the proceeds thereof, by which the Government in Canada is empowered to sell all, or any of the Clergy Reserves, and certain proportions of the proceeds in money to be assigned by the act to the Churches of England and Scotland respectively, for the maintenance of public worship, and the support of religion within the said province. In proceeding to act under this statute, the Government had, however, already found that it would be a ruinous sacrifice, and had, consequently, suspended further proceedings in selling the lands. At the meeting called under these circumstances, such statistical information was furnished as went to prove that the 600,000 or 700,000 acres which would be the share of the Church of England under the act of the 3rd and 4th of Victoria, might, if judiciously managed, be made to produce a revenue capable of maintaining a bishop, theological college, and several hundred clergymen. The Chief Justice pointed out the absurdity of the system of cash sales, on the ground that sales of real estate must almost universally be made on most liberal terms of credit; showing that the expenses attendant on the collection had been for the last three years one-seventh of the amount of sales. He demonstrated that, if disposed of on this ruinous plan, the annual income to the Church of England for a whole township, in which, at the present moment, every clergy reserve should happen to be unsold, would not be more than 80l. per annum, and that for an extent of country equal to thirty parishes in England. It appears that the Chief Justice had already proved himself a great friend to the interests of the Church, in having previously done much to prevent a great sacrifice of the reserve lands. At the first formation of the Canada Company, it was in contemplation by the Imperial Government to dispose of the whole of the clergy reserves to that body; while it appears that the sum proposed to be paid for them was considerably less than half-a-crown per acre. The amount realized by such a sale, had it taken effect, would have been about 300,000l., and that, it must be understood, for the whole of the clergy reserves a sacrifice which was mainly prevented by the assiduous exertions of Mr. Chief Justice Robinson, followed up by those of the Bishop of Toronto; and, to show the extreme wildness of such a sacrifice, it is enough to state the fact, that a much larger sum has been obtained from the sales of one fourth of the reserves. After taking every possible view of the important case, the meeting adopted this as the main resolution-"That this Society does therefore recommend to the members of the United Church of England and Ireland to unite in an earnest and respectful appeal to the Government and legislature of this province, and to her Majesty and the Imperial Parliament, intreating them to concur in whatever measures may be necessary for preserving, as a permanent endowment for the Church, such portion of the Clergy Reserves now remaining, as may correspond with the proportion of the proceeds of the said Reserves which has been assigned to the Church by the Imperial statute." And the closing resolution of the meeting must prove the Christian "That although feeling of the assembled clergy and laity, which waswe cannot properly urge any particular measure of this nature, except as it relates to our own Church, yet we think it reasonable to expect that other Christian communities will feel it obligatory upon them to endeavour, in like manner, to save from ruin the only public resource which has been provided, or is ever likely to be provided, for the support of religion in Upper Canada." PARAPHRASE OF THE 114TH PSALM. BY MRS. E. SMITH. WHEN Israel's host, by God's command Their camp his Temple then he made, The sea beheld the awful cloud Like rams the highest mountains bound, Ye mountains say, what unknown power Who rear'd each mount, and roll'd each flood! Yes! Earth before His presence feared Who Israel's way majestic steered, The flame that lighted on their way, Was GOD-before whose presence all That GOD, whose power the rocks have felt, And stones-oh! miracle unheard! E'en stones were softened at his word, He made them springing streams supply WINSTONE COURT. A TALE CONCERNING CHURCH AND DISSENT-THE CORN LEAGUE AND THE POOR LAWS-AND GENERAL ELECTIONS. CHAPTER I. THE Sun was just setting behind the Quantock Hills, and shedding his softened radiance over that loveliest of valleys, Taunton Deane, when the congregation of Mr. Howard, the Baptist Minister of Barston, were dispersing after their Tuesday Evening service. So solemn and so affectionate had been the address to which they had listened, dictated by so earnest a spirit, and enriched by eloquence so persuasive, that instead of gathering together in little groups before the meeting-house, and there discussing the events of the week, and the small scandal of the village, the hearers were hastening with serious countenances homewards, to meditate further on what they had heard. Among the retiring worshippers, was a young lady, evidently of a higher station than the rest, to whom, with many rustic courtesies, the village maidens testified their respect. Her path homeward lay by the side of the river, and she had not gone far on her way, before she was joined by a person considerably older than herself, and who had also been attending the service of Mr. Howard. "I was desirous," said this latter," of seeing you, Miss Winstone, before you left us to-night, but having to speak to Mr. Howard about my Sunday-school class, I was detained longer than I expected, and almost feared I had lost you. I was quite concerned to see you look so pale and unwell."-"Indeed, my dear Miss Jenkins, I was at first very far from well; I felt both anxious and distressed, but following the view which Mr. Howard took of that most delightful subject, my mind became soon calmed, and I was enabled to understand the promise of the text, (Luke xii. 32) 'Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."""Ah, you are as yet unused to persecution, but whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth."-" Persecution!" replied Miss Winstone, "I am indeed unused to it, I have met with nothing but kindness from my infancy till this day, unless you call the remonstrances and lectures of my brother Reginald persecution."-"Well, and what would you have? the times are gone by in which you could be shut up in a convent, or delivered over to the tender mercies of a Popish inquisition. If the sentiments you have adopted, and the people to whom you have joined yourself, are made the objects of scorn and ridicule; if opposition is made to your worshipping your Creator in the way which you conscientiously believe most acceptable to him, by what name can such conduct be called, but persecution ?"