March last, they appointed a Committee to employ Missionaries, whose ser vices should extend to Edisto Island: to the parishes of St. Bartholomew, St. Andrew, St. George, St. Paul, Prince Wil. liam, St. Luke, and Milton Head. But how melancholy the reflection: no servants of the Lord could be found to offer up, in his temples, the sacrifices of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

Upon the failure of this attempt, the Board of Trustees wrote to several parishes, promising to aid them with an appropriation, annually, of five hundred dollars, for three years, to support any suitable person, whom they might think proper to elect, who should be subject to the ecclesiastical authority of the Diocess. To these letters no answers have been received, except from the Vestry and Wardens of the Church at Camden. They have accepted the offer, and have been assured, that the promise will be promptly fulfilled on the part of the Board.

Miss

To the Theological Library, which has been established for three years only, several additions have been made in the past year. In that period of time, donations of Books have been received from Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Sarah Waring, from Captain William Postell, Mr. Thomas S. Grimke, Mr. Edward B. Morgan, Mr. Jacob Eckhard, Mr. William Heyward, -, the Rev. Mr. Fowler, and the Rev. Mr. Muller. It is with regret that the Board of Trustees feel themselves constrained to state, that the valuable collection of Books, sent them from England by "the Society for propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts," have been unfortunately lost. The vessel on board of which they were shipped, foundered at sea. To this Society the Board have directed their Corresponding Secretary to return an answer, assuring them of the high sense of gratitude which they feel towards them for this donation of Books; and, at the same time, acquainting them with the loss: a loss, very serious to an infant Library like ours; and in a new country, where old Theological Books are extremely searce, and difficult to be procured. Although the Library contains not a large number of Books, yet it consists of scarce and valuable works. Five hundred and forty-six volumes at present constitute its contents.

Two years ago the Board announced to the Society a new and important scheme, which they had adopted to raise an auxiliary fund for the purpose of rebuilding Churches, which have gone to decay, of erecting new places of worship in those parts of the state where they might be needed, and of aiding the funds of small and poor parishes. To this plan a few

subscriptions only have, in the last year, been added. Would the pious, the cha ritable, and wealthy, read the address prefixed to this plan, the Board are sanguine in the expectation, that they would not be able to restrain the desire, where the ability existed, to bestow a part of that wealth, which they have received from God, to erect temples, in which a continuance of his blessings might be invoked, and to support ministers to stand before his altar to offer the sacrifice of prayer, and to dispense the bread of eternal life to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

With Foreign Societies, and those in the United States, whose plans embrace similar objects to our own, the Board still keep up a friendly intercourse.

In the Sixth Report, the Board of Trus tees stated the gratification which they derived from learning that the Convention of the Churches in the Diocess had been pleased, at its preceding session, to express its happiness in the prosperity of this Institution. When bodies, whose objects are similar, can cordially co-operate in their efforts to promote them, the most happy consequences may be anticipated. The same Convention, at its last session, has further testified its conviction of the usefulness of this Institution, and its approbation of the faithful administration of its concerns through its officers, by requesting them to take in charge the care and management of the fund, which they appointed a Committee to raise for the support of the Bishop of the Diocess. The fund has not been as liberally endowed by the different parishes as had been contemplated by its friends and its advocates. But a foundation has been laid, and may its superstructure be carried on with vis gour, zeal, and perseverance. To render the Church respectable, to enjoy all the benefits of its government, and to show the excellency of her different offices, her members should always endeavour to preserve the three orders of Bishop, Priest, and Deacon, without interruption. Let the Society, therefore, now testify its cor dial co-operation with the said Convention, by uniting its efforts in persuading the benevolent and pious to add to their charity this further evidence of their love to the Great Head of the Church. The Board are fully sensible, that nothing can add more to the prosperity of our Zion, than a decent provision for the support of him, who, regardless of his own personal care and comforts, consents to undertake the arduous and never ceasing care of the Churches. They, therefore, cheerfully and zealously recommend to every mem ber of this Society, to patronise "the Bishop's Permanent Fund."

As men increase in years, so their prospects in general enlarge. In the infancy

1

GENTLEMEN

In the first petition presented to the Legislature, praying for an act of incorporation and authority to hold property to a certain amount, the Board named a sum, which they have for several years considered as inadequate to the accomplishment of the objects embraced by the constitution of the Society. The sum they

afterwards found was so small, that it would not enable them to carry all these objects into execution; they, therefore,

deemed it prudent again, humbly to petion the Legislature to give them power to hold property to a larger amount. This duty appointed a Special Committee

to discharge, and they are happy to inform

the Society, that the Legislature has, in its wisdom, generously seen fit to grant the prayer. Let us, therefore, not look behind, at what has been done, but let us look forward to what remains to be accomplished. Nothing terrestrial long remains stationary. Every thing either makes progress towards improvement, or quickly begins to decay. If we cease to persevere in the good work, which we have begun, its beneficial influence on the

state of society would soon become very

small. Let us, therefore, not weary in "well doing;" for in due season we shall reap, "if we faint not."

