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The few last weeks, says the Christian Observer for October last, have been singularly destructive to ancient ecclesiastical edifices. On the 11th of September a fire broke out in the high church of the cathedral at Ghent, which did considerable damage to that magnificent edifice. Four days after the cathedral of Rouen, founded in the year 990, and known throughout Europe for its riches and splendour, caught fire by Tightning: the flames raged so violently that the great dome fell entirely in, and even the solid tower arches, and galleries, have sustained much injury.-On Wednesday the 16th of October, the principal part of that fine monument of ancient architecture, St. Ethelbert's tower, Canterbury, the most conspicuous ornament of the sublime ruins of St. Augustine's monastery, fell with a tremendous crash; and the remainder of the edifice is so much shaken, that it must be removed. The tower was built about the year 1047, in honour of the king whose name it bears, and who

embraced the Christian faith in conse

quence of the preaching of Augustine, whom he patronized when that celebrated saint came over as a missionary

to this island.

Domestic Missions.

Ir must be gratifying to the friends of the church, to hear that the contributions from the various parishes in this diocess, for the support of domestic missionaries, have been such as to enable the board of direction of the Connecticut Protestant Episcopal Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, to request the Right Rev. Bishop Brownell to employ two missionaries during the remainder of the year, to supply the vacant and destitute parishes in the diocess.

In aid of the above mentioned objects, auxiliary societies are now forming in many of our parishes. In NewHaven, the young Churchman's Missłonary Society, and the young Ladies' Church Missionary Society, which have been recently formed, already consist of more than sixty members each.

In Hartford, there is an association of more than sixty gentlemen; and

another of about forty ladies, in aid of the same object.

In Middletown, similar associations exist; but we are not informed of the number of the members. May every parish in the state "go and do likewise," in proportion to their means.→→→ Churchman's Magazine.

Ecclesiastical Appointments. THERE have been recently some im Portant appointments in the episcopacy of the Church of Ireland, which indicate the disposition in the government to advance those of the clergy who are distinguished for the support of the distinguishing doctrines and principles of the church. Dr. Mant has been made bishop of Killaloe; and, very recently, Dr. Beresford, the archbishop of Dublin, whose withdrawing from the Hibernia Bible Society excited considerable attention, has been advanced to the archbishopric of Armagh, the primacy of Ireland. Dr. Magee, the author of the celebrated work on the Atonement, and Dr. Laurence, the late regius prohas been made archbishop of Dublin; and Dr. Laurence, the late regius proBampton Lectures, proving that the fessor at Oxford, and author of the articles of the Church of England are not Calvinistic, is appointed archbishop of Cashell.

Episcopal Acts.

ON Tuesday, December 31st, 1822, St. Philip's Church, New-York, was consecrated to the service of Almighty God, by the Right Rev. Bishop Hobart. Our readers will recollect that a former edifice of this name was consecrated by the same bishop, in the summer of 1819, and was destroyed by fire in December, 1821. This church is built upon the same foundation, and is very similar in size, and in the general plan and appearance of the interior; which are characterized by simplicity, good taste, and economy. building, however, is of brick; the former having been of wood. This circumstance has involved the parish (which is composed of coloured people) in an expenditure of about $2000 beyond the amount of insurance received on the old church. For the defraying of this

The present

they must look to the liberality of their fellow Christians; and, we hope, will not look in vain.

On the 20th of November, 1822, St. Paul's Church, in Windsor, Vermont, was consecrated to the service of Almighty God, by the Right Rev. Bishop Griswold, assisted by many of his clergy. It is an elegant edifice of brick, 70 feet by 50, chaste in its architecture, commodious for the administration of holy functions, and highly creditable to the episcopalians in the town, and to the church generally. May it prove to many, no other than the house of God, and the gate of heaven!"

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On Sunday, the 29th of November, 1822, Ransom Warner was admitted to the holy order of deacons, in Christ Church, Middletown, Connecticut, by the Right Rev. Bishop Brownell.

