BISHOP BOWEN'S ADDRESS.

AGREEABLY to the 45th Canon of the General Convention, "providing for an accurate view of the state of the Church from time to time," the Right Rev. Bishop delivered the following address:

My Brethren of the Clergy,

and the Laity,

It being made my duty, by the 45th Canon of our Church, "to address you on the affairs of the Diocess since the last meeting of the Convention," I proceed to this duty, under the influence of a respect for the authority enjoining it, which forbids that even the little which circumstances have admitted that I should be able to communicate, should be withheld.

The short period of time which has elapsed, since I received authority to enter on the duties of the office, from which another had carried with him to the tomb, the regrets of the whole household of our faith, has afforded opportunity of a personal visitation of a small portion of the Diocess. In the month of November, in returning into the State from an absence which circumstances had made necessary, during part of the summer, and in the autumn, I visited, and held divine service at Camden, Claremont, and Georgetown. At the first of these places, the small congregation, which has, within a few years past been formed, is still unsupplied with a minister; and having no place of worship, is not assembled, except on occasions rarely occurring, when Clergymen may transiently visit the town. The Vestry have acceded to a liberal proposal of assistance made to them by the Trustees of the Protestant Episcopal Society for the Advancement of Christianity in South-Carolina, in order to the maintenance of a minister; and the hope should not be relinquished, that they will carry into effect the purpose which they express, of erecting a Church, and otherwise exerting themselves, to become in all respects furnished for the regular administration of the word and ordinances. It is a reasonable object of soligitude, that in a situation so hap

pily adapted to the useful diffusion of its influence, the ministry of our Church, should be settled on a respectable and permanent footing. It was grateful to me to find, on my arrival at Claremont, that the zeal and liberality of the congregation there, had at length been blessed in the engagement of one to take upon him the charge of their Church, whose well known fidelity in other situations, affords good ground to hope, that through the instrumentality of his labours, the Lord will give them to increase and abound in the fruits of his spirit.

On the state of the parish of Prince George, Winyaw, Georgetown, from even the short opportunity which I had of observing it, I feel that I may congratulate the churches here assembled, as bearing marks of much improvement, made within a short period, in both a temporal and spiritual point of view. The spirit with which its affairs have been conducted, on the part both of its minister and vestry, is the spirit of that prudent and peaceful piety and zeal, which we cannot too earnestly desire to see every where prevalent within the borders of our communion. It may be reported of to you, as a happy and flourishing Church, characterised in an eminent degree by that Christian harmony and order, godliness and charity, which, as they are the best happiness and ornament of a Church, afford, at the same time, an earnest and pledge of its continued and increasing welfare and prosperity.

In January, I visited the parish of St. John's, Colleton. This respecta ble parish, now vacant by the resignation of the Rev. Mr. Gervais, is in a comparatively prosperous state; having been greatly benefited by the attention given to its affairs by the Clergyman just mentioned, the necessity of whose declining to serve as its Rector, is matter of reasonable regret. The funds of this parish are ample; and the disposition is not wanting to apply them liberally in the maintenance of its offices, when some small embarrassment, at present existing, as to a suitable residenos for a Clergyman, shall have been removed.

In St. Matthew's parish, which has also recently been visited, there is a happy prospect of a restoration of the long suspended offices of the Church. The congregation, though small, consists of such as evince a readiness to make a generous exertion of their ability, in providing for the expenses of the Church; a disposition of which, a person, affecting, under the different names of Williams and Percy, the character of a Clergyman of our Church, artfully attempted, since your last meeting, to avail himself. His imposture was, however, happily soon exposed, and the parish rescued from the evil which might have been its effects. The ordinations which have taken place, since my entrance on the duties of the Diocess, are the following.

The Rev. Maurice H. Lance, was admitted to the holy order of Priests, at Georgetown, in November. On the 20th of December, a stated ordination was held in St. Michael's Church, and Mr. Francis P. De Lavaux, and Mr. Henry Gibbes, were admitted to the holy order of Deacons. On the 6th of January, (the Festival of the Epiphany) at a special ordination held in St. Michael's Church, Mr. David J. Campbell, was admitted into the same order of Ministers. Mr. John W. Chanler has been also ordained a Deacon at the opening of this Convention. Mr. Edward Rutledge and Mr. William Wilson, who had been received as candidates for orders, are preparing to be ordained, the one at New-York, and the other at Philadelphia, by the authority of letters dimissory from this Diocess. Mr. Levi Walbridge and Mr. Edward R. Lippit, (the latter by letters dimissory from the Eastern Diocess,) have been received as candidates for holy orders.

