dian Affairs, in the summer of 1805: "I am come, brethren," said the missionary," to enlighten your minds, and to instruct you how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his will, and to preach to you the gospel of his Son, Jesus Christ. There is but one way to serve God, and if you do not embrace the right way, you cannot be happy hereafter." To which they replied, "Brother, we understand your religion is written in a book. You say that there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there be but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agree, as you can all read the book? Brother, we do not understand these things. We are told your religion was given to your forefathers. We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favours we receive, to love one another, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion. We are told you have been preaching to the white people in this place. Those people are our neighbours: we are acquainted with them. We will wait a little, to see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again what you have said." Thus closed the conference! Alas! poor people! how do our divisions and corruptions stand in your way? What a pity that you find us not upon original ground, such as the apostles left the primitive churches! Had we exhibited to you their unity and charity; their humble, honest, and affectionate deportment towards each other, and towards all men, you would not have had those evil and shameful things to object to our holy religion, and to prejudice your minds against it. But your conversion, it seems, awaits our reformationawaits our return to primitive unity and love. To this may the God of mercy speedily restore us, both for your sakes and for our own; that his way may be known upon earth, and his saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Amen and amen.

Upon the whole, we appeal to every candid mind, that has one serious thought upon the great subject of Christianity: is not the necessity of a religious reformation among professed Christians most convincingly evident, and universally acknowledged, by the serious of all denominations? We appeal, then, to all concerned, what should be its character? Should it be divine or human? Should it be the simple belief and obedience of the word and testimony of God, or of the opinions and dictates of men? You will, no doubt, say, Of the former. So say we; and yet, strange to tell, all the sects are of fended. And why? We shall leave it to them to say; for they have

not yet, no, not one of them, presented any relevant reason, why we should desist from urging the indispensable duty, absolute necessity, and vast importance of the reformation for which we plead. They have not presented us with the detection of one single error in our premises. We shall conclude our humble appeal by respectfully assuring all concerned, that if they, or any of them, will convince us of any error, either of faith or practice, that we will candidly relinquish it, and thank God and man for the discovery. Also, that if they will show us how we may, without giving offence, plead the cause of a reformation, which involves the glory of God and the happiness of mankind, we shall thankfully adopt it.

For the assistance and satisfaction of our inquiring friends, who wish to avail themselves of the luminous fulness of the holy scriptures upon the great subject under consideration, we subjoin the following analysis of the sacred oracles, and the great salvation which they exhibit; by the due consideration of which the scriptural evidence and certainty of what is intended, will, we hope, be apparently obvious.

ANALYSIS OF THE SACRED ORACLES.

The Bible consists of two volumes-the Old Testament and the New. Each of these consists of histories, prophecies, moral dictates, divine institutions, and devotional exercises. The Old Testament contains three distinct dispensations of religion, and predicts a fourth, which is contained in the New; viz. 1st. The primitive or Edenicdelivered to our first parents immediately after their creation. 2d. The Patriarchal-also delivered to our first parents immediately after their fall. 3d. The Israelitish or Mosaic-delivered to the Israelites by Moses. And the 4th, called the Christian,-exclusively contained in the New Testament. Concerning these two volumes. we observe, that although the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are inseparably connected, making together but one perfect and entire revelation of the divine will, for the edification and salvation of the church; and, therefore, in that respect cannot be separated yet as to what directly and properly belongs to their immediate object, the New Testament is as perfect a constitution for the worship, discipline, and government of the New Testament church, and as perfect a rule for the particular duties of its members, as the Old Testament was for the worship, discipline, and government of the Old Testament church, and the particular duties of its members.

Also, that in order to enjoy a clear and comprehensive knowledge

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of what we read upon every subject in the sacred volume, the following things should be duly considered: viz. Who speaks; to whom he speaks; what he says; why he says it; when; and where he said so.

ANALYSIS OF THE GRAND DOCTRINAL TOPICS CONTAINED IN THE BIBLE.

1. The knowledge of God. 2. Of man. 3. Of sin. 4. Of the Saviour. 5. Of his salvation. 6. Of the principle and means of enjoying it. 7. Of its blissful effects and consequences.

These are the grand doctrinal topics which the scriptures were specially designed to teach, in the knowledge, belief, and practical influence of which, consists our present salvation.

ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT SALVATION.

I. Of its concurring causes.-1. The prime moving or designing cause the love of God. 2. The procuring cause-the blood of Christ. 3. The efficient cause-the Holy Spirit. 4. The instrumental cause--the gospel and law of Christ, or the word of truth. II. Of the principle and means of enjoyment.