Signed by order of the Board.
CHRISTOPHER E. GADSDEN,
President.

Officers and Trustees for 1819.

The Right Rev. Nathanael Bowen, ex-offi

cio President. Keating Simons, Vice-President. Rev. Thomas Frost, Corresponding Sec'ry. James Jervey, Recording Secretary.

Trustees. Rev. Christopher E. Gadsden, Rev. Paul T. Gervais, Rev. Frederick Dalcho, M. D. Charles Kershaw, Robert Hazlehurst, Henry Deas, Elias Horry, Thomas Lowndes, Robert J. Turnbull, William Brisbane, Thomas W. Bacot, Tho mas S. Grimke.

Charles Kershaw, Treasurer.
Rev. Dr. Dalcho, Librarian.

Book Committee. The Bishop, ex-officio, Rev. P. G. Gervais, Rev. Gadsden, R. J. Turnbull, E. Horry, the Librarian,

1

I was pleased to see in the second number of the third volume of your useful Miscellany, an account of the death of LUTHER, from Bower's Life of that celebrated Reformer. Having read this work with great satisfaction, I wish, through the medium of your Journal, to recommend it, with several other productions of a similar kind, to the perusal of our young students in Theology.

The period of the Reformation, the era of the emancipation of the Church from Papal tyranny, and of her purification from Papal corruption, deserves to be had in "everlasting remembrance" by the friends of the Protestant faith.

Religion and letters having for so many previous ages grown obsolete, the former by the vices, the latter by the ignorance of those who should have been their guardians and advocates; the work of restoring them to the world was both a difficult and dangerous enterprise. It was difficult-for they were covered with the rubbish of scholastic jargon, which had been for ages accumulating, or they were so mixed with the usages of a besotted superstition, which had been consecrated by time and prejudice, that to separate truth from error required the hand of some skilful practitioner, whose wisdom had less of earth in it than heaven." It was a dangerous enterprise for the thunders of the Vatican, which had appalled princes on their thrones, were ready to hurl destruction on any adventurous spirit who should presume to arraign the sanctity of the Roman See.

The period of the Reformation was a period of activity. The Christian world had slept during the watches of a tedious night, and when the dawn of this returning day began to streak the horizon, it disclosed such a field of combat as would have struck with dismay and discouragement any but spirits like those whom an overruling Providence had armed with an energy equal to the mighty work. The

names of them that took part in this holy warfare, shall live when the laurels shall have long since faded which have wreathed the brows of the conqueror who sought only the subjugation of empires.

The lives of several distinguished reformers have been written with various ability. The lives of Luther and Melancthon, of Calvin, and of Knox, have made their appearance, and contain illustrations not only of the characters they describe, but of events connected with their biography, highly interesting and important. The biographer having access to private letters, where the acrimony of the controversialist is laid aside, and the warm expressions disclose the more amiable feelings of the heart, presents us with the reformer's character, divested of much of that asperity which appears on the page of his tory, where a descent to the particulars of private life would be a departure from the laws of general history. This remark applies particularly to the life of Luther, whose name has been held up to public odium by the Church of Rome, and whose true character has been little known, even by the Protestant world.

While I would recommend an acquaintance with the biography of the four reformers whose names I bave mentioned, I would hold up to particular notice and approbation, "Cox's Life of Melancthon." It is written with peculiar ability, and contains a fund of useful information, conveyed in a style so classical and pure, that you seem to have brought to your door the productions of labour, adorned in such a dress that you are saved a reflection upon the pains they must have cost the author in their acquirement, in their arrangement, and in their embellishment. As I am only the "painful" parish minister of a country congregation, and have little time to spare from my daily rotine of duty, I shall not presume upon a review of this interesting piece of biography, and shall therefore conclude this article with a few extracts which I entered in my common-place book. Speaking of Melancthon's answer VOL. III.

"To

to Eckius, the biographer says, railing he opposes argument, to arrogance, modesty; to dogmatism, sound sense and genuine piety; he contends without virulence, and triumphs without parade."

