many difficulties he hath struggled with, hath never been in the least wanting in the due execution of his ministerial function; but rather, on the contrary, strained himself beyond his strength, in travelling through the parish, and often to the prejudice of hi health, which is notorious to all the inhabitants." Mr. Poyer continues now there, and accounts have been sent, that his congregation is increased: The conrmunicants are between eighty and ninety, and nine grown persons have been baptized within three years space.

The Society have from their first establishment, paid salaries to several schoolmasters in this government. Mr Gilderslieve, at Hempstead in Long-IsJand, and Mr Taylor, in Staten-Island, Mr have been mentioned already Huddlestone was appointed schoolmaster in New-York city, in the year 1709; he taught forty poor children for the Society's allowance only; he publicly catechised in the steeple of Trinity Church on Sunday in the afternoon, not only his own scholars, but also the children, servants and slaves of the inhabitants, and above 100 persons usually attended him ; certificates attested by the mayor of New York, were annually sent to the Society, certifying his doing such service He died in the year 1726; and his son being desirous and capable of the office is appointed now in his room. Mr Glover was appointed schoolmaster at West-Chester in the year 1714, and afterwards Mr. Forster; he teaches between thirty and forty children, catechises on Saturday and Sunday, which is certified by the chief inhabitants of that town Mr. Cleator was settled schoolmaster at Rye, in the year 1704; he teaches about fifty children to read and write, and instructs them in the catechism. And Mr Denton hath been lately appointed schoolmaster at Oyster Bay, in Long-Island

The Society have paid salaries to six schoolmasters, besides a catechist, for the slaves at New-York, in this government; and have sent Bibles, Common Prayers, and other books of devotion or instruction, to the number of 2220 volumes, besides catechisms, and small tracts which have been dispersed

EXTRACT.

"These views were the support of our deceased friend, whose remains now lie before us, and whose spirit has ascended to God, who gave it; and these were the views which enabled him to meet the gradual approach of death with uncommon fortitude and resignation. His life was an eminent pattern of Christian purity, and his death of Christian composure. Seldom are we permitted to contemplate a character, so uniform and consistent as that which he sustained through a long and useful life. Early imbued with the principles of religion by a pious mother, to whose care he was left by an afflictive dispensation of Providence, which deprived him of his father at an early period of life, he was actuated by them through every succeeding stage, and supported by them through many severe trials. In early life, he was distinguished for dignity ant manliness of character, and in youth he exhibited the sedate

alms are come up as a memorial before God.'

"To the afflicted and bereaved family we tender our sincere condolence. God has seen fit, in his overruling Providence, to take from you a chief earthly stay and support.Lover and friend hath he put far from you and your acquaintance into darkness. You miss his presence, his example, his council, his animating society, his inventive resources for enjoyment. May that Being, who has promised to be the widow's husband and the father of the fatherless,' be your support on this trying occasion. While you fondly cherish his precious memory, may you testify the warmth and sincerity of your affection by copying his example. 'Sorrow not, as those without hope.' Repine not, that God has taken his own, but thank him for having given you such a friend, and permitted you to retain him so long Direct your views forward to the country where he is gone, and by transferring your affections thither, prepare for another and still more happy interview with him, and a union which shall never be dis solved.

"The Church of which he was a member, will feel a deep interest in this mournful dispensation. Ah, my friends, he is gone, who felt a lively concern in all our interests, temporal and spiritual; he, who once bore an active part in the worship and the ordinances of the sanctuary, will no longer share them. He is alike insensible to our joys and sorrows; but we trust, and we rejoice in the hope, that he is now joining in the worship and participating the pleasures of the temple above, We miss him at the pew and at the altar, but we humbly trust that he has been removed from the church militant to the church triumphant, and in joyful concert with the heavenly host is shouting the praises of God and the Lamb. My brethren, while God is thus removing from us one after another, may our love and zeal increase, and each surviving member strive to be in better preparation for his own final summons at the bar of God. Soon will our own

turn arrive—a few more sacramental

occasions, and we shall all, if prepared, be invited to become guests at the great supper of the Lamb. Let us attend to the warning voice of Providence speaking to us and calling on us to be also ready.

"To his numerous friends and acquaintance, and to this assembly, let me apply this afflictive dispensation of Providence. You are come to pay the last tribute of affection to a departed and beloved brother. Here you behold him, shrowded in a coffin, and soon to be deposited in the earth. What he is, you soon must be. Are you prepared? To him the subject of death was familiar. For many years had he been contemplating this event, as, probably, not far distant; and ordered his affairs in accordance with this expectation. By a well ordered life and conversation, he manifested a becoming solicitude to be always ready for the stroke of death. The leading object in his return to his native town from the metropolis was to seek repose from the noise and bustle of the world, and to be buried in the sepulchre of his fathers. then, you loved and revered him, copy his example. Refer all your actions to that dread tribunal, before which you must shortly appear. Make your peace with God. Life was not embittered to our departed friend by the habitual thought, that he must soon die. Nay, the lively and animating hope of another and a better country sweetened the cares and enhanced the pleasures of the present. So will it do to you. Your last days, like his, will be peaceful and serene, and your last hours gladdened by a hope full of immortality.' 'Mark then the perfect man, and behold the upright; the end of that man is peace.'

.

As,

for

A Pastoral Letter to the Members of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, from the Bishops of the same, assembled in General Convention, in the city of Philadelphia, August 20th, 1829. Brethren,

ANOTHER triennial convention furnishes us with the present opportunity of addressing you, agreeably to the requisition of the 45th canon of 1808.

