Respecting the question under consideration, the provincial synods that were convened in London, A.D. 1257, 1273, 1277, and 1283, are important.

In 1257, Archbishop Boniface issued his mandate (Hody on Councils, part iii., 109; Wilk. Conc. 723; Wake's State of the Church, 204) to the prelates of the province of Canterbury to treat of the common affairs of the Church of England, commanding them to cite the deans and priors of their cathedral churches, the abbots and other independent priors, and the archdeacons, each of them bringing letters procurational from their several congregations and subject clergy, for the ratification of those things which, by the help of God, should be treated of in common to the honour of God and the Church.

In 1273, presbyters, chosen by their bishops, sat in the provincial Synod of Canterbury. In that year, Archbishop Robert Kelwarby issued a writ to the Bishop of London, directing him to summon a provincial synod to meet at the New Temple. (2 Wilk. Conc. 26.)

The mandate commanding the Bishop of London to convene the suffragan bishops to this synod, states,-"You are to direct, on our part, each of the suffragan bishops of our church to call and bring with him, to the aforesaid synod, three or four of the greater, more discreet, and prudent persons of his church and diocese, that by the assistance of their common counsel such important affairs of the Church of God, by His aiding mercy, may be brought to a happy conclusion."

In 1277, Archbishop Kelwarby convened another provincial convocation; but the mandate essentially differed from that which he had issued in 1273. Instead of directing the presbyters to be chosen by the bishops, he desired that they should be elected by the diocesan clergy, and accordingly the clergyproctors were specially summoned.

The bishops were ordered to meet in London, together with some of the greater persons of their chapters, the archdeacons of the several archdeaconries, and the proctors of all the clergy of each diocese, in order to treat with the archbishop more effectually on the aforesaid and on other business.

In 1283, a provincial synod was convened by Archbishop Peckham (2 Wilk. Conc. 93; State of the Church, 222) to meet at the New Temple, London, a privileged and exempt place (not in the King's Court), within three weeks after Easter, 1283, when no Parliament was sitting. (Kennett on Synods, 136.)

They were called to treat and agree upon such things as the whole clergy should deem profitable for the honour of the Church, the satisfaction of the King, and the peace of the kingdom.

In the mandate sent by the Archbishop to the Bishop of

London, the synod was to be composed of the bishops of the province, abbots, priors, deans of cathedrals and collegiate churches, archdeacons, two proctors for each diocese, and one for each chapter.

Such were some of the gradual steps by which the inferior clergy came to be represented by proctors in provincial synods, and this precedent was subsequently applied to parliamentary

assemblies.

In the reign of Elizabeth various sets of Canons were framed by Convocation. Some of these, however, never received the royal assent, so as to be binding at the present day; and those which obtained it are, generally speaking, less important and less frequently cited than those of the reign of King James. These were passed in the Convocation of Canterbury, in 1603, and were afterwards received by that of York. They were formally sanctioned by James I., and have, therefore, a legal validity. It has, indeed, been solemnly decided that they do not bind the laity, inasmuch as the laity are not represented in Convocation (Middleton v. Crofts; Strange's Reports, 1056), but they bind the clergy, as has been admitted frequently, even by the temporal courts. Yet their validity is only of a qualified kind; for, even in ecclesiastical matters, they are of no force as against an Act of Parliament, or if contrary to the Common Law of England. (Pender v. Barr, 4 Ell. and Black., 105.)

It is by these Canons of 1603 that the internal discipline of the Church is now mainly regulated, and with this remark our space compels us to conclude the subject.

POETRY.

"WE ALL DO FADE AS A LEAF.”—(Is. lxiv. 6.)

(From the German.)

Sad Autumn's moan returneth;

My pensive muse, too, mourneth
In sympathetic tone;

Sweet Summer's bloom decayeth;

In this world nothing stayeth;

Man, with the rest, is quickly gone.

By constant change of seasons
God's wisdom with us reasons,
And points to lasting rest;
His voice on all sides preaches,
This lesson sweetly teaches:

Whate'er He does is right and best.

The rose, in meek submission,
Yields to her life's condition,
Existence brief though sweet;
The apple, for our uses,
Its hold spontaneous looses,

And gently falls before our feet.

O man! God's favour'd creature,
Wilt thou, beyond all nature,
Resist thy Maker's will,-
His will, who sets before thee
Eternal life and glory,

Joys which immortal spirits fill.
If He'send grief or losses,
Ill-health, pain, worldly crosses,
His rod is love in truth;
Be still, endure with meekness,
His strength supports our weakness ;
Be still, whate'er He doth.

What if, for loss of heaven,
For gain, the world were given !
Help us, Thou Son of God,
Ev'n here to heaven belonging,
To look with earnest longing
To Thee, the only Good!

"SO HE GIVETH HIS BELOVED SLEEP."-(P3. cxxvii. 2.)
(From the German.)

