also, in his Ecclesiastical law, says: "Offerings, oblations, and obventions are one and the same thing; though obvention is the largest word. And under these are comprehended not only those small customary sums commonly paid by every person when he receives the sacrament of the Lord's Supper at Easter, which, in many places, is by custom two-pence from every communicant, and in London four-pence a house-but also the customary payment for marriages, christenings, churchings, and burials. The term oblation in the Canon Law means whatever is in any manner offered to the Church by the pious and faithful, whether it be movable or immovable property." Thus it appears that the phrase in the rubric, "other devotions of the people," is equivalent to the term "oblations" in the prayer and in the marginal rubric, and that both expressions refer to the "due and accustomed offerings" for the clergy. A different view is taken of this by several distinguished writers. Thus Bishop Patrick in his "Mensa Mystica," a publication contemporaneous with the last review, says: "We pray him therefore in our communion service to accept our OBLATIONS (meaning those of bread and wine) as well as our ALMS." In another work on the "Christian Sacrifice," he writes: "If you observe the time this bread and wine is ordered to be placed there, (upon the Lord's Table,) which is immediately after the alms of the people have been received for the poor, you will see that it is intended by our Church to be a thankful oblation to God for the fruits of the earth;" and Collier, the learned non-juring historian, writing a few years later, maintains that "the word oblations in this prayer means no more than the offerings of the unconsecrated bread and wine." Thus also Wheatly says: "That by that word 'oblations' are to be understood the elements of bread and wine, which the Priest is to offer solemnly to God as an acknowledgment of His sovereignty over His creatures, and that henceforth they might become properly and peculiarly His." (276.) These views contravene the true history of the rubric— the canonical usage of the word oblations, and the customs upon which the directions were originally based. As then, from the nature of the case, the rubric can not mean "bread and wine," so must it refer to "the other devotions of the people," just before collected "in a decent basin," and placed upon the Holy Table. If it be asked why was this wording retained in the American Review, when there were no "accustomed offerings to the curate" to which "the other devotions of the people" could be appropriated, we can only reply that, though there is no canon or rubric directing such offerings, the fact that, in the "offertory," no less than four of the twenty sentences have direct reference to such gifts to the minister, implies that such offerings or devotions of the people were still contemplated, and being provided for in the Offertory, must also be provided for in the prayer which follows. In many churches it is customary to read the Offertory every Sunday while collections are being taken up for the support of the Church, the minister, Church Institutions, etc., after which this prayer with the bracketed phrase is read, though there be no communion, and consequently no bread and wine to which the term "oblations" can refer. We purpose, God willing, to complete what we have to say on the rubrics of the communion office in the next number, in which we shall endeavor to present a summary of the changes made, and the advances in each service towards a purer faith and a simpler worship. ARTICLE III. The History of the Church of England in the Colonies and Foreign Dependencies of the British Empire. By the Rev. JAMES S. M. ANDERSON, M.A., Chaplain in ordinary to the Queen, etc., etc. London. 3 vols. 8vo. 1845–55. As the writer of the above-named work remarks, it is impossible to gain from ordinary histories an adequate knowledge of the religious and missionary spirit which animated many faith ful members of the Church in the settlement of the colonies. Hence it is that for a number of years he has been engaged in the laborious task of searching out from original authorities all that is adapted to show the extent to which a genuine and enlightened Christian spirit has from the first prevailed in the colonial enterprises of the English people. This is an extensive subject. Our readers remember the eloquent words of our own Webster, in which he describes England as "a power to which Rome in the height of her glory was not to be compared -a power which has dotted over the whole surface of the globe with her possessions and military posts; whose morning drumbeat, following the sun and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain of its martial airs." In this article we propose to present in rapid review some of the facts connected with the colonization of our own continent, which go to show that there was in the planning and planting of the American colonies much more of the religious element than has been usually supposed, and that this is true of those at the South as well as those of the North. Dr. Hawks makes a remark to this effect in his valuable History of the Church in Virginia, and furnishes important proof of it. The work before us enlarges this proof as it regards Virginia, and adds testimony to the same spirit over the whole range of the colonial