PURITAN REORDINATIONS.-Some curious facts have lately been brought into notice, touching the old Congregational practice of "denying the validity of the Anglican orders," and thus furnishing a fresh argument of the fundamental unanimity of Puritanism and Popery. The Church Journal having stated that Congregationalism started with ordaining afresh clergyman of the Church of England," a correspondent, signing himself "a Presbyter of Michigan," asked the Editors to "give the authorities and proofs for such statement." The call was answered thus:

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The following ministers-leading men among the New England Congregationalists, at the foundation of their sect in the country.-were all previously ordained by Bishops in England. and were all reördained by laymen, or laymen acting with Congregationalist ministers, or Congregationalist ministers acting for and at the request of laymen :-Francis Higginson, and Mr. Skelton were reördained at Salem. July 20, 1629, Mr. Skelton laying hands on Mr. Higginson, "with three or four more of the gravest members of the Church ;" and this just after Mr. Higginson, with the same three or four of the gravest members, had done the same for Mr. Skelton. (Felt's Annals of Salem, p. 28.) Also, on Friday, August 27, 1630, Mr. Wilson, who had been ordained by a Bishop, and Mr. Nowell (who had not), were "ordained" in Boston. by the "brethren," Mr. Winthrop being one of the ordainers. (Neal's New England, I. 133.) Also, Thomas Hooker, Presbyter of the Church of England, reordained at Newtown, October 11, 1633. by the "brethren." (Allen's Biograph. Dictionary, p. 464.) Also, Master John Cotton, Presbyter of the Church of England, reördained the same year, 1633, in Boston, by Mr. Wilson and two lay "elders." (Hubbard's New England. p. 1-8) Other cases might be given; but these famous ones will suffice. Further information may be obtained in Dr. Coit's Puritanism, Letter VIII., and Notes 81, 83. The principle on which it was done, is thus stated in the Cambridge Platform (Chap. IX.. Section 7): "He that is clearly loosed from his office relation unto that Church whereof he was a minister, cannot be looked at as an officer, nor perform any act of office in any other Church, unless he be again orderly called unto office; which, when it shall be, we know nothing to hinder, but imposition of hands also, in ordination, ought to be used towards him again." This would make a minister to be ordained anew by every parish to which he accepted a call!

THE CHURCH AT HOME.

SWORDS' POCKET ALMANAC still keeps up the regular succession, every year giving us a new link by lineal descent from the preceding, and the link for 1858 bearing the imprint of the new firm of Stanford & Delisser, 637 Broadway, New York. Moreover, it takes reasonably good care not to fall behind the age, and, as every Church institution should do, shares in the general spirit of progress. As a note worthy improvement in the issue for the current year, we have a full list of the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church in England, Ireland, Scotland, and the Colonies; together with the number of Clergy. Benefices, and Glebe Houses or Parsonages in each jurisdiction; prepared by a Dignitary of the Church," who is understood to be Archdeacon Sinclair, of London. The largest number of Clergy in any one Diocese is that of Norwich, 1,274; the next largest is that of Lincoln, 1,106; Exeter stands third in order, with 933; after which comes Oxford, with 831; then Winchester, with 808; Rochester, with 804; and so on till we get as low as 41, which is the number of Sodor and Man. The grand total of Bishops and Clergy numbered in the list is 20,022.-As regards our own branch of the Church, the most noticeable improvement is a complete alphabetical list of the Clergy, in addition to the lists of the several Dioceses in the usual order.

MANY CHURCHMEN in the Southern States, with several of the Bishops at their head, have been labouring for some time past to establish an institution to be called "The University of the South." Several meetings have been held on the subject, and all the points that enter into so great an enterprise seem to have been maturely considered; and the Church may justly augur well of the probable results, from the fact that such calm and prudent heads as the excel lent Bishops of Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina, have borne a leading share both in the deliberative and the executive parts of the undertaking. Cf course, one of the first and hardest points to settle was the choice of a suitable locality. At a late meeting of the Trustees, divers tempt ing proposals were laid before them; and at last, after several ballotings, they fixed upon a place called Sewanee as the site of the Institution. The principal advantages of the place, as set forth in the published report of their proceedings, are as follows:

The central point of this site lies about 5 miles Northeastwardly of the Montgomery Gap tunnel on the Chattanooga and Nashville Railroad, about 62 miles West of Chattanooga, and 12 miles East of Winchester. in Tennessee.

The summit is 850 feet above the surrounding country and 1938 feet above the sea.

Five thousand acres are offered by the Sewanee Coal Company, for the University, nearly all of which can be made available, affording a great variety of picturesque sites for single buildings, and extensive level areas, for groups, in the vicinity of good and accessible springs, and commanding beautiful views of the plains below, and of towns and mountains in the distance.

