it will be found that it derives no sanction from this quarter.

The rubric in the English Prayer Book, corresponding with the last rubric of the communion office in the American, is in these words, " upon the Sundays and other holy days (if there be no communion) shall be said," &c. enjoining the reading of the antecommunion service. Now it may be said, that the different wording of our rubric (if there be no sermon or communion) proves that if there be a sermon, but no communion, the epistle and gospel are not to be used. But, having shown, it is hoped, that the last rubric in the communion office, in order to be consistent with the former rubric upon the subject, must be considered as making provision for the case of the absence both of sermon and communion, while the first regards the case of a sermon but no communionit ought rather to be inferred, that the alteration in the American rubric was designed to supply a defect in the English; which latter seems not to contemplate the absence both of sermon and communion-which case, how ever, it was proper to provide for.

But a strong argument arises from the consideration of the English rubrics, and the practice under them. It is beyond all doubt that the English rubrics require the ante-communion service to be read when there is a sermon, but no communion; and that such is the uniform practice of her clergy. If, therefore, it had been designed by the American Church to alter this practice, and to dispense with the said service, when there is a sermon-would they not have put their meaning beyond all controversy? Would they not have altered the rubric before the offertory, the plain import of which is, that the sermon is to follow the epistle and gospel? Can we reasonably suppose that they would have used language so calculated to mislead?

The last argument, to be at present noticed, arises from the second rubric, before the offertory, relative to the publication of notices, &c. in the church.

It may be presumed that some no

tice may be given every Sunday; and the rubric directs that it be given after the epistle and gospel; which, therefore, must have been intended to be read every Sunday. This, moreover, is the proper time for giving "notice of the communion." As this notice is to be given after the epistle and gospel, and as it is not presumable that the notice would be given on a Sunday when there is a communion, does it not follow, that the epistle and gos pel are to be used on Sundays, when there is no communion?

The foregoing observations have been confined to the proof of the single point, that on " Sundays and other holy days," if there be a sermon, but no communion, the ante-communion service is to be used. But is there not tenable ground for the position, that on ordinary days, if there be a sermon, the said service is enjoined ?* The first rubric expressly designates the place for the sermon-" Then shall follow the sermon," i. e. after the epistle, gospel, and notices. It was to be supposed that the Church would make some provision for so important a part of her public exercises as is the sermon; and yet this is the only rubric which points out its proper place in the arrangement of the public service. With what shadow of propriety, there fore, can the sermon be introduced except it be preceded by the ante-communion service? Nor does this view of the first rubric at all interfere with the last which only provides, that in the absence both of sermon and communion, on Sundays and other holy days, the said service is to be used.

These remarks are to be confined to the morning service to which alone the ante-communion service is an incident, and in regard to which the sermon was contemplated as more a matter of accustomed practice, than in respect to the evening service. Should not this be a satisfactory account for there being no provision for the sermon in the evening service, perhaps we may discover a reason of

the difference in the consideration, that in that service there could be no doubt as to the proper place for the sermon, there being nothing in addition to the proper evening prayerbut in the morning, the ante-communion service being superadded to the "morning prayer," it was proper and necessary to designate what place the sermon should occupy, in relation thereto. But however this may be, we consider it the plain and obvious implication of the first rubric, that in the morning service the sermon should follow the epistle and gospel: and it would be illogical to draw an argument from the silence of the Church in relation to the sermon after "evening prayer," against her explicit directions in relation to that of the morning service.

Upon the whole, then, it appears to me abundantly clear, that when there is a sermon, be it Sunday or other holy day, or an ordinary day, the antecommunion service is to be read. If there be no sermon, but a communion, the whole office is of coarse to be used. If there be no sermon and no communion, if it be a Sunday or other holy day, the ante communion service is to be read-if it be an ordinary day, the said service is not enjoined.

Yours, &c.

PHILO-RUBRICUS.

Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal -Missionary Society in Charleston, SouthCarolina, composed of young Men and others. To which is prefixed, an Address to the Members of the Church, in behalf of the Institution.

