MR. BUTLER, after having ministered for a few years in the Church of England, has seen fit to withdraw from her pale, and has published the present pamphlet, we presume, as an apology for his own conduct. After a somewhat lengthy introduction, which seems to assume that his secession from the Church is of such importance as to excite considerable public interest, Mr. B. goes on to state, that the imposition of terms of communion not enjoined by divine authority, the distinction of rank among the ministers of religion, and the interference of the civil power in matters relating to the creed, or worship, or discipline of the Church, are violations of religious liberty; and that the permanence of immoral or incompetent ministers, against the will of their charge, is an enormous evil, arising out of the connection between Church and State, &c.

Now we do not exactly see either the truth of all these positions, or their precise connection with Mr.B.'s secession. The Church of England offers certain advantages to those who see fit to adopt the rules of communion which she has laid down; but it leaves all who disapprove of these rules to decline her communion and engage in any other. Mr. Butler saw fit to enter into holy orders, and officiate in the Establishment; and while so officiating, he received certain emoluments, whether more or less now he has thought proper to withdraw from the Establishment, he of course relinquishes those advantages. He surely cannot expect to retain the emoluments, while he renounces the regulations of any particular Church. The Baptists will require him to maintain either close or open communion. lf Mr. B. become minis

ter to a strict communion Baptist Church, and afterwards see fit to approve of open communion, he could scarcely hope to retain his appointment, and so of any other denomination; but this is no violation of religious freedom. Nor do we see that the distinction of rank has any thing to do with religious freedom. A rector who receives great tithes, and a vicar who receives small tithes, possess equal religious freedom with a bishop, dean, or prebendary. The permanence of immoral ministers is a most serious evil, and is deeply to be lamented; but such permanence by no means necessarily arises from the connection between Church and State. On the contrary, this evil exists among Dissenters, as well as in the Establishment; and cases have arisen where trustees (like those, for instance, of Lady Hewley's Charities) have perverted their trust until compelled by the civil courts to return to a more correct administration.

In fact, a far greater degree of religious freedom exists in the Established Church than among any other denomination. The tyrauny of Dissent is deeply felt and bemoaned by very many dissenting ministers, and by none more than by those who have been seduced into secession from the Establishment. We appeal from Mr. Butler's present opinion to his decision seven years, five years, perhaps two or three years hence. The minister may, nay, is required to exercise a certain discretion with reference to those whom he admits to the Lord's table; but he must exercise this discretion in a due and considerate manner: he is not to libel an individual, or trumpet forth his own fidelity by a public proclamation; he is authorized to require a private commu

nication from every one who desires to attend the Lord's table; and though such notice is not at present generally required yet it can at any time be enforced; he may and in ordinary cases will, find it generally speaking, advisable, to waive this requirement, but some cases indeed the rubric is steadily kept in view, and the applicants are encouraged to come, advised to wait, or admonished to withdraw, according to circumstances. Cases of the last description can very rarely occur where a scriptural and Protestant view of the Lord's Supper is entertained, and where the advantages of Church membership are purely of a spiritual character. But if the Lord's Supper is considered as a passport to happiness, or if being one of us is in any way connected with pecuniary advantages, whether in the way of alms or of exclusive trading, worldly minded communicants will rapidly spring up. But such is not the case in the Church of England at present: most ministers find it difficult to persuade proper communicants to attend, and have rarely reason to prevent the attendance of those whom they fear to be unworthy. Whether improper candidates for admission to the

Lord's table are more frequent among dissenters, we know not; but the incessant bringing forward this, by Dissenting partizans, as a prominent objection to the Established Church, would lead to the suspicion that improper candidates for admission to the communion are very prevalent amongst themselves.

Similar remarks might be made with reference to Mr. B.'s other objections. If any case occurs where a minister, standing by a grave, can say, there is no hope, let him omit the clause as our hope is; for such omission he is, it is true, as he ought to be, responsible to his ecclesiastical superiors, and will therefore scarcely venture to distress the

feelings of survivors without some urgent necessity: but where there is any adequate cause, few ministers would shrink from the responsibility, or be alarmed at what is little more than an imaginary danger.