Under a provision made by the Society for the Advancement of Christianity, I have very recently employ ed the Rev. Mr. De Lavaux, on a temporary tour of missionary services, of which no report can be expected until he shall have had time to accomplish more of it.

The Rev. Mr. Campbell has been a short time engaged, under similar circumstances, on missionary duty, in St. Stephen's, upper St. John's, and St. Mark's parishes; where he has held divine service five times, and baptized ten children.

It is a circumstance in which the Protestant Episcopal Church in SouthCarolina cannot too much rejoice, that the institution which has furnished the means of thus giving useful employment to ministers immediately on their entrance on their calling, has been permitted so greatly to prosper, in the hands of those to whom the conduct of its affairs has been committed. It has been the happy instrument of much good, and from the present flourishing state of its funds, there is reason to anticipate a considerable extension of its aid to the Church in this Diocess, in the support of Ministers, in the education of pious young men for the ministry, and in the diffusion, in concurrence with the ecclesiastical authority, by missionary labours, of the comforts and counsels of Christianity, and of sound religious knowledge and sentiment by means of tracts, published for gratuitous distribution. In the month of September last, this Society made a tender of assistance to several of the destitute parishes of the state. This plan for the extension of the means of maintaining Ministers to Churches, supposed to be unable singly to defray the expenses of a settled ministry, contemplated the union of Christ Church parish with the Church on Sullivan's Island, in the receipt of an annual donation for three years of five hundred dollars; of St. Andrew's and St. George's, Dorchester, on the same terms, and of the upper and lower congregations of St. Mark's parish. It at the same time proposed five hundred dollars a year, for three years, to the congregation at Camden. To what extent their views of usefulness, in this distribution of their means of doing good, will be successful, is yet uncertain. The Church at Camden is the only one which has officially assented to their proposal. To Trinity Church, Columbia, hav ing strong and well founded claims on, the attention and concern of all the members of our Church in this Diocess, the Society has more recently proposed assistance to the amount of one thousand dollars a year, for three years. It is hoped that such aid, should it be accepted, will enable the Vestry of that Church, to strengthen its condition, beyond all ordinary danger of decline,

It is grateful to me that I have authority to mention also that this Society has obtained the consent of the chief mourner, next the Church itself, for the late lamented Bishop of the Diocess, (his pious and excellent widow, to the publication, by them, of a volume, or volumes, of discourses of that eminent servant of God, in which "though dead," he yet may long speak the words of instruction, exhortation, and admonition, by which, in his ministry, the Church was so greatly edified.

An institution which has already ministered so much to the necessities of the Church in this State, and from which, as auxiliary to, and in harmony with it, so much good may reasonably be anticipated, claims a continued interest in our affections and prayers.

A Sunday School, for the benefit of the Poor of our Church in this city, and others, was instituted sometime in the year 1817; which, under the superintendence and conduct of the Rev. Mr. Fowler, is thus far flourishing and useful. Children are here well instructed in Christian knowledge, according to the Scriptures and the Liturgy of our Church, and are trained to religious faith, practice, and worship, on purely evangelical principles. It cannot too earnestly be desired that similar institutions should be formed, with reference to the case of the poor, whenever circumstances will possibly admit of them. Experience has so fully shown the utility of schools for the gratuitous religious instruction of children, that I can have only here to express a regret common to all our minds, that the sparse population of our parishes in the country, and the imperfect and often interrupted manner in which

they have been, and are supplied with ministers, have put it in our power to contribute so little, in this way, to the benefit of the poor. Indeed, I shall express, I have reason to believe, a common sentiment of members of our Church, when I lament that the poor in general are, under existing circumstances, so much excluded from the benefit and care of our ministry. The evil is not irremediable, and demands the anxious consideration as well of those who would consistently serve the Lord of their faith, as of those who are suitably concerned for the welfare of the civil state.

