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which there seems no reason to doubt), it will, in one more century, be between two and three hundred millions; who will all, more or less, bear the impression which has been stamped upon them by their fathers, the founders of the several colonies." Such is Mr. Hawkins's statement in the Preface to his Historical Notices of the Missions of the Church of England in the North American colonies, previous to the Independence of the United States. He adds most justly :-" Whatever be cast into the soil of a new country, be it good seed or tares, will take root, and spring up with an abundant harvest: and this is a truth which no country was ever so bound to understand and act upon as England: our colonies in every part of the world are fast growing into great nations: and upon ourselves-the Church and realm of England-it depends to mould their institutions, and fix their principles." Devoutly do we wish that the remark may be applied in all its force to the colony under notice, and to the diocese of Toronto in particular. The province of Upper Canada, in 1812, contained but a population of 70,000. It now exceeds 500,000, double the entire population of the North American colonies in 1702," and is rapidly increasing. Nearly 40,000 persons went out to settle there in the year 1842." There were but five clergymen in Upper Canada, so recently as 1812. It now numbers not fewer than 105-has been erected into a separate diocese-has its Church newspaper, its Church Society, its college and professors, and is strong enough, it seems, to furnish" a due supply of persons fitly qualified," as the Report states, "to serve in the ministry of the settled parishes," and can now send out its "missionaries among the scattered population of the forest." What elements of increase! What a prospect for the future! How much must depend upon the fit qualification of this now indigenous ministry, and the character of the seed sown by them in the new soil now breaking up in all directions, and promising an abundant harvest! Whether (to adopt the language of the Society's Report) " we may look to the result with confidence," as far as the zealous exertions" of the labourers now employed can operate, is a question of pressing interest; and glad should we be to entertain the sanguine view so warmly expressed by the home-directors—or rather we would say, patrons, of this important mission. But we cannot think, with them, that" of the bishop himself it is needless to speak." We may not dissent from the tribute to "his unceasing labours and journeyings," or to "the zealous exertions of the devoted labourers" associated with him, of whom the bishop says, "I do not believe it possible, that a more laborious body of clergy than mine is anywhere to be found." We readily admit that the dio

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cese of Toronto exhibits decisive evidence of untiring zeal and devoted energy: there is clearly brought into operation in that most important sphere an influence of no ordinary character for the extension and establishment of the Church's ordinances, upon the principles so firmly held by the bishop and his coadjutor, the principal of Cobourg College and editor of the Church newspaper. But whether these principles are in strict accordance with those of our apostolical Church and the Scriptures of truth, is another question; and one, we conceive, which demands the most serious inquiry on the part of those who are contributing to their support the large annual sum of about £6000. We cannot think that a Society which regards as irresponsible, and supports thus bountifully, what is fast becoming an "indigenous colonial Church, will have, or ought to have, the entire confidence of the Church at home. The present aspect of the diocese of Toronto, as controlled by its governing authorities, appears to us in several respects far from satisfactory, and such as loudly calls for the intervention of the administrators of our public funds, and the responsible guardians of the Church's integrity. But we must content ourselves at present with this general remark, passing on to the other ecclesiastical division of the Canadas-the diocese of Quebec.

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"The province of Canada," the preface to No. II. informs us, was first formed into a diocese in the year 1793, under the episcopal superintendence of Dr. Jacob Mountain, the father of the present excellent prelate. In 1826, the Hon. Charles Stewart, the devoted missionary to St. Armand, succeeded to

1 Since the above was written, we have met with the following communication from the Bishop of Toronto (Jan. 19, 1846,) which it seems but just to add.

"But," says the Bishop, “while I saw much reason to call forth our thanksgivings to Almighty God, in passing through the province, from beholding the vigorous progress of the Church, wherever she found an opening; the congregations that were forming in all directions; and churches, of a simple and cheap structure, that were rising in every district: there is another aspect which the diocese presents, of a far different character, and in which it exhibits, I must in sorrow confess, a melancholy picture.