ADDRESS.

It has appeared to many members of the Protestant Episcopal Church in this city, expedient to institute a society, having for its object the employment of Missionaries to preach the Gospel, and administer the ordinances of the Church, in places where their services might be expected to be useful. The enterprise, originating prin cipally in the zeal of younger members of our communion, for such purposes of Christian piety and benevolence, has received the approbation and countenance of others, who, from longer experience, are qualified to judge of the wisdom and utility of designs of charity: and now ap. pears before the Church, with an humble,

yet earnest solicitation of its patronage and support.

The "Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society" does not, however, present its claims to the attention of the pious and liberal, without duly adverting to circumstances in which objections to them may be founded. The members of the Church, who have not hastily and unadvisedly taken up this purpose, are prepared to meet such objections, with a respectful appeal to the candour of their brethren; and, in full confidence of their sufficiency, beg leave to urge in favour of the object they have in hand, the following considerations.

The respectable society for the Advance. ment of Christianity in South-Carolina is restricted in the use of its means of gene. rous good, within the limits of the state of South-Carolina. It finds within those li mits, and even in the portion of the state originally occupied with the institutions of our communion, ample exercise of its intent. It has effected some, and is me ditating, in a manner auxiliary to its canonical government and authority, other improvements in the condition of our Church, within its peculiar sphere; and it cannot yet be desired that it should, in many instances, extend the hand of its charity beyond it. When some years more shall have elapsed, it may be within the scope of reasonable expectation, from its increased ability, to look for an effectual extension of its benevolence to those remoter parts of the state, where it at present cannot be required to act. In the mean time, there is a wide field of action for the ministers of religion, in those portions of the country, in which it is becoming in the members of our Church, to desire that something should be done in their name. The zealous enterprise of other denominations has there done much; and that Episcopalians should desire to do nothing there, were inconsistent with the interest which it is incumbent on them to indulge in the moral improvement of the state, as well as with a just confidence in the soundness and importance of the prin ciples of Christian truth, which they profess. Migration may, moreover, be presumed to settle, from time to time, in the interior of our territory, persons and fa milies, whose Christion education had been such as to render the total privation to which they there are subject, of the ministrations of the Protestant Episcopal Church, painful and afflicting. There ex-ists perfect evidence, that the earnest calls of humble and pious Christians of our com. munion, in this species of distress, were addressed twenty years ago, to their brethren in this city, from an upper district, praying for help to enable them to serve God, after the manner of their fathers.Their desires, however honoured and approved, were unhappily frustrated. It is a

melancholy probability that such necessities of our brethren may still, in no small degree, exist, where no complaint, and no solicitation for their relief, is uttered, because it is not known whither to direct its voice. In the reasonable supposition of such facts, it is desired to institute some means of sending, under the guidance of the best information that can be obtained, pious and prudent persons, into the interior, who may seek and gather our scattered brethren, and minister to their Christian edification and comfort. The improbability of any success or good in such an enterprise, may be alleged. But it will yield to the presumption which is warranted by fact and observation, that there are European or other settlers, in the remoter parts of the state, who, with pious humility, having availed themselves of such Christian ministrations, as were accessible to them, have yet never ceased to long for that language of faith and worship, which, through the influence of early habit and instruction, had become inseparably incorporated with all the fondest and most cherished feelings of the soul. "Twenty years," said a venerable man who pressed through a crowd of strangers to our worship, into the presence of a minister, who had celebrated it for the first time, in a remote quarter of one of our northern states, "Twenty years have I been in this country, and have been deprived of the privilege of attending the services of my Church; and now when I hear them, it makes my heart so full with joy, that it seems as if it would be too much for my weak old age; yet it will help me to depart in peace."

