the crop for the approaching season was to be planted. But necessity is an imperious dictate, and submission was my duty. It was nevertheless a hard parting when your father pressed his babes to his bosom, and mine to his manly cheek, as he stepped into his canoe, and took command of his little fleet of stout and cheerful men, both able and willing to subdue the forest and plant the virgin soil.

"It was some time in the early spring that this parting scene took place on the banks of the Connecticut river. The bud was then bursting from its wintry fetters; the birds were commencing their wooing songs, and the wild herbage sprang up all around me. Among these I wandered, admired their beauty, and inhaled their sweets but all had no charms for me while your father was gone. I tried to banish my fears for his safety when I thought of his defenceless state, and the proximity of the ruthless savage; for there was then war between France and England, and no fort between us and Canada. I also endeavoured to seek refuge from my painful feelings in employment for myself and children; but our condition in the fort precluded the observance of regularity, and without that, little can be done. So much mingling of contending interests, especially among a crowd of little children, bade defiance to all efforts for order or peace. Days seemed weeks, and weeks seemed months; and scarcely did a sun rise without witnessing my wanderings on the banks of the flowing stream, where I had parted from your father and his blithe company of Cornish woodmen.

"It was in one of these walks, that, with my children by my side, I saw, as the day drew to its close, a

canoe

his men are well, and to obtain information of your health and safety, and to carry back with me a recruit of provisions for their comfort; but we have all slept upon the uncovered ground, and as yet have no place to shelter ourselves-much less you and your little ones-from the pelting of the storm; and will you venture with them into the woods before you are sure of a refuge?' I will go, and with all my children endure any storm, if you will give me but a safe and speedy conveyance to my husband. If there be no shelter, or fence, or fort, his faithful arm will guard me, and his trusty men will aid him; and their God, who is above all, ruleth all, and directeth all, will provide.'

"A much smaller degree of sagacity than our neighbour Spalding possessed, would have been sufficient to make him sensible that it was in vain to thwart a resolution so firmly taken; and the speedy removal once determined on, all the force of his ingenious and friendly mind was called into action to make things ready. Such goods as we needed least were secured in the fort; and such as the boats would carry, and we needed most, with ample provisions, were put on board; and the morning sun had scarcely risen, ere the indefatigable exertions of Spalding, and the anxious assiduity of my children, had made all things ready for the voyage. Spalding was a good canoe-man; and under the protection of the Almighty, in whom our trust was placed, the exertions of his strong arm, and the industrious aid of my elder sons, made our speed, though slow, yet unceasing; and, in time of war ascending a rapid stream in a frail Indian canoe, we reached before night the little opening among the towering trees, from whence the spot of your father's choice appeared to our longing eyes. There they are,' said the mingled voices of my children; there is our dear father, and yonder are his men; I hear his voice, and the sound of their axes,' For a moment all was hidden from our view, by the density of the intervening forest trees. This gave me time to utter what was labouring in my bosom, a prayer of faith and benediction. God of our ancestors, bless your father, and me your helpless mother, and you my loved children, now, even now, as we shall, in a few minutes, take possession of this our dwelling-place in the wild woods and though, like Jacob, we have nought but a stone for our pillow, and the canopy of heaven for a covering, may we all find God indeed

to be in this place; and may this place be to us a house of God and a gate of heaven!' What a moment was this to one who had left all for her husband and the future fortunes of her children! The wealth of India would have been meanly estimated in comparison of the endeared spot before me.

"With your leave, madam,' said pilot Spalding, '1 think it prudent that your husband come to us, and give orders where he will have his family landed.' Accordingly he made fast the canoe to the willows, and desired us to wait his return. Your father could get no direct answer from Spalding as to the nature of the cargo he had brought. 'Come and see,' was all he would say. 'Is all well?' said your father; have you brought us a good supply of food?' 'Come and see,' replied Spalding with animation, and in an instant they burst upon our view; and as your dear father stood on the margin of the high bank, he saw beneath his feet the frail bark in which were his wife and children. The emotion was almost too much for him. I saw this, and sprang forward, the children quickly following. He received us with a mixture of joy mingled with agony: Are you come to die here,' he exclaimed, before your time? We have no house to shelter you, and you will perish before we can get one erected.