"In this view, the map of the diocese of Toronto, notwithstanding what has been done, presents an appalling degree of spiritual destitution. To the district of Ottawa, comprising nine townships, or more than a thousand square miles, I have not yet been able to send a single resident clergyman. In the Wellington and Victoria districts, each containing twelve townships,-in all, nearly 3000 square miles,-we have only two clergymen. In other directions, large portions of the country remain entirely without Gospel privileges, and have never seen the face of a single clergyman. Some again are visited occasionally by a travelling missionary, or the nearest resident clergyman: but such visits are from necessity very rare and at long intervals. We daily meet

with settlers who tell us, in deep sorrow, that they have never heard divine service since they came to the country: or if it chance that a travelling missionary makes his appearance, he is a stranger whom they may never see again, and whom they cannot send for in the hour of misfortune or of death. In fine, nothing happens for months, nay, for years, in many of our townships, to remind the inhabitants of the existence of a God." Owing to the constant increase of immigration and extension of settlements, more than one hundred additional clergy are wanted to relieve even a portion of our spiritual destitution."

the bishopric of Quebec; and when he was compelled, by illness brought on by his many apostolic labours and journeyings, to return to England, in 1836, Dr. G. J. Mountain was consecrated for the administration of the diocese, under the title of Bishop of Montreal-which title he still retains, though the diocese is properly called the Diocese of Quebec. This enormous see was divided, in the year 1839, when Archdeacon Strachan was raised to the Bishopric of Toronto, comprising the province of Upper Canada, or, as it is now called, Canada West.

"The diocese of Quebec, though considerably reduced by the creation of a new see, is still far too extensive: it runs along a narrow strip of land 600 miles in length, on both banks of the St. Lawrence, and contains an area of 200,000 square miles, which is equal to that of France."

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The population, it seems, is estimated at 650,000, about twothirds of whom are French Catholics. The census which has recently been taken gives the members of the Church of England at 43,274. "No fewer than 15,390 persons in all," says the Bishop, are stated as unaccounted for, in point of religious denomination which must be mainly attributed, I apprehend, to their deprivation of the means of grace." The number of English clergy, as given in the statistical returns made up to July 2, 1845, is seventy-three. Of these, fifty-three are the missionaries of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The entire cost of the mission in 1844 (we have not yet seen a later report) appears to have been £6416:8:9.1 The statistical returns give also the following particulars :

Parishes or missions

Number of stations (at 46 missions)

Total number of services in the year at 46 missions
Average attendance at 72 churches

70

214

7,929

19,067

Greatest number of communicants at one time (for

31 churches)

1,740

Number confirmed at last visitation

2,189

Number of churches

84

Number of sunday-schools

91"

The Society has furnished us with two journals, in a separate form, of visitations by the Bishop to parts of his diocese in 1843 and 1844. A few extracts will interest our readers and enable them to form a pretty clear idea of his Lordship's views, and the state of his diocese.

He thus states "the evil effects of religious division."

"The village of Huntingdon may be taken as one among many examples of the deplorable effects of schism in a new country. Here, in a spot scarcely

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reclaimed from the woods, is a little collection of houses, a good mill, a tavern or two, some few tradesmen, and some commencing indications of business; one good spacious church might contain all the worshippers: one faithful pastor might tend them all; and their resources for the support of religion, if combined, might provide for all the decencies of worship in a reverent manner, and for the comfort of the minister and his family they might, on laying their foundations for the future, exhibit, in the article of religion,-which should be their all in all,-the picture of a little Christian brotherhood; and the village not drawing, or drawing comparatively little, upon the bounty of the colonial cities or societies at home,-the aid derivable from these sources might the more largely supply the unprovided tracts of country in the wilderness. But here are four Protestant places of worship,altar against altar,-all ill-appointed-all ill-supported-and while discordant preaching is going on, or unholy leagues are made of two or three irregular sects against the Church, and violent excitements are resorted to, like the getting up of the steam, to force on a particular interest at a particular conjuncture, many a ruder and more remote settlement is supplied only at wide intervals by the extraordinary efforts of this or that minister; and these again marked often by a mutual jealousy, heightened, when the Church is the object of it, to an acrimonious and unscrupulous hostility. In these instances, the forbearance and dignity of the Church have, I think I may say without prejudice, stood in most advantageous contrast with the proceedings of other parties. But what cause have we to imitate the prayer of the Lord Himself, that they all may be one, even as He and his Father are one! to pray and long for a nearer approach to that happy consummation described by the Apostle, that there may be no divisions among them, and that they may be all perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same spirit! The Church, whatever opposition she may encounter, can be the only possible instrument of bringing on these blessed results; and the conviction of this truth will surely be a stimulus to all the friends and supporters of the venerable Society, to add to its means of planting her standard in the rising settlements of the American colonies."-(No. 2, pp. 17-19.)

