious to have a Presbyterian the Moravian Missionary station, in the Minister settled over them. In Woodhouse town of Orford West, where are stationed and Charlotteville, although there is no two Missionaries, who have several Indian *Presbyterian Church organized, there are assistants. This Missionary station was several Presbyterian families, and others broken up during the war, but it is now not professedly so, who wish a Presbyterian again in a prosperous state. Minister settled among them. Several of Through Gosfield, Mersea, and Romney, the most respectable inhabitants in the four there is a new settlement forming, in some towns just mentioned have requested us to part of which we understand there is a procure a Minister for them; and they have Baptist Preacher or Exhorter. The Methoobligated themselves to pay the travelling dists have a circuit through this district, and expenses of a Minister we should recom- one Itinerant on the same. mend to them; and in case he did not settle The whole number of Methodist Itinerant with them, also his return expenses, and Preachers in the province is seventeen. allow him a reasonable compensation for his Along Lake St. Clair and Thames river services while he continued with them. the settlements extend within six miles of This region we deem a very eligible situa- the Moravian station; from thence to Dela. tion for a Minister to settle. The society, situation, and climate is pleasant, and the people able and willing to give a liberal support to an Evangelical Minister. ware, on the Thames, a distance of forty miles, it is an entire wilderness. It may not be improper to give the following brief statement of the Lower Province. The Talbot-Street settlement increases In 1814 the population was estimated at very rapidly, and settlements are formed 335,000 souls. Of this number 275,000 are for upwards of fifty miles along the Main- French. The Roman Catholic Clergy in Street. There is a Baptist Exhorter some- the province, are, the Bishop of Quebec; where in this settlement. We think this place requires the attention of Missionary Societies. a Coadjutor, with the title of the Bishop of Lalde; nine Vicars General, and about 200 Curates and Missionaries, spread over the different districts of the province.--Bur The Methodists have a circuit through this district, and two itinerants on the chette's Topography of Canada, p. 19. same. Rev. Mr. Freeman, a local preacher | The Episcopal Clergy are, the Lord-Biof great merit, in Charlotteville, received us shop of Quebec, and five Missionaries, supvery cordially, and showed us every mark ported by the Society (in England) for proof kindness and hospitality. We preached pogating the Gospel. several times in their Meeting-house. We have not heard of more than four or Live Presbyterian Ministers in this province; too successful with some, while we rejoice two of whom are stationed at Montreal, and to add, they have been rejected with disone or two at Quebec; and the Rev. Thad- dain by others. The Episcopal Meetingdeus Osgood near the Lake Merphromagog. houses are all closed against Dissenting MiThe Episcopal Church in Canada, like nisters, and even school-houses, where they that in England, is supported by the govern- are under the control of the Clergyman, as ment. For this purpose one-seventh of all at York. How very different this from the the lands already granted, or yet to be Christian spirit manifested by the Episcopal granted, within the Upper Province, is re- brethren in the East-Indies, where Misserved, which is denominated Clergy sionaries of the cross of all denominations Reserves. This grant of lands to the and countries, are received with joy and Episcopal Church is in lieu of tithes.- fellowship, as fellow-labourers in the GosThe Clergy reserves are let on leases of pel. We did not find this little bigotry and twenty-one years, which already bring prejudice prevalent among the laymen of in a considerable sum, and must eventually the Episcopal communion, from whom we produce an immense revenue. According received many acts of hospitality and attento instructions from the Crown, the lieut. tion, and who condemned such conduct in gov. is invested with power to erect Rec- their teachers. Great exertions are making tories or Parsonages, in the different towns, to extend the bounds of the Episcopal and to endow them with any proportion Church in Canada. For this purpose subof lands, reserved in respect of such towns, scriptions are making in England to build and to present incumbents subject to the Churches, and exertions are making to obBishops right of institution. Dissenters of tain Clergymen for them. The Rector of all denominations are tolerated, and pro- York has also a few young men under his tected by law. They are not subject to care in a course of preparation for orders. tithes, or civil disabilities, nor disqualified for offices or a seat in the legislature. Their contracts respecting the support of public worship are legally inforcible. The Rector at Kingston is also Mis sionary to the Mohawk Indians on the Bay of Quinte, from whom he resides about fifty miles; and the Rector of Niagara to The Episcopal Clergymen in this pro- those on Grand River, from whom he revince are ten, and are stationed at Corn-sides about seventy miles. We are informwall, Williamsburg, Augusta, Kingston, ed, that they do not visit these Indians Ernestown, York, Ancaster, Grimsby, Niagara, and