creation of suffragans. All that is needed is, to adopt into our liturgy the American or some similar service.

As many of your readers may not have the American Prayer Book at hand, I will beg leave to present to them the most striking feature of this service,-the Prayer of the new Incumbent for himself,—and to recommend it, as supplying a form for the private and individual devotions of a clergyman, sanctioned by the authority of an important branch of the Christian church.

"Then (i. e., towards the close of the service, and before the sermon,) shall the instituted minister kneel at the altar, to present his supplication for himself, in this form.

"O Lord my God, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: yet thou hast honoured thy servant with (by) appointing him to stand in thy house, and to serve at thy holy altar. To Thee and to thy service I devote myself, soul, body, and spirit, with all their powers and faculties. Fill my memory with the words of thy law; enlighten my understanding with the illumination of the Holy Ghost; and may all the wishes and desires of my will centre in what thou hast commanded. And to make me instrumental in promoting the salvation of the people now committed to my charge, grant that I may faithfully administer thy holy sacraments, and by my life and doctrine set forth thy true and lively word. Be ever with me in the performance of all the duties of my ministry; in prayer to quicken my devotion; in praises to heighten my love and gratitude; and in preaching, to give a readiness of thought and expression suitable to the clearness and excellency of thy holy word. Grant this for the sake of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Saviour."*

I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

Bath, Feb. 6th, 1837.

S

-t.

CLERGY AID SOCIETY.-WELSH CHURCH IN LONDON.

SIR,-No one calling himself a churchman can say that there are a sufficient number of clergymen or churches for the vast population which is growing up in different parts of the kingdom: and I therefore conclude that every person professing to be a member of the church of England is bound to attend to the call of the Clergy Aid Society; but whether an individual chooses merely to give enough to purchase the title of churchman, or from thankfulness, out of the abundance with which God has blessed him, or of the little he has "makes venture for Christ's sake," is a subject on which each must, for himself, decide. Now as there will be a very large subscription, I wish to say a word or two with regard to the application of a part on behalf of some of the most religious and moral of his majesty's subjects. It is well known that there exists, in the metropolis, a large Welsh population, many of whom understand no other than their native tongue;† and I beg leave, with all deference, to suggest that one of the new churches, to be built according to the noble plan last year projected by the Bishop of London, be appropriated for the use of the Welsh. The

Should not this prayer be offered up (mutatis mutandis) for the incumbent, by the officiating minister of the day? Uttered by the individual to whom it applies, it seems better to befit the hours of private devotion.-ED.

I have myself four Welsh servants in London, only two of whom understand English.

Clergy Aid Society, in their eighth rule, express their readiness" to receive sums of money for the specific purpose of supplying the spiritual wants of a particular district.' A friend of mine is ready to advance 1007. in furtherance of the object, and as I am not one of those who mark out lines for others which I would not pursue myself, if in their situation, I inclose my name to you, with the promise of 50l. towards the same. Besides the noblemen connected with the Principality, we return twenty-nine members to the Commons' House of Parliament, and surely they will come forward, and lead the way, in this act of duty to their countrymen. I understand there are several Welsh meeting-houses in London, and I believe there is a Welsh church at Liverpool; and can it be supposed that this opportunity will be allowed to pass without the attempt of doing something in this great metropolis. "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." Suppose each of our representatives were to contribute only 51. a year, the amount would be 1457., and I feel confident there is enough nationality and attachment to the church among Welshmen in London to ensure an ample income to two if not more clergymen.

I am, Sir, your obliged humble servant,

CERETICUS.

DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE.

SIR,-Should you think the following brief remarks upon a passage of scripture worthy the notice of your numerous readers, I shall be glad of the opportunity which their insertion in the British Magazine will afford, of having my interpretation of the passage confirmed or refuted by some of your able correspondents.

The passage I allude to, is St. John, chap. ii. ver. 18-22. After our Lord had driven the traders out of the temple, the Jews said to him, "What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered, and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When, therefore, he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said."

