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atical of innocence and purity, it "lighted," settled, and abode upon him; the Father thus consecrating him to his office, by "anointing him with the Holy Ghost and with power," as the legal ministers were anointed with oil. And that no doubt might remain, the appearance was farther explained by a voice from heaven," saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Such are the blessings which, in effect, do always attend the divine sacraments, when duly administered, with prayer. For then the heavens are opened, and the Spirit is given, to conform us to the image of a meek and holy Saviour, and, through him, to make us acceptable in the sight of God.

(To be continued.)

FOR THE CHRISTIAN JOURNAL.

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On the Religious Observance of GoodFriday.

Ir is one of the characteristics of the Church of England, that she did not, at the reformation, cast off every thing she found in the Church of Rome, because it existed there. Her reformers knew, that upon this principle, many of the fundamental properties of the Church of Christ would have been sacrificed. They, there fore, proceeded to compare every thing with Scripture, and primitive Christianity; rejected what they did not sanction; and retained what they approved. Among the latter, was the observance of festivals and fasts, purified from the idolatries, superstitions, and absurdities with which it had been connected. In retaining this, they were not singular among Protestants. The established Church of Scotland, and some of the dissenters in that country and England, with their descendants and associates in this Republic, form the only material exceptions to an union in this particular, among all the reformed Churches. It is pleasing, however, to record, that on the leading festival of the Nativity, fast of the Crucifixion, the sound of bells attached to the Acts x. 38.

places of worship of some who are included in the above exceptions, evince an abandonment of former prejudices on this subject, very favoura ble to the progress of enlightened piety.

It is not the object of the present writer to illustrate the accordance of the celebration of festivals and fasts with Scripture and primitive Chris tianity. He refers his readers to a small work on the subject, which should be the companion of every Christian, and every Christian family, by the present Bishop of New-York.* To the members of the Protestant Episcopal Church, whom he supposes to admit the propriety of such celebra tion, he would respectfully offer a few remarks on the religious observance of GOOD-FRIDAY.

It is consecrated, as they all know, to the memory of the crucifixion of our Lord. As on that day, he, who, ing it not robbery to be equal with though in the form of God, and thinkGod, made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man; he who stooped so low in mercy, for us men and for our salvation; who was the Representative of our race, that he might redeem and save us-might stand between us and our angry God, to avert from us his wrath, and recommend us to his favour;He consummates this labour of inexpressible love. He has passed through a scene of suffering, unparalleled and inconceivable. The hour of the power of darkness had been improved by the great adversary, to the exertion of all his malignity against him who freely became his victim, to save the human race. Exceeding sorrowful, even unto death-sore amazed, and very heavy with the awful extent of agony, he prays that if man's redemption can be otherwise effected, the heavy wrath that lies upon him, as his Representative, may be removed. But though he sweats great drops of blood, under its intolerable burden, he is still content to do the will of God in effecting that redemption, and

* A Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Protestant Episcopal Church, published by T. & J. Swords.

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meekly and mercifully adds-" Nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt." He, therefore, submits to drink the very dregs of the cup of trembling, and wring them out; though the scourge, the crown of thorns, the insult and mockery of the populace, are yet to be added to its bitter ingredients. Under this accumulated weight of wo, he proceeds up Calvary; still insulted, still mocked, still treated with unmitigated crueltyhe hangs on the cross. Alas! only the beginnings of sorrows have yet been experienced. Man, for whom he mediates, incurred banishment from the presence of the Lord. See an equivalent to this, in that most awful trial, which draws from him the bitter lamentation" My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" Christians! this is all for us, and for our salvation. This is the price at which were purchased the pardon of our sins-the favour of our Godour only hope of everlasting life. This, the effort of divine love, to save us from the bitter pains of eternal death. The Church hallows to its commemoration the sacred fast whose name would lead us gratefully to remember the inexpressible GOOD thus purchased for our race. Shall it be a day lightly regarded? When by appropriate services, she would awaken in our souls every feeling of devotion, of gratitude, and lovewould fix their contemplations on the great sacrifice of the Lamb of Godwould so occupy them with this one object, as to leave an indelible impression, favourable to the strengthening of our faith, and the increase of our piety;-shall we repay her solicitude, and avert from us the spiritual good she would promote-shall we expose her appointments to derision, and ourselves, as her members, to the just charge of inconsistency or insincerity, by neglecting, or but coldly and partially observing this holy day? Can such conduct be entirely removed from indifference to the GREAT EVENT the day commemorates? Does it not too plainly speak a most dangerous devotion to the world, that we cannot even then resign its pursuits and plea

sures, for exercises of gratitude and devotion to him whose love for us supported him through such unutterable sufferings-such an ignominous death? Does it not warrant the inference, that although constrained by divine command, by human law, or by general custom, from pursuing ordinary business and pleasure on the weekly festival, it is an unwilling sacrifice, to which we can, at no other time, submit?