But the Society does not confine its hopes and expectations of usefulness, to the territory of South-Carolina. Its members have seen with delight the efforts of a similar solicitude to do good, which have been made in the northern cities; and have contemplated with wonder, and with gratitude to "the Father of Lights," the success which has attended them. They have seen Missionaries sent by them, among the inhabitants of the western states, hailed as messengers of love from their brethren; and their path attended by glad and grateful crowds. They have learned from the report of a society like this, lately formed in the city of Philadel phia, that "there are Episcopalians scat tered throughout the western territories, in very considerable numbers."" It is impossible," says one of the Missionaries employed, whose words are given in that report, "that any one, not having witnessed such a scene, should imagine the pleasure beaming in the countenances of these sons and daughters of the Church, on being visited by a regular minister of her ordinances. The best stool in the cabin is presented, and the board is spread with

the best provision. One tells me of a tender infant that died without baptism, and was buried without the service, another, of a beloved partner, who, on her death bed, anxiously desired the emblems of her Saviour's sacrifice. - Many similar circumstances are mentioned, in the relation of which, the voice of nature, softened by the feelings of unaffected piety, has eloquence irresistable. One has the remains of an ancient Prayer Book, from the tattered leaves of which the children are taught their catechism and their prayers. Another anxiously inquires for the time, when they will have an altar and a temple of their own." "It is estimated," says another Missionary, whose words are quoted in the same report, "that in the states and territories situate on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, viz. Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennesee, Illinois, Missouri, and Mississippi, there are no less than one hundred and fifty thousand Episcopalians."-To the more southern parts of this western portion of the United States, the wishes of this society are directed-and in the most recently settled parts of Georgia, in Mississippi and Louisiana, there may be presumed to be a large field of Missionary labours, in which, with the help of the liberal, they might be happily instrumental of reviving a spirit of sound Christian piety, which, for want of the offices of our Church, by which, as means of grace, it had once been sustained, may have declined; and of imparting Christian cheerfulness and joy, to hundreds of humble families of our communion..

To the objection to the claims of this society on the attention of our Church, which may be founded in the number and frequency of similar calls, the simple and a sufficient answer will be found in the amount of the semi-annual contribution which it asks. Who will say that this, in addition to any charities with whose demands he may be periodically troubled, will be more than it can be convenient for him to give?-Who would not deduct this small boon for spiritual indigence, from the expenses of his pleasure, his ease, his pride; or even from the arrangements of the most reasonable domestic solicitude and obligation?

Should this, however, be rejected as an argument that will equally justify an hundred other similar demands, it may be respectfully suggested in reply, that there is a discrimination essential to the right performance of the duty of bestowing charity, to which this society would willingly confide its interest. The same hand which gives, often in giving takes away. There is a charity which does not benefit, in half the proportion that it deprives. There is a carelessness in yielding to calls upon the benevolent, which squanders what might be usefully applied; and thus disqualifies and indisposes for the offices of good, which the judgment could not but approve. Let the merit of the demands made upon the charity of the members of our Church be measured by the rule of a sober Christian judgment and discrimination, and the society, which proposes at so small an expense to any individual, to send the bread of life to their brethren, will have no cause to fear for such as it prefers. Is it asked by what test the preference which is due, of this, to some at least of the objects of charity which solicit the general beneficence, can be shown? The following is submitted. Place yourself in the situation of one father or mother of a family, among those whose benefit this society contemplates. Cut off by the vicissitudes of life, or by the emigration which the welfare of those dependent upon you, had seemed unavoidably to require, from all the privileges and the intercourse of the communion in which you have been reared-imagine around you children whom you must surrender to the influence, either of a faith and worship which your judgment disapproves, or of none. Imagine yourself approaching the end of life's weary pilgrimage, with no hope of the comforts, the encouragement, or help, which the ministrations of grace, by its authorized messengers, might impart; and with no prospect that your children should be nurtured in their influence, and under their influence, be brought through the service of their Maker, to his glory! Is there nothing in the imagination of circumstances like these, to induce a kind and indulgent estimate of the case of those of your fellow creatures, to whom this institution offers to convey your charity? This case is no creation of the imagination. There is ample ground on which to rest the assertion of its reality. If then, you would not, for much that heaven has given you, of temporal good, that it should be yours, spare to its relief the little that it requires at your hands, and let the Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society have your patronage, your friendship, and your prayers.

opened and closed with the Lord's Prayer, and one or more of the collects.

