in prayer with his friend and pastor, Bishop Moore, and received the holy communion from his hands. His friendship for the Rev. Mr. Blair, of the Presbyterian church, with whom he had long lived in love and harmony, continued to glow with greatest fervour, as long as his mind retained its empire. When he requested that the prayers of the church should be offered up in his behalf, his friend, who was also sick, was not forgotten; for in the most af fecting accents he added- Pray also for Blair!"

"His loss to the poor will perhaps never be filled by any other man. He possessed means of relieving the distressed, and when the appeals of the afflicted met his ear, Buchanan's heart vibrated with sympathy; and his purse furnished the necessary supplies. He is gone to give an account of his stewardship; and the author of this obituary believes, that should he be so happy as to obtain a seat in heaven, he will there meet his former friend and associate, washed from his offences in the blood of Christ, and clothed in the Redeemer's righteousness."

Lit. & Evang. Mag.

A SUBSCRIBER to the Journal requests the favour of your calling the attention of your readers to the "Select School for Young Ladies" to be opened in May, at No. 43 Barclay-street, NewYork, by Mrs. Okill. I have reason to believe her peculiarly qualified for so important an undertaking, and am hap py to learn that while every attention will be paid to the ordinary and ornamental branches of a finished female education, the department of religious instruction will receive particular care. The terms are those generally esta blished in respectable schools of the same description. The following is an extract from her card:" Mrs. Okill will employ the most approved teachers for the several branches, and will devote her time to the general superintendence of her school, and to the religious principles, morals, and manners of those young ladies who may be confided to her care. She will also pay particular attention to the French language; and to enable her scholars to express themselves with correctness and fluency, she has engaged a French lady of respectability to reside with her.Mrs. Okill feels the most grateful satisfaction in mentioning, that the Right Rev. Bishop Hobart has kindly authorized her to say that he will take an interest in the organization and success of her school; and the Rev. B. T. Onderdonk, the Rev. J. M. Wainwright, and the Rev. W. Berrian, have had the goodness to promise her their support and influence.—In addition to the above mentioned Rev. gentlemen, Mrs, O. has permission to refer to Peter A. Jay, esq. Dr. William Moore, Samuel Boyd, esq. Henry Barclay, esq. Levinus Clarkson, esq. Charles M'Evers, esq. James Bleecker, esq. and Robert Campbell, esq. of New-Jersey."

No. 6.]

THE

For the Christian Journal.

No. IX.

The Progress of the Church.

It is natural that the friends of the church should sometimes indulge in speculations on the prospect of her increase in the United States. In consequence of her having descended from the church of England, she has had entailed upon her a degree of unpopularity which has excited in many minds a doubt as to her ultimate success in this country. It is well known that many causes of disagreement and jealousy have at various times sprung up between the two countries, and as mankind are ever prone to associate in their prejudices, things that have no connexion with each other, this feeling of jealousy has been suffered to extend itself to the church. And how difficult it is to eradicate impressions of this nature, we all are sensible. They oftentimes descend from generation to generation, even after the original causes of them are entirely removed, and shut up the avenues to a dispassionate consideration of the subjects on which they are entertained. Time, however, that great friend to truth, sooner or later places things in their true light. It is her of fice to chase away the clouds of error and prejudice, and to present to our view the light of truth, clear and unobstructed.

Opinionum commenta delet dies, natura judicia confirmat.

How often has the world known opinions and practices that in one age shrunk away before the baneful influence of ignorance and prejudice, in another rearing their heads and basking in the sunshine of popular favour? The progress of truth, though sometimes slow, is nevertheless sure. She silently but irresistibly works her way, and, in so doing, overturns from their foundaVOL. VII.

[VOL. VII.

tions the structures which ignorance had reared. She is like a mighty river that is always pursuing the same course, and which gradually but surely undermines or overleaps all the obstacles that oppose her progress. Errors, like mountains and rocks, may sometimes obstruct her for a time; but by the constant accumulation of her forces, her power gradually becomes so great, that she surmounts them or bursts them asunder, and proceeds onwards to fulfil her destined purpose of forming that boundless ocean of knowledge which is one day "to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea."

It is on the certainty of the ultimate triumph of truth that the friends of the Episcopal Church build their hopes of her future prosperity and success. They know that she has had, and still has to encounter many obstacles, to combat strong and inveterate prejudices, and to work her way many times through the darkness of ignorance. But they feel assured that these impediments will gradually give way, that prejudices will ultimately subside, knowledge advance,

and truth rear her head amidst the smiles of friends. Even already they think they perceive the dawn of a brighter day in these respects. The prejudices that have heretofore existed against the Episcopal Church have very much declined

those arising from the idea of her connexion with England are gradually vanishing from the minds of men, and she begins to rise to a rank, as it regards popular favour, equal with that of other denominations. When the time ar rives, as we think it soon will, that all undue prepossessions against her shall be laid aside, who can doubt that the next step will be, to speculate concerning the claims she advances to a nearer conformity to the church established by the Saviour and his apostles, than any other in Christendom? There are many con 21

siderations which, we think, will lead to this course. Already, indeed, has the inquiry in some measure gone forth, and we feel assured that wherever it has, the result will be favourable to the church.

