of employment to which all these faithful and laborious cultivators of the Lord's vineyard are subjected.

"During about twelve weeks' missionary duty in various parts of the state, Mr. Morse performed divine service and preached sixty-three times, baptized thirty-five children and one adult, and attended two funerals.

"The destitute condition of most of the places visited, is but too well known to the bishop, from personal inspection, to need any additional illustration from one who visited them only in the character of a missionary, and that, too, for a brief space of time. Suffice it to say, that, in general, in the places which came under review, amid all their discouragements and privations, the members of our communion maintain, to a considerable degree, the life and power of godliness; that their attachment to the faith once delivered to the saints still continues; and their hope of aid from the general and diocesan missionary societies, is not yet extinguished, although in many instances it is become nearly allied to that "hope deferred" which "maketh the heart sick."

"The Rev. John Hall, (deacon,) reports to the bishop as follows: Immediately after my admission to holy orders, at the close of the last annual convention of this diocese, I returned to the north of Ohio, where I have performed the following services :

:

Morning and evening prayers, and delivered sermons in St. Peter's, Ashtabula, thirty-one Sundays: in St. Paul's, Medina, four Sundays: in St. Paul's, Norwalk, two Sundays: in Trinity church, Brooklyn, one Sunday in Christ church, Windsor, one Sunday in St. James's church, Boardman, one Sunday: in Salem, one Sunday in Unionville, three Sundays. In addition to these services, I have, as far as possible, made family visits, and given catechetical and other instructions, as occasion required. I have, during the past year, delivered many occasional publick lectures on week days and holy days; particularly in Lyme and Norwalk, Huron county; in Wellington, Lorrain county; in Unionville, Geauga county; in Harpersfield, Salem. Rome, and Windsor, Ashtabula county; in Youngstown, Trumbull county; and in Loudonville, Richland country. During the last year, I have baptized five adults and eleven children.`

"From the full conviction that it is the vineyard of the Lord, in which we labour, I humbly hope that my exertions, with those of my brethren in this diocese, will be crowned with success. The great Head of the church will not fail to extend his fostering care over the vine which his own right hand hath planted. Although the cry for ministerial services is very great, yet the parts which are visited present, with few exceptions, encouraging prospects."

For the same reason, we shall give at full length that part of the bishop's address in which he exhibits the journal of his services during the past year. The whole address is divided into three parts; the first to the clergy, on the duties of their office; the second, to the laity, on the nature, and enforcing the observation, of Christian practice; and the third, to the clergy and laity united, on the condition of the dio

cese.

This address we must reserve for a future number; and the first and second parts we shall insert under our Theological head, because they are to be regarded, we conceive, as a charge to the clergy, and a pastoral address to the laity; and they deserve, in our pages, a more conspicuous station, and from our readers, more particular attention, than they would have, if placed under the head of religious intelligence. We are pleased with the arrangement of the bishop's address, and think it well suited to the peculiar modification of our ecclesiastical constitution. In England, when a bishop holds his triennial visitation, he delivers a charge to his clergy, because they only assemble to meet him. In this country, our conventions being composed of clergy and laity, there seems to be a propriety in adding, to the charge to the clergy, a pastoral address to the laity; and these may well be incorporated in the address delivered at the opening of the convention.

We are also compelled to reserve to our next number the table of parochial reports, &c.

Standing Committee.-Rev. Roger Searle, Rev. Samuel Johnston, Rev. Intrepid Morse, Rev. Ezra B. Kellogg, of the clergy.

Noah M. Bronson, Medina; Bezaleel Wells, Steubenville; Edward Hallam, Cincinnati; Levin Belt, Chillicothe, of the laity. The following canons were adopted: 1. Concerning persons ineligible to a seat in convention.

No

person displaced from the ministry, or while suspended from the exercise of the functions of the same: no excommunicate person; nor any one while under a suspension from the privilege of the holy communion, shall take a seat in the convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the diocese of Ohio, from and after the passage of this

canon.