But even were Mr. Butler's objections correct, they would not, we conceive, justify secession. It is not any ordinary violation of freedom which will authorize an individual at once to renounce the solemn promises and vows into which he has voluntarily entered. Mr. Butler ought unquestionably, before his entrance into the Church, to have considered the duties and the obligations by which he would then be bound; and having deliberately entered into such engagements, he can now have no right voluntarily to withdraw; especially since it is obvious that no fresh yoke has been inflicted, no new stipulation required. Nor is it quite correct to adopt the style of Lately Curate of St. Margaret's, Ipswich,' in order to attract a degree of attention and notoriety to which he would not have been entitled, had he not entered into engagements which, without any adequate cause, he has seen fit to violate. We are not, however, disposed to enlarge. It is evident that Mr. B. has very little idea of the actual position which the ministers of our Church occupy, and that he labours under the very common mistake of confounding the doctrines of certain leading divines and the assertions of a few ecclesiastical officers with the principles of our Church and the laws by which that Church is governed. Had he possessed a little more information, and consulted a few experienced clergymen, he would unquestionably have acquired much clearer views, and would probably have found that the ministers and members of the Church of England do really possess a greater degree of religious freedom than those of any other denomination.

THE Committee for Foreign Translations of the Holy Scriptures, and of the Liturgy, laid before the Board at the General Meeting in July, copies of the new translation of the Liturgy into Dutch, with the English in parallel columns. Applications have been long made from several of the Anglo-Dutch colonies for supplies of this work, which has excited considerable interest in Holland, and will most probably meet with extensive circulation, and render the services of our church available in quarters where they have hitherto been imperfectly or not at all understood.

The committee have also published the revised translation of the Liturgy in Spanish. The greater part of this edition, and also of that of the Spanish New Testament, have already been put into circulation, and new editions will shortly be required. Through the liberality of the Society, a Spanish congregation at Gibraltar is now enabled to use this Liturgy, and to have the Sacraments administered by a Spanish clergyman in their own language, according to the ritual of the Church of England. The revision of the Old Testament in Spanish is in progress. The Pentateuch and the Psalms have been prepared for the press, and are now being printed.

The committee have continued their labours in the revision of the French version of the Holy Scriptures ; the Paris Committee have again gone through the whole of the New Testament: the revision of the Gospels is now completed, and they are in type; but some time will yet elapse before the Epistles can have undergone complete revision.

A quarto edition of this work, with the marginal readings and references of the English Bible adapted to the French is preparing in Paris.

By the exertions of the Rev. W. D. Leeves, of Athens, the New Version of the Liturgy, in modern Greek, is now quite ready for publication. The Psalms and other

portions of the Scriptures have been supplied from the new version, which has been made for the Bible Society under his superintendance; and the whole will shortly be sent to press. The completion of this Translation of the Liturgy at Athens, simultaneously with the foundation of an English church in that city, afford reasonable ground of hope, that the advantages which Liturgy has derived from the monuments of the ancient Greek church, will be better seen and appreciated, and that its publication will serve, in some degree, to bring back the attention of the modern Greeks to the earlier and purer days of their forefathers.

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The Arabic Version of the Liturgy is now quite finished; and the printing of the work has only been delayed on account of the new type, which has been preparing for the purpose at Malta. It is expected that this work will be well received among the Churches of the East, and convey to them a better notion than they at present possess, of the doctrines and principles of the Church of England; especially as the Society has prefixed an advertisement expressly disclaiming any intention of forcing the adoption of our Liturgy upon other Churches, or interfere in any way with their affairs. A point upon which the Oriental Churches are known to be very sensitive.

The Rev. C. F. Schlienz is now on a journey to Egypt and Syria, collecting materials for a New Arabic Translation of the Bible.

Exertions are making to provide an edition of the New Testament in the Chaldee character, and versions of the Liturgy in the Russian and Sclavonic languages. The Committee have determined to prefix to all their Foreign Editions of the Holy Scriptures which are accompanied with the Apocrypha, an extract from our Sixth Article, containing the names and numbers of the Canonical Books.

'Warsaw, Feb. 10, 1838.

One

I AM happy to inform you, that, under the blessing of God, the work of carrying the scriptures from house to house is now in operation. person has taken some into the country, and I am to send a number for him to a minister of my acquaintance; but hitherto the work has been chiefly carried on in Warsaw. Monday and Tuesday, this week, one person went out, selling four Polish Bibles, one German, and two Polish New Testaments. Wednesday, a second person joined him; and both sold, in two days, eighteen Polish Bibles, six German ditto, and ten Polish New Testaments: but the whole number of scriptures sold and disposed of since I sent you my last account, that is, since the 19th of January until last night, is ninetythree copies.

Since receiving your last, I have written to several ministers, in the country, on the important subject of circulating the scriptures, and especially of furnishing their catechumens with them; for which purpose one of them, as he has already informed me, will shortly want several Bibles. The colporteurs have, in their excursions, met with some encouraging circumstances.

One

woman who bought a Bible, and had to borrow a florin towards paying for it, immediately hid it in her bed, on account of her husband, who, she said, did not like such books. Another was bought by a peasant bringing his corn to market, who put it on one of the sacks to read in it: he would also have bought a New Testament, but the man had just sold his last copy. This colporteur is, I am glad to say, a Christian person, able to recommend the treasure he offers: he told me that he might have sold six Bibles yesterday afternoon, if he had had Roman Catholic ones. One person offered to him any price for one, provided it contained the apocrypha: but without the apocryphal books I have no doubt many would be bought also, though we should probably have to expect opposition on this account.

