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Reviews and Notices.

Parochial Work. By the Rev. E. MONRO. Oxford: J. H.

Parker.

The Church Schoolmaster.

London: Rivingtons.

By the Rev. SANDERSON ROBINS.

The Parochial System as a means of alleviating temporal distress. By the Rev. H. MACKENZIE. London: J. W. Parker. PERSONS Who take much interest in the state of the Church abroad will feel a more than ordinary sympathy with whatever affects the prosperity of the Church at home. As the stem is, so are the branches. Health and life, languor and decay, are communicated from one to the other; especially at a time when an ancient Church is putting out, year after year, fresh offshoots, she is impressing the lineaments of her own character upon remote ages and lands. The above-mentioned publications belong to a class, the appearance of which indicates a satisfactory improvement in that character. It is very gratifying to observe the increasing attention which is now given to the management of parishes. Of all human means to strengthen and extend the Church, both in England and the Colonies, there is none so promising as the more frequent and judicious intercourse between the Clergy and their flocks.

Mr. Monro's Parochial Work contains more practical suggestions than any book we know of on this subject in the present day. It is a complete commentary upon our parochial system as it now exists, by one to whom it has been a labour of love to test all its machinery, bringing to bear upon it every resource which earnest piety, zeal, unusual ability, and unflagging diligence can supply. Some clergymen trust (under God) to more frequent Communion, others to daily prayers, or to preaching, or to schools, or to visiting, as the chief means for elevating the spiritual character of their flock. All these seem to have been put to the proof by Mr. Monro; and there are few pastors, however zealous or experienced, who will not find their knowledge of the work made clearer, and their devotion to it quickened, by a perusal of this most valuable book. Our limits forbid detailed criticism, though every page is full of interest. We cannot, however, think it was judicious to insert in a work likely to be so generally circulated, an elaborate disquisition on the treatment of the sin of unchastity. It is a painful and perilous subject, to which no one's thoughts should be called more often than is absolutely necessary. The size and expense of the book have been increased also, by the insertion of a letter to Mr. Gladstone, on the subject of education.

The Church Schoolmaster is calculated to render an essential service to the large and important class to whom it is addressed. It is not easy to overrate the usefulness of an earnest and religious schoolmaster in a parish. Mr. Robins is highly successful in showing how the ordinary duties of that office are to be sanctified by the constant application of the purest Christian principles. This book should be placed within the reach of every professed teacher of children in the Church. delightfully free from any controversial bias.

It is

Mr. Mackenzie's little brochure is a sensible remonstrance, occasioned by the propensity of benevolent individuals to ignore the unobtrusive labours of the Church amongst the poor, and to make the police magistrate rather than the Clergyman their almoner. Mr. Mackenzie justly observes, that the magistrate generally has to deal only with the vicious poor. The most deserving, and even the doubtful poor, do not for the most part come under the notice of the police; but their distresses are a burden for which Clergymen can often find no adequate relief.

Sickness; its Trials and Blessings. London: Rivingtons. WE needed not Mr. Massingberd's preface to assure us that the authoress of this volume is an experienced disciple in the school of

that soothing art

Which only souls in suffering tried

Bear to their suffering brethren's side.

It is imbued throughout with a sober sense of the responsibilities incident to a state of sickness, and of the awful position in which the sufferer is placed as one alone with God. Few, very few Christians are so advanced as not to be capable of profiting by its quiet, earnest lessons. To those who are called, perhaps suddenly, to minister amongst scenes of sickness such as they have never personally realized, this volume is an invaluable guide. We shall hope to meet with it often hereafter, both as a companion in the sick-chamber, and amongst the books of our younger brethren in the ministry.

How to Emigrate. A Tale for all classes. By W. H. S. Kingston, Esq. London: Grant & Griffith.

A LIVELY and interesting tale, written by a gentleman on whose experience and judgment in all the details which concern emigrants the fullest reliance may be placed. We commend it, without hesitation, as well to such as are only beginning to think on this subject as to others whose preparations for a change of country are already made. It is full of information,

condensed from many large volumes, and brought to bear practically upon the actual condition of thousands of our countrymen. The Appendix consists of a collection of fugitive documents of great value. We regret that we have not space to give our readers a specimen of so agreeable and sensible a work.

The South African Church Magazine and Ecclesiastical Review. I. II. Capetown: Robertson & Co. London: J. Richardson. We welcome with much pleasure the appearance of a new fellow-labourer within the ample boundaries of our Colonial Church. We trust that the general interest, neat appearance, and cheapness of this magazine, will win favour for it not only in its native Colony, but also amongst the increasing numbers of Churchmen in England who are interested in the spiritual welfare of the Cape. Its size nearly corresponds to our own; and its contents exhibit a greater variety, comprehending original articles, extracts, poetry, reviews, and news local and general.

THE REV. J. Miller, the author of the well-known Bampton Lectures, has lately published a small volume, entitled A Safe Path for humble Churchmen, in Six Sermons on the Church Catechism. They are sound, sensible, and moderate discourses, simple in style, yet not wanting depth and originality of thought. Messrs. Rivington have also issued a sixth and cheaper edition of Bishop Mant's Common Prayer-Book—a work which has long been established as a favourite with all who respect the best theological authorities of the Church of England. We sincerely hope that the reduced price may bring this volume within the reach of a large class of readers by whom we know it is much wanted.

Colonial, Foreign, and Home News.

SUMMARY.

