position with regard to Rome. We have also received Papal Aggression, by the Rev. E. P. EDDRUP, a practical sermon, which shows more than ordinary reading, ability, and mode

ration.

Two excellent Christmas volumes of the Magazine for the Young, (Mozley,) and the Churchman's Companion, (Masters,) have just appeared. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has also begun to publish, through Mr. Bell, 186, Fleetstreet, a halfpenny periodical, entitled the Gospel Missionary. It is addressed to the young and the poor, and may, we think, be safely commended for parochial circulation.

Colonial, Foreign, and Home News.

SUMMARY.

THE Churchmen of NOVA SCOTIA are testifying very generally their sorrow for the loss which the diocese sustains by the death of Bishop Inglis. It has formed the subject of many sermons: one by Archdeacon Willis we have noticed elsewhere. The diocesan Church Society met on Nov. 21st, and resolved to grant an annual allowance of 50%. each to three Assistant Missionaries in the parishes of St. James, Newport, and St. Paul, Rawdon, of St. Stephen, Chester, and of St. Luke, Annapolis. The Clergy of Nova Scotia appear to be reviving the practice of holding periodically Clerical Meetings, accompanied by public services. One such was lately held at Shelburne, another on Nov. 13th, at Annapolis. Owing to some accident or negligence, we have not received the TORONTO Church for several weeks. We learn from other sources that the Bishop intended to hold an ordination, on Nov. 17th, and to lay the first stone of the new Cathedral on Nov. 26th. At QUEBEC on October 31st a large meeting agreed to petition Parliament against the late measure in the House of Assembly respecting the Clergy Reserves. The Rev. T. Pennefather has been appointed to Bourg Louis and St. Catherine's, Portneuf. The Rev. F. De la Mare and F. A. Smith have arrived at their respective missions in Gaspé. Steps have been taken in MONTREAL for the establishment of a Church Society for the new Diocese. The two Bishops met together at Lennoxville on Oct. 5th and 6th. At FREDERICTON a Relief Committee has been formed to mitigate the distress of the sufferers in the extensive fire on Nov. 11th, one hundred and twenty-two houses, all except two being of wood, were destroyed. On Sept. 22d, the Bishop went to visit the Churches at Grand Falls, Tobique, and Woodstock; on October 19th, his Lordship visited and officiated at Douglas and Queensbury; on Nov. 2d, at St. Paul's Chapel, Portland. It is expected that the spire of the Cathedral will be put up next year.

On Nov. 15th a General Meeting of the BARBADOS Church Society was specially convened at Bridgetown, with the view of originating a

This im

Church Mission from the West Indies to Western Africa. portant subject has for some time past engaged the attention of some zealous Churchmen in Barbados. We hope to take an early opportunity of reverting to it.

In the Diocese of NEW YORK, Dr. J. R. Johnson has been elected Professor of Systematic Divinity in the general Theological Seminary. A special Convention of the Diocese was summoned on Nov. 27th, for the purpose of electing a Coadjutor-Bishop for the Diocese in consequence of a decision of the last general Convention. Bishop Southgate, Drs. Williams, Seabury, and Creighton were proposed, but not one of them succeeded in obtaining a majority of votes in both orders. The Convention adjourned without coming to any conclusion.