history of Great Britain. It is interesting and instructive to find to what a degree the hearts of the faithful in earlier times were engaged in thoughts and endeavors for extending the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Under the wise arrangements of divine Providence, trade, enterprise, and curiosity, as well as the lust for conquest and new possessions, have generally been employed to prepare the way for the advancement of true religion. God overrules the pride and passions of men to His own high and gracious purposes. The well-known wealth of far eastern commerce was the prize which long occupied the thoughts of western merchants and statesmen. The hope of reaching India by a new and shorter route led to the discovery of America. The English, finding that part of the continent which they explored afforded little food for commerce, were the more anxious to reach the East. For this purpose, Sir Hugh Willoughby was dispatched with a fleet in hope of making their way by some practicable passage north of Europe. Among the directions given to that expedition were such as these: "That no blasphemy of God or detestable swearing be used in any ship, nor communication of ribaldry, filthy tales, or ungodly talk be suffered; neither dicing, carding, nor other devilish games to be frequented, whereby ensueth not only poverty to the players, but also strife, variance, brawling, fighting, and, oftentimes, murder, to the utter destruction of the parties and provoking of God's most just wrath and sword of vengeance. Also that morning and evening prayer be said daily by the minister in the admiral, and the merchant or some other person learned, in the other ships; and the Bible or paraphrases be read devoutly and Christianly." This was very shortly before Edward the Sixth's death, and the care to provide the expedition with the ordinances of religion, and that all things should be done in a Christian manner, well became the reign under which our Church received its thoroughly Protestant and scriptural organization. The day when Willoughby sailed down the Thames was one of joy and expectation to great numbers of Londoners, who thronged the shores to take a last view of the ships. As they passed Greenwich, where the court then was, the courtiers came forth to unite with the common people to behold the scene; but the young Edward was not in their midst. At that very time he was languishing under the sickness which soon terminated his life and reign. And as for those adventurous voyagers, how sad was the fate of most of them! In a few months two of the ships were compelled by storms to put in a haven of Russian Lapland, called Arzina, and there they perished of cold and want: "Froze into statues, to the cordage glued One of the vessels escaped to the coast near Archangel, and there the crew were hospitably entertained. The commander was carried to Moscow, to the presence of the Russian Emperor, to whom he delivered letters from Edward, asking for a kind reception of his subjects, and that trade might be opened be tween the two people. The year after, they returned with a favorable answer, and thus began the commercial intercourse between the two nations. What a mighty enlargement and development has there been of both during the last three hundred years, and how sad that their vast resources should now be spent in endeavors to destroy each other! May God who has interposed to give peace, overrule the events which have occurred for good. To Sir Humphrey Gilbert, a half-brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, was given the first charter for holding and colonizing any new lands he might discover, with the condition of subjection to the English crown and conformity to the English Church. As Anderson remarks, though the form in which this is expressed reflects the prevailing despotic rule of the age, yet it also witnesses that those who framed it were not forgetful of the value of the inheritance of the Gospel and of the obligations consequent upon it. Two expeditions to Newfoundland which were made under this charter ended disastrously. In the last Gilbert perished. Robertson mentions "the dissensions among the officers, the licentious and ungovernable spirit of the crew," as among the causes of failure. There seems to have been no care to provide for a religious influence among the crews as under Willoughby ; but we read of "Morris dancers and Maylike conceits to delight the savage creatures" whom they expected to meet. An old writer, who was also the commander of one of the vessels in the latter of these voyages, has left an account of it; and in reviewing the events he gives us to understand that he at least had some idea of what "ought to be the chief intent of such as shall make an attempt that way, or else what is builded upon other foundation shall never have happy success nor continuance." He adds: "Although we can not precisely judge (which only belongeth to God) what have been the humors of men stirred up to great attempts of discovering and planting in those remote countries; yet the events do show that either God's cause hath not been chiefly preferred by them, or else God hath not permitted so abundant grace as the light of His word to be yet revealed unto those infidels." He urges these as the proper motives for such undertakings: "the honor of God, compassion for poor VOL. III.-31 |