All the commentators whose notes I have been able to consult, agree in limiting the sign here given by Jesus to the death of his natural body on the cross, and his subsequent resurrection; and they imagine him in speaking to have pointed to his body, "Destroy THIS temple," &c. Now, without denying that this was a portion of our Lord's meaning, I think another interpretation may fairly be given to the term "the temple of his body," of which the evangelist assures us Jesus spoke; it seems evident, indeed, that the Jews did not understand the words of his natural body, but supposed them to have a reference to the noble pile of building wherein this conference took VOL. XI.-June, 1837.

4 P

place. May we not then interpret the words as referring to the mys tical body of Christ, the church to be by him established, which, as a spiritual temple, was to supersede the necessity and use of that material temple which the Jews looked upon with such delight and veneration? I would paraphrase the passage thus:

:

"Destroy this temple,-or, this temple, great and beautiful and holy as it is, is shortly to lose that grandeur and beauty and holiness; as a temple, the virtue of it shall be destroyed; but, nevertheless, in three days I will erect another temple, exceeding even this in spiritual beauty and magnificence."

And thus it was; when the hour arrived that Jesus must die for the sins of the world, after having suffered all the indignities and tortures which the malice of his enemies could inflict, he exclaimed, "It is finished," and expired. In that moment was the temple destroyed, its virtue gone; the great sacrifice so long prefigured by the morning and evening sacrifices of the law, was at length offered; the vail was rent in sunder; the Levitical priesthood had finished their office-they had prefigured the great High Priest, who now by the one offering of himself did away with the necessity for their daily ministrations; the outward structure of the temple indeed stands; the goodly buildings, the magnificent portals, the spacious courts, are the same. Then on the third day, the evening sacrifice still smokes on the altar; the priests and Levites stand in order, and perform their wonted functions; the people are assembled, and offer up their prayers and their praises to the God of Israel; but this goodly temple is no longer the chosen seat of the Most High, he no longer exclusively dwells between the cherubim. The building is there, but the glory is departed; there is a new, a better, a holier, a more durable temple erected, which, beginning from Jerusalem as a centre, hastens to lengthen its ends and to strengthen its stakes, until it embrace within its capacious limits the whole dwelling-place of man. The true temple erected by Christ is found, not amidst the magnificence of that made with hands, which was forty and six years in the building, but in that secluded upper room where the disciples were assembled, and where their risen Lord appeared to them and blessed them. This is that mystical body of Christ, the church, concerning which it appears to me he speaks in the passage before us, no less than of the resurrection of his natural body from the grave.-I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,

THOMAS STONE.

VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE.

SIR,-As a comparative estimate of the efficiency of the pure voluntary principle, as it exists in America, and of that mixed system which prevails in this country, in promoting the circulation of the scriptures and evangelization of the heathen, may not be deemed unsuited to your pages, I send you the result of my inquiries on this subject; the receipts of the Bible Society in America, for the eleven years ending in 1833, were 201,6087. 18s. 1d.: those of similar societies in this