Cheer up, cheer up, my faithful!' said I to your father; let the smiles and the ruddy faces of your children, and the health and cheerfulness of your wife, make you joyful. If you have no house, you have strength and hands to make one. The God we worship will bless us, and help us to obtain a shelter.

Cheer up, cheer up, my faithful!' "The sunshine of joy and hope began to beam from his countenance; the news was communicated throughout the company of workmen, and the woods rang with shouts at the arrival of the first white woman and the first family on the banks of the Connecticut river above Fort No. 4.. All assembled to see the strangers, and strove to do them acts of kindness. The trees were quickly felled and peeled, and the clean bark in large sheets was spread for a floor: other sheets, being fastened by thongs of twisted twigs to stakes driven in the ground, were raised for walls, or laid on cross pieces for a roof; and the cheerful fire soon made glad our little dwelling. The space of three hours was not consumed in effecting all this; and never were men more happy than those who contributed thus speedily and thus effectually to

supply our wants. Beds were brought from the canoe to this rustic pavilion, and on them we rested sweetly, fearless of danger, though the thick foliage was wet with dew, and the wild beasts howled all around us, trusting in the protecting hand of Providence, and the watchful fidelity of our faithful neighbours.

"The next day all hands were called to build a cabin, which served us for the coming winter, and in which, cheered by the rising prospects of the family, and the mutual affection of all around us, my enjoyments were more exquisite than at any subsequent period of my life.'

"Thus far the story from the lips of his venerable mother. It will serve to shew with what unsubdued, pure and patriotic spirits, New England was first overspread with inhabitants.

"The names of the children of Dudley Chase, and Alice his wife, are as follow:-Before moving to Cornish, N.H., Mercy, Louis, Abigail, Simeon, Salmon, Ithamar, Baruch. After coming to Cornish, Alice, Sarah, Corbett, Heber, Dudley, Rachel, Philander.

"Of these, Salmon was a barrister in Portland, Me., of whom the late Judge Dawes, of Boston, was heard to say he

never saw him enter the court but with feelings of respect.' Died in 1806. Ithamar was for many years member of the council of the state of New Hampshire. Died in Keene, N.H., in 1819. Baruch was solicitor for Hillsborough county, N.H., for many years, and president of Merrimack County Bank. Died March 4, 1841, at Hopkinton, N.H. Heber was a physician. Died in 1799, in Demerara, South America. Dudley was long a member and speaker of the legislature of Vermont, afterwards chief justice of that state, and senator in the congress of the United States, and of whom the writer has heard the late President of the United Statesthe lamented Gen. Harrison-say, that during the last war with England, while associated with him in congress, he had no friend on whose steady patriotism he could more confidently rely."

Philander, the youngest, is the present venerable bishop, the Western episcopal pioneer, who has set an example that may work its way, North and West, to the Arctic circle and Nootka Sound. Jubilee College was to open last January.

We take up this Charge for the sake of bringing before our readers, at the earliest moment, a suggestion contained in it, which has already been acted upon in the Archdeaconry of Surrey, and is likely to come under the consideration of the clergy in other ecclesiastical districts. The Archdeacon's proposal is as follows:

"I will venture to say a few words upon a subject which has lately occupied the particular attention of a large body of the clergy of one deanery within our limits. I allude to the meeting lately held in Southwark, to organise amongst us a Church Union Society.

"There is no more gratifying symptom amongst many of a widely different character, than the growing desire for unity amongst ourselves. By a far higher law than that of earthly combination, it is true with us that union is strength. For in it is the fruit, the earnest, and the evidence of the presence with us as a church of the blessed spirit of unity, of concord, and of power. In our sinful divisions has long doubtless lain one great secret of our weakness. When we have distinguished ourselves by party names, ranged ourselves under party banners, and broken up the unity of the spirit into something far too like the shivered atoms of sectarian division, we have shorn ourselves of the locks of the Nazarite, and our great strength has 'gone from us.' Yea, the Philistine ere now has been upon us, and we have been almost as other men.' Surely, it is of God's special goodness that we are yet where and what we are, when we might well, from our deservings, have been grinding blindly in the world's mill, or making sport for its insulting merriment. As the gracious gift, then, of Him who alone maketh men to be of one mind in an house,' would we acknowledge that craving after greater unity which has undoubtedly sprung up amongst us; and as a sign of its increase, there is matter for rejoicing in the plans for obtaining church

"Yet it may perhaps be more than doubtful, whether the details of any one of these have as yet been based sufficiently upon the comprehensive simplicity of church principles. You will bear with me, my reverend brethren, whilst I endeavour to state somewhat more fully where, as it appears to me, the real difficulty lies, and suggest for your calm consideration a plan for meeting it.