Let Churchmen answer, each to his conscience, these inquiries; and then say, whether they will think it a hard matter, conformably with the evident design of the Church, and with the pattern of primitive piety, to make this holy day, a day of rest from worldly business, and retrench. ment of worldly enjoyments; whether they will not devote it to the services of the Church, and to those private meditations, and religious exercises, which they are calculated to inspire.

O how it grieves me, on the day when the pious heart should feel reluctant to any interruption of this observance, to hear the noise, and witness the bustle of business, under the direction or sanction of those who profess membership with a Church which has made it a day holy unto the Lord! Poor is the compensation of their own attendance at the house of God; miserable the apology, that it is only during the earlier hours of the day, it is thus desecrated. These, indeed, show that they have some sense of duty and propriety; but they evince, also, the lamentable fact, that the world is still uppermost; and that they deem the whole day too much to be devoted to their God and Saviour.

There is a great inconsistency among Christians, in a particular, which, I am sorry to say, is further sinful by its abuse and profanation of one of the chief festivals of the Church. It is comparatively seldom that we see the prosecution of ordinary worldly business on Christmas-day. this arise from the greater influence of religious motive then, than on Good-Friday? Would I could think so.

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I fear the real cause is to be more frequently found in the facts, that custom then sanctions the intermission of business-that there is, therefore, less danger of a neighbour's profiting by our conscientiousness in this particular-and that, by a strange inconsistency, a religious festival is degraded into an occasion of mere worldJy mirth.

From such reflections, how delightful to turn to the view of a suspension of business and pleasure, of faithful and devout attendance on the services of the sanctuary, of private meditations and devotions, suggested by the love of a dying Saviour, of domestic exercises, and social conversation, adapted to a day sacred to the memory of the GREAT ATONEMENT which, by bitterest sufferings and most cruel death, the Son of God made for our guilty race! Must not the day, thus hallowed, be a sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to our divine Redeemer? Must it not be calculated to confirm that faith, and animate that obedience, which, through his grace, will unite us to him, and be the means of our advancement to the glorious inheritance, that by his sufferings and death, he purchased for his people? O for that spirit of true primitive piety, which, setting upon this world no more than its proper value, renders cheerful and devout compliance with the venerable appointments of the Church! These, through the blessing of God, which we ought not to doubt, will attend humility and sincerity in their observance; would strengthen our faith, animate our obedience, and conduct us in the path which martyrs have consecrated, to the blessed assembly and Church of the Firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.

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Comparison between Bishop PORTEUS,

and Bishop HORSLEY.

(From the Quarterly Review.) AMONG those ornaments of literature, and of the Church of England, which have lately been removed by death, from the stations to which un

assisted merit had advanced them, are to be deplored the names of Porteus and Horsley; men of talents and dispositions more different, perhaps, than ever actively and harmoniously cooperated in the same cause. The one was elegant in deportment, gentle in manners, popular in the choice and treatment of his theological subjects; never profound, but always impres sive; and though often familiar, yet, by matchless dexterity, never inattentive to his own dignity. The other was rough, haughty, and imperious ; of an understanding vast and comprehensive; addicted, in his discourses, to the choice of novel and difficult subjects; and mingling, involuntarily, with those which were intended to be popular, disquisitions at once entertaining and profound. Both having been educated in the University of Cambridge, the one abandoned, as soon as academical restraints were removed, the pursuit of abstract mathematics, for more elegant studies: while the other, after having graduated in another faculty, spontaneously, and through life, pursued them to a considerable extent. Both were admitted into the families of great prelates, eminent for their attainments in Hebrew literature; a pursuit which was too rugged for the one, and a mere relaxation to the other: and, while. both were equally orthodox in their religious principles, the one maintained the essential doctrines of Christianity by clear and perspicuous statements; the other by irrefragable argument. Porteus had more taste than eloquence; Horsley, more eloquence than taste. The first was unquestionably the most amiable; the second, the ablest man of their latter days. In their character as legislators, the same original diversity of temper marked their conduct. Ever attentive to the interests of religion and the establishment, the Bishop of London maintained on questions merely temporal, a delicate reserve, which enabled him to interpose, with tenfold effect, in his own peculiar province; while the Bishop of St. Asaph, with a strong tendency to law and business, together with a constitu

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THE Rev. James Hough, Chaplain at Palamcotta, in writing to a friend, under date of Sept. 22, 1817, has given an account of some superstitious ceremonies, of which he was a witness.

"Word was brought me, on Saturday, that my Moonshee's mother was dead; with a request that I would supply the family with some cocoanuts, &c. 'to make ceremony over her.' The Hindoos burn their dead. I expressed an inclination to witness the ceremony. Accordingly, a person was despatched to tell me when the procession was moving; and I set out, by a shorter road, to the destined spot. It was an elevated station, on the banks of the river.

"As soon as I heard the distant music, I got out to view the sable group. The music consisted of kettledrums and tomtoms (a kind of long drum,) an immense long horn, and two shells, called shanks, which were perforated at the thick end, at which a man blew, and they produced a most dismal sound. These were followed by the relations and friends of the deceased, with the barber and the Brahmin, or his substitute. Having stripped off their jackets and white clothes, they mourned in their black skins; if mourning it could be called; for the grief of most of them seemed no deeper. Next came the body, which was laid on a frame covered with cloths, and placed under a canopy decorated with scarlet cloth and a variety of garlands.

