T The Churchman's Monthly Companion. OCTOBER, 1844. CHURCH IN THE COLONIES. No. 7. NEW BRUNSWICK (NORTH AMERica). From the Rev. Dr. S. Thomson, Missionary at St. Stephen. "THE mission consists of the parishes of St. Stephen, St. David, St. James, and St. Patrick, which unitedly cover a tract of country more extensive than an ordinary English county. There is now in each parish a parish church, in good repair, and every way fitted for the decent celebration of divine service. The congregations vary with the church in which they assemble, and with the season of the year. Fifty may be regarded as the least, and three hundred as the greatest number in any of the churches. Severe weather, and the absence of the greater part of the male inhabitants of some districts during the lumbering season, may perchance diminish some congregations below fifty, for a Sunday or two; but this rarely happens; and for the greater part of the year the very least exceeds that number. "In addition to the four parish churches, the mission contains two handsome chapels of ease, at the two mill villages in the parish of St. Stephen ; both of these were consecrated by your lordship. U "The moral and religious improvement of the people has kept pace, I think, with the multiplication of churches in the mission. Of this important fact we have many evidences; and among them not the least is the increase of the number of communicants, from eighteen to more than one hundred. These communicants are scattered over the mission, and so widely separated from each other, that they never meet all together, but at the separate times at which I can attend at their parish churches, respectively. Indeed, some are so old and feeble, and live so remote from any of the churches, that I am forced to visit them individually, or sometimes, perhaps, collect a few in some humble dwelling in the neighbourhood, and then administer to them the emblems of a dying SAVIOUR's love; and most comforting it is to witness the pious devotion with which they receive the 'bread of life,' and how grateful they are to that benevolent Society by whose charity they are not suffered to perish for the lack of it, in their remote forest homes. Another evidence of improvement is the decided growth of a sober earnestness on the subject of religion, alike remote from the torpid indifference on the one hand, and the fanatic excitement on the other, which used to follow each other in periodical succession. The excitement produced, as its natural consequence, the lethargy of exhaustion and torpidity, till the annual protracted meetings, continued for a whole week at a time, with the most violent appeals to the passions, awoke the excitement again, and in several instances produced confirmed insanity, and a general effect little becoming the disciples of Him who did not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.' Such protracted meetings are now sinking or sunk into disuse. They have had their effect, however. Their delusive character, as means of religion, has become understood in some degree, and the consequence has been, that while some have been driven from them to take refuge among Univer salists and Infidels, others have fled to the Church, whose doors stood invitingly open, whose sober and faithful teaching becoming better understood, she is now looked up to as the divinely-appointed guide of the pilgrim journeying Zion-ward. 66 Among those who become truly members of the Church, there is evidently a desire to adorn the doctrine of GOD their SAVIOUR' by a life of moral honesty and truth; so that it has become generally admitted that Churchmen are most trustworthy in all the relations of social life: at least, this is admitted of all such as devoutly hear her instructions and participate in her ordinances. "Such, my lord, is the present state of the mission: what was its state when it came under my charge? Then, there was in it only one church, where there are now six, and that church neither so well equipped nor so well filled as the very poorest of the six now. The only church was in St. Stephen's; and to it some four or five families resorted; but the whole congregation furnished only fourteen communicants, exclusive of the members of my venerable predecessor's family (now all dead or removed from the parish) and my own wife. In the parishes of St. David and St. James, there was not, I believe, a single family avowedly belonging to the Church; and that part of St. Patrick's where the church now is, was a wilderness. The whole mission then contained but eighteen communicants-now above one hundred; but four or five families professing to be members of the Church-now several hundreds." Extract of a Letter from the Bishop, dated December 12, 1843. "My travels this year are not quite so extensive as those to the Upper Lake and through the Western districts in the summer of 1842, but they have required rather more time; and, from the uncommon heat of the weather and general badness of the roads, have been rather more laborious. Indeed, I found the roads in many places dangerous and almost impracticable. A rough, strong farmer's waggon is the only vehicle that dares attempt them, and even that occasionally breaks down. And to be prepared for such accidents, we carry with us an axe, a hammer, and nails, with ropes, &c. Sometimes we scarcely make a mile an hour, through the fallen trees, roots, and mud-holes which lie in our way. Nor is such travelling cheap; and as for the accommodation, it is painfully unpleasant, and this, notwithstanding the generous hospitality of the clergy and laity, whenever they have an opportunity. The time consumed is perhaps the thing most to be lamented. We seldom travel further in a day than you may do by railroad in an hour, and more often scarcely half the distance. "I say nothing of the fatigue of those journeys, the deep mud-holes, the fallen trees to be cut out of the path, the jolting on the log-carriages, exposure for months to a summer Canadian sun, and the autumn rains, &c. &c., because these are all incident to the discharge of duty, and neither a proper subject of dissatisfaction nor complaint."—From a Quarterly Paper of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. UNEXPECTED EVIDENCE. I HAVE heard some very extraordinary cases of murder tried. I remember, in one where I was counsel, for a long time the evidence did not appear to touch the prisoner at all, and he looked about him in the most perfect unconcern, seeming to think himself quite safe. At last the surgeon was called, who stated deceased had been killed by a shot (a gun shot) in the head, and he produced the matted hair and stuff cut from and taken out of the wound. It was all hardened with blood. A basin of warm water was brought into court; and, as the blood gradually softened, a piece of printed paper appeared-the wadding of the gun, which proved to be half of a ballad. The other half had been found in the man's pocket when he was taken. He was hanged.-Lord Eldon's Note Book. "WHERE two or three are gathered together in My name, (said our blessed LORD,) there am I in the midst of them." When Christians assemble for public worship in their Churches, their GoD and SAVIOUR, CHRIST JESUS, is present among the congregation; present to hear their prayers, and receive them, and offer them to His FATHER; present by His HOLY SPIRIT, to add warmth to their petitions; present with the Word preached, that it may penetrate into the hearts of some; present with and in the sacred elements blessed into spiritual food, according to His ordinance, and by virtue of His divine power, at the Holy Table; present at the font, where our infants are born anew into the Church; present in every part of the service, in every rite that is administered within the consecrated walls of the "House of GOD." Oh! if we believe this, ought we not to reverence GOD's House? IN DURA'S PLAIN. IN Dura's plain an Image stands, |