Ecclesiastical Report. Church Missionary Society.-The following extracts from the report of Mr. Isenberg show the high estimation in which the Prayer-book is held by the Indians of North America. Jan. 5, 1840.-" At the evening service, except on particular occasions, it is my usual practice to take a portion of the Liturgy, and have it translated and explained for the benefit of such as do not understand English. This course is requisite, since the prayers are always read in English; and I have no part of the service translated into Indian by my interpreter, except the lessons and the sermon. Two-thirds of the congregation consist of those who have been in the school who do not understand English; but as the Indians have a great respect for the Liturgy of our Church, all take a deep interest in hearing it explained. This evening I had to go over the second and third collects of the Evening Prayer, with the prayers for the Queen. The countenances of the Indians always brighten at the mention of their great mother, Queen Victoria; and were she present in our church, she would hear, to the prayer put up on her behalf, as hearty a response from her red children as ever she heard in the Chapel Royal at St. James's." Jan. 21.—“ After my lecture was over, one of the hunters said he wished to speak to me, for the purpose of asking my advice on a certain point. It appears that when the Christian Indians are out on a hunting excursion, they usually spend the Lord's day together, and abstain entirely from the chase. This person, being able to read, was in the habit of reading the Church service to the others who assembled; and after singing, they all talked over what they could remember of the word of God taught them either in church or in school. He wished to know whether I thought the course they adopted was the best way of spending the Lord's day. I told him that, under their circumstances, it was decidedly the best method they could adopt; and that if employed in humble dependence upon God for the assistance of His Holy Spirit, He would make it a blessing to their souls. I added a few words of advice, and exhorted them to persevere, and pray that God would accept their worship, and bless to them the use of our scriptural Liturgy.” Mr. Smithurst states in another place-"I may safely venture to say, that few English congregations join in our beautiful Liturgy with more apparent fervour and devotion than my Indian congregation. The singing is delightful. I have twenty of the best singers out of the school, who regularly practise the tunes with me: they sit upon two benches in front of the reading-desk, and lead the congregation with admirable precision. Whenever heathen Indians are present, nothing seems to attract their attention so much as the singing." In the island of Trinidad, the Bishop has lately confirmed two hundred and eighty-one persons. There is at present in connection with the Church of England one church, the Holy Trinity, in Port of Spain, opened for divine service in 1823; also fourteen temporary places of worship. There are two churches nearly ready for consecration, viz., one in Coura, and one in Chaguanas. Two churches are also in immediate contemplation-one at San Fernando, the other at Tacarigua. Again, both in Upper and Lower Canada the church of our fathers and of our affections is "lengthening her cords and strengthening her stakes." It will be remembered, that about two years ago the large and elegant church at Toronto was destroyed by fire. A correspondent writes us, "that the new cathedral, which was speedily erected in its place by private subscription, is probably the handsomest church in America. The interior is elegant, but grave and chaste, and extremely simple. The pews are all of black walnut, which gives a suitable sober effect to the interior. Although it will contain 2000 people, it is not large enough for the congregation." We observe that steps are taking for the erection of another, it being stated that there are yet 4000 church people in that city alone, for whom it is necessary to provide accommodation.-In Lower Canada, we hear that there are between twenty and thirty churches in progress. In both provinces, as in our own, there is a lamentable want of clergy to seek out and supply the spiritual wants of the members of the Church, and of thousands for whose souls "no man careth." The following extract from an account of the Bishop of Toronto's progress in Upper Canada, gives one of the many surprising changes which emigration has made in that flourishing colony:-"After spending the night at the abode of the Rev. W. McMurray, his lordship proceeded on the following day to Guelph, passing through a fertile country, in a great portion of which the communication is much facilitated by excellent roads. Guelph, now the capital of the newly-formed district of Wellington, is prettily situated on a gentle eminence skirted by the river Speed; and the rapidity with which it has reached its present size and neatness can only be understood by those who are conversant with the customs of a new country. At our first visit to this spot, about thirteen years ago, an area had just been cleared in the forest for the projected town, and a single 'shanty' stood amongst the still smoking ashes of the clearing. Within two years many respectable families emigrated to the village and neighbourhood. At the present moment it contains a population probably of six hundred souls, with a court-house, a handsome and commodious church, several other places for religious worship, and many very neat and substantial private dwellings. The church was erected, in a great degree, by the aid of contributions from the mother country, obtained chiefly by the exertions of the Rev. A. Palmer, the rector of the parish, assisted by a grant of one hundred pounds from the Canada Company. The assistance from the mother country obtained through the instrumentality of Mr. Palmer, not only sufficed to complete the church, but enabled him to build contiguous to it a very excellent school-house, calculated to contain nearly one hundred scholars, and having apartments also for the accommodation of the master and a small family." We now turn homewards, and shall speak first of the metropolis. Turnham Green, Chiswick, Middlesex.