Sandwich. Nine of them are Missionaries of the Society (in England) for the propagation of the Gospel. In sentiment they are not what would be called evangelical by the "Christian Observers." Their public services are principally one sermon on the Sabbath, which but few, comparatively, attend. oftener than once or twice a year, and then make a very short stay. Sometimes no longer than to perform service and adminis ter the ordinances. At the Grand River, Aaron, an Indian of a Christian character, reads the Episcopal service on the Sabbath, to which the Indians are very attentive. He also as a proxy performs the marriage ceremony, and administers the ordinance of Dissenting Ministers of all denominations, baptism, which acts the Reverend Missionawhether native subjects of Great Britain or ry ratifies or confirms when he visits them!! the United States, are regarded with a The principal part of the population of jealous eye, and considered as unwelcome Upper Canada were formerly Presbyteintruders by their Episcopal brethren, rians. Many of them from the want of Every allurement of a temporal nature has Presbyterian Ministers have since united been presented to them to make proselytes themselves with other Churches; but we of them, which we regret to say has proved were informed by some there, that it was denominations in Europe do not exist here; the people in general know nothing about them, and no advantage can be obtained therefore in continuing those differences. It is highly important to the interest of religion, that the Churches here be in a condition to transact all their ecclesiastical matters within themselves National jealousies, partialities, and prejudices dictate, as sound policy, that the Churches in one nation should not be under the jurisdiction of that of another. And the jealousies and animosities excited by the late war, render it expedient that as soon as they are in a state to transact their own ecclesiastical affairs in the order of the Gospel, that then our juris from necessity, and that they would gladly If Mr. Abner Wright should be ordained, again return to the bosom of the Presbyte- a Classis might be immediately formed; for rian Church were an opportunity afforded. the Rev. Mr. Jenkins is very anxious te The Presbyterians are of different denomi- unite with him and the Rev. Mr. McDowal nations, both from Europe and the United for this purpose. Should such a Classi States. They are of the established Church and Presbytery be organized, they will proof Scotland; the Burgers; the Reformed bably unite, for the purposes of discipline, Dutch; the Associate Reformed, and the and to promote the general interests of the Congregational Churches. In one sense Presbyterian Church among them. This the Churches in Canada are all inde-course would be wise and expedient, for pendent, for there is no bond of union be- the causes which gave rise to the different tween them, for there is no ecclesiastical judicatory in the province; although most of the Ministers are connected with ecclesiastical judicatures either in Europe or the United States. The inconveniences and evils incident to this state of things are very manifest, and similar to those which the Dutch Churches experienced while subject to the Church judicatures of Holland. It is utterly impossible for a Presbytery in Scotland to watch over its members in Canada, and in case of delinquency to bring a Minister to trial; a Minister settled here cannot enjoy the counsel and advice of his brethren, and in cases of discipline, should there be a real cause of grievance, it is not practicable to prosecute an appeal. Va-diction over them should cease. cant Societies cannot be supplied, nor new Societies organized, nor young men be ercouraged to enter the Ministry, when the inconvenience and expense of obtaining license and ordination must necessarily be very great; or else to proceed to preach Perth; who are Burgers. Rev. Robert without the sanction and approbation of the stewards of God's house, as is the case with several now in the province. The same evils and difficulties exist, though not in so great a degree, with regard to a union with Classes or Presbyteries in the United States. The Presbyterian Ministers in Canada feel and deplore this state of the Church, and are anxious to have ecclesiasti-niences for the want of ministerial support. cal judicatures organized within the province, to enable them to attend to ecclesiastical matters among themselves. The Rev. Mr. Easton, of Montreal, Taylor, Smart, and Bell, have forwarded a petition to the Burger Synod of Scotland to be organized as a Presbytery, under their jurisdiction. There are in this province at present eleven ordained Ministers, who call themselves Presbyterians. The Rev. William Taylor, Williamsburg; Rev. William Smart, Brockville; Rev. William Bell, M'Dowal, Fredericksburg, Dutch Reformed Church; Rev. Messrs. Sheriff, Hallowell; Jenkins, Makhan; Burns, Niagara, of the Associate Reformed Synod. And the Rev. Messrs. Lewis Williams, Gratham; Eastman, Barton; Culver, Windham; and Philips, Southwold, Congregational. They have had to contend with many inconve The people begin to feel the importance of the Gospel, and are more able and willing to support it than formerly. There are several places in which, by a little attention, Presbyterian Societies might be organized and Ministers settled, viz. at |