Under our personal observation, and from the communications presented during the present session from the churches in the several states, we gather abundant proof that our Zion is "lengthening her cords and strengthening her stakes," in the increase of her ministry, in the number of her congregations, and in that of her professing members. Whether there be a proportionate increase in genuine devotion and in a walking worthy of the vocation, is a question which exacts a more extensive knowledge of the population of the different districts of our country; and, in some respects, a nearer insight of the hearts of men, than we feel a competency to in ourselves. But here we find sufficient ground on which to build the intimation, that only in proportion to such increase, the prosperity of the church is a fit subject either of desire or of congratulation.

It is with pleasure we contemplate the organizing of our church in two of the western states, those of Kentucky and of Tennessee, and the consequent admission of their churches within our ecclesiastical union. In the tide of emigration to the west, there is of course a proportion of the settlers who had inherited from their ancestors a predilection for the principles and for the services of the Episcopal Church. They are generally so thinly scattered over extensive countries, only of late brought under cultivation, that for the congregating of them under ecclesiastical ties, there are required, in every case, the energies of at least a few men of information and of influence, to take the lead in insipient measures.

Such men

have been found in each of the states referred to; and we indulge the hope, that their example will be followed, even in the more recently settled states and territories.

This object might be much promoted by due encouragement extended to the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, established by our Church, and conducted under her auspices. The report of this Society has been before the Convention, and will be printed on the Journal. We are of opinion, that neither the importance of the institu

tion, nor the difficulties with which it has had to struggle, are so generally known. In several of the dioceses there are provisions for missionary purposes within the same. We do not doubt, that in each of them there are calls for ministerial aid to a destitute population within its limits. But there is a far more extensive field within the federal union, the destitute condition of which makes the most powerful appeal to Christian beneficence. And a disposition is cherished, by many members of our communion, to contribute to the wants of the benighted portions of the world. The constitution of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of our Church admits of the appropriation of the contributions and efforts of its members to either of these objects exclusively or to both.

There has been on the Society the pressure of the want of missionaries. For a gradual supply of this, we look to the Theological Seminary, existing under the auspices of this Convention. Its report has been laid before us, and has exhibited a state of its affairs, which ought to excite an especial interest. In consequence of a most liberal be. quest of the late Frederick Kohne, esq. of Philadelphia, it will be eventually possessed of a very considerable endowment. But, in the mean time, its annual expenditures exceed its annual income, in a sum formidable to the institution, although a light burden on the church throughout the union, which it is therefore hoped will respond to the calls lately made on it for congregational collections in the several churches. From the testimony of those who have attended to the examinations in the Seminary, we have no doubt that the education is conducted with ability and with efficiency.

It would contribute materially to the success of the two institutions which have been named, if there should be a general diffusion of measures, lately put in operation in a few of the states, to give gratuitous education for the ministry to pious young men, who may incline to it, but are not furnished with the means of the literary attainments required by the canons. This expedient has pressed on the minds of the

clerical and the lay deputies of the Convention during the present session; and it is at their desire, that your Bishops invite to it the attention of the church at large. Especially they address it to the consciences of pious parents of such youth, exhorting them to avail themselves of the means where they have been provided; not with out regard to the general fitness of character in their sons, but by fostering the suitable qualifications, where, in the exercise of Christian judgment, they shall be discerned. In our parent church there are bequests handed down from very ancient times, preparing for usefulness a succession of youth, who otherwise never would have reached it; and this provision has not only been, in some measure, a counterbalance to the scantiness of the provision for a great proportion of her clergy, but has elevated to high standing and to great literary celebrity some whose talents would otherwise have been lost in the obscurity of their parentage. If such an expedient for the bringing of humble merit into useful exercise be adapted to the exigences of the country of our forefathers, much more is it called for by the circumstances of our favoured land, in which there are so many pecuniary rewards of industry, as to require extraordinary exertion, in order to qualify for a department which can never be the road to wealth, or even to what, in other professions, would be considered as competency.

It is with pleasure that, in the reports from a great proportion of our church, we find evidence of a cordial reception of the Episcopal Sunday School Union, which will be eventually the recipient of a large bequest from the same source with that of the Theological Seminary. The institution now noticed, is earnestly recommended by us, as tending to diffuse the knowledge and the practice of the most efficient plans of Sunday School instruction, to moderate the prices of suitable books and tracts, and to protect our Sunday Schools against any endeavours which may hereafter be put forth, to subject them to an influence alien from that of the church.

With grief we notice the vacancy caused in our body, by the decease of the late Right Rev. Bishop Kemp. Some of us had, for a long course of years, acted harmoniously with him in the most important concerns of our communion; which will be prevented, by the melancholy event, from still reaping the fruit of his wise and prudent counsels.

In contrast with this privation, this house announces, with satisfaction, that there have been added to their body the Right Rev. Henry U. Onderdonk, D. D. Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, and the Right Rev. William Meade, D. D. Assistant Bishop of Virginia; the latter having been consecrated during the session of this Convention.

On every occasion of the issuing of a pastoral letter to the members of our communion, it has been an object with us, to avail ourselves of some subject or subjects suggested by the circumstances of the then present time, with a view to application to duties proper at all times, and under any circumstances which may occur. We now continue in this course; and the subject which we bring before you is the religious excitement on the public mind, which has manifested itself within these few years, and continues to extend itself, promoting inquiry into the ground of the faith and of the hopes of the Christian Revelation, and of zealous endeavours for the extension of the knowledge of it.

6.

That such seasons of grace occasionally occur in the course of Divine Providence, cannot have escaped the notice of any religious observer, who has attentively studied the history of the Christian Church; and although we are warranted by Holy Writ, to refer every such event to the agency from which all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works proceed;" yet, it being the usual course of the moral government of God, that his designs are accomplished through the intervention of what are called secondary causes, it is natural to inquire, how far such a provision is discernible in the matter now brought under review.

We think that we perceive the be