The following short extract is quoted, as showing the extent of a Canadian mission.

"At Colonel Schriver's I took leave of Mr. Plees. His charge, although it lies within fixed limits, is wholly of an itinerant character. At St. Rémi, which is his house, (so far as he has one,) he officiates upon one Sunday and one week-day in the month. Both these are evening services, to which he returns after labouring elsewhere. He has five other Sunday stations in his mission: eleven regular stations for appointed services in all. He officiates twenty-three or twenty-four times every month: his monthly circuit is one of 235 miles, besides all extra calls!"'-(p. 22.)

After noticing the suspended erection of a church, the Bishop remarks

"Great and humiliating are the difficulties with which the Church of the Sovereign and the Empire,—that Empire the greatest and most glorious upon earth, has to struggle in these portions of British territory; many must be the anxieties and mortifications of one abundantly conscious of his own insufficiency, upon whom 'cometh the care of all the churches,' in a diocese like this: and heartily must he often feel the force of the questions, Who is weak, and I am strong? Who is offended, and I burn not?' Very needful for him it is to be strengthened in faith, and to keep before his eyes the assurance that Christ will forget no portion of that Church for which he shed His blood. Much comfort ought he to take also in considering the means

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which God has raised up in the great church societies at home for preserving the seed of the Church in the colonies, and in cultivating a lively trust that those means will be enlarged. The scenes in which I was now engaged (among many others) were calculated to suggest such a train of reflections as this.... Turning my back upon the suspended design, which seemed to invite a jeer from surrounding Romanists and sectaries, like that of old, What do these feeble Jews?' a few miles brought me to Sherrington..........”—(pp. 23, 24.)

The successful labours of a Mr. Jones, a convert from the ranks of dissent, are thus noticed.

"The Church, owing to a series of unfortunate occurrences, was in a sunken and feeble condition in this mission, (Bedford,) and in Stanbridge East appeared absolutely prostrate: but it has pleased God to bless the labours of Mr. Jones, and a most gratifying change has been operated, which, I do trust, lies far deeper than the surface. In my Journal of 1840, I had to state that the Church of Stanbridge East was shut up. I now met there, as it was calculated, 300 persons, or upwards. The people of this very spot, volunteered the other day to make Mr. Jones a present of a house by subscription: and, what is far more important, he has been so successful in awakening their minds to a due sense of the one thing needful, and the necessity of using the divinely-appointed means in order to profit by the covenant of grace, that he has already performed between sixty and seventy baptisms since the commencement of the year; i. e. in little more than one month. In 1840, twenty persons were confirmed in the mission: upon the present occasion eightyseven (besides the seven who were prevented from presenting themselves). It may be proper here to state that Mr. Jones is a staunch and uncomprosing churchman, whose whole course, since he has held a pastoral charge in the Church, appears to bear testimony to his having passed over to her ranks from conscientious conviction, at the same time that his previous habits may, in some respects, give him an advantage in dealing with dissenters or ambiguous religionists. Mr. Jones has three full services on Sunday....Tuesday evening, cottage lecture in Stanbridge East school-house; Wednesday evening the same, at Bedford; occasional services in other places (and additional labour since undertaken in the township of Farnham). A subscription has been raised in Quebec and Montreal, as well as upon the spot, for the erection of a parsonage-house. It is calculated that there are 3000 souls in this township, and that 500 now attend the ministry of the church, exclusive of children. Mr. Jones's son, who is an aspirant to the ministry,........has been eminently useful in this whole neighbourhood."-(pp. 34, 35.)

Let us take this opportunity to state, that we know the Bishop of Montreal to be distinguished for his tact and genuine liberality in calling to the aid of the Church lay-zeal, and allowing ample scope to Christian enterprise, wherever found. Instances might easily be mentioned, but delicacy forbids, and the fact, we believe, is one which needs hardly be published.

In his address to the young people at Frost Village, in Shefford, the Bishop says

"I felt it my duty to guard them against the errors of Millerism, which have in a manner flooded this part of the country, and produced, in many instances, conspicuous mischief. The pillar of the cause in this neighbourhood is a tin-smith of Waterloo Village, formerly a soldier in the British army, and now enjoying a pension. Another great preacher of the same

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