The soil, although sandy and light, rests upon clay, and produces good crops of corn and vegetables. The surrounding country is well improved, and very productive of corn, grain, &c.

The timber is large and abundant; of every variety for building purposes (except pine), which could be sawed on the spot. Pine lumber of all dimensions, and of the best quality, can be obtained on the mountain from the Sewanee Coal Company, at from $12 to $15 per thousand, delivered at any point on their Railroad.

Many are the points where building stone can be obtained. An excellent quarry of durable grey sandstone could be opened, at moderate expense, imme diately alongside of the Sewanee Company's Railroad, about a mile distant from the summit. About 2 to 4 miles from the summit, and also immediately on the side of the Railroad, several quarries of grey, blue, dovecolored, and brown limestone, in beds of from 2 to 4 feet thick, are now in a condition to be worked in the most economical manner. The Sewanee Company having engaged to transport a certain quantity, not less than 20.000 tons of building material, free of cost, the only expense would be in quarrying and hauling from the Railroad to the place of building, which may be put down at $14 per cubic yard.

There are many springs upon the tract conveniently distributed, and likely to furnish a full supply of water.

Bricks of good quality can be made on the summit, and delivered at $6 per thousand, there being brick clay convenient.

Coal of good quality can be obtained from the Sewanee Company, delivered at any point on the line of their Railroad, at $4 per ton. The average haul from the Railroad cannot exceed 20 cents per ton.

A CORRESPONDENT of the Church Journal reports the decease of the Rev. Hannibal Pratt, missionary at Lagrange, Texas. He died on the 11th of December, having just entered on his 31st year. He was born at Tinmouth, Vermont, where the first 17 years of his life were passed. In November, 1841, he went to Metagorda, where his uncle, Caleb S. Ives, then had a school and a church. He continued with him, as scholar and as assistant, till 1848, in September of which year he entered the Freshman Class of Trinity College. At the beginning of his Senior year, 1851, he was compelled by ill health to lay down his books, and return to Texas. He was ordained Deacon by Bishop Freeman in 1854, at St. Paul's College, of which he was oue year Rector,

and Priest the following year. He was one of those rare men who are more likely to do a kind and noble action in circumstances where the world can never hear it. His disease was hastened by over-work and care. He insisted that his mother and sisters should be with him if they desired it, nobly sacrificing his own advancement to their comfort. He told his friend, on his deathbed, he had no care left but for them: " he had long been accustomed to rest in the Gospel which he preached, and it did not fail him in the hour of his need."

THE JOURNAL of the Illinois Convention has come forth with great promptness, and shows the hand of a workman in the manner it is got up. The parochial reports foot up as follows: Baptisms. 603; confirmations, 247; marriages 201; burials 297; communicants, 2,640; catechists and S. S. teachers, 239; catechumens, 1.838; total of contributions in the Diocese for Church purposes, $73.344. The Bishop's Address furnishes additional statisties, thus: Number of clergymen, 57; of organized parishes, 70; of candidates for orders, 4; of visitations, 52; of times of confirmation, 34; of sermons and addresses delivered, 137; of churches consecrated, 6; organized, 4; of ordinations, 2 priests and 2 deacons; of clergymen received, 19; transferred, 9.

The Journal is accompanied with a full edition of the Constitution and Canons adopted at the late Convention. In the Constitution we observe two points that seem worthy of special mention: one is, a provision that clergymen disabled by age or infirmity, and who were entitled to seats in Convention at the time of such disablement, shall retain their rights of membership; the other a provision that lay members "shall be communicants and stated worshippers in the parish they represent." In the Bishop's Address, we find the following significant passage, referring of course to the last General Convention:

The action of the House of Bishops on the "Memorial," I sustained by my vote, but more from a sense of obligation to allow a relief which others seemed to require and appreciate, than from any consciousness of that necessity in my own ministerial experience, or a clear conviction of the efficacy and safety of the mode suggested.

I earnestly hope, that in all our parishes, we shall seck no change, but preserve, as before, the services in the counexion which, whether originally intended or not, will be found, I am satisfied, more convenient than a division of them which requires several distinct hours of worship, and leading, in the end, to what I do not suppose it was the intention of the House of Bishops in any degree to sanction, the omission of either the Litany or the Ante-Communion in established Parish Churches.

On fresh missionary ground, and in certain cases of occasional worship, where the whole service cannot well be used, he thinks "the minister should constantly press, as far and fast as he can, towards the use of the whole; and in the infancy of his flock not present any part in a form so garbled as to require that it be unlearned, when the parish church is reared, and the obligation rests on him and them of the full services." In connection with this subject, the Bishop starts certain points which, though we are not quite prepared to assent to them, strike us as being well worth serious consideration. We will give the matter in his own well-chosen language :

When a missionary service is thus constituted, I can recommend nothing so appropriate as the Litany, performed, (as there is reason to think it always ought to be,) in the parts italicized, consentaneously by ministers and people, like the General Confession, and not responsively, as custom now requires.