MELBOURNE.-Mission to the Bush.-On the 29th of May the Rev. S. L. Chase left Melbourne upon a Missionary journey into the interior, accompanied by Mr. Palmer, as a lay-assistant, and directed his course along the Sydney road to Wangaratta, turning off at various places on his route, and stopping at Seymour, Violet Town, and Benalla, on the Broken River. In a letter from Wangaratta, dated June 15th, he states that they reached that place on the previous Wednesday, having had a prosperous journey, and having been, as he trusted, much blessed in carrying out the objects of their Mission. "All along the route," he writes, "we have experienced great kindness; and, whilst Mr. Palmer has been much occupied in selling books, I have found great opportunities of preaching the word. I have slept at fourteen different places, and been absent from home seventeen days. Everything has prospered with us, and I am greatly pleased with the manner in which my Christian companion has fulfilled his duty. By writing to all the settlers, whom I purpose visiting on my return, (and each day is already arranged for,) my hope is to meet as large congregations as can be collected, and that the good Lord may vouchsafe His gracious blessing is my earnest prayer." This commencement of our long-talked-of Mission to those parts of the interior where there is no settled Minister of the Gospel, is a cause for much thankfulness to the Great Head of the Church. It is intended, if God permit, that immediately upon Mr. Chase's return, the Rev. J. H. Gregory shall set off upon a journey along the Western Port road, as far as Cape Shark. An inhabitant of that district states, that he has been there many years, and that there has never been a religious instructor in that direction. "There are many large families," he writes, "and many children have not received the sacred rite of Baptism. This is not the fault of the parents, as it is impossible to leave a large family unprotected in the bush, and equally impossible to convey them to town." We trust that the occasional visits of our bush Missionary, although necessarily at long intervals, may be the means, by God's blessing, of preserving the knowledge of the one true and living God, and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent, among many of these widely-scattered families.-Melbourne Church of England Messenger, July 1850.

NEWCASTLE.-Extract from a letter of the Bishop, dated Armidale, New England, May 6, 1850:

"I am now upon one of my long Visitation tours, and can scarcely tell when I may have an hour's rest or quiet. I am perfectly well and strong, and not at all daunted by the prospect before me of eight weeks more riding before I reach Morpeth again, by which time I shall have gone on horseback about 1,000 miles, and about 800 by water. My only attendant is my excellent Beaulieu servant. You must not, however, suppose that during all this time I am without proper guides, or allowed to want any

thing which the kindest hospitality can provide for me. Each of my Clergy meets me at the beginning of his district, and conducts me to the end of it, where he does not leave me until he has committed me to the care and guidance of his brother Clergyman, who ministers in the next district. Before I leave home, all my plans have been settled. The places which I hope to reach each night are fixed, and services appointed, and thus I travel over the country, having always one service each day, sometimes two, and sometimes three. As an instance of a good day's work, I must tell you what I did the day I left Morpeth. There had been much rain on the previous day and during the night, and I set out at six o'clock in the morning, with the full expectation that I should have a very wet day's ride. The roads were heavy; and you in England do not know what heavy roads are. Imagine a lately ploughed field after plenty of rain, and the track you are going having been traversed by some fifty carts. This will tell you what our roads are in bad weather; with the pleasing addition, however, that much of the soil is black and like pitch, sticking to your shoes or horse's feet, or what is worse, to the wheels of your carriage, to a degree, which, with a carriage, prevents positively all progress. I started then, at six o'clock, with bad roads, and rode thirty-six miles without stopping. My horses were, fortunately, fresh, and I therefore was enabled to accomplish the distance by half-past ten. I then gave my horses two hours' rest, while I went to the school with the Clergyman, and then surveyed a new church which we are building. At half-past twelve I started again, and rode eight miles to another place, where we are just finishing a very nice church. Here another Clergyman and all the inhabitants of the district met me, and at two o'clock we had full afternoon service, and then I went over the church, and made arrangements about a school, and then proceeded on my journey, another Clergyman waiting for me a few miles onward, and riding with me to his parsonage, a distance of twenty-two miles from the place where we had had the service. Thus in one day I examined a school for one hour, inspected two churches, held one full service, and rode sixty-six miles.

I have already ridden about 500 miles, and now in New England the nights are becoming very cold. But I can assure you that any cold I have to suffer, or fatigue I have to go through, is compensated a thousand times by the good which I see progressing most satisfactorily. The first long journey which I made up into this district was very gratifying, from the numbers which everywhere attended the services. But this visit the numbers have greatly increased, and many of the churches in which I have officiated, even on the week-day, have never been seen so full before. This long journey will make me fully acquainted with every part of my extensive Diocese. The result of my anxious labours is now becoming apparent in the quiet advance which the Church is making in this Diocese."

SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL.-The monthly meeting of the Society took place on December 20th, the Bishop of JAMAICA in the chair. A letter was read from Sir George Grey acknowledging the receipt of the Society's Memorial to her Majesty on the recent papal aggression. Letters were read from the Bishops of ADELAIDE, MELBOURNE, and BARBADOS, the latter enclosing a highly satisfactory Report of the present state of Codrington College and Schools. The sum of 2501. for passage and outfit was granted to three Clergymen, who are about to proceed immediately to Jamaica, where the fearful ravages of cholera cause the deficiency of Clerical assistance to be severely felt at the present time. A letter was read from the Bishop of Calcutta, giving a favourable account of the Missionary and Educational work now being carried on at the Cathedral.

THE

COLONIAL CHURCH CHRONICLE

AND

Missionary Journal.

FEBRUARY, 1851.

MISSIONS OF THE CHURCH IN TINNEVELLY.1

No. VIII.

In this article I purpose to give a very brief account of our native assistants, their work and qualifications, and the means which are made use of for their improvement. In every Mission there are, under the Missionary in charge, a number of native helpers, divided very generally into the grades of Superintending Catechist, Assistant Catechist or Reader, and Schoolmaster.

I omit all mention of native Clergymen, of whom there are two, and of European and East Indian catechists, of whom there are several, in the Missions both of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and of the Church Missionary Society.

It will be readily admitted that this is a subject of unspeakable importance as connected with the permanence and extension of our work. For, in the first place, the persuasion is probably very general that the pastoral work of our Indian Church cannot, save in a few exceptional cases, be performed adequately and effectively by Europeans or even by East Indians. And, secondly, if we are to look for a native ministry, we must expect really qualified men to be raised up, for the most part, from among our lay assistants; and in general very few will be found to be eligible candidates for the office of the ministry who have not spent some years in the work as catechists.

The reader must be reminded that the Missionary resides generally in some central village of his large district; and that his congregations, often many in number, are scattered about in the surrounding villages, at distances varying from half a mile, or even less, to thirty miles.

Every village congregation of sufficient importance has its own catechist, and in most large villages there is also a schoolmaster. 1 Continued from p. 206.

Then again many Missionary districts are subdivided into two or more circles, over each of which a superintending catechist exercises a kind of control, under the Missionary. This plan of appointing superintendent catechists has not been found beneficial in all cases, since they sometimes stand too much between the Missionary and the catechists, and obtain greater influence in the Mission than it is desirable that an unordained labourer should ever possess. In some Missions there are also superintending schoolmasters, who, in like manner, have a number of schoolmasters under them. Probably some of our readers will ask who these catechists are, and how they are prepared for their work? The elders among them are, for the most part, men who have received but little training in early life, and have been taken at once from their ordinary avocations, to assist the Missionary, when the sudden addition of a congregation of inquirers has rendered their services necessary. It often happens that a deputation from a village or part of a village comes to the Missionary, with the request that he will receive them as "learners of the Christian Védam," and supply them with a catechist. If it appears right, on the whole, thus to receive them as inquirers, the Missionary immediately looks round for a fit person to send to teach the new comers the rudiments of Christianity. And if a thoroughly well qualified native could always be found a holy and devoted man, thoroughly well instructed in Christian doctrine, zealous yet prudent-what an inestimable blessing would such an one be in the village to which he should be sent! But such men are very rare there as elsewhere, and the Missionary must send the best man he can get. Search is accordingly made, first among the candidates for Mission employment, if there be any. Sometimes a deserving schoolmaster is sent, and very often a private individual is summoned, and the question is put to him whether he will go and do his best to supply the deficiency. And so he sets out, an assistant catechist, on trial. If then some of our catechists occasionally fail us, and many of them are scarcely fit in all respects for the very difficult work entrusted to them, it should always be taken into consideration that the whole system is one which has gradually grown out of the necessities of the case, in the midst of a Missionary work which must be expected to be full of anomalies, which time and the consolidation of the Missions alone can be expected to remove. Others of them have had a kind of training in what is called the "preparandi" class, of which there was formerly one in almost every district, though I believe that in many districts they have been abandoned. The preparandi are generally young men who are candidates for Mission employment. Some of them come into the class