A Letter from the Rev. J. W. Gordon, dated Vizagapatam, in the East Indies, contains the following passage:

'The desire to possess this precious treasure, on the part of the Natives, is by no means diminished -on the contrary, it increases every day. The past year has been marked by many encouraging proofs of this fact. During this period, upwards of 900 portions of the Sacred Scriptures have been distributed; a number which has far surpassed the demands of any preceding year. You cannot send us too many copies of the Bible and Testament: the teeming population of this country are crying out for them: the eyes of thousands are directed to the British and Foreign Bible Society at home, and its Auxiliaries here; and long to be supplied with the bread of life which is destined to save the soul alive.'

Another Indian correspondent writes

Besides the supply of Tamil Scriptures to two Tamil Schools in connexion with the Bellary Mission, in which more than half the children, 50 in number, are Heathen, distribution was made to those who, with more or less serious concern, were inquiring after the truth; in one case a Roman Catholic was by these Scriptures delivered from profound ignorance of the plan of Redemption through a crucified Redeemer, and brought to a full conviction of the errors of popery, and a cordial acceptance of the faith of Christ and in another a Lascar, who, from a perusal of the Sacred Scriptures through mere curiosity, was brought to the acknowledgment of their truth, and to a firm belief in their doctrines, which he has subsequently evidenced by baptism.

It is reported, also, that at the Annual Festival at Humpee, almost the whole of a congregation assembled in a tent on a plain; and preferred remaining to listen to an exposition of the Sacred Scriptures, to going, at the appointed signal, to assist in drawing the idol-car.

WE regret to learn that an awful famine prevails at present in the western provinces of British India. A meeting was held at Calcutta in March last, and a committee appointed to raise and distribute funds to purchase food for the aged and infirm; the infant and the female ; for all, indeed, who have not strength to labour. At this meeting, Mr. Mangles detailed the exertions which have already been made by Government, to relieve this extraordinary pressure. In the first instance, revenue to the amount of sixty lacs of rupees, (six hundred thousand pounds) had been relinquished. Secondly, orders had been issued to the public officers to grant support, through the medium of public employment, to the ablebodied. This relief was at first limited in its extent, but, as the season advanced, and the horrors of famine became more apparent, the permission to employ the poor was enlarged to an unlimited extent. Thirdly, the most energetic measures have been taken to strengthen the police establishments, and in preventing those depradations upon the granaries, so natural to a starving population, but which only served, by enhancing the price of food, to augment the general calamity. These measures have served, in some measure, to mitigate the severity of this awful visitation, but still they leave an ample field for the operation of private charity. The scenes which are described as now too common in the Western provinces are calculated to open the coldest bosom to the call of benevolence. The heaven above is as brass, and the earth beneath as iron. The staff of life, by the mysterious dispensation of providence, has been for a time, taken away. The villages, exhausted of their

supplies of food, are deserted by their starving population, who eagerly crowd into the towns, in the hope of obtaining the means of prolonging existence; and, in hundreds of instances, perish before they can reach the means of relief. The principal cities present the most gloomy spectacles, in the emaciated forms of the dead and dying. This is, of all others, an occasion which calls for the prompt and energetic exertions of those whom God has blessed with plenty.

Heart-rending accounts of the famine were pouring into Calcutta in April last from the North-Western Provinces. At no period within the memory of man has the country been visited with an equally severe affliction. In the memorable Chahee famine of 1783, which lasted for two years, the desolation was less than at present; the same distress did not prevail, because agricultural labour was not entirely stopped, and the wages enabled the people to procure food enough to support existence. The number of poor employed by government in and about the city of Agra, is 77,500. The sum actually paid into the Union Bank, for the relief of the sufferers by famine, amounts to 91,495 rupees-nearly 10,000l.'

It surely is the duty of Britain to contribute as far as possible to the relief of these sufferers. The presidencies and different stations in India are vigorously aiding the sufferers; let the cry of misery from the East be heard and regarded in the West. Remittances are readily made to public characters and banks in Calcutta, and by steam or overland dispatch the communication is very rapid. May our country exhibit the influence of its divine religion, which declares, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

THE Report made at the last General Court of this Society, states that the year just ended has exceeded all that have gone before it, both in the number, and in the amount of the grants which have been made; the number of places

to which assistance has been afforded being 117; the amount of sums granted no less than £24,060-a sum exceeding two-thirds of the amount collected under the last king's letter. The number of sittings obtained has been proportioned to the amount