Building our hopes of the prosperity of the church upon the ultimate triumph of the cause of truth, let us take a brief survey of those material points in which we differ from other Protestant denominations, and which, resting as we think upon a sure foundation, will, in time, under the divine blessing, be the means of her increase.

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I. We think there is hardly any truth better attested, than that the original constitution of the ministry was that which the Episcopal Church now possesses. Scripture and antiquity both clearly assert, that the ministry established by the apostles consisted of three grades, to the highest of which exclusively belonged the right of investing with the ministerial commission. And history also declares, that with this grade the right remained undisputed for fifteen hundred years. Now there can hardly be a doubt that in time the Christian world generally will be disposed to give to this truth its due weight. Looking abroad, and viewing the multiplied denominations that exist, and which, by their differences, so dreadfully rend the body of Christ,, and cherishing an. earnest desire to ascertain where the true church is to be found, they will diligently inquire for the good old ways. -they will turn their attention to the primitive church-they will "search of the fathers" in the full assurance that there can be no safer way by which to arrive at the truth. They will reason thus-"The primitive church must surely have been formed agreeably to the directions of Jesus Christ and his apostles. We cannot admit the idea that the immediate successors of these inspired teachers should have deviated from the example set them. They were many of them martyrs to the cause of truth, and therefore too sincere and disinterested to forsake the path marked out to them by their divine Master and his servants. Show us then the good old way in which they walked, and we will follow." Such being their determina

tion, who can doubt as to the church in which they will make their restingplace.

II. Another important point in which we differ from other Protestant denominations, and in which we think we clearly have the advantage, is the public service of the church. We know there are some who think that it is our form of prayer which tends in some degree to render our church unpopular. We grant it in part, but we cannot but think that the objection is principally confined to the ignorant and the prejudiced. To us, the advantages of forms of prayer are so inany, and so great, that we are surprised any persons of candid and well-informed minds should hesitate to give them the preference. They certainly have antiquity in their favour; and when we reflect how much superior they must almost necessarily be to the extemporary effusions of most preachers-what a firm barrier they afford against the admission of heretical doctrines into the church, and how great are the advantages of the laity who use them-they being not dependent upon the caprice of their ministers as to what they shall pray, but having prayers of their own, and with which they are well acquainted-we also think, that when the light of knowledge shall have spread more generally, the prejudices now entertained against them will vanish, and Christians will prefer the church in which they are retained.

III. Another point in which we differ from many denominations of Protestants, is doctrine, and in this we think also that our church clearly has the advantage. She has observed a singular moderation in the articles of faith proposed to her members. In them we look in vain for the harsh doctrines of Calvinism-those gloomy decrees that strip man of his free-agency, and reduce him to a mere machine, guided and controlled by a foreign and unseen impulse.. We look in vain for the extravagant and enthusiastic doctrines of instantaneous conversion, the perfection of Christians, and that assurance which is the effect of a special communication of the Spirit of God-and in vain do we look for the cold and heartless tenets by which the Saviour is stript of his divi-,

nity, and man left without an atonement. She has avoided, with great care, that enthusiasm which pretends to too intimate a communion with the Spirit of truth; that presumptuous spirit which would pry too closely into the secret counsels of the Almighty; and that spirit of freethinking which would bring down every thing in the revelation of Jehovah to the level of man's feeble reason. And who does not see that her doctrines must, the more they are studied, secure the good-will and approbation of mankind? Already have they afforded a refuge to many minds that have become dissatisfied with the principles of Calvinism; and we find, in consequence thereof, the teachers of these harsh doctrines, in very many cases, changing their ground either abandoning them altogether, or inculcating what they term moderate Calvinism. The case, in some measure, is the same with the doctrines of perfection, conversion, &c. *The minds of Christians generally are better informed on these points, and they more easily detect the fallacies of those who inculcate them. These are proofs of the gradual progress of knowledge, and of the improvement of the human mind; and they afford us a rational expectation, that the time will come, when the doctrines of the Episcopal Church will be acknowledged to come nearer to that "faith which was once delivered to the saints," than those of any other.

