nishes us. Of the last work on our list, we have no longer any room left to give an opinion: we, therefore, make an extract that it may speak for itself.

MEDITATION XVI.

PRAYER.

"Lo! where the king of day in glory bends.
From his bright car, and to his couch descends,
The sparkling clouds that hide him from our eyes,
Show by their gleam his pathway in the skies.
And while the waves of purple flood the west,
The pale Moon lifts her head, and leaves her rest,
High in the azure vault her beauties glow,
And her rays slumber on the turf below.
It is the hour when Night on every hill
Lets fall her veil, when Nature, calm and still,
Between the night that comes-the day that flies,
To Him who made them, lifts her dewy eyes;
And offers up, in all unrivalled lays,

The glorious homage of Creation's praise.
Behold the universal offering shine,

Space the vast temple, and the earth the shrine :
The Heavens its dome, and each retiring star,
Whose half-veiled lustre decks the skies afar,
Placed in the azure vault, is but a bright
And holy lamp, hung there the fane to light;
And those pure clouds, tinged by the parting day,
Which the light zephyr, as it wafts away,
Rolls into rosy billows to the gloom

Of the far darkness-these are but the fume
Of Nature's incense-upward still it tends,
And the throne of Nature's God ascends.
Silent the temple! where the holy song,
That to heaven's King arises, sweet and strong:
All-all is still, my heart alone can swell
The hymn of praise, and Nature's homage tell.
On Zephyr's wings, and on the evening's rays,
To God's abode her living incense raise;
Give to each creature, silent else, a tongue,
And lend herself for Nature's sacred song.
Invoke a Father's love around to shine,
And fill the deserts with his name divine;
And he who, bending from his palace dread,
Lists to the music of the spheres he made-
He hears the voice of Reason's humble prayer,
Address his glory, and his name declare."

215

WE intend, as we stated in October, to enter upon certain matters, connected especially with the state of Religion and the Church in the Colonies, and with the subject of education at home, for which we had not space in that number. So important, indeed, are the affairs of the Colonial Church that many articles may be written upon them without exhausting the subject. India, North America, the West India Islands, all are exclaiming with a voice that we cannot avoid hearing, and which we must not neglect, "Come over, and help us!" We are exerting ourselves, both at home and abroad, as individuals, and events are we trust taking a turn of such a character, that we shall be no longer left to private benevolence-the Government will, we hope, be persuaded to "do its duty." There are also other subjects, of a miscellaneous character, upon which we shall dwell. Our ecclesiastical proceedings are daily becoming more interesting, from the vast importance of the various interests involved. So important, indeed, is the question, with respect to the religious state of our colonies, that it forces itself, every session, upon the attention of the legislature-even upon the House of Commons: though, a few years since, it was scarcely possible for a member to obtain a hearing in that assembly on any subject connected with Religion or the Church. We proceed, therefore, to notice some of those important matters which are so intimately connected with the welfare of our fellow-subjects.

THE CHURCH IN THE COLONIES.

Every Briton must feel anxious for our colonial possessions. Not a few of us are, in some way or other, connected with them. Information, too, is so widely circulated, that almost every person who reads the ordinary newspapers becomes, in some degree, acquainted with the state of his fellow-subjects in the various colonies of this great empire. At home the Church of England is extending herself in every direction amongst those neglected thousands of our population, which have sprung up in our large towns and populous districts since the time of the Reformation, when the parochial edifices were sufficient for the wants of the people. The parochial system is an admirable piece of machinery. Whatever may be the amount of our population, the whole are connected with some particular parish: and when pecuniary means are forthcoming, nothing is required but to erect chapels of ease or district churches, or to separate an extensive parish in several portions. All this is easily accom

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plished in England. And we hold it to be the duty of the State to extend to the colonies all the privileges which are enjoyed by the mother country. Already much has been done by the legislature. The Church of England is a blessing to this country. The parochial system is a blessing, as thousands and tens of thousands, who experience the kindness of a clergyman, can testify. These blessings, therefore, should be extended to our colonies. This has, in some measure, been done: but not to the extent which the circumstances of the case require. The Church is doing great things in the colonies by individual efforts we mean by the voluntary exertions of various societies.

With respect to India, undoubtedly the Church would be supported without any pecuniary assistance from this country; but supposing such were not the case: when we consider the wealth which is poured into the land from our Indian empire, we cannot be unwilling to make some return by sending out bishops and clergy to superintend the spiritual concerns of the millions of British subjects in the eastern hemisphere.

It may be asked, what more can be done for India? In reply to such a question, we would ask, what has the state yet done? Societies have done much, but the State has done comparatively little. We are thankful indeed for that little, and we regard it as an earnest of better things: but we affirm that the State is under a solemn obligation to do much more. The question, then, admits of an easy answer. Let bishops and clergy be appointed in all our colonies, commensurate with the extent and wants of the population. At present there are three bishops in the whole of our Indian empire, and the clergy are scattered over the country in the same proportion. What can be effected by such slender means? Let India be divided into sees of such an extent as to be brought within the compass of one man's capabilities; let each see be filled by an active bishop; let a sufficient number of clergymen be appointed: so that every part of our Indian possessions may present something like the appearance of an ecclesiastical establishment. Were such a state of things to be established in India, thousands of the heathen population would almost daily become acquainted with the Gospel. At all events, we should have the satisfaction of knowing that, as a nation, we had done our duty.

To assert that nothing has been effected, is far from our purpose but we contend that it is but very little. It is, however, cheering to find, that the efforts of our Church in our colonies are so abundantly blessed and assuredly the benefits already resulting from those efforts may be regarded as an indication of much more extensive good, should the state awake from its

slumbers, and extend the blessings of a Church establishment to the whole of our colonies. Some notices of the proceedings of our bishops and clergy in our distant possessions, may serve to shew that our anticipations of more extensive good, in the event of a more extended ecclesiastical establishment being resolved on by the legislature, are by no means fanciful or visionary.

Already we have TEN bishops in our different colonies, of whom three are placed over our vast Indian territories. Had as much been effected before the American war, it is more than probable that the United States would never have separated from the mother country. Had a Church establishment commensurate with the wants of the people been erected, the ties by which the colonies would have been bound to this country would not have been easily sundered. Until lately we were content to leave onr colonies to the exertions of clergymen without any episcopal superintendence or control.

The merit of arousing the English government on this important point belongs exclusively to the venerable Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The committee of that society saw the necessity of having an ecclesiastical establishment in the colonies, and especially in India, (to which their efforts were first directed,) in so strong a light, that they continued year after year to memorialize the government on the subject. In the year 1812 a very strong memorial was presented and in 1814 directions were given by the government for creating the Bishopric of Calcutta. The venerable society had proposed that an archbishop and three bishops should compose the ecclesiastical establishment in our Indian empire. Had this measure been adopted, the archbishop would have resided at Calcutta, and the three bishops would have been appointed to Madras, Bombay, and Ceylon. At that time the government did not consider it expedient to comply with all the recommendations of the venerable society: but they determined to send out a bishop to preside over the Church in India. It was argued by all who favoured the measure, that there should be such an establishment of pastoral care and superintendence in that distant colony, as might, in some degree at least, correspond with our Church establishment at home. Though, however, the entire scheme recommended by the society was not adopted, yet the country at large was thankful to the government for such a manifestation of goodwill towards the population of India.

In the year 1814, Bishop Middleton went out to Calcutta, the first Protestant prelate in the east. He died in the year