The change which has taken place in the state of the Diocess, by the addition of ministers, charged with the care of parishes, has been less than our wishes would have prescribed. The Rev. Mr. Parker Adams, from the Diocess of New-York, has taken charge of the Church at Claremont, and the Rev. Mr. Osborne, a Deacon, from the same Diocess, is, for the present, the minister of the Church on Edisto Island. The Rev. Mr. Symes, from the Diocess of Virginia, is officiating, under a temporary engagement, as assistant minister of St. Paul's Church

urch in this city.

An invitation of the Rev. Mr. Muller to the charge of St. James's parish, gives us encouragement to hope, that so important a portion of our Church as that has reason to be considered, will no longer be without the benefit of a regular and efficient ministry.

Many Churches in this state are still without the services of a settled Clergyman. There are Clergymen also without parochial or any stated employment. Were these provided with employment, however, there still would be room for more. We cannot but deplore the deficiency of labourers in the vineyard of our Lord. The evil is not, it is true, peculiarly our lot. Our Church is, in every part of the Union, inadequately supplied with ministers. The number of candidates for the ministry does not keep pace with the wants of the Church. This is to be attributed, in great part, to the want of encourage. ment to enter on this calling, arising from the prospect of a competent maintenance in the exercise of it. It is also owing to the discouragement of the wishes of young men of piety, disposed to devote themselves to the work of the Ministry, proceeding from the want, in our Church, of means of a regular ecclesiastical education. To these causes of the great deficiency of ministers in our Church, we cannot too earnestly entreas the attention of all those who wish her prosperity. How shall the waste places of the Church be repaired, or how shall she arise and shine with the glory of the Lord upon her, unless her members will take up more liberal purposes of provison for the education and support of those who serve in her ministry? On the first of these subjects, there is a spirit of enterprise and liberality manifested by other denominations of Christians in the United States, which we cannot but approve and honour. Would to God that it were an object of our emulation! Then might we bear before the Lord our full share of the honour of winning men to Christ for their good. And the Church, of which we are members, eminent among all the Churches of the earth, for the scriptural purity and soundness of its doctrine, the reasonableness and beauty of its worship, and the primitive constitution of its ministry and discipline, so happily consistent with any modification of the civil state, be equally eminent in the eye of the Christian world, for its influence on the moral character and condition of society, and making ready a people prepared for the Lord.

The solicitude with which I have long been affected, on this subject, will not permit me to close this address, without reminding this Convention, that I may, through those who compose it, remind others of our communion, that the last General Convention of our Church adopted a purpose, which had been greatly urged upon the attention of that venerable body, by those who had successively represented in it the Churches of this Diocess, of creating a general semipary of theological education. This

excellent design has not been carried into effect. Means have not yet been provided of any thing more than feeble, incipient operations. It will be time to despair of our Church's advancement to the rank, which, by its intrinsic character, it has a right to claim among the Churches of Christendom, when such a purpose shall be frustrated through the impracticability of obtaining funds, in a communion comprising so large a share of the temporal prosperity of the country, adequate to its accomplishment. Until then it is our duty to urge its claims. When a moderate estimate is taken of the numbers of those who compose the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, it is wonderful how small a contribu tion from each would complete the object. Shall then such an object be abandoned in despair? Shall the Church, in whose character we have reason to indulge the same laudable pride, which our fathers fondly transmitted, as an inheritance they had happily received from theirs, be seen every where to languish and to linger in an existence, scarcely admitting any service by which the Lord of the Church is honoured, because there are not means of adequately providing it with the sustenance which, through the ministry of his word and sacraments, he ordained that it should receive?

My Brethren, let us now proceed to the business of the Church, in the spirit of Christian brotherly love, and Christian holiness of purpose and conduct. Let us endeavour, as we have prayed, that "he who did preside by his Spirit in the councils of the apostles, may be present with us," by making this, as far as human infirmity and imperfection will admit, a scene meet for the presence of God.

N. BOWEN.

NATURE.-By Bishop Horne.

YOUNG trees in a thick forest are found to incline themselves towards that part

through which the light penetrates; as plants are observed to darkened chamber towards a stream of light let in through an orifice, and as the ears of corn