2. Concerning reading clerks or lay readers.

Whereas reading clerks, or lay readers, are no otherwise recognised by the Church, than as persons permitted, in the absence of ordained ministers, to read the prayers, lessons of the holy scriptures, and approved sermons, in strict conformity to the rubricks and canons of the Church and, whereas, they should be exemplary and godly persons, and, as such, ought to be well known and approved by the ecclesiastical authority; it is hereby declared, that no person elected or nominated by any congregation or vestry, shall be considered as authorized to perform the duties above named, till he shall have been approved and appointed thereto by the bishop of the diocese; or in oase of any vacancy, by the president of the standing committee.

During the session, Mr. John M. Jones, of Beaver township, Guernsey county, was admitted to the holy order of deacons; and immediately after its close on the 8th of June, at Chillicothe, the Rev. Philander Chase, jun. minister of St. James's church, Zanesville, was admitted to the holy order of priests; and on Sunday, the 29th, in Christ church, Cincinnati, Mr. James A. Fox, of Pinkneyville, Miss. was admitted to the holy order of deacons, by the Right Rev. Bishop Chase.

To the journal is annexed an appendix, containing the proceedings of the missionary society, June 5, 1823. We notice the following important resolutions :

1. That this society appoint the Rev. Philander Chase, jun. to cross the Atlantick, with proper credentials, for the purpose of soliciting aid in Great Britain, for the support of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the diocese of Ohio: and that he be allowed five hundred dollars for his expenses.

2. That the Right Rev. the bishop be respectfully requested to furnish the proper credentials, and also furnish an address, setting forth our condition, our wants, and our prayers, to the Rt. Rev. the bishops, clergy, and members of the Church of England.

We e are much gratified at this determination, and have no doubt that the sympathy of our brethren in England will be powerfully excited in favour of the Church of Ohio and its zealous and primitive bishop. In our next number we shall continue our extracts from the journal.

PORTRAIT OF BISHOP GRISWOLD.

We are pleased to see that proposals have been issued by Mr. Ingraham to publish by subscription an engraved miniature portrait of our beloved and respected diocesan. If it shall be a good likeness, and the engraving shall be well executed, we have no doubt it will meet with a ready and extensive sale. We heartily wish success to the design, and hope that our readers will not fail to give it their patronage. We should be glad to be informed whether there exist a good likeness of Bishop Bass, or of Bishop Parker. It is very desirable that pictures should be painted of all our bishops; especially of those who, by their labours and privations in the cause of the Redeemer, have created a lasting debt of gratitude, which all the friends of our pure and apostolick branch of the Church are bound to pay.

TO READERS.

THE Conductors of the Gospel Advocate have recently observed that three of the sermons which have been published at different times in this work, are not wholly original. These sermons, with several others, were, many months since, put into the hands of a friend of ours by a highly esteemed correspondent at a distance, with permission to select one or more for publication; and he was informed at the time, that some of them were not entirely original, and a memorandum was pointed out upon them referring to the numbers in Simeon's Skeletons upon which they were founded. By an accidental omission this circumstance was not communicated to us, and the memorandum escaped our notice; and not being familiar with Simeon's Skeletons, we did not till recently observe the relation which these sermons bear to them. The sermons we regard as valuable ones, and well calculated to be useful; but neither the conductors of the Gospel Advocate, nor the author of the sermons, would be willing to have their readers suppose that they claim as original what belongs in part to another author.

THE

GOSPEL ADVOCATE.

No. 34.]

HAVING

OCTOBER, 1823. [No. 10. Vol. III.

THEOLOGICAL.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE GOSPEL ADVOCATE.

MATTHEW XIV. 25-33.

