would be impossible; for that the moment the Bishop of Madagascar was consecrated, the Bishop of Mauritius could only go there at his request and as his friend. And, bearing in mind that for us as English Churchmen a Bishop is absolutely essential to the true working and success of every Mission-for it is his office not only to guide and direct, but to ordain elders in every city, and to admit the baptized by the sacred rite of Confirmation to the full fellowship of the Church of God-I ventured further to say that this Minute would suggest to many earnest Church-people at home that the first word of his Society's name had, for the future, better be omitted altogether." Mr. Baynes, however, ultimately resolved, in consequence of this Minute, and in compliance with his 'diocesan's advice, to withdraw from his position of Bishop-designate, "fearing that, with divisions, wranglings, and jealousies within the borders of the Church herself, and with clergy labouring in the island, instructed by a committee at home to resist the authority of their own chief pastor, disappointment, scandal, and failure would inevitably ensue." We understand that the whole question is now referred, in the prolonged absence of the Primate, to the Bishop of London, and most earnestly do we hope that, under his wise guidance, the position which the C.M.S. has re-affirmed by its latest Minute will be exchanged for one more worthy of a Church association. It is much to be regretted indeed that a lax and low churchmanship has been suffered to attain an ascendency in its counsels; and unless a reversal of its present policy take place, it may well expect to lose the patronage of the Bishops, and to incur a still greater pecuniary deficit than it already complains of; but we cannot bring ourselves to imagine that the evil is past all remedy; and we would deprecate as hasty and excessive much of the criticism which through the conduct we have been considering it has recently incurred. Very favourable is the contrast offered by the behaviour of the Norwegian Mission Society. And our English brethren who lean so unduly to the suggestions of the L.M. S. might learn their true worth, if they would, from the following passage in the last Scandinavian report : “The right of our Missionaries to labour in Betsileoland in Madagascar is expressly sanctioned by a written recommendation granted by the Government (i.e. of Madagascar); but, notwithstanding this, native preachers, partly arguing from the (alleged) fact that the Queen belongs to the L.M.S. communion, seek to make this right doubtful. Taken on the whole, the relation of our Mission to that of the L.M.S. is at present far from clear. The London Missionaries seem disposed to assign to our Missions in Madagascar narrower limits than those which were arranged at the colloquy held between them and Bishop Schreuder in 1867, according to which the L.M.S. was to be left alone to labour in the metro polis and the metropolitan province Emerina, while our Missionaries were to work outside Emerina, especially in Betsileoland. Under these circumstances, as also on account of our Mission's political insecurity as respects the authority of the Hova Queen, Bishop Schreuder has deemed it advisable to seek a new region for labour on the island; and accordingly, in April last our Council issued directions to our Missionaries to undertake two journeys of exploration; the one in the north-east direction from Betsileoland to the 'Ankay' district, where the Murumangas seem to offer a favourable place for a Mission station; and the other on the west coast, proceeding from Bombetuk Bay on the north-west to St. Augustine's Bay on the south-west side of the island." Correspondence, Bocuments, &c. THE PROGRESS OF OUR COMMUNION IN THE UNITED STATES. (From the New York" Church Journal.") In WE look back a century. The year 1770 was a year of prescience of a tremendous struggle. Patrick Henry had uttered his remarkable speech upon the resolutions concerning the Stamp Act. England, Fox had defended the cause of America, and the objectionable duties had been repealed, with the unfortunate exception of that on tea, which was left by a proud nation merely as a signal of the principle of the reserved right to tax the Colonies. At that time, with the exception of the two Bishops consecrated by Non-Jurors, who had studiously concealed their powers and been quickly silenced, the American Churchmen had known no Bishops. Church clergymen were few and far between. The Church was in every way in a condition of wretchedness and inefficiency. The Revolution of '76 scattered her members, and left her so forlorn that we now claim that only her Divine life could have preserved her from extinction. It carries a lesson to us, which recalls hopefully our Lord's words, "Every plant which My Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." She has been watered for a century by dews from above. She has steadily increased in the time of adversity and reproach, as rapidly as she could amalgamate into her substance the varying elements which she had received. This year finds her a power in the land. This new year beholds the singular spectacle of a proposition to her from the General Government to co-operate in a Missionary work among a portion of the Red men, to aid the Government in the work of civilization, which it cannot do alone. This week we begin the year 1871 with 39 Diocesan and 9 Missionary Bishops, in place of 37 ten years since; 2,780 other clergy for 2,028; with 220,000 communicants for 139,611; and 202,729 Sunday-school children for 113,912. The contributions for last year in 37 Dioceses and 2 Missionary Dioceses amount to $5,002,721. These were " contributions for Missionary and Church purposes," leaving us to imagine the wealth lying behind, out of which this large sum was a voluntary offering. The ordinations have been 208; the deaths of the clergy, including two Bishops, were 38; the net increase 170. This is the manifest of the Church Almanac, compiled by the Rev. Wm. G. Farrington. Truly our Church has become a power in our land; to our Lord's great name be the glory. These statistics are only the indices of innumerable blessings of grace, which find their fountain and home in our Church. We know that there are clouds in our sky, and unfilial sons in our ranks; but the former are fleeting the latter, very few; without some cloud we should faint in faith-without some unruly sons we should fail in the perfect work of patience. Dean Hook, in his lecture On the Disestablished Church in the Republic of the United States, cites with approbation the following sentiments from a work entitled A Voice from America, published thirty years ago. They are true still: "By a scrupulous avoidance of all intermeddling in the politics of State, and a steady adherence to her own principles, the Episcopal or Anglo-Catholic Church has silently worked her way into a prominent rank among the religious denominations of the country, and though not as yet numerous, as compared with those already noticed, yet it is rapidly increasing in numbers and growing in public favour. What