-" Very true, but such conduct has never been pursued towards me; I am as much at liberty to hear Mr. Howard at Barston, as Mr. Wilson at Halton Church; and as you know, though my father is a high-churchman, Mr. Howard is always welcome at Halton Court; but indeed my lowness of spirits was certainly not caused by opposition, or as you call it persecution, on the part even of Reginald; he attaches, it is true, very great importance to the opinions which he holds, and is very anxious to make a convert of me, for which purpose he reads the Oxford Tracts to me, and I own very much perplexes me with his Church Catholic,' and 'Primitive Discipline,' and 'Apostolical Succession,' and similar topics."-" Alas! my poor friend, I see how it is, you are indeed in danger, for the subtle and insinuating spirit of Popery is poisoning hundreds by means of those apostate works. Are you not aware that the authors of them are said to be Papists in disguise? Oh that you may be led to obey an injunction really apostolic -touch not, taste not, handle not."-"You speak warmly, have you seen any of the tracts which you so unhesitatingly condemn?" "Seen them! would I read the blasphemies of Paine or Voltaire? would I take poison in order to prove the strength of my constitution? no! I have read none of them; I have seen accounts of them in religious publications, and that is quite enough to satisfy me as to their character."-"Well, I will not dispute with you about them, many points are discussed in them which are beyond my capacity, and many upon which I am not as yet able to make up my mind, but the evening is advancing, and unless you will stay all night with me at Halton, I must insist upon your coming no further." -A few words of farewell, and the friends separated. Isabel Winstone was the only daughter of a gentleman whose large fortune and high connections gave him great weight and extensive influence. He had on several successive parliaments represented his native county, had distinguished himself by his sound judgment and knowledge of business, and had acquired the respect and the confidence of the great body of conservatives and agriculturists. Warmly attached to the Established Church, he ever defended it as the most valuable part of our Constitution, and this not merely in a political point of view, but from a thankful remembrance of the spiritual blessings which he himself had enjoyed through her ordinances. His aim was to be that noblest of characters, a christian gentleman, a glorious ambition, and in which by the divine blessing he had eminently succeeded. The worthy heir of so worthy a father had received "the last finishing touch" of a refined education at Oxford, where his classical attainments had gained him a fellowship of his college, and his many virtues the esteem of all who knew him; warm-hearted and impetuous, he was often extreme in his opinions, and gloried in being the highest of all possible churchmen, and the highest of all possible Tories; for the rest he was both amiable and pious, and gave promise of being, when mellowed by experience, no inadequate representative of his father. A younger son had just graduated with great honour at Cambridge, and it was the intention of Mr. Winstone, if the young man exhibited sufficient proof of fitness, and was desirous of taking holy orders, to give him the valuable living of Halton, on its next becoming vacant. Successful like his brother, he had gained a fellowship in that college, which even the rival establishment of St. John's willingly allows to be the most splendid foundation in the world, "The Magnificent Trinity." To Frederick, the family looked forward with a delightful hope that he would be a bright ornament of the church, and by the great variety of his attainments, shed an additional lustre upon the office he was about to resume. These two young men, and the daughter to whom the reader has been already introduced, were the sole survivors of nine children; one after another had four lovely girls, and two promising youths, been laid in the tomb, cut off by that most fatal of British diseases, consumption; and as each successive bereavement had narrowed the family circle, as The churchyard shewed an added stone, it seems the bonds of love had knit the more closely, the fewer they had to enclose. Those, too, who had gone, had not gone without a bright hope of immortality; and though every succeeding year appeared to increase the probability that at no very remote period none would remain of a family once so flourishing, it augmented also that earnest striving after spiritual blessings, which had so characterised this delightful family. At the period of our tale's commencement, the Rector of Halton, Dr. Sandsworth, had been so long and so severely suffering from ill-health, that he could do little more than give the benefit of his advice and experience to his curate, a young and sincerely pious man, of respectable attainments, greater abilities, and more of zeal than of either. Struck with the devoted piety and the extensive usefulness of such men as Simeon, Scott, Milner, Romaine, and Newton, he read their works, and those of their living successors, to the exclusion of other divinity, considering that this, which he styled "experimental reading," would be amply sufficient. When he came down to Halton, he soon proved by his diligent pastoral visitations, his attention to the sick, and his zealous unwritten, and too often unpremeditated discourses, that his heart was fully engaged in his work, nor were his exertions unacknowledged by the Divine blessing. He shrunk from no labour, and the Rector, though he found it often necessary to caution his colleague against labouring to the injury of his health, had never any occasion to stimulate him to action. There was little or no necessity for controversial reading, in the pleasant and unsophisticated village to which Mr. Wilson had been appointed, and the deficiency of his theological knowledge was unperceived by the majority of his hearers, and disregarded by the rest. He was a useful and acceptable minister; he roused the careless, and instructed the ignorant; and while his own life was in exact conformity to the gospel which he preached, he denounced with great severity every practice, every book, every amusement which he considered as approaching to a spirit of worldly-mindedness. Mr. Wilson was not the only labourer in the cause of religion in the parish, for at the distance of about two miles, in a hilly district inhabited wholly by miners, and belonging entirely to Mr. Winstone, was a hamlet called Barston, where a Baptist congregation assembled, under the care of Mr. Howard. In variety and extent of information, the Baptist minister was greatly superior to Mr. Wilson; he was equal to him in piety, a man of finer mind, a more chaste and correct |