1. OF THE PRINCIPLE.

The sole principle of enjoyment is belief or faith.

2. OF THE MEANS.

1. The prime instituted means of enjoyment is baptism. 2. Prayer. 3. Church fellowship in the social ordinances. 4. The Lord's day. 5. The Lord's Supper. 6. The prayers. 7. The praises. 8. The teaching of the word. 9. The contribution for charitable purposes. 10. Religious conversation. 11. Studious perusal and meditation of the holy scriptures. 12. All manner of good works-called works of faith and labours of love, &c., all of which are but means of enjoyment—not of procurement. "For eternal life is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

III. Of the present and proper effects of this salvation.—These are justification, adoption, sanctification, assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance in it to the end of our race.

IV. Of its ultimate effects.-These are a glorious resurrection, and a blissful immortality.

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

BY THE REV. R. C. SHIMEALL,

RECTOR OF ST. JUDE'S EPISCOPALIAN FREE CHURCH, N. Y.

NUMERICALLY, the Episcopalians of this country, prior to the revolution, may be fitly compared to "an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains." They were principally confined to the older colonial settlements of Maryland and Virginia, and in those of the south. To the north and east of Maryland, at the commencement of the revolution, the church had in her employment only about eighty parochial clergymen; all of whom, except those "resident in the towns of Boston and Newport, and the cities of New York and Philadelphia," derived their support from the society in England, instituted for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts. In the entire province of Pennsylvania, the missionaries of this society never exceeded six in number.

Under the reign of James I., what the Puritans, through the instigation of Archbishop Bancroft failed to accomplish, in their attempt to migrate to the New World, they finally effected by obtaining a charter from the crown of England. The first emigrants consisted of a company of the Brownists, who, having retired to Holland, under the pastoral care of Mr. Robinson, resolved, A. D. 1620, to transport and nourish their religious sentiments in America. They settled at Plymouth.

The rigour and cruelty exercised by Bancroft and the high commissioners toward the separatists, has, not without reason, been considered by historians, as conducive to the troubles which ensued in the following reign, under Charles I. Laud, if he possessed not the ambition and the cruelty, yet he certainly inherited the spirit, and adopted the policy, of the above named zealous but misguided prelate. As an illustration of this fact, our limits will only allow us to record that, during the period of his administration of twelve years, no less than four thousand Puritans, whose principal object was-liberty to serve God in the way their consciences approved-migrated from

their native country, and, with those who had preceded them, from Holland, laid the foundation of a new nation in North America. Their places of settlement were, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven. Their chief leaders were non-conformist or Puritan ministers, who, "being hunted from one diocese to another, at last chose this wilderness for their retreat." Mr. Neale, their historian, speaks of a list of seventy-seven divines, "who became pastors of sundry little churches and congregations in America, before the year 1640, all of whom were in orders in the Church of England, men of strict sobriety and virtue; plain, serious, affectionate preachers, exactly conformable in sentiment to the doctrinal articles of the Church of England."

It is superfluous to add that, in the settlement of their ecclesiastical state in this western hemisphere, they adopted the Congregational form of ministry and government. And, as a consequence, and under the promptings of such fears, as the recollection of the past very naturally awakened, they looked with a jealous eye on the movements of that religious body, holding views in common with the Episcopal establishment of their "mother land." Of an "existing jealousy inthe colonies, of the parent power," there can be no doubt. It formed the germ of the revolution. Hence their apprehension that the Episcopal Church might, at some future day, be an engine aiding in the introduction of a new system of colonial government.

It is also proper to remark, in this place, that other parts of Europe also contributed to the tide of emigration which was now populating the New World, of which, however, the German States were the principal. In 1623, a colony of the Dutch settled in this state, (New York,) then called "New Netherlands," and selected the southern extremity of Manhattan Island as their principal mart, to which they gave the name of New Amsterdam, now known as the city of New York. These, though "busily engaged in the pursuit of worldly gain, were by no means regardless of religion." Their first church was organized in this city (New York), A. D., 1639. Being planned under the immediate patronage of the Dutch West India Company, they very naturally solicited the aid of that body in procuring ministers for their churches. The ministers they supplied were ordained and sent forth by the Classis of Amsterdam, (Presbyterian,) with the approbation of the Synod of North Holland, to which that classis belongs. Through the medium of the same classis, the German Reformed Churches of Pennsylvania also procured their ministry from Germany; to which ecclesiastical body, both, accordingly, for the time being, were dependant and subordinate.