Liberal Donations.

MR. DAVID SEARS, of Boston, has given to that city the estate called the City Market," which cost $60,000, on the following conditions, viz. that the income shall be funded annually, and that half the interest arising from the fund shall be paid for the use of him and his heirs, to the wardens of St. Paul's Church; the other half to be expended, from time to time, in ornamenting the common, improving the mall, and building a wall round the pond; and for such public improve ments in the city of Boston, as the mayor and aldermen for the time being

shall think fit to be made.

A liberal donation of one thousand dollars, (says the Keene Sentinel,) to the episcopal church, at Bellow's Falls, New-Hampshire, by the late Mrs. Startin, of New-York, is acknowledged by the wardens and vestry of that church.

Steam Engine at the bottom of a

Coal Pit.

THE following very extraordinary application of the most wonderful of modern inventions, the steam engine, occurs in our neighbourhood, and is, we believe, unparalleled in the United Kingdom.

An engine pit, of 147 yards deep, has been sunk upon the Black Mine, in Newton, near Stock

port, by Messrs Bateman & Sherratt, upon the estate of F. D. Astley, esq. and finding it practicable to win coal from below the deep level, little or no water interfering to prevent it, they have erected an engine at the bottom of the pit, of the following descriptionPower, 28 horses; length of stroke, 5 feet; length of beam, 16 feet; diameter of the fly-wheel, 16 feet; boiler, 25 feet long, by 64 feet wide; boiler-house, 33 feet long, 13 high, 17 feet 2 inches wide. Inside measure-engine-house, 10 feet wide, 30 feet long, and 30 feet high to the top of the arch; the brick work three feet thick; the quantity of bricks consumed upwards of 300,000, This engine winds the coal up an inclined plane of 233 yards, driven in the mine by an endless chain about five tons in weight; the average angle of inclination is 37 degrees, equal to 75 yards at 100 yards.-English paper.

Obituary Notices.

the 11th of January, 1823, in the 76th DIED, on Saturday night following year of his age, the honourable JONATHAN INGERSOLL, lieutenant-governor and president of the senate of this state: College, where he received his first deMr. Ingersoll was educated at Yale gree, in the year 1766. He, soon after finishing his college studies, entered the profession of the law, and, for many years, was a distinguished advocate. Candour, integrity, and logical precision, characterized him as a lawyer, and conferred upon him a character of eminence among his brethren. During the last thirty years of his life, by the unsohe has been almost constantly employed licited suffrages of his fellow citizens, In the house of representatives, as a in stations of dignity and importance. member of the senate, as a judge of the superior court, and supreme court of errors, as lieutenant-governor, and president of the senate, places by him successively holden, he was ever regarded with affection and respect, and his course, while thus elevated, was alike honourable to himself, and beneficial to the community. He was also elected a member of the congress of the United States, but declined to accept the place. Perhaps no citizen of Connecticut ever

-as a

possessed more entirely the confidence of his fellow citizens, and no one ever more deserved it. As a man he was without guile or dissimulationjudge he was alike uncorrupted and incorruptible, and, as a statesman, he ever pursued the good of the public.

He has been from early life, a member of the episcopal church, and, by his exemplary conduct and deportment, has furnished satisfactory proof of piety towards God, and good-will to men. Few men have lived and died more free from reproach, and, it is believed, he has not left an enemy among his extensive acquaintances.

A wife and seven children deplore the loss of a truly excellent husband and father, and will cherish his memory with the best affections of the heart. A grateful public will duly estimate the worth and virtues of this good man, and, it is to be hoped, that a life so worthy of imitation in all important respects, will not be without a happy effect on survivors.

The members of the bar, at NewHaven, have resolved, as a mark of affection and respect for his integrity, talents, exalted virtues, and worth, to wear crape on the left arm for thirty days.-New-Haven Journal, Jan, 14.