-On the 6th of January a meeting was held in the National school-room, Turnham Green, the Rev. T. F. Bowerbank, vicar, in the chair, for the purpose of taking into consideration the expediency and best method of erecting an additional church in that populous part of the parish. Subscription was entered into, which amounted to nearly 1,2001. Church of England Commercial Schools.-On Monday, the 25th ult., a school, in connexion with the Metropolitan Commercial Institution, was opened at Islington by the Bishop of London. It is called the East Islington Commercial School, and is designed for the more immediate benefit of the district parish of St. Paul and of the chapelry of St. Stephen, under the ministerial charge of the Rev. J. Sandys and the Rev. T. B. Hill respectively. The bishop, as patron, took the chair, supported by the vicar of the parish, the head master of the proprietary school, the clergy of the districts, the head master and the trustees of the new school, together with the deputation from the committee of the central institution. The bishop gave a statement of the objects and designs of the middle schools, and urged the positive necessity for their general establishment throughout his diocese and the kingdom at large, and expressed the pleasure he felt in observing the cycle of appliances for Christian instruction, in con formity with the principles of the Established Church, so happily completed at Islington. The Ecclesiastical Commission.—A sum exceeding 30,000l. appears, by a return made to the House of Commons, upon the motion of Sir R. H. Inglis, to have been received by the treasurer of Queen Ann's Bounty, as the proceeds of cathedral preferments, suspended by virtue of certain temporary acts since 1835. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England, however, had no control over this sum until the passing of the Act of last session, under the provision of which it has recently been paid to their account at the Bank of England. Before the receipt of this money the Commissioners had commenced the new and arduous duties imposed upon them by the Act, and they are diligently engaged in determining upon such an application of the revenues which will from time to time be at their disposal, as shall be most conducive to the interests of the Established Church. The Rev. N. Jones, incumbent minister of St. Mark's, Whitechapel, has received from her Majesty Adelaide, the Queen Dowager, the sum of twenty-five pounds as a donation towards the building of a Sunday and infant school in that poor and populous district. Did space allow we could give an equally encouraging account of proceedings in the provinces. Churches are being built, and money subscribed for church purposes, in every direction. Our large extracts from missionary reports will, however, prevent our particularizing; one subject we must briefly touch on-it is that of the Jesuits in Ireland. A paragraph, copied from a provincial paper, appeared in a recent number of the Times, to the effect that Government had determined on taking means to ascertain the number of Jesuits located throughout Ireland. The following is a copy of the circular which has been addressed to the several clerks of the peace in reference to this subject: "Dublin Castle, Dec. 31, 1840. "Sir, I am commanded by the Lord-Lieutenant to desire that you will inform me, as early as possible, whether any and what notices were lodged with you since the 1st of January, 1840, by Jesuits or members of the religious societies of the Church of Rome, pursuant to the Act 10 “I am, Sir, your obedient servant, George IV., cap. 7. "MORPETH. "To the Clerk of the Peace of the county of.” It is believed that the whole proceeding will prove a nullity so far as the intentions of the executive are concerned; for although bound, by the provisions of the Act of 1829, to register their names and numbers on the books of the clerks of the peace, there has been, it is said, no single instance in which this mysterious society thought fit to comply with the intentions of the Legislature. FEASTS AND FASTS IN MARCH. 1. St. David. 2. St. Chad. 3. Ember Week. 7. St. Perpetua. 12. 25. Annunciation. ST. DAVID was the son of Xantus, Prince of Ceretica, now Cardiganshire. life, but subsequently, emerging from his retirement, he removed to Menevia, since called St. David's, where he founded twelve convents, the members of which were compelled to maintain themselves by agricultural labour, distributing the surplus profits of their exertions among the neighbouring poor. St. David terminated a religious and useful life in the year 642, at the very advanced age of one hundred and forty-six, leaving behind him so distinguished a name, that he has ever since been regarded as the tutelar saint of the Welsh, who, in honour of him, wear leaks in their hats, and have an annual commemoration-dinner on this day. This custom of the Welsh wearing leaks in their hats on St. David's Day, is supposed to have arisen from the following circumstance :-In the year 640, the ancient Britons, under King Cadwallader, gained a complete victory over the Saxons, to which St. David is said to have eminently contributed, by rendering the Britons known to each other, in consequence of an order by him issued that they should wear leaks in their caps. The Saxons, from the want of such distinguishing mark, dealt their fury indiscriminately amongst friends and foes. Hence the custom referred to, which is continued to the present day.