"On reaching the spot, the body was laid on a pile of stones covered with casks of dried cow-dung. The head was then uncovered, and the face exhibited, which was much disfigured by age, and still more by its distortions from things placed on it. The mouth was kept open with a bandage tied round the chin, and the eyes were VOL. III.

The

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closed with mud. As soon as the body was disposed, the son of the deceased went to the river, washed his head, and returned, carrying a small vessel of water in his hand, and preceded by the man blowing in the shells. relations and friends now put a small quantity of rice in the mouth of the corpse, placing first a piece of money on her chin, which was afterwards removed and given to the barber. The son came last; and, after touching the body, washed his hands in the water which he had brought from the river. I suppose there was some mystery in the manner of putting the rice in the mouth. Some ignorant fellows were for letting it drop in, in the easiest manner; but they were taught better, and made to lay the back of the hand on the chin, with the thumb toward the mouth, and then to toss the rice in by turning over the hand; by this means she lost as much as she got. The son next took a large chatty of water on his shoulder, and walked three times round the body; a person each time knocking a hole in the chatty, at which the water ran out, and made three circles. It was then broken at her head, and the son proceeded to prostrate his body at her feet. After this he kissed her feet and hands, and she was covered with cakes of dried cow-dung, straw, and mud, which enclosed the whole; the son having first set fire to the cow-dung with a small piece of sandal-wood, and the attendants having stripped the body of its ornaments, and placed a lighted cake at her head and feet.

"I missed the son; and, on asking for him, was told that he was gone to be shaved. I followed him, and found that the poor fellow had lost all the hair from his head and body. His friends were seated in groups smoking cheeroots, which they had made of some tobacco-leaves that I saw distributed among them; and to give some idea of their feelings on the mournful occasion, one of them snatched at a better leaf than had been given him, and the donor laughed at the joke. All this passed close to the body.

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"I left the pile smoking; and was told that it would be consumed in fivə

hours, when they would cast the ashes on the river.

"You will ask the reason of this; and so did I, but could get none. 'Custom, custom,' was the reply to all my questions of this nature. O, what blind leaders of the blind are the Hindoo Brahmins! When will the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ shine into their hearts, and guide

them into all truth ?”

the Head Janissary, or Turkish Guard in the service of the English Consul, went to witness a scene of this nature. As we were going, I asked whether the mana sailorwas as yet under British protection, and a British subject. Mr. Werry said, that till, in the presence of the Consul and other witnesses, the man

had been asked three times whether he would be a Turk, they could not make him one yet he expressed a

Probability of the Toleration of Chris- fear that they had made him one

tianity in Persia.

THE Prince Royal of Persia, with a design to protect the Christians in that country, has lately assembled a Divan at the populous city of Tauris, and proposed to them the following questions:-1. Was Jesus Christ a true prophet sent from God?-2. Are the laws contained in the Gospel just ?—3. Is it lawful to blaspheme those laws? The first two questions were answered in the affirmative; the last in the negative. These decisions have received a legal form; in consequence of which, the Prince punish ed one of his domestics for insulting a Christian. We may, therefore, hope that Christianity will be fully tolerated in Persia.

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An Englishman turning Mahomedan. (From the Journal of the Rev. Mr. Jewitt.) Friday, June 5th, 1817-at SmyrI had heard, late yesterday evening, that an Englishman is go ing to turn Turk. I thought, yet not without trembling, that I should like to be present at the scene, and that it might be turned to some good purpose. I obtained, therefore, what information I could on the subject; and noted down some questions which I should like to ask the man. This morning I inquired whether I might witness the ceremony; and, happily, found no objection.

Mr. John Werry and myself, therefore, preceded by the English Dragoman, or Interpreter, and by

already.

The only case of one refusing, within memory, was about twentyfive years ago. A boy, of seventeen or eighteen, when thus challenged, as they call it, exclaimed "They brought me here, I did not know what for; and I don't want to turn Turk." But, since that time, many have turned Turk; and only one refused to do so!.

Of all men, sailors are most exposed for they are very whimsical and obstinate-whimsical, because they have so limited a knowledge of society on land; and obstinate, because their understanding is full grown, without having been properly exercised.

We entered the apartments of the Mayor his Deputy received us, in a very shabby room. Pipes and coffee were served-very little conversation. The Deputy had a pair of long scissors in his hand, with which he was cutting little square pieces of paper, called Tesseras; on which he had written Orders or Patents, and which he signed with a small signet.

While we sat, we heard a man in the yard suffering the bastinado. At every stroke he sent forth a ter rible howl: but, as the punishment was short, probably he soon confessed what they wanted to get out of him. I could see a dozen Turks and Greeks cross the adjoining hall, and stand at the door, out of curi

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