"All, then, of these church unions, and your own proposed society amongst the rest, have at once addressed themselves to the task of uniting into one body some of the various associations for religious purposes, in which late years bad been so prolific. This general attempt has sprung from the common perception of this truth, that these various instruments of Christian exertion have become occasions of division amongst churchmen. That as nothing unites men so much as acting together, so nothing separates them so surely as acting apart. That societies which sprung almost side by side from the bosom of the same church, which were fed at their spring head by the dews of the same offices of Christian hope and love, have, in their after course, diverged more and more widely from each other, and led asunder those squadrons of the common army which, with too earnest a zeal, bave followed their several windings. That by degrees men, who would by acting together have mutually improved each other, who would mutually have imparted and received the fervour of a passionate zeal, and the tempering discipline of an orderly obedience, have, by acting asunder, grown to believe that they were so unlike, that they could not act together, until they, upon whom the only name of Christ has been called, have patiently submitted to the deep indignity of being named men of this or of that society.

"Seeing, I say, this evident evil, the first attempt of the church unions" has been to combine together as many of the societies in which churchmen can unite, as they thought possible. But here they are met at once by the diffi

culty of selection. If they include this or that society, some of their own members will withdraw themselves at once; if they exclude them from their list, they virtually place them under ban, and wound and drive away those whose affections have been given to them. Thus they become themselves only a new, and, in some respects, a worse form of the evil they were designed to heal: they embitter division by the appearance, without the reality, of authoritative censure, and break up the church into cabals, instead of knitting it into one band. Nor does it seem possible, with such an organization, to avoid this evil; for even were all the proposed members of the union willing to receive all the now existing societies, yet how soon might the wants of the church, or the peculiar bias of particular minds, give rise to new associations, which in their turn would become occasions of new and increasing division.

"But, my reverend brethren, does not the machinery of the Church itself supply us with a means of escaping from this difficulty? To me, I confess, such a hope does not appear entirely visionary; and it is upon this point that I would ask for your consideration.

"These societies, then, are evidently organs of the Church. As such we support them; that through them we may aid in the work of Christ, carried on by the Church at home and abroad. The closer, therefore, and more intimate their union with it, the nearer they are to their true character; and the highest state possible would be one in which the Church itself, through its accredited organs, discharged these offices. But for this amongst us she is manifestly unapt; and hence have sprung these various bodies. She has developed them from herself, as the necessities of her situation called for them; and so far from speaking slight ingly or coldly of them, I openly declare my gratitude to God for putting it into his servants' hearts to devise and to support them. Great has been the blessing they have ministered, not directly only and in their especial work, but each one also in its incidental influence, in quickening holy feelings, and in providing meet vent for these quickened feelings in appropriate action; in stirring up our slumbering zeal, and teaching us to love better both our brethren and our blessed Master. For all this we heartily thank God; and we see also that a great work remains before these societies; specially it may be before the seven which you have proposed to join together. God forbid CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 44.

that we should weaken or disorder them. So far from it, I believe that the more we can bring church influence to bear upon them, and develop in them the quiet, earnest, orderly, united zeal, which is her especial temper, the more we shall promote their highest welfare.

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Now, in the present state of the clergy this may, I think, be done to a degree never perhaps possible before; and our regular annual gathering here may become the opportunity for bringing it about.

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My proposal would be this:-That we found A Church Fund' for this archdeaconry, of which the bishop of the diocese be requested to undertake the office of patron; the archdeacon be president; and the rural deans treasurers, each for his own districtThat every parochial minister be requested to collect for it in his own parish, in the way he judges best, either at the offertory, or by sermons, or by weekly subscriptions, no one interfering with his parochial arrangements; that the sums so raised be reported at the archdeacon's annual visitation; and that the total sum be divided into two portions, of which one be set apart for the home, and the other for the foreign, operations of the church; that each of these sums be voted by the clergy, the archdeacon in the chair, at the annual visitation, to such church societies, colonial bishops, or other church objects, and in such proportions as shall be determined by the voices of those present -the bishop having a veto upon all votes which shall not take effect until they have been submitted to and approved by him, and the archdeacon the initiative or duty of proposing a general scheme of distribution for the consideration of the body. This, at first, would naturally consist of those seven societies which you have already proposed to combine in your church union

I mean the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, the Society forthe Propagation of the Gospel, the National School Society, the Church Missionary Society, the Church Building Society, the Pastoral Aid Society, and the Curates' Fund Society. One further limitation would be necessary.

