"And be it enacted, that the father or mother of any child born, or the occupier of every house or tenement in England in which any birth or death shall happen, after the said first day of March, may, within forty-two days next after the day of such birth or within five days after the day of such death respectively, give notice of such birth or death to the registrar of the district; and in case any new-born child or any dead body shall be found exposed, the overseers of the poor in the case of the new-born child, and the coroner in the case of the dead body, shall forthwith give notice and information thereof, and of the place where such child or dead body was found, to the registrar; and for the purposes of this Act the master or keeper of every gaol, prison, or house of correction, or workhouse, hospital, or lunatic asylum, or public or charitable institution, shall be deemed the occupier thereof. §. 19.

"And be it enacted, that the father or mother of every child born in England after the said first day of March, or in case of the death, illness, absence, or inability of the father and mother, the occupier of the house or tenement in which such child shall have been born, shall, within forty-two days next after the day of every such birth, give information, upon being requested so to do, to the said registrar, according to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, of the several particulars hereby required to be known and registered touching the birth of such child. §. 20.

"And be it enacted, that some person present at the death or in attendance during the last illness of every person dying in England after the said first day of March, or in case of the death, illness, inability, or default of all such persons, the occupier of the house or tenement, or if the occupier be the person who shall have died, some inmate of the house or tenement in which such death shall have happened, shall, within eight days next after the day of such death, give information, upon being requested so to do, to the said registrar, according to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, of the several particulars hereby required to be known and registered touching the death of such person; provided always, that in every case in which an inquest shall be held on any dead body the jury shall inquire of the particulars herein required to be registered concerning the death, and the coroner shall inform the registrar of the finding of the jury, and the registrar shall make the entry accordingly." §. 25.

The following clause as to burials will affect grave-makers amongst Friends, as well as the ecclesiastical and other officers of the church, and Dissenters:

"And be it enacted, that every registrar, immediately upon registering any death, or as soon thereafter as he shall be required so to do, shall, without fee or reward, deliver to the undertaker or other person having charge of the funeral, a certificate under his hand, according to the form of schedule (E.) to this Act annexed, that such death has been duly registered, and such certificate shall be delivered by such undertaker or other person to the minister or officiating person who shall be required to bury or to perform any religious service for the burial of the dead body, and if any dead body shall be buried for which no such certificate shall have been so delivered, the person who shall bury or perform any funeral or any religious service for the burial shall forthwith give notice thereof to the registrar; provided always, that the coroner, upon holding any inquest, may order the body to be buried, if he shall think fit, before registry of the death, and shall in such case give a certificate of his order in writing under his hand according to the form of schedule (F.) to this Act annexed, to such undertaker or other person having charge of the funeral, which shall be delivered as aforesaid; and every person who shall bury or perform any funeral or any religious service for the burial of any dead body for which no certificate shall have been duly made and delivered as aforesaid, either by the re

gistrar or coroner, and who shall not within seven days give notice thereof to the registrar, shall forfeit and pay any sum not exceeding ten pounds for every such offence." §. 27.

Special provision, it will be seen, is made for the Civil registry of marriages amongst Friends, through the medium of their own officers, by the following clauses :

"And be it enacted, that the registrar-general shall furnish or cause to be furnished to the rector, vicar, or curate of every church and chapel in England wherein marriages may lawfully be solemnized, and also to every person whom the recording clerk of the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers, at their central office in London, shall from time to time certify in writing under his hand to the registrar general to be a registering officer in England of the said Society, and also to every person whom the president for the time being of the London committee of deputies of the British Jews shall from time to time certify in writing under his hand to the registrar general to be the secretary of a synagogue in England of persons professing the Jewish religion, a sufficient number in duplicate of marriage registerbooks, and forms for certified copies thereof, as hereinafter provided; and the cost of all such books and forms shall be paid by the churchwardens and overseers of the parish or chapelry, out of the monies in their hands as such churchwardens and overseers, or by the registering officer or secretary respectively to whom the same shall be furnished. §. 30.

"And be it enacted, that every clergyman of the Church of England, immediately after every office of matrimony solemnized by him, shall register in duplicate, in two of the marriage register books, the several particulars relating to that marriage, according to the form of the said schedule (C.); and every such registering officer of the Quakers, as soon as conveniently may be after the solemnization of any marriage between two Quakers in the district for which he is registering officer, and every such secretary of a synagogue, immediately after every marriage solemnized between any two persons professing the Jewish religion, of whom the husband shall belong to the synagogue whereof he is secretary, shall register or cause to be registered in duplicate, in two of the said marriage register-books, the several particulars relating to that marriage, according to the form of the said schedule (C.); and every such registering officer or secretary, whether he shall or shall not be present at such marriage, shall satisfy himself that the proceedings in relation thereto have been conformable to the usages of the said Society, or of the persons professing the Jewish religion, as the case may be; and every such entry as herein before is mentioned (whether made by such clergyman or by such registering officer or secretary respectively as aforesaid) shall be signed by the clergyman or by the said registering officer or secretary, as the case may be, and by the parties married, and by two witnesses, and shall be made in order from the beginning to the end of each book, and the number of the place of entry in each duplicate marriage register-book shall be the same.' §. 31.