O what an autumn day! so still the air;

One scarce dares breathe or make the faintest sound;
And all the while, unshaken, here and there,

The ripest fruit keeps dropping to the ground.
Wise Nature thus would have us understand

How Christians one by one receive their call:
No rude wind tears them off, no ruder hand,
The Sun, which ripens, makes them gently fall.

"THE CRUCIFIED SAVIOUR."

Long with his fancied virtues satisfied,
Man casts no look upon "the Crucified."
No stir within provokes one anxious cry,

No thought of guilt calls out one deep-drawn sigh.
"A sinner,-yes, but such are all around,
No worse than others surely I am found.
A sinner, wandering-others wander too;
What more than others need I care to do ?"
-Yet, sick with others, would the common ill
Unneeded make the wise physician's skill?

E. M.

E. M.

Are ten content while leprous, one distressed?
Will many troubled therefore be at rest?
Will hundreds whelmed beneath the yawning deep,
Without one cry of anguish sink to sleep?
What consolation then to know, that I,
If die I must, shall but with others die?
What joy, if with the father, brother, friend,
I take such course as must in ruin end?
Oh, wiser sure to seek the narrow way—
Though few are found to enter it, all may ;
Oh, wiser far, where God invites to go,
And, taught by Him, His real joy to know:
To turn away no longer from the thought
Of what I care to be, and what I ought:
The word of Life, which falls upon my car,
As God's own voice, within my breast to hear.
What, if it wake within me anxious dread:
What, if at once my former peace have fled:
What, if my soul alarmed and tempest-tossed,
Has but one cry to utter now-“Lost, lost;
Lost, wandering; "—but hearken, o'er the wave
Comes there the voice of One, who wills to save.
"Heard before uttered was thy bitter cry,
Seen from before all time thine agony;

Thy sins, thy sorrows brought me from my home;
To seek and save thee, lost one, am I come.
I died, I live for thee; for thee forth flowed
Freely the sin-atoning stream, my blood:
For thee my prayer is ever heard on high,
Nor shall it now for thee be death to die.
Banish all fear, all sorrow from thy heart,
Bid carking care, bid anxious fear depart:
Saved by my grace, thy heavenward-journeying

feet

From Heaven's wide opened portals joy shall meet :
Joy, for I come: I come within thy breast
To dwell a willing, if a welcome guest.

Joy, that shall be thy strength: that no decay
By time shall know, or ever pass away.
Joy in my presence now, in sin forgiven,
Joy with thy Lord eternally in Heaven.'

Ω.

Poems. By the Rev. E. S. Wilshire. London: Hatchard & Co. 1866. Mr. Wilshire, the author of these Poems, is a missionary stationed at Somerset East, at the Cape. His congregation being poor, and his church not nearly large enough to accommodate them all, he has published this little volume of original poetry, in the hope that the profits arising from its sale, or the kind interest of those into whose hands it may fall, will contribute to provide him with sufficient means adequately to

enlarge the edifice. Although we cannot speak of all these compositions in very glowing terms, we gladly bring the publication before the notice of our readers, trusting that a minister who has laboured so effectually amongst his flock, may at least have the satisfaction of no longer seeing his work crippled for want of church accommodation, which he himself is unable to provide. With this object in view, we make the following short extract from what appears to us to be one of the most beautiful of these poems:

"FAREWELL.

"HEAVEN! underneath whose gleaming fires vigils alone I keep, And those whose cold unpassioned rays trail o'er the surging deep; Your orbs I've watched in varied moods, thoughtful, or sad, or light, But never yet with poignant grief, as this drear parting night. "But yesterday, and home, and friends, dear as my life were mine, And gladdening daily walks and haunts, affection's tones divine."

"But now, farewell my fatherland, farewell beloved home,
With willing though too wavering heart, across the world I roam;
Christ's gracious Gospel on my lips, a fire within my breast,
Until that blessed tale be told, ne'er may my spirit rest.

"Such drew not,-but an inward voice would gently lead me on,
Whispering in each religious hour of Christ's sweet favour won;
Or if awhile this voice was hushed,-my world I loved too well,
Soon sorrow, or some fleshly cross, chased earth's delusive spell.
"Thro' many a scene, thro' many a year, that hope grew in my heart
With longings, like God's earlier saints, from all for Christ to part;
Life to my pondering fancy seemed travail and sore unrest,
Where might one find untroubled peace, save in His favour blest ?"

THE PROPHECY OF NOAH.

THE first of what may be termed the historical prophecies of Scripture is the prediction which the patriarch Noah uttered respecting his three sons after the Flood; which reads in the Authorised Version as follows:-"Noah said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant." (Genesis ix. 24-27.)

A very slight consideration of this prophecy warrants our belief that there is an omission in the text. Else, how are we