she lacks in a numerical point of view, she enjoys in the respectability and wealth of her members. Her present relative position to the community and to other sects is peculiarly advantageous to herself. Compact in her organization, consistent in her principles, unimpeachable as to the charge of meddling with politics, and aloof from the common religious agitations of the country, she is well prepared to endure the shock which the premature and forced attempts at moral and religious reformations have brought upon the American public, and to profit by it. Tired of the religious squabbles, and disgusted with the fanaticisms which have sprung up in so many quarters to interfere with civil rights, to disturb the public peace, and invade the domestic sanctuary, the more sober and reflecting, according as their relations in society will permit, are turning their eyes to the decent order and quietude of the Episcopal Church, as an inviting place of repose." THE JEWS; THEIR PRESENT CONDITION AND FUTURE ASPIRATIONS. BY C. E. RYDER. (From the "American Churchman.") ALL men are deeply concerned at the present standing and future prospects of the Jewish nation. The descendants of Abraham present a spectacle altogether unique in the history of nations, whether politically, socially, or religiously considered. Forty centuries have run their course since the Father of the Faithful was summoned out of Ur of the Chaldeans to become 66 a great nation." That great nation still lives. Its identity is unquestioned. But how are they living? What is their condition? What are their future aspirations? To these inquiries we will now offer some reply. In looking abroad over the Judaism of the world, we observe that there are three classes which comprise the great mass of the Jews, and therefore to these three divisions, with a view to their intellectual, moral, and religious state and character, we call attention. With the exception of a sect called Karaites, Rabbinism, to a greater or less extent, prevails among all the rest of the Jews. When we mention Rabbinism and its adherents, we mean the successors of the Pharisees. A blind or a more enlightened respect for the traditions of the Talmud is the distinguishing feature of Rabbinism, while the Caraites have always refused to place any confidence in Tradition, and claim to draw their doctrines from the pure fountain of the Mosaic writings. Hence arises the threefold division into Karaites, Rabbinical and Reformed Jews-the first denying the authority of Tradition altogether, the second placing it on a level with the Word of God, and the third class applying to it unceremoniously the pruning-knife of Rationalism, and cutting away any absurdities which they seem to find. I. We shall begin with the state and character of the smallest division of the Jews-the Karaites. They have received this appellation, which means Textualists, or Scripturists, or Readers, or, as they call themselves, " Children of the Bible," because they remain in a state of secession from the chief body of the Jewish nation, on the ground of their great attachment to the Scriptures. The number of this sect, all over the world, is not believed to exceed that of the Rabbinical Jews in London, England, alone. Their places of residence are the Crimea, Lithuania, Constantinople, and Cairo, and some few in Jerusalem itself. In the history of this people, there is something evidently peculiar with reference to the judgments of God. Might not their circumstances in some measure be accounted for by the following fact? During the reign of the Empress Catherine, a communication was made to the Russian Government, in which the Karaites declared that their ancestors had taken no part in the crucifixion of Christ, and, according to the testimony of Dr. Clark, they uniformly give out that their forefathers stepped aside from the main body of the Jewish people, in the very earliest period of their history. This is fully corroborated by Dr. Wolff. On his discovery of the original stock of Karaites, they told him that their ancestors had indeed shared in the Babylonish captivity, but that, alarmed at the influx of new doctrines amongst their brethren, they gave themselves up to a closer and more constant perusal of the Scriptures alone, that they did not return to the Holy Land with the rest of the Jews, when the term of their bondage had expired, but had remained ever since that time on the spot where he found them. By the rivers of Babylon they sat down, yea they wept when they remembered Zion." Now, considering that the Karaites are not a proverb and a byword among the nations where they dwell, but that, on the contrary, they are everywhere respected by their Gentile neighbours, and appear to be an industrious, honest, and hospitable race, is it inconceivable that they are not descendants of those who called down vengeance on their own heads, and on the heads of their posterity, when they cried aloud to Pilate," His blood be on us and on our 66 children"? Would not the foregoing remarkable feature in their history seem rather to have excluded them from the company of such as are lying under the infliction of the last curse, while, nevertheless, they live confessedly in a state of banishment from the believed law of Israel? With respect to the morality of this singular people, Wolff says that they are distinguished, on the admission of the Arabs tl emselves, for such veracity as raises them far above anything like Arab rivalry. From all the inquiries that have yet been made, there rests not a stain on the name of Karaite from its appearance in the calendar of crime. Their religious creed consists in this: They believe that all things are created with the exception of the Creator himself; that there exists no similitude of the uncreated One, but that He stands alone, and cannot be compared and likened to any other object; that Moses, their master, was sent by Him; that through the instrumentality of His servant Moses He communicated His law; that the faithful are bound to become acquainted with the Divine law, and its interpretation; that the blessed God will restore the children of men to life at the day of judgment; that He will judge every man according to the deeds done in the body whether they have been good or evil; that He has not cast off His ancient people, but that a day will soon come when all Jews shall be gathered with all nations into the fold of the glorious Messiah. They agree with the other Jews in denying the Advent of the Messiah, and professing to believe that His coming has been delayed. They look for him daily. We insert here the following, which we have translated from the Hebrew of a beautiful and affecting Hymn as chanted responsively by the Karaite priest and people, now dwelling in the suburbs of Jerusalem :: "On account of the palace which is laid waste, On account of the temple which is destroyed, On account of the walls which are pulled down, On account of our majesty which is gone, We beseech thee to have mercy on Zion, Father the children of Jerusalem. Make haste, O Redeemer of Zion. Make new again the ruins of Jerusalem. Amen." |