By the following clause, fees for searches and certificates are given to our registering-officers, contrary to former practice among us in this respect : "And be it enacted, that every rector, vicar, or curate, and every registrar, registering officer, and secretary, who shall have the keeping for the time being of any register-book of births, deaths, or marriages, shall at all reasonable times allow searches to be made of any register-book in his keeping, and shall give a copy certified under his hand of any entry or entries in the same, on payment of the fee hereinafter mentioned; (that is to say,) for every search extending over a period not more than one year the sum of one shilling, and sixpence additional for every additional year, and the sum of two shillings and sixpence for every single certificate." §. 35.—Ed.

ART. IV.-Proposal of a Friend to introduce the reading of the Scriptures into Friends' Meetings: declined by the Monthly Meeting to which it was offered.

As I sometimes hope that my work will survive the present controversies among us, and be read by posterity along with other records of the times in which we live, I have made a point of preserving in it some fugitive papers and small tracts, which I deemed too good to be lost by neglect. Among these I may class the following letter, which was, 1. Sent to every member of the Monthly Meeting to which it is addressed. 2. Discussed at the instance of the author at a regular sitting of the Meeting soon afterwards. 3. Left, notwithstanding the author's personal appeal to his fellow-members (among whom he is in good esteem) as a subject open at any time for future consideration :'-in other terms evited, as argument ad hominem; though pressed in that way on the Meeting's attention, by an appeal to the declared sense of last Yearly Meeting. In the discussion which led to this result, there was (as I learn from the author) a total absence of anything approaching to a Scriptural or rational objection; but the thing was opposed,' it seems, 'to the well known views of Friends !'-Ed.

To the Members of the Monthly Meeting of Friends of the West Division of the County of Somerset.

DEAR FRIENDS,

Having been struck in perusing the Book of Discipline with the copiousness and earnestness of the recommendations it contains to the diligent perusal and study of Holy Scripture; I have been led to inquire whether the reasons which are so conclusive in favour of this duty, do not apply with equal force to the reading of them in our meetings for worship. And as I apprehend the Society suffers great spiritual loss from its neglect of this practice, I venture thus to call the attention of my dear friends to its importance.

If a blessing is to be expected on the devout private study, and on the public reading of Holy Scripture in our families, may we not confidently hope for the same blessing, on a more extended scale, from the suitable introduction of the Bible into our meetings for divine worship?

While there does not appear to be anything in the Book of Discipline in opposition to such a practice, the very important declaration contained in the last printed Epistle adds great additional weight to the arguments in its favour, for the Scriptures are there declared to be "the appointed means of making known to us the blessed truths of Christianity," and "the only divinely authorised record of the doctrines which we are bound as Christians to believe, and of the moral principles which are to regulate our actions." How important, then, must it be for every Christian Society to take the most effectual measures to secure the diligent use of this " appointed means" of Christian instruction, and how essential to the well-being of every church that these divinely authorised records of the doctrines we are to believe, and the principles which are to regulate our actions, should be continually read in the audience of the people.

As the Society cannot secure the due performance of this duty by parents and heads of families, is it not important that it should accomplish an object it has so much at heart, by encouraging their public reading?

When we reflect that every child of Adam is by nature in a state of alienation from God;-that the gospel is the message of reconciliation, and

the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; that it is the one remedy for the one disease; and that it is the means appointed by Infinite Wisdom for the conversion of the soul; we shall be impressed with the duty of adopting all lawful and expedient means for publishing this the message of salvation? And where can this be done with so much propriety as in meetings for divine worship?

Such an exercise would be a public recognition of the divine authority of the Bible, while on the devout use of the appointed means we might confidently look for the gracious help of the Holy Spirit, opening our understandings to understand the Scriptures and taking of the things of Christ and showing them unto us.

This view will be further strengthened when we consider that the preaching of the gospel is no other than the announcement, by the living voice, of the gospel message ;-that it is the right dividing of the word of truth under the quickening influences of the Holy Spirit ;-that the saving power is in the word so ministered and so applied; and as the Holy Spirit can equally bless the simple reading of the written word to the conversion of the soul, how deeply interesting does this view become in connexion with so many of our meetings which month after month are held in silence!

