But where, in thy sacred name,
Two or three assembled are,
They may thy sure promise claim,
Thou wilt hear their humble prayer.
Once o'er all this favour'd land

Savage wilds and darkness spread;
Shelter'd now by thy kind hand

Cheerful dwellings rear their head. Where once frown'd the tangled wood, Fertile fields and meadows smile; Where the stake of torture stood, Rises now thy Church's pile. Where the arrow's vengeful flight,

Sex, nor age, nor childhood spared, Fraud was skill, and power was rightThere thy Gospel's sound is heard! Hear'd, alas! too oft in vain,

Yet with mild prevailing force Spreads its love diffusing reign,

Nor can aught impede its course. Where the hostile firebrand's flash Redden'd, late, the midnight air, And the falling column's crash

Drown'd the cry of wild despair; Thou, whose nod the storms obey, Midst the wreck of blazing domes, Bad'st the foe his fury stay,

And respect our private homes. For these wonders of thy grace, See us bow the grateful knee, And with this, thy holy place,

Consecrate ourselves to thee. And when in this temple's bound, To thy altar we repair, Breathe thy healing presence round, Hear, oh hear thy people's prayer!

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ORDINATIONS.

On Thursday, the 20th of March last, an Ordination was held in St. James's Church, Newtown, Long-Island, by the Right Rev. Bishop Hobart, and the Rev. Evan Malbone Johnson, and the Rev. William Creigton, Deacons, were admitted to the holy order of Priests. On this occasion the Morning Prayer was celebrated by the Rev. Mr. Henshaw, and a Sermon preached by the Rev. Dr. Bowen. The Church at Newtown has been recently repaired, and altered in a manner that reflects much credit on the congregation.

On Friday, the 28th of March last, the Rev. William Creighton was instituted, by the Bishop, Rector of St. Mark's Church, New-York; the Rev. Dr. Harris, the former Rector of that Church, confining himself to the duties of his office as President of Columbia College.

On Wednesday, April 2d, at St. Paul's Church, East-Chester, the Rev. Ravaud

Kearney, of that Church; the Rev. Petrus Stuyvesant Ten Broeck, of Trinity Church, Fishkill, and the Churches at Philips-Town, and Peekskill; and the Rev. George Weller, Missionary in WestChester county, Deacons, were admitted by the Right Rev. Bishop Hobart to the holy order of Priests.

On Sunday, April 27th, in St. George's Church, New-York, Charles Smith, Nathaniel F. Bruce, and Richard F. Cadle were admitted by the Right Rev. Bishop Hobart to the Holy order of Deacons.

On Sunday morning, the 1st inst. an Ordination was held in St. Paul's Church, by the Right Rev. Bishop Hobart; when George W. Norton, of Ontario county; Samuel Nicholls, of Fairfield, Herkimer county; Asahel Davis, of Utica; and William H. Northrop, of Athens, were admitted to the holy order of Deacons : and the Rev. Joshua M. Rogers, Deacon, officiating at Turin, and its vicinity, to the holy order of Priests.

GENERAL CONVENTION OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH,

The General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, which met in this city on Tuesday, the 20th ult. adjourned on the Tuesday following. The next triennial meeting of this body will be held in the city of Philadelphia.

The government of the Protestant Episcopal Church is so organized as not to render it necessary for its ecclesiastical assemblies to transact a great deal of bu siness. In the recent Convention, a view of the state of the Church was taken by the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies and transmitted to the Bishops, who form a separate House; and from this latter body, a Pastoral Address, of considerable length and interest, was received, which, as well as the Journals of the Convention, will be published. Arrangements were made for organizing the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Western States; and the Church in North-Carolina, which has been recently organized, was received into union with the Convention. The most important measure which occupied the deliberations of the Convention, was the establishment of a general Theologica

Seminary. This measure was adopted with great unanimity, and arrangements made for speedily carrying it into effect. The city of New-York is chosen as the site of this institution. We cannot avoid expressing the hope that Episcopalians generally, by their liberal contributions, will found an institution worthy of the venerable Church to which they belong, and which will be the means of furnishing a pious, learned, and faithful clergy. The friends of the Episcopal Church must also cherish the hope that this institution will be conducted on principles that will tend to promote the unity and harmony of their communion.