country, for the same period, (making a deduction proportioned to the difference in population,) 1,085,4331. 8s., or 5.4 to 1 against the voluntary principle. The Missionary Societies were 7 to 1 against it, their receipts being 294,4381. Os. 2d. and 2,068,2201. 2s. 4d. for America and England respectively, allowing for the population as in the former case. These comparisons were made in the month of Dec. 1834. Previously to that date, the Americans had been gaining upon us in this race of benevolence; and in the year 1833, our contributions to both bible and missionary societies, were only just five times as great as theirs. Had they gone on progressing in this manner, I should not have been surprised, for, according to their own shewing, they have now not only a population equal to ours, but fewer public burdens and more wealth in the hands of the great mass of the people than with us. I certainly was not prepared to find that they had actually retrograded, and that now our Bible Society subscriptions exceed theirs in the proportion of 5-6 to 1, and those of our missionary societies in that of 5-5 to 1. The receipts of the American Bible Society for the three years ending 1834, were 65,7167. 12s.; the bible societies of this country, 369,7761. Os. 7d. including the estimated value of the copies of the scriptures issued by the Christian Knowledge Society. The receipts of the missionary societies for the same period being, America 145,0727. 9s. 6d., and England 805,0521. 16s. 5d.; the only thing I have to remark here is, that the sum of 57,4801. 4s. has been deducted from the united revenues of the Episcopal, Baptist, and Methodist Missionary Societies in America, for the estimated portion of their income which is spent on domestic objects. Owing, it must be owned, to the inactivity of the friends of the Gospel Propagation Society, the dissenters have gained ground on us during the last three years, and reduced the pounds-shillings-and-pence argument in favour of etablishments from 5 to 1, which was the proportion for the year 1833, to 4 to 1 on the average of the three years. During the last year, however, we have recovered much of the lost ground, for the contributions of those in favour of a church establishment are to those against it as 4-8 to 1,-viz., Church Societies, 303,6657. 15s. 6d.; Wesleyan Missionary Society, 57,7467. Os. 1d., making in the whole 356,4117. 15s. 7d., while the societies conducted entirely by voluntaries raised only 78,3887. The ground we have thus began to recover, I trust we shall keep. The appointment of parochial committees in connexion with the Gospel Propagation Society cannot fail to be attended with the most beneficial consequences to the funds of the society and to the parishes themselves; for they who water others will be watered themselves, and find it more blessed to give than to receive. A sum, amounting on an average to two shillings annually from each family in the country, might be easily collected; this and the adjoining parish, taken together, may be considered as a pretty fair sample of parishes generally, and here the amount collected for the Church Missionary Society last year is equal to 3s. 6d. for each family. When the clergyman had better resources, or fewer out-goings than those who now have charge of the parishes, the sum raised was considerably higher than it is now; various little acts of self-denial were practised,

and the savings put into the missionary box, which produced several pounds at the end of the year. The sum at present derived from this source is comparatively trifling, as curates with families, and stipends of 801. a year, must deny themselves in a thousand ways in order to live; but every clergyman may do something, and thus be an ensample to his flock; and when he is blessed with the means, his contributions ought to be abundant. If, in local charities, the wealth and benevolence of the voluntaries, as indicated by their subscriptions, were weighed against the wealth and benevolence of the supporters of the establishment, the result would be 30 to 1 in favour of the latter. It is, in such charities, 18 to 1 against dissent; and though the Wesleyans are at present in favour of an establishment, they are, with rare exceptions, practically dissenters, and the most indefatigable and successful of all dissenters, in alienating the people from the church, "Hic niger est: hunc tu, Romane caveto."

Thus, Sir, whether we compare America with England, or the advocates of the voluntary system in this country with those who are in favour of a church establishment, the last to which I have appealed clearly decides in favour of the latter; and this decision is rendered more emphatic, when the splendid efforts which are now making in the metropolis and in other parts of the country to meet the spiritual wants of our unchurched multitudes are taken into the account. In conjunction with that much wanted auxiliary, the Pastoral Aid Society,† they may be regarded as striking proofs of the vitality of our church and cheering signs of God's favour. "Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion, for the time to favour her is come: for thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof."

I am,

&c.

M.A.

7th Jan. 1837.

MARRIAGE UNDER THE NEW ACTS.

SIR,-The operation of the Registration Acts must place the clergy in difficulties in many instances, and for some time past I have hoped to see the subject brought forward in your pages: as, however, no per

* On referring to the Report of the Church Missionary Society for 1835, the only one which gives in detail the accounts of the Association, which includes this and the adjoining parish, the clerical missionary boxes produced in 1834, it appears, 77. 9s. 7d. Now, as there are at least 12,000 parochial clergy, a large sum might be obtained from them in this way, were every one to economize, a sum actually exceeding the receipts of the Gospel Propagation Society; neither of the clergymen who had charge of these parishes up to last year have a private fortune; one had pupils, and the other was a single man, without any, and both were curates. The annual contributions of the present curates who have families and no pupils, exceed three pounds.

The editor would substitute here the Society for Promoting the Employment of Additional Curates in Populous Places.-ED.

The legal doubts as to one point (No. 1 in W. S. D.'s letter), have been noticed several times in the Magazine, especially in vol. x. p. 492. Nothing but legal opinions can settle this as a point of law. None but lawyers, indeed, should hazard opinions which may involve persons in very serious consequences. In the case, No. 2, supposing us to feel the utmost disapprobation of the law of the country,