It is the "Litany or General Supplication,"-not because it embraces within it so large a number of our common wants and dangers, but because, like the General Confession, it is to combine all in its utterance. The Minister should, therefore, audibly complete the sense of what he is uttering, especially, since

without that part at which he now suspends his voice, no supplication is made. There has been the enumeration of the mercies desired, but no prayer offered. The Minister, though his voice is hushed, must now silently repeat it. or he bas not prayed. But why should he be silent in that emphatic part? It is right that the people should restrain their voices even in a general supplication, for the distinct and solemn enunciation of the particulars, but no propriety requires that the Minister should do the same, in the very part which both the individual and collective intentions of the service make essential to sense and spirit.

The form in which the Litany is printed sanctions this manner of using it. There are responsive parts included in it, but they are always printed in the ordinary type, marked as responsive by the prefix of "Min." and "Answer," and by this evidently distinguished in forin from what immediately precedes. But when italics are used, it indicates, I believe, everywhere in the Prayer Book, the simultaneous repeating of those parts andibly by the Minister and the congregation. We adopt this now in the discretionary part of the Litany, although it is printed the same as the preceding, and we pass then into the correct manDer with scarce a consciousness of the change After the Lord's Prayer, a response is introduced. In like manner at the close, immediately preceding the prayer, "We humbly beseech Thee," and in the doxology, the type is altered, and the intimation given that it is responsive, thus discriminating it from the other portion, simultaneous in its form of utterance. In this same relation, the words "Let us pray" are important and siguificant, not as is sometimes interpreted, bidding to pray more earnestly, but as a return to “prayer,” where, as throughout the Liturgy, the people are silent, and answer at the close by "Amen."

In this expression of an opinion, long hed by me, of the proper manner of using the Litany, it is not my desire to introduce it into the Parishes of the Diocese. It is better that uniformity should be preserved throughout the Church, and change, however natural and impressive it may appear, rest upou the sanction of the Bishops collectively.

THE ANNIVERSARY of the Orphans' Home, New York, was lately held in Calvary church; the Rt. Rev. the Provisional Bishop and a large number of Clergy being present. The Report of the Directors was read by the Rev. Dr. Hobart; the main items of which were as follows:

The most important event of the year was the removal of the institution from Hammond street to a couple of bouses in 29th street, which had been rented for two years from the first of May last, and which secured advantages that they could not have enjoyed in the old quarters. There were no longer fears entertained as to the future success of the undertaking; for the Home had now an established place among the charitable institutions of the city, and in the confidence of the public. The Directors would not however have it understood that the past year had been one of signal and uninterrupted success, for besides such difficulties as must necessarily attach to such an institution, the present accommodations were inadequate, and the present means were too limited. During the year the number of applicants had averaged 5 per week, this number being more than double that of the preceding year. The number of boys in the Home was now 45, and the number of girls 32.-Total, 77-twenty more than the number supported at the last anniversary The number of children admitted during the year was 38, and the number of deaths which had occurred was six. Eight had been placed out, and five had been removed by their friends. The number of deaths was larger than that of any previous year, which fact was to be attributed more to the increased number of admissions than to any other

cause.

ORDINATIONS.-October 29th, in St. Mark's church, New Glasgow, Virginia, the Rev. R. W. Nowlin to the Priesthood.-In St. Louis, Missouri, date and church not given, Mr. C. F. Loop to the Deaconate.-November 8th, in St. Stephen's, Hamburgh, Michigan, the Rev. H. Banwell to the Priesthood. Also, November 18th, in Christ church, Arian, the Rev. E. McClure to the same. December 6th, in Trinity church, Carbondale, Penn., the Rev. Thomas Drumm to the Priesthood. Also, December 29th, in St. Paul's, Lock Haven,

the Rev. S. B. Dalrymple to the same.-December 20th, in St. Luke's, Brooklyn, New York, the Rev. J. L. Burrows and the Rev. F. W. Smith to the Priesthood; and Messrs. T. F. Cornell, James Thompson, M. E. Willing, aud Ferris Tripp to the Deaconate.-Same date, in Trinity, Geneva, Western New York, Messrs. Edward R. Welles and Jedediah Winslow to the Deaconate.Same date, in St. Mary's, Burlington, New Jersey, the Rev. Edwin B. Chase to the Priesthood.-Same date, in St. John's, Washington, D. C., Mr. Pyne and Mr. Morrison to the Deaconate.

CONSECRATIONS.-November 15th, St. John's church, Kewanee, Illinois.— November 22d, by the Rt. Rev. Henry U. Onderdonk, the burial-ground attached to the church of St. James the Less, Philadelphia.—December