We must regard man as he is, not as we would wish him to be: knowing therefore that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child," how important it appears, that our unawakened youth should not be left in our silent meetings to the dark companionship of their own thoughts, or permitted to remain in a state of listless indifference, open to the inroads of unclean intruders, without any effort to rouse them from it. In the generality of cases it is too much to hope, that the minds of the young are devotionally occupied through the whole period of a silent meeting. But if after a sea. son of silence suitable portions of Holy Scripture were read in our meetings, and then a time of serious silence ensued for digesting the same, the mind might be furnished with divine instruction whereon to meditate. And would not such an exercise be likely to convince the thoughtful of the necessity of divine illumination, and thus prove the strongest incentive to prayer? What means more suited to prepare a congregation for true spiritual worship-for the renovating exercise of meditation and prayer, than the setting forth that Holy Word which has been the food of the church in every age? What means more likely to abase man, and exalt in his view the purity of God's law-the holiness of his character-than the inspired records of man's fearful fall and foul apostacy, and its dreadful effects; or to awaken humble gratitude, than the gracious promise of a Saviour in the seed (offspring) of the woman who should bruise the head (power) of the serpent? What more instructive than the teachings of the Spirit in the records of the dealings of God with patriarchs, prophets, and apostles?

The gospel is the means mercifully provided for the spiritual renovation of a fallen world. The Bible reveals the deep things of God to his creature man; while it offers spiritual food suited to every condition and calculated for every state;-sincere milk for the babes, and strong meat for the mature, it contains the reproofs of divine instruction for the froward and disobedient; righteous denunciations against the impenitent; awful warnings to the careless and indifferent; and is an awakening trumpet to those who are asleep in their sins. As the Society recognises these things as the characteristics of the written word of God, shall it longer refrain from the duty of diligently declaring its truths when met for public worship?

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When we consider the Scripture declaration made concerning our Lord's words" He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God," and that of those words it is declared " they are spirit and they are life,' they are the words of eternal life," how momentous does the responsibility appear of not recognising them as such in our meetings!

The course which the Society has so long pursued would appear more consistent did it reject all words, and thus restrict its meetings to entire silence, but when we consider that preaching of a very varied character is permitted, and that the best ministrations of the most gifted minister must fall far short of "the words of God;"—the divine revelations of the Holy Spirit recorded for "our instruction" by inspired prophets and apostles; and when we further reflect that a peculiar blessing has in every age of the church rested on the public recognition of the "lively oracles," we shall be prepared to consider whether we also, in humble faith, may not expect a blessing on the use of the means of God's own appointing in that mode which he has so frequently blessed.

Do those arguments which are made by an evangelical writer so beautifully to apply to the reading of the Bible in “families” and “larger com panies" lose all their force the moment these respective families combine together for the public worship of Almighty God? Shall we thus do honour to the word of God in our opportunities of social worship, or around the family altar, and yet hesitate to recognize it in public? Indeed one feels constrained to inquire: if the Bible be of value anywhere, where more so than when we meet together publicly to acknowledge our allegiance to the King of kings, for what had we known of the duty of allegiance to him, or of the motives to its performance but for the Bible?

He has revealed his will, he has delivered a message ;-he has issued a proclamation :-and shall not that will be publicly made known,-shall not that message be publicly delivered, shall not that proclamation be publicly announced? Where are our reasons for this neglect? I have never heard any, that may not be made equally to apply to the neglect of such a duty in every case.

If these arguments have any force as applied to such family reading, and I think they have much; they surely bear with a largely accumulated force when all are met together: and, be it observed, not only those who perform this duty at home, but those also who are deficient in it or indifferent to its importance.

Though the spiritually-minded may be profitably engaged in meditation and prayer through the whole course of a silent meeting, how stands the case with the majority? This is the important question. After a week devoted for the most part to secular concerns which occupy and distract the mind how valuable is every help to draw it out from its earthly attachments, and to induce it to expatiate unincumbered, in the recorded revelations of God to man.

Divesting our minds of educational bias, can we for a moment doubt that for a large proportion of those who attend our meetings, the reading of the Scriptures in them would be a salutary practice? And bearing in mind the infinite value of a single immortal soul, how earnest should we be to avail ourselves of every means calculated to warn, to awaken, and to convert. In how many instances has the recital of a single text been blessed to the conversion of a sinner: and are we not all convinced of the truth of God's own declaration, that As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it." (Isa. Iv. 10, 11.)

How important then does it appear publicly to set forth this his holy word, which shall not return unto him void," but shall prosper in the thing whereto he sends it: prosper in the conversion of sinners unto God:

* See Gurney's "Observations."