* St. Chad was a Northumbrian, of Saxon parents, and was instrumental in converting the Mercians to the Christian faith. He for some time led the life of a hermit, in a cell at Lichfield, in Staffordshire, on the spot where now stands the church distinguished by his name; but he afterwards officiated as Archbishop of York for a short period, and was at last created Bishop of Lichfield, in which office he died, on March 2nd, 672. The concourse of devotees that thronged to visit his shrine was the first cause of the increase and flourishing condition of the city of Lichfield. The word Ember, as here used, is derived from the Saxon word imbres (synonymous with the English embers or ashes, which were sprinkled on the heads of the people at these seasons). On Ember-days, nothing was permitted to be eaten until the evening; and then only cakes baked under the embers or ashes, hence called panem subcinerinium, or ember-bread. In the third century, Pope Calixtus directed their observance in the Christian Church, for the purpose of imploring the blessings of the Almighty on the produce of the earth. He appointed four times in each year, answering to the four seasons, for exercising these acts of devotion. The two first happen on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays following Quadragesima Sunday and Whit-Sunday, and are variable, like those festivals. The two latter, which depend on the fixed festivals of Holy Cross and St. Lucia, may also vary a week, as they take place on the Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays after those feasts. Another object for the religious observance of these days was, that they might serve as preparatives for ministers about to be ordained, it being strictly ordered, by the thirty-first canon of the Church of England, "that deacons and Brady's "Clavis Calendaria," vol. i. ministers be ordained, or made, only on the Sundays immediately following these Ember Feasts, or days of preparation;" an injunction, however, to which but little attention is now paid. St. Perpetua was a married lady, of high birth, who suffered martyrdom in the fifth general persecution of the Christians, under the Emperor Severus, for refusing to abjure the Christian faith, A. D. 205. St. Gregory was born at Rome, of patrician family, where he became præfect of the city, and held other civil dignities; but being attached to a religious life, he retired to the monastery of St. Andrew, where he remained until Pope Pelagius the Second induced him to become his secretary. At the death of Pelagius, about the year 590, he was elected Pope in his stead; and he then deputed St. Augustin and forty other missionaries to convert the Britons to the Christian faith, whence he was called, by St. Bede, the Apostle of England. After having filled the papal chair for about fourteen years, he died, sincerely lamented by all the religious and learned of his time. His works were printed at Rome in 1588, and are still held in high estimation. Not much is known, with certainty, of the life and actions of St. Patrick. The Irish (of whom he is esteemed the patron and tutelar saint, as well as the archbishop, apostle, and father of the Hibernian Church) assert that he was a Genoese friar, who travelled on foot through Italy, France, England, and Scotland, and, embarking at Port Patrick, so called from that event, landed at Donaghadee, in Ireland. But he is more generally supposed to have been born at Kirkpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 373. It appears tolerably certain, however, that at an early age he passed over to the continent, where he studied under St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, who ordained him deacon, and afterwards under St. German, Bishop of Arles, from whom he received priest's orders; shortly after which Pope Celestine entrusted him with a mission to convert the Irish, for the purpose of executing which St. Patrick landed at Wicklow, in Ireland, A. D. 440, whence he proceeded to Dublin and Ulster, at each of which places he founded a church. About the year 472, he founded the archbishopric of Armagh, and died at Ulster, March 17th, 493, aged one hundred and twenty. The return of this day is celebrated by the Irish by all sorts of festivities and rejoicing. All classes of Hibernians wear the shamrock in their hats, of which practice no satisfactory account can be afforded, except that the shamrock has been the national badge of the Irish from time immemorial. The following, however, is the story which has obtained currency and credence :-St. Patrick, finding much difficulty in explaining what was meant by the Trinity, was glad to have recourse to some visible image, and therefore fixed on the shamrock, or trefoil, as representing the divisibility of the divinity into three distinct parts, uniting in one stem or original. Innumerable are the miracles attributed to this favourite saint. Among the rest, he is said to have been seen swimming across the Shannon with his head under his arm; and the tradition that |