Under the article of doctrines may be included another circumstance, which we think will promote the prosperity of the church-and that is, the sentiments she holds on the subject of baptism. How widely are the other denominations of Protestants in this country departing from the primitive belief on this subject? How many of them strip it indeed of its sacramental character, and reduce it to a mere "beggarly element, a form without substance, a body without spirit, a sign without signification?" How fast is the practice gaining ground of denying it to any but the children of communicants?-thereby causing that many, very many children grow up unbaptized, and that many likewise die in that state? The tendency of this

practice is, in the first place, to lead to the doctrine of the Baptists, and by lessening the importance of the rite, gradually to weaken the obligation under which mankind have heretofore felt themselves to observe the sacraments of theChristian church; and thus, secondly, to lead to a total rejection of them, or to the adoption of Quaker principles. But Christians generally will stop short of this point. They will pause before they reach an extreme so far removed from the true doctrines and principles of the Christian religion. They will inquire first into the principles of the Episcopal Church on this subject, and will find that she retains the primitive and scriptural doctrine-that she considers baptism as a sacrament in the true sense of the term, consisting of an outward and visible sign, and an inward and spiritual grace, by means whereof we are admitted into the church of Christ, and entitled to the blessings of the Christian covenant, if we fulfil its conditions-and that, therefore, she dare not refuse it to the children of those parents who profess to believe in the Christian religion, and feel themselves under obligation to obey its laws. We believe that many persons have already attached themselves to the Episcopal Church, from a firm conviction of the soundness of her doctrines on this subject.-While on this topic we cannot avoid a reflection. How difficult, indeed how impossible is it for men, when they have left the right path, to fix a limit to their wanderings? One departure leads to another, that to a third, and so on, until the travellers begin to be alarmed at the course they are pursuing, and turning back, they rest not satisfied until they have regained the good old way

IV. Another excellent feature of the Episcopal Church, and which we think will ultimately tend to the promotion of her prosperity, is the form of her government. By this we do not mean merely the division of her ministry into three distinct grades, although the constitution of her ministry enters essentially into her form of government. We allude to the division and distribution of power in her legislative assemblies Her highest ecclesiastical council con

sists of two bodies, which have a negative on each other's proceedings. The house of bishops also being composed of grave men, of men who naturally from their station feel upon themselves a greater responsibility than the rest of the clergy-being likewise from their age, and the smallness of their numbers, free from the danger of popular excitement, may properly be considered as the ark of our safety- as affording at all times a firm barrier against the adoption of rash and violent counsels. In this view, it is certainly a most invaluable part of our system. Consider also the influence of the bishops in the several dioceses over which they preside. They form centres of union for both the clergy and laity., The mild influence of their paternal authority is felt in many cases. When difficulties arise, and advice is wanted, their flocks know where to go for assistance; and when it is necessary that the power of the church should be exercised, they constitute the executive of ficers who are bound to administer it.

Churchmen ought to rejoice in the excellent form of ecclesiastical government which they possess a government at once free from the tumultuous proceedings of a democracy, and the oppressive influence of an absolute monarchy. It has been compared, and with great propriety, to the government of the United States-her house of bishops corresponding to the senate, and the house of clerical and lay deputies to the lower house of congress. And that her constitution comes near to that of the primitive church, we have the best of evidence. Bishop Horne has said, that if the apostle Paul should revisit the earth, he would recognize, in the Scottish Episcopal Church, the one that came nearest to that which he had assisted in establishing, and we all know how closely the Scottish and American churches resemble each other. The great Barrow, also, after a careful inquiry into the primitive church, declared that its government was very similar to that of the States of Holland, as it was in his time, that is, a confederation of republics.* Were Barrow

This opinion of Barrow's may be found in his "Treatise of the Pope's Supremacy."

living in our day, would he not say, that the Episcopal Church in this country is fashioned after the pattern set us by the primitive church?

Having stated some of the principal causes which we think will promote the prosperity of the Episcopal Church in this country, let us now see whether these causes have so far operated in any degree to her benefit.

Hitherto our church has not made so rapid a progress as we may hereafter look for. The principal cause of this is generally known, namely, the want of ministers. While, at the close of the revolutionary war, all other denomina tions possessed a supply of clergymen generally sufficient for their wants, the Episcopal Church was left destitute. The consequence was, that many of her members, despairing of ever enjoying the ministrations of the word and ordinances in their own church, left her, and joined other denominations. Yet, notwithstanding this, wherever she has had the good fortune to possess a faithful ministry, she has increased, and in many cases the increase has been greater, and of a more permanent cast, than that of the denominations around her: Her progress in the state of Connecticut has been generally appealed to and justly-as a proof that she possesses the principles of stability and increase. When we consider that that state was originally peopled by persons who were by no means friendly to the church, by many who indeed left Great Britain for the express purpose of escaping from what they called the persecutions of her church, it cannot but excite the surprise of those who are unacquainted with the cause, that the Episcopal Church should at this day have a better footing there than in any other state. The number of her ministers and members, compared with the population, is greater in that state than in any other in the Union. The increase also has been uniform, and the cause in most cases the same-a conviction of the superior claims of the church as to her ministry, doctrines, worship, &c.

If we extend our views to other parts of the Union, we shall find the result to have been in several cases the same.