As so

cieties must be able to calculate upon the continuance of their resources from year to year, it would be needful for us to fix a certain proportion of our means, say one-half of our income, which we should vote regularly to the societies which seemed to us to be the most expedient channels for our exertions, whilst we might leave the other half as a floating income, to be voted

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for the increase of these grants, or for other special purposes, as the case might be.

"Such, then, in its first outline, is the scheme I would lay before you. Its advantages seem to me to be principally these:-It will bring out more simply the great objects in behalf of which we appeal to our people, and aid us in moving them to large and habitual Christian charity. It will accustom them to view the church as their almoner; it will tend to unite the clergy and to prevent division, by leading them to act together, and to clear away present causes of disunion through mutual explanation. In this it appears to me that it will differ widely from the projected church unions. For we shall need to fix no absolute character of churchmanship or unchurchmanship upon any society. We shall not profess to take in all church societies, but those which seem to us the most expedient for our purpose; we shall not, therefore, unchurch those which we omit; whilst we shall have the opportunity (which I, at least, have never found to fail) of temperately discussing any supposed grounds of difference which, if not mutually explained, may harden into mutual repugnance. Again; this scheme will interfere with no existing arrangements, but gradually supply the place of those of a more sectional character, if it succeeds; and, lastly, it will greatly increase our funds.

"It may not be amiss to explain, in a few words, the grounds for this expectation. None then, I believe, will deny that the whole sums now raised for these purposes, large as they seem, are really painfully small, when compared with the resources of our popu lation. What is the cause of this? Not, I believe, that the mass of small givers are merely selfish givers, and inaccessible to higher principles, but that they have been trained in a bad school in the guinea-subscription school; that they are accustomed to measure the answer they should give to every call by the current ordinary gift to this or that society; and so, rarely practising themselves in giving according to their own means or the needs of Christ's cause, they come unawares to stint their charity within the most meagre bounds. What can be so likely to aid them to break through this habit as the voice of the whole church calling on them, not for a fixed subscription to this or that society, in behalf of this or that particular object, with all its necessary qualifications, of questionable ma

chinery, present necessity, and doubt. ful issue, but for large gifts offered up in faith to Him who gave up all for them.

"Again: we should thus draw our supplies from a far wider surface than at present. Nothing, perhaps, short of a close examination would convince many of us of the vast number of parishes in this Christian land, which give nothing to the cause of Christ as a voluntary gift, but some most insignificant communion alms; and this will continue until the work is undertaken by the church territorially, and until the demand is made in the church's name by united consent of the clergy, and not in the name of this or that voluntary association.

"This conclusion is not the result of mere speculation. In America the experiment has been tried, and with an issue which is most instructive. In the year 1812, a missionary society was set up within the episcopal church of the United States. It was supported, as might be expected, by all the most zealous men of the community; Bishop Kemper, then a young man, devoted to it all his energies; it laboured under no reproach from any quarter; yet in the year 1835, after every effort had been made in its behalf, its annual income had crept slowly up to only about 6000l. per annum, and at that seemed to have reached its limit. In that year its constitution was remodelled; the church, as a church, undertook the work: every pastor was instructed to apply to his flock for their assistance; and in the first year of the new system the missionary income of the church rose at once from 6000l. to 12,000l.

Why need we doubt, my reverend brethren, that a like increase would with us attend the adoption of this course? For some reasons we might expect yet more; for their flocks are gathered congregations who must know something of the peculiar claims of their church upon them for support in such an undertaking, whilst in our territorial parishes there must be multitudes who are altogether ignorant of every bearing of the subject, until it is most distinctly pressed upon their notice.

"There would also be this advantage in the proposition I have laid before you it need not interfere with any existing societies; only let our pastors themselves lay before their flock the plan now opened to you, and they may still allow and carry forward at their best discretion the societies which are now gathering in the benefactions of