We understand that in the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, there was much interesting and eloquent discussion. It must be gratifying to Episcopalians, to find laymen of the first talents and distinction taking an active interest in the concerns of their Church, and exhibiting and advocating, as on this occasion, the soundest principles of ecclesiastical polity.

In the next number of the Journal we shall give a more particular account of the proceedings of the Convention.

New-Haven, June 14.

On Wednesday, the 4th inst. the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church of this Diocess met at Guilford. There was a general attendance of the Clergy, and a respectable representation of the Laity. The parochial reports presented on this occasion, exhibit an interesting view of the Church, inasmuch as they give evidence of its steady increase, and its growing prosperity. The Right Rev. Bishop Hobart, of New-York, at present acting as Bishop of Connecticut, under

the 20th Canon of the General Convention, attended and presided. He preached a Sermon at the opening of the Convention, and administered the apostolic rite of Confirmation to 23 persons. On the following day, after the Convention rose, he again preached at Guilford, to a large and attentive auditory, and afterwards visited the several neighbouring parishes, in each of which he preached and performed the following Episcopal duties:

Friday, June 6th, consecrated the Church at North-Killingworth, and confirmed 47 persons. Saturday, 7th, A. M. consecrated the Church at North-Guilford, and confirmed 37 persons-P. M. at Northford, confirmed 10 persons.- Sunday, 8th, A. M. at Wallingford, confirmed 33 persons-P. M. at North-Haven, confirmed 35 persons. Monday, 9th, A. M. at Branford, confirmed 37 persons-P. M. EastHaven, confirmed 17 persons. Total number confirmed at these visitations-259.

LATE PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLAND.

Discourses and Dissertations on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice; and on the principal arguments advanced, and the mode of reasoning employed, by the opponents of those Doctrines, as held by the Established Church. With an Appendix, containing some strictures on Mr. Belsham's Account of the Unitarian Scheme, in his Review of Mr. Wilberforce's Treatise: together with remarks on the Version of the New Testament, lately published by the Unitarians. I.A. Dean of Cork, Chaplain to his ExBy William Magee, D. D. F. R. S. M. R. cellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, late Senior Fellow of Trinity College, and Professor of Mathematics in the University of Dublin. A new Edition (being the fourth) with large additions.

An Appendix to the "Comparative View of the Churches of England and Rome." Containing some explanatory Notes on Church Authority; the Character of Schism, and "the Rock," on which our Saviour declared that he would build his Church. By Herbert Marsh, D. D. F. R. S. Margaret Professor of Divinity in Cambridge.

The Life of the Right Rev. Father in God, Jeremy Taylor, D. D. Chaplain in ordinary to King Charles I. and Lord Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore. By

the Rev. Henry Kaye Bonney, M. A. of Christ's College, Cambridge, Prebendary of Lincoln; Rector of King's-Cliff, in the county of Northampton, &c. &c.

A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Diocess of Carlisle. By Samuel, Lord Bishop of that Diocess, at his third Visitation in June, 1816.

Fourth, relating to the Interpretation of Dr. Marsh's Theological Lectures. Part Prophecy.

Printed and published by T. & J. Swonus, No. 160 Pearl-street, New-York; where Subscriptions for this Work will be received, at one dollar per annum, or 24 numbers.All Letters relative to this Journal must come free of Postage.

No. 12.]

The Life of Bishop Sherlock. Dr. Thomas Sherlock was the son of Dr. William Sherlock, for some time Master of the Temple, and also a celebrated divine of the established church during the convulsive period of the reign of James II.

Bishop Sherlock was born in London in 1678, and at an early age was sent to Eaton School. Here he laid the foundation of that classical elegance by which his compositions are distinguished. About the year 1693 he was removed to Cambridge, and admitted to Catharine Hall. Here he took his degree in Arts, and soon after he had attained to the canonical age entered into priest's orders, having previously been elected into a fellowship of the college. He was admitted to the Mastership of the Temple on the resignation of his father, in 1704. This preferment was of such high importance, that the choice of so young a man was, to many, matter of great offence; but the prejudices entertained against him on this account were effectually removed by a short trial of his abilities. Being duly sensible of the dignity of his office, he was extremely solicitous of improving his talents, which he did with such success, that, in the course of a few years, he became one of the most celebrated preachers of the age.*

He had not been long in this station, before he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity; and, in the year 1707, he married Miss Judith Fountaine, a very amiable lady, descended from a good family in Yorkshire. In 1714 he succeeded Sir William Dawes in the Mastership of Catharine Hall,

[VOL. I.