Died, also, at New-Haven, ELIAS SHIPMAN, esq. an eminent merchant, and long a respectable member of the episcopal church in that city, aged 75 years.

Human Life. By William Marshall.
Life is a changing seene,

An ever-varying sky;
Sometimes 'tis cloudy, then serene,
And thus it passes by.

No joys it gives are sure,

Nor can we make them stay; They but for one short hour endure, And then they glide away.

Its sorrow-transient too,
Like pleasure, passes on;
A little time its powers undo,
And we behold it flown.

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From the Christian Guardian.

The Young Cottager and Dairyman's
Daughter.

A tribute of affection has recently been paid to the united memory of the Young Cottager and Dairyman's Daughter, by raising a subscription and putting up grave-stones, on which the following verses are inscribed. The narrative of the Dairyman's Daughter, whicht originally appeared in this Magazine, has been translated and published in eighteen different languages, and above three millions of copies are known to have been circulated.

Ye, who the power of God delight to trace,
And mark with joy each monument of grace,
Tread lightly o'er this grave, as ye explore
"The short and simple annals of the poor."
A child reposes underneath this sod→→
A child to memory dear, and dear to God:
Rejoice! yet shed the sympathetic tear;
JANE, "the Young Cottager," lies buried here

Stranger! if e'er, by chance or feeling led,
Upon this hallow'd turf thy footsteps tread,
Turn from the contemplation of the sod,
And think on her whose spirit rests with God.

Lowly her lot on earth-bat He, who bore
Tidings of grace and blessings to the poor,
Gave her, his truth and faithfulness to prove,
The choicest treasures of his boundless love

(Faith, that dispell'd affliction's darkest gloom;
Hope, that could cheer the passage to the tomb;
Peace, that not Hel's dark legions could destroy;
And love, that fill'd the soul with heavenly joy.

Death of its sting disarm'd, she knew no fear,
But tasted Heaven, e'en while she finger'd here:
O happy saint! may we like thee he blest;
In life be faithful, and in death find rest!

Correction. In our last number, page 367, an error inadvertently occurred in placing at the head of the statutes of the Bishop's College at Calcutta, Church Missionary Society; thereby assigning to the college the patronage of that institution: whereas it ought to have been ascribed to the Society for the propa gation of the Gospel, by whom this excellent and important seminary has been founded.

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For the Christian Journal.

A Sermon on the dignity and useful ness of the Episcopal Office, preach ed March 31st, 1822, on occasion of the Collection for the Episcopal Fund, prescribed by the Canons of the Church in the State of New-York. By the Rev. David Brown, Rector of St. James's Church, Hyde-Park.

1 COR. ix. 13, 14, 15.-Do ye not know that they who minister about holy things, live of the things of the temple, and they who wait at the altar, are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they who preach the gospel, should live of the gospel. But I have used none of these things; neither have I written these things that it should be so done

unto me.

ST. PAUL, in this chapter of his epistle, refers to the former dispensation of God, in the Jewish church, as an inviolable rule for Christians, with respect to the divine institutions; and, particularly, with respect to the ministry. He says, "Have we not power to forbear working? Who goeth a warfare at any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock ? Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn? Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? for our sakes, no doubt, this is written; that he that plougheth, should plough in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope, should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? Do ye not know," &c. VOL. VIL

[VOL. VII.

But to show them that in speaking of had no sordid views, and that he was the rights and claims of the ministry he impelled to it alone by a sense of his and brethren the divine nature of this duty to make known to his disciples doctrine, he tells them, that it was not the just and reasonable claims of the on his own account that he thus urged

ministers of Christ to a maintenance, and the duty of the people to provide it, God and reason prescribe. and to supply their temporal wants, as "I have be so done unto me," said the apostle. not written these things that it should

be incidental allusions to the rights and In the present discourse, there may claims of the clergy to "live of the gospel," here urged by St. Paul, and the consequent duty of the people to allow and fulfil these claims: not, however, on my own account, have I written these things: I trust your justice and piety will render such a measure unnecessary: but the object is to bring to your minds, what certainly needs not to be urged upon your performance, what, it may be hoped, can require no appeals to your justice or piety-the claims of God's upper servants in his church, without whose services you could not enjoy the privileges and blessings of your apostolical church. For you could not have an apostolic ministry.

