the winding shores of furthest Oregon, gather themselves together as the hour reaches each, into their simple sanctuaries; and as the matin bell peals from the fresh-built churches of New Zealand the last hymn of evensong is but just sinking into silence round the hallowed temples of the mother country, to rise again and again, as evening darkens into night, from "each pure domestic shrine” in a thousand happy English homes. When this too has ceased, and the busy, toil-worn multitude has sunk to rest, then the sun has risen over Calcutta, the bells from its beautiful cathedral tower are calling even then to morning prayer-soon the churches of Ceylon and Tinnevelly take up the sound, next those of the sea-girt Seychelles, and of the South African colonies in their order, until the sacred circle is complete, and England wakes again to offer up her morning song of praise.

Thus, in consequence of the dispersion of our countrymen, it is given to England to fulfil, in one sense, the ancient word of prophecy, "From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles.” In all quarters of the globe may be heard the sound of Christian worship, but oh! how feeble is the sound-how scattered are the worshippers in comparison with what they might become, if we were to unite in one mighty effort to propagate the gospel throughout the world, and especially throughout the length and breadth of the British Empire.

As a further incentive to exertion, let us remember with shame and humility how backward we, as a nation, have hitherto been in this good work. In many, perhaps in most, of our colonies and dependencies, years elapsed before a clergyman was sent to minister to the spiritual necessities of our settlers, and to labour for the conversion of the heathen, or before a church was built in which these "few sheep in the

wilderness" might unite once more in worshipping the God of their fathers. And yet in all those years how diligent had our countrymen been in "laying up for themselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal," whilst they had thus fearfully neglected to lay up that "treasure in heaven which faileth not." It seemed as if they had entirely forgotten the Divine injunction and promise, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

But if we look back with regret upon the fatal indifference manifested by individuals in those things which concern their eternal welfare, what shall be said of the successive governments which, nominally professing the established religion of these realms, really intending to advance the material interests of England, could yet by obstinate neglect and by thwarting the efforts of individuals, resist the extension of the Church, while encouragement was held out to its opponents, and even pecuniary assistance and legal sanction were afforded to the idolatrous rites of the heathen! To the same inadequate sense of the importance of spiritual things, must be ascribed the fact that in spite of many earnest petitions and remonstrances from all parts, enforced by settlers abroad and by Churchmen at home, it was not till two hundred years after the first attempt at colonization was made, that the Church was planted in any part of our Colonial Empire, in the integrity of her threefold orders. In a time of national humiliation and alarm, when the established independence of the United States had shaken the confidence of our government in mere secular power, and when the Churchmen of those independent states had extorted from England the long withheld privilege of consecrated bishops, then it was that by a happy though tardy change of state policy the same gift was conceded to the colonies whose loyalty

WORK IN THE COLONIES.

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emained stedfast, and in the year 1787 our first Colonial Bishop vas consecrated.

A brighter page in the annals of our colonies commences from that date, and to this we most gladly turn, concluding this brief sketch with a summary of the rapid progress of the Colonial Episcopate.

On the 12th August, 1787, Dr. Charles Inglis was consecrated Bishop of Nova Scotia, and thus became our first Colonial Bishop. His authority was supposed to extend over all the colonies in North America which then remained in the possession of the British Crown, those which separated from England in 1783, and now form the United States, having already obtained the episcopate by the consecration of Dr. Seabury in 1784, and Drs. White and Provoost in February, 1787. The enormous charge of the Bishop of Nova Scotia was reduced in 1793, by the erection of the Bishopric of Quebec. In 1814 our first Bishop in the eastern hemisphere was appointed to the See of Calcutta. In 1824 the episcopate was extended to the West Indies by the consecration of the Bishops of Barbados and Jamaica. The vast diocese of the Bishop of Calcutta was gradually diminished by the erection into separate bishoprics of Madras in 1835, Australia (which had indeed only been nominally within the diocese of Calcutta) in 1836, and Bombay in 1837. In 1839 a similar subdivision was effected in the North American dioceses by the erection of the Bishoprics of Newfoundland and Toronto.