Cambridge, where he had received his education. Whilst he held this place, he was promoted to the office of Vice-Chancellor of the University, which he discharged with the utmost attention and assiduity. It is said that, while he continued in the University, he discovered on all occasions, not only very superior abilities, with deep and extensive learning, but also great wisdom, policy, and talents for governing; in allusion to which part of his character, Dr. Bently, during his squabbles at Cambridge, gave him the nick name of Cardinal Alberoni.*

In 1716 Dr. Sherlock obtained the Deanry of Chichester, and soon after his promotion, he first appeared as an author, being at the head of the famous Hoadlean controversy, which, for a considerable time, agitated the divines of the established church. The occasion of this controversy was a sermon preached before king George I.

March 31st, 1717, by Dr. Hoadly, Bishop of Bangor, and afterwards published under the title of The Nature of the Kingdom, or the Church of Christ.

Some of the principles maintained in this sermon gave great offence to many of the clergy, and a representation was drawn up by a committee of the lower house of convocation. But before it was so approved as to be made the act of that part of the representation of the church, to be by them presented to the upper house of convocation, the assembly was prorogued by order of the King, nor would his Majesty permit them to sit again till all resentment had wholly subsided against Dr. Hoadly.

cholls. Annual Register for 1672.

VOL. I.

23

The interference of his Majesty led the enemies of Dr. Hoadly to charge him with having fled to this refuge, from fearing the consequences of an investigation of his principles. This he positively denied, and declared that it was prorogued without his solicitation, or his having any knowledge of the design; "but the King thought proper," says the Bishop, "out of a sincere regard, as I verily believe, to the interest of our constitution in Church and State, to put a stop to the sitting of the convocation." It was on this subject that Dr. Sherlock stept forward as the champion of the principles of the Non-jurors, and printed many tracts against Dr. Hoadly. The principal of these, was one entitled, A Vindication of the Corporation and Test Acts, in Answer to the Bishop of Bangor's Reasons for the Repeal of them; to which was added, a Second Part, concerning the Religion of Oaths. 1718, 8vo.

Upon the appearance of Mr. Collins' celebrated discourse of The Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, in the year 1724, Dr. Sherlock, though he did not enter directly into the controversy, took an opportunity of delivering his sentiments upon the subject in six discourses, delivered at the Temple Church in April and May, 1724. These discourses were published the next year, under the title of The Use und Intent of Prophecy in the several Ages of the World; and he afterwards corrected and enlarged them in several successive editions.

The fourth edition of this work, corrected and enlarged, was published in 1774; to which was added four Dissertations: 1. Upon the Authority of the second Epistle of St. Peter; 2. The Sense of the Ancients before Christ, upon the Circumstances and Conse quences of the Fall; 3. The Blessing of Judah, Gen. 49; 4. Christ's Entry into Jerusalem. In 1749, our author (at that time Bishop of London) published an appendix to the second dissertation, being A Farther Inquiry into the Mosaic Account of the Fall; to which he prefixed a short advertisement, acquainting his reader, that "it was drawn up some years before, and

was intended as an examination of the objections made to the history of the Fall, by the Author of the Literal Scheme of Prophecy considered; but that the author being dead, he had now considered the objections not as his, but as common to all who call in question, or are offended with, the history of the Fall as it stands recorded by Moses."

In the year 1728 Dr. Sherlock was promoted to the Bishopric of Bangor; in which he succeeded Dr. Hoadly, as he did also in the See of Salisbury, in 1734; in both which stations he made so distinguished a figure, that, upon the death of Archbishop Potter, in the year 1747, the Archbishopric of Canterbury was offered to him; but being then in an ill state of health, he thought himself unqualified to fill that high station. The next year, however, he was so much recovered, that he accepted a translation to the See of London, vacant by the death of Bishop Gibson.