The canon, which makes it the duty of the clergy to preach on the occasion of the collection for the episcopal fund, prescribes, that the sermon shall be on the rights and duties which are peculiarly episcopal, and that in it there shall be laid before the congregation the dignity and usefulness of the office of a bishop.

We shall follow the directions of the canon, taking the liberty, however, somewhat to change the order.

The dignity of the office of a bishop is, properly, the first branch of the sub

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ject in consideration: for it is from the station which he fills that depend his peculiar rights, duties, and useful

ness.

If we should say but a small portion of what the subject might seem justly to demand, on the dignity of the bishop's office, we should be unable, on this occasion, to say any thing concerning the other prescribed branches of our discourse it may, therefore, suffice to remind you of the dignity of a bishop's office, that it is essentially the same which Aaron and his successors, the high priests, filled in the Jewish church, until the coming of our Lord; who, for the purpose of extending the boundaries of the church of God, conferred similar dignities on several of his disciples, who were styled apostles, in reference to their being sent out to establish churches under the divine authority of their Master, Christ; who promised to be with them to the end of the worldthat is, to be with them and their successors to all generations; their immediate successors, the apostles themselves, ordained with the same divinely appointed official dignities and powers. To these successors of the apostles, as they were not to be sent, but stationed, was given the more appropriate name of bishops, or overseers. They had, in the days of the apostles, the same au thority in the church of Christ, as may be seen by a comparison of their peculiar duties; and still are their successors, the bishops of the present day, invested with the official dignity and powers with which the divine Head of the church clothed his immediate servants the apostles. And if any consideration can add to the dignity of the office, it is that of its divine appointment and preservation.

"I am persuaded," says the great and excellent Hooker, "that the order of bishops was ordained of God, whose glory it is to maintain that whereof himself is the author." Speaking of the dignity of the order, he says also, as the conclusion of an unanswerable ar

gument, "This we boldly set down as a most infallible truth, that the church of Christ is at this day lawfully, and so has been since the first beginning, governed by bishops, having permanent

superiority and ruling power over other ministers of the word and sacraments."

What was often said of the great dignity and rights of the episcopal office, in the early and pure days of the church, we forbear to repeat: for the time predicted by an apostle, when the soundest doctrine should be least popular, has long since arrived; and, when an order of men, whom, in all ages, God hath delighted to honour, are scarcely honoured in the least degree, and very rarely obeyed, even by those who profess to be subject to their spiritual authority.

But the duties which the divine Head of the church hath allotted to this first order of his ministers, reflects the strongest, brightest light on the high dignity with which he endowed them.

In addition to the general duties of preaching the gospel, and administer ing the sacraments, our Lord allotted to his apostles the further and higher duties of perpetuating their own order, and of ordaining other ministers of the word and sacraments not having this ordaining power, and of governing, or at least presiding over the government of the church.

And these peculiarly apostolical powers and duties were perpetuated in the same order of the ministry, the bishops of the church of Christ; by whom the power of ordaining was exclusively exercised in the primitive church, and so continued for 1500 years. Unless, indeed, the bare assertions of the enemies of the church are better authorities than its evangelists, apostles, fathers, confessors, and martyrs.

It is often said by the enemies of the church, but it can never be proved from Scripture, that others than the apostles ordained in their time. It is also said, that the New Testament gives no account of the succession of a peculiar apostolic authority. This is an assertion, like many others of the kind, contrary to the fact. That our Lord gave to the eleven apostles the exclusive right and power to ordain others, and other orders of the ministry, there is sufficient proof in the sacred history of their transactions, if we had not their divine commission. For although we know that Christ left in his church, of his own appointment, seventy other

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