In 1840 a letter of Bishop Blomfield of London, gave a new impulse to the movement, and led to the formation of the Colonial Bishoprics Fund, from which, in the first fourteen years of its existence, 264,000l. were spent in the foundation and endowment of Colonial Bishoprics. In 1841 the Bishop of New Zealand was consecrated. In 1842 the Bishopric of Barbados was subdivided into those of Barbados, Antigua, and Guiana; the Bishop of

Gibraltar was appointed for the British possessions in the Mediterranean; and a Bishop for Van Diemen's Land was consecrated with the title of Bishop of Tasmania. In 1845 the Bishop of Madras was relieved of the charge of Ceylon, then erected into a separate diocese with the title of the Bishopric of Colombo; and the diocese of Nova Scotia was still further reduced by the formation of the Bishopric of Fredericton. In 1846 a Bishop was appointed to minister to the Anglican congregation at Jerusalem. In 1847 the diocese of Australia was subdivided into those of Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, and Adelaide; and the Cape of Good Hope was erected into a diocese under the name of the Bishopric of Capetown. In 1849 a Bishop was consecrated for the vast territory of Rupert's Land; and at the same time our settlements in China were placed under episcopal superintendence by the consecration of the Bishop of Victoria. The diocese of Quebec was still further diminished by the endowment of the diocese of Montreal in 1850. In 1852 a Bishop was appointed to Sierra Leone. In 1853 the Bishoprics of Grahamstown and Natal were separated from the immense diocese of Capetown. In 1854 the island of Mauritius was taken from the charge (almost nominal) of the Bishop of Colombo, and erected into a separate diocese. In 1855 the often expressed wish of the founders of the Borneo mission was at length complied with, the island of Labuan was erected into a Bishop's See, and the Bishop was invested with jurisdiction over the clergy and congregations of the Church of England in Borneo. In 1856 the Bishopric of Christ Church, in the colony of Canterbury, New Zealand, was founded. In 1857 a Bishop was consecrated to the See of Perth, including the colony of West Australia; and in the same year the diocese of Toronto was subdivided and a Bishop elected to preside over the western portion of it with the title of Bishop of Huron. In 1858 the charge of the Bishop of New Zealand was further diminished by the establishment of the

Bishoprics of Wellington in the Northern, and Nelson in the Middle Islands, and in the following year by that of Waiapu on the eastern coast. The year 1859 also saw the consecration of Bishops for the new colony of British Columbia (Vancouver's Island), for the Island of St. Helena, and for Brisbane, or Moreton Bay, now called Queensland, in Australia. In 1861 a new step was taken by the appointment of Bishops without any legal jurisdiction, for the direction of missions beyond the bounds of the British empire, and Missionary Bishops were consecrated for the Zambesi or Central African Mission, for Melanesia or the Islands of the Pacific Ocean, and for Honolulu in the Sandwich Islands. In 1862 the Bahama Islands were separated from the See of Jamaica and formed into the diocese of Nassau, and the diocese of Toronto was again diminished by the establishment of the Bishopric of Ontario. In 1863 a Missionary Bishop was consecrated for the Orange River Free State, South Africa, and the new diocese of Goulburn was formed by the subdivision of the Bishopric of Sydney. In 1864 a Missionary Bishop for the Niger Mission was consecrated, and in the present year (1865) new Bishoprics will probably be formed in Australia, New Zealand, India, and British Columbia.

Thus in less than eighty years as many as forty-seven Bishops of the Church of England have been appointed to preside over the spiritual interests of our colonies and dependencies and neighbouring countries. The large increase in that period in the number of clergymen in those parts (now amounting to 1,741, who have already under their pastoral care more than 1,000,000 members of our communion) sufficiently proves how much these nursing fathers were needed by our infant colonial Church; and, with the blessing of God, we may in future hope for a still larger measure of success in winning souls to Christ, from their fostering care and superintendence.