Of controversy he says-" Opern, fair, and candid discussion is calculated to promote good will, to pacify resentments, to smooth the wrinkled brow of bigotry, to dissipate doubts, and to elucidate truth."

Of Melancthon's style, he observes -"There was such a transparency in the whole theme of his argument in public discourses or disputations, that you could see to the very bottom of his motives and principles."

Concerning the translators of Luther's Version of the Scriptures, the fact is related, that they have been known to "return fourteen successive days to the reconsideration of a single line, or even a word," and that after the completion of this translation, Bugenhagius annually kept the return of the day on which it was finished, by inviting a select party of friends to his house, in order to celebrate so important an achievement. This social meeting was usually designated, "The festival of the translation of the Scriptures."

In the course of certain discussions, Melancthon remarked, that the sacrament had no significance beyond its divinely appointed use, and that Christ was not present for the sake of the bread, but of the recipient. A sentiment which so delighted Luther, that he exclaimed, " Admirable Philip, thou hast seized from the Popedom what I should not have dared to attempt."

"The reformers are to be applauded and venerated (observes this judicious writer) for holding with the most tenacious grasp of mind, and asserting with the utmost resolution of spirit, in defiance of a persecuting world, this noble principle, this ANCHORA SACRA of the Reformation, that the only authority to which human reason ought implicitly to submit in religious concerns, is the infallible word of the living God."

16

B.

I HAVE just read the very excellent Essay, in a late number of the Christian Journal, on the Kiss of Charity. It is certainly worthy of the venerable author. The practice in question, interpreted by infidelity as having existed in the primitive Church between the sexes, has been deemed a very serious objection to the purity of our religion, particularly where the primitive Christians are represented, as they are by Gibbon, the most insidious of all infidels, actuated only by folly and fanaticism. The interpretation given in the Essay, which cannot be controverted, has wiped off from the Christian character another stain, and gives us another evidence, that the objections of infidelity against our religion, must vanish in proportion as it is correctly understood. The venerable author of the Essay in question did not, perhaps, deem it necessa ry, or he might have drawn evidence from the Old Testament to prove that kissing between persons of the same sex was a common mode of affectionate salutation. Thus, 2 Sam. xx. 9, when Joab would pretend great friendship for Amasa, he took him by the beard to kiss him when he slew him. Our Lord, in Luke vii. 45, says to Simon, "Thou hast given me no kiss," meaning that he had not expressed a warm token of friendship for him. The fact of Judas betraying our Lord with a kiss, proves also that the practice was common among the Jews. The author of the Essay has also observed, that in their religious assemblies, the sexes set apart. This, it is well known, was according to the Synagogue custom. When we add to this the testimony of Justin Martyr, already quoted in the Essay, we have the most convincing testimony in favour of this interpretation. It eannot indeed be conceived, without doing violence to every dictate of common sense, that a practice should be allowed, nay, commended, which has so direct a tendency to foster the corrupt feelings of human nature, by the Apostles of a religion, which teaches, us that to look upon a woman and

lust after her only, is adulterya religion, whose every precept teaches the highest purity, that lays the axe to every root of sensual corruption, and enjoins self-denial and mortification, as essential to perfecting holiness.

Any one who examines, therefore, must join with the venerable author of the Essay, in condemning what may be termed the modern holy kiss, as a consequence drawn from a misinterpretation of the Apostolic injunction-and every one will be ready to join in the sentiment of the Essay, upon the evil and danger that must result from the practice.

My further aim in these remarks is to call public attention to other subjects of temptation, not less dangerous than the one so ably exposed in the Essay in your paper; I refer particularly to the Theatre-and I could wish most sincerely that the same investigation, with a view to the same dangerous result, would be undertaken by the same able author. I do think, considering the unbounded extent to which this species of dangerous amusement is carried, that he could not render to the cause of religion a more important service.

He must indeed be a novice in the history of the Theatre, who does not know that in every age it has been made subservient to debauchery and licentiousness. If any one be ignorant of this, let him read Collier on the Stage, or the eloquent Essay of Bossuet, the celebrated French Bishop, or a Continuation of Collier, by the Rev. Arthur Bedford, of Bristol. Blasphemy, a contempt of God and his holy word, and every species of profanity and false principle are here quoted in abundance from the popular plays of the day. I would, however, only call attention to the single subject of licentiousness; and if these authors be not at hand, let the most popular plays themselves be read. Are they such (and here we include much of Shakspeare) as a modest man can read through to a company of modest ladies? If any one says yes, I must only say that his standard of purity and mine are at variance. Is it not a fact, (and, alas! what volumes