Notwithstanding his advancement to such high dignity, Bishop Sherlock continued to hold the Mastership of the Temple, (where he was much beloved and esteemed) till the year 1758, and when his resignation was accepted by his Majesty, he addressed a letter to the Treasurers and Masters of the Bench, gratefully acknowledging his sense of the many favours they had shown him. This letter is preserved in the Biographia Britannica.

It was soon after he was created Bishop of Bangor that Dr. Sherlock wrote The Trial of the Witnesses, which has already passed through many editions. The occasion of its being written we proceed briefly to relate.

In the work entitled A Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, Mr. Collins, the author, had endeavoured to prove that all the Old Testament prophecies were not to be understood literally but figuratively. Under the pretence of acting the part of a Moderator in this controversy, Mr. Woolston endeavoured to allegorize away the miracles of our Saviour, as Mr. Collins had done the prophecies. This he first attempt

successful plan to prevent the circula tion of his works, and of his opinions, by bringing his arguments to the bar of Scripture and reason, and in a fair and legal trial of the witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus, fully exposed all the illiberal abuse and unfounded aspersions which he had heaped on their characters.

ed in a pamphlet entitled, A Moderator between an Infidel and an Apostate; and in two Supplements to it; and afterwards more largely in six discourses on the miracles of our Saviour, which were successively published at different times, in the years 1727, 1728, and 1729. The design of these discourses was to show, that the accounts of the great facts recorded in the Gospels, are to be understood wholly in a mystical or allegorical sense; and that, taken in the literal and historical sense, they are false, absurd, and fictitious. This attempt he carried on with greater rudeness and insolence than any of the deistical writers who went before him; for in the objections which he makes, in the person of a Jewish Rabbi, against the evangelical story of our Lord's resurrection, he declares it to be a compli cation of absurdities, inconsistencies, and contradictions. He insinuates, that the guards set by the Roman governor, at the desire of the chief priests, to watch the body of Jesus, suffered themselves to be bribed or intoxicated by the disciples; in which he is more quick sighted than the chief priests and pharisees, whom it more nearly concerned, who, it is plain, suspected no such thing; in which case, instead of excusing, they would have endeavoured to have got them severely punished. But what he seems to lay the principal stress upon, is, a supposed covenant between the chief priests and the disciples of Jesus, that the seal with which the stone of the sepulchre was sealed, should not be broken till the three days were entirely past; and that, therefore, the rolling away the stone from the sepulchre, and breaking the seal before the three days were ended, was a breach of that covenant, and a proof of an imposture. After Mr. Woolston had published his Moderator, a prosecution was set on foot against him by the Bishop of London, for having written against Christianity, for which he was tried and found guilty in the court of King's Bench, before the Right Honourable Sir Robert Raymond, Knt. Lord Chief Justice. Our author, Bishop Sherlock, adopted a more scriptural and more

In Mr. Woolston's defence of his discourse, which was dedicated to the Queen, he takes notice of this work, and calls it "a considerable treatise, and an ingenious piece, with which he was much pleased." The sarcastic manner, however, in which he affects to treat the work, proves that it was so considerable, that he could not solidly answer it, and also that, however much he admired its ingenuity, he was not greatly pleased with its arguments.

For three or four years after the translation of our Prelate to the See of London, he was, notwithstanding his age and infirmities, able to apply himself to business; and he made one general visitation of his Diocess in person. But he was soon after afflicted with a dangerous disorder, from which he recovered with difficulty, and with almost the total loss of the use of his limbs; and his speech failing him soon after, he was obliged to desist from the exercise of his function, and was even deprived of the advantages of a free conversation, as he could not be understood, except by those who were constantly about him. His patience and submission to the will of God during his affliction, are thus represented by one of his friends: "Had the same case occurred in the reign of ancient stoicism, what triumphs would have been sung! what honour paid to the great masters and schools of science! Why should its true praise and honour be withheld from that true philosophy which cometh from above, in which no man was more deeply practised than our truly Christian Prelate, whose happy state of mind, was the pure and genuine effect of it?"

During his-affliction, the powers of his mind continued in their full vigour; and under this weak state of body, in which he continned for some years,