THE latest accounts from NOVA SCOTIA Speak of a decided improvement in the health of the venerable Bishop. The question of postoffice labour on Sundays is exciting attention in this province; the inhabitants of Charlottetown, Prince Edward's Island, have petitioned for the cessation of the Sunday mail between that town and Pictou ; and a similar feeling is said to exist in other parts. The Bishop of FREDERICTON held an ordination on Trinity Sunday (May 26th) at Fredericton. Three gentlemen, Messrs. Bliss, Spike, and Stamer, were admitted to the order of Deacons, and the Rev. R. D. Palmer

was ordained Priest. On Ascension-day (May 9th) the foundationstone of a new church was laid in the parish of Hamilton, TORONTO : it is intended to set apart one-third of the accommodation for the use of the poor. A meeting was held on May 8th, at the Presbyterian place of worship, Queen Street, Toronto, for the purpose of agitation on the subject of the Clergy Reserves. A general quarrel amongst the chief promoters of the meeting seems to have closed the proceedings. Dr. Bethune has published a long and able argument on the subject, in the shape of a letter to the Hon. R. Baldwin. We are glad to record the establishment of a "Canadian Ecclesiastical Gazette;" the first number of which was published at QUEBEC on June 8th. The Bishop of Montreal ordained three Priests and one Deacon at Quebec on Trinity Sunday.

This is the season at which the Annual Conventions of the several American Dioceses assemble. Two churches of unusual beauty, dedicated to St. James the Less and St. Mark, have just been consecrated in the diocese of Pennsylvania.

We are sorry to announce that the publication of the Sydney Guardian is discontinued; we would hope it may be only for a time. The Bishop of SYDNEY consecrated the Church of St. Thomas, Enfield, built at the sole expense of Thomas Hyndes, Esq., on December 31; All Saints' Church, at Bathurst, on December 14th, and the Church of St. Mark, Greendale, on November 13th. The Bishop of MELBOURNE ordained two Deacons and one Priest at St. James's Church, Melbourne, on December 24th.

SYDNEY.-St. Andrew's Cathedral.-Last year Mr. Jones, the Honorary Secretary of the Cathedral Committee, wrote to the Bishop of Calcutta requesting some token of his interest in this good work. The following is an extract from the Bishop's reply, dated Bishop's Palace, Calcutta, 16th August, 1849.

Dear Sir, I consider it a real favour that you have written to me on the subject of your noble Cathedral. I have read with the deepest interest, the Report of the Annual Meetings both of this year and the preceding, and if my life be spared.. I will certainly make you a donation, however small. At present I am an embarrassed man, struggling to get free. In the course of next year, however, I hope to spare a thousand rupees (£100) for the Metropolitical Church of Australia. My health is naturally failing in my seventy-second year, but I feel the same lively interest in all the ten Dioceses into which the See of Calcutta has been happily subdivided, as I did when I was nominally the bishop of them all.

Never did our Protestant Church shine forth so brightly, from the period of the blessed Reformation in the 16th century, as at the present moment. We are hemmed in, it is true, by Popery and Neologism, or Rationalism as it is improperly termed, (for we are the only reasonable men who bow our rational powers to Divine Revelation, and adore where we are incapable of comprehending,) but if we keep firm to the simplicity of the gospel in doctrine, and to the pure evangelical discipline of our first reformers, . . . . I have no doubt but the Lord Christ will vindicate His own cause in the sight of the nations, and that infidelity and popery

will be eclipsed by the gentle glories of His atoning sacrifice and allprevalent High Priesthood.

Now is the time of probation-now is the period when we must stand fast and quit ourselves like men-now is the conflict with Satan and all the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. Let us, therefore, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, till we stand at last conquerors on the field, through Him who hath loved us.

I beg my affectionate love to the Lord Bishop and Metropolitan, from whom I had a charming letter about a year since in recommendation of Mr. R- and which I should have answered at once had I not been absent on Visitation till the time of serving him, and of replying to His Lordship, had passed,

Begging an interest in your prayers, I am

Your affectionate and faithful Brother in the Lord,

D. CALCUTTA,

NEWCASTLE-Improvements effected in the Diocese. Our readers will peruse with interest the following extracts from a letter lately received from the Bishop of Newcastle, New South Wales.

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December, 1849.—I am now in good health and spirits, and enjoying the great satisfaction of having my diocese in something like order, conscious that I know the wants of every district and am exerting a gentle influence over the whole. The last two years, however, have been years of intense labour for body and mind. Now there will be a freedom from the hurry and bustle in which I have hitherto been immersed, and I shall have time for mature deliberation on plans I may form for the support and extension of our Church.

“When I arrived in my Diocese I found many of the Churches heavily in debt, and many stopped in their building—some for years; and in other places where subscriptions had been collected, the subscribers complained that their money had been wasted and nothing effected. Now every Church in the Diocese is out of debt, and many of the Churches which had been sources of disappointment for years, are advancing towards completion, and affording satisfaction and delight to the subscribers. So that though there was no Church for us to consecrate last year, when I arrived in the colony, and only one this year, yet next year I fully expect to consecrate seven, These are of stone or brick, and the wooden Churches, which I do not consecrate, will equal them in number.

"Again, when I arrived in this Diocese, three large districts were vacant by the withdrawal of the clergymen into the Sydney Diocese; three others of the clergy in the course of a few months died, and another from old age and infirmity became incapable of duty. These seven districts I have supplied with fresh clergy, and during the last six months I have placed three other active, devoted clergymen in new districts which have never before had the blessing of a resident minister amongst them."

Diocese of New Zealand.—On the 1st of October, the Bishop of New Zealand returned in the Undine, schooner, from a short cruise amongst the islands in the neighbourhood of New Caledonia. The bishop visited ten of these interesting islands, and was every where received by the natives in the most friendly manner. He brought with him five young lads to spend the summer in New Zealand, and then return to their own country. Of these, one is a native of Lifu, another of New Caledonia, and the other three come from the island of Mare. In each of these places an entirely

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