10th. It shall be the duty of the Treasurer, at every meeting of the committee, to report the state of the funds; when he shall be instructed to deposit them in some bank in the name of the society. He shall not pay any sum of money with out an order signed by the President of the society.

11th. One tenth of the income of the society shall be invested in bank stock or public securities, to constitute a permanent fund. The interest of which shall be added to its increase, until it shall have amounted to the sum of eight thousand dollars; after which the interest may be applied to the purposes of the society, as may be deemed expedient.

12th. The constitution shall not undergo any alteration or addition whatever, unless the same has been considered at two meetings of the society, and not without the consent of two-thirds of the members present at the fmal meeting.

Officers of the Society for 1819.

The Right Rev. Bishop Bowen, D. D. ex

officio, President. Thomas Gadsden, jun. Corresponding Se'y. Ebenezer Thayer, jun. Recording Sec'ry. George B. Eckhard, Treasurer.

From a Liverpool Paper of May 31. On Sunday, the 2d instant, a venerable minister of the establishment, in Derby. shire, walked twenty-four miles, did duty at three churches, by reading prayers and preaching four times; he also baptized an infant and churched the mother, published the banns of one couple, married another, and interred a corpse! He is seventy years of age.

CONSECRATION-On Wednesday, 11th of August, St. Matthew's Church, in Wiltor, Connecticut, was consecrated by the Right Rev. Bishop Hobart, assisted by several of the neighbouring clergy.

ON Wednesday, 16th June, 1819, the Rev. Charles Mann, and the Rev. William Westerman, were admitted to the holy order of Priests; and Charles C. Austin, and William Armstrong, to that of Deacons, by the Right Rev. Bishop Kemp, of Maryland.

Ar the late commencement of the University of Pennsylvania, the degree of D. D. was conferred on the Rev. James Milnor, and the Rev. Samuel F. Jarvis, of NewYork. The same degree has been also conferred by Columbia College, New-York, on the Right Rev. Philander Chase, of Ohio, and the Rev. Thomas C. Brownell, Bishop College, Schenectady, had, a short time before, conferred the degree of LL. D. on the last named gentleman.

ry Frost, M. D. Hugh P. Dawes, William G. Rout, Charles W. D'Oyley, Edward P. Simons, Thomas C. Marshall, Thomas Morris, jun.

HEAVEN.

THERE is a land of calm delight

To sorrowing mortals given;
Where rapturous scenes enchant the sight,
And all, to soothe their souls, unite ;-
Sweet in their rest-in Heaven.

There glory beams on all the plains;
And Joy, for Hope, is given;
There music swells in sweetest strains,
And spotless Beauty ever reigns;

And all is Love-in Heaven.

There cloudless skies are ever bright;
Thence gloomy scenes are driven;
There suns dispense unsullied light,
And planets beaming on the sight,

Illume the fields of Heaven.

There is a stream that ever flows,
To passing pilgrims given :
There fairest fruit immortal grows;
The verdant flower eternal blows
Amid the fields of Heaven.

There is a great, a glorious Prize,
For those with sin who've striven:
'Tis bright as star of evening skies,
And, far above, it glittering lies,-
* A golden Crown-in Heaven.

ON Thursday afternoon, Aug. 19, 1819, the corner stone of the foundation of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the pleasant and interesting village of Mantua, on the west side of the Schuykill, near Philadelphia, was laid by the Right Rev. Bishop White, assisted by the Rev. Messrs. Boyd and Muhlenburg, and Judge Peters, the proprietor of the Town Plat; who thus delivered possession of the uncommonly beautiful site of the Church, which he had previously granted.

The Bishop pronounced an impressive address on the occasion, to a numerous assembly of highly respectable citizens, who attended the ceremony; which was conducted with great solemnity, and accompanied by very appropriate prayers.