AVING lately had occasion to examine the circumstances related in the gospels which illustrate the character of St. Peter, my attention was directed more than it had ever before been to the narrative of his attempt to walk upon the sea. And as Bishop Hall's Contemplations are among my favourite books, I turned of course to his reflections upon that memorable event. Every one who is at all acquainted with Bishop Hall's writings must know that there is in them, a most happy union of sound doctrine with practical application to the hearts of his readers, embellished with such warmth of fancy and exuberance of thought as cannot fail to captivate every pious and cultivated mind. Even his quaintnesses of expression are pleasing, because they were characteristick of the age in which he lived; and those who study the books, like those who study the pictures, of more ancient times, are not displeased with the obsolete phraseology of the one, more than with the long beards, and stiff ruffs, and formal doublets of the other. While I was reading the passage referred to, it seemed to me that your readers might be benefited by the good bishop's reflections; and I determined to do as a miniature painter does who copies from a portrait, to diminish the size, and soften the strokes of the pencil, without destroying the likeness, or changing the style of colouring. I know not that I have succeeded; but if you think the following attempt worthy of a place in your miscellany, it is at your service. I shall think myself amply repaid for my trouble if any of your readers shall be induced to compare the copy with the original; even if they find that like all other copies it is far inferiour to that which it professes to resemble. F.

"ALL elements are alike to their Maker. He that had well approved his power on the land, will now show it in the air and the waters.

"How do all things now seem to conspire to the vexing of thy poor disciples! The night was sullen and dark; their Master was absent; the sea was boisterous; the winds were high and contrary. Sometimes the providence of God hath thought good so to order it that to bis best servants there appeareth no glimpse of comfort. Yet in all these extremities of misery, our gracious God intends nothing but his and our greater glory; the triumph of our faith, the crown of our victory.

38 GOSPEL ADVOCATE, VOL. III.

"In the fourth watch of the night, when they were wearied out with toils and fears, comes deliverance. O God, thus thou thinkest fit to do still. Thy time and ours is set as yet it is but midnight with us; can we but hold out patiently till the fourth watch, thou wilt surely come and rescue us. O let us not faint under our sorrows; but wear out our three watches of tribulation with undaunted patience and holy resolution.

66

"O Saviour, our extremities are the seasons of thine aid. Thou camest at last; but yet so, as that there was more dread than joy at thy presence. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. What object should have been so pleasing to the eyes of the disciples as their Master; and so much the more as he showed his divine power in this miraculous walk? But lo, contrarily, they are troubled; not with his presence, but with this form of presence. The supernatural works of God, when we look upon them with our own eyes, are subject to a dangerous misprision. The very sun-beams, to which we are beholden for our sight, if we eye them directly, blind us. Miserable men! we are ready to suspect truths; to run away from our safety; to be afraid of our comforts; to misknow our best friends.

"It was high time for our Saviour to speak. What, with the tem. pest, what with the apparition, the disciples were almost lost with fear. How seasonable are his gracious redresses! Till they were thus affrighted, he would not speak; when they were thus affrighted, he could not hold his peace. Be of good cheer, it is I. It is cordial enough to us, in the worst of our afflictions, to be assured of Christ's presence with us. Say but, It is I, O Saviour, and let evils do their worst; thou needest not say any more. Thy voice was evidence enough; so well were thy disciples acquainted with the tongue of thee, their Master, that It is I, was as much as a hundred names. Thou art the good shepherd: we are are not of thy flock, if we know thee not by thy voice from a thousand. It is I-O sweet and seasonable word of a gracious Saviour, able to calm all tempests, able to revive all hearts! Say but so to my soul, and, in spite of hell, I am safe.

"No sooner hath Jesus said I; than Peter answers, Master. He can instantly name him, that did not name himself. Which of all the followers of Christ gave so full a testimony, upon all occasions, of his faith, of his love to his Master, as Peter? The rest were silent, while he both owned his Master, and craved access to him in that liquid

way.

*The Hebrews divided the night into four watches of three hours each; these are called by St. Mark the even, midnight, cockcrowing, and the morning, (Mark xii. 35.) The first was from sunset to nine; the second from nine to twelve; the third from twelve to three, and the fourth, from three till sunrise. The fourth watch, therefore, was after three o'clock in the morning, just before day-break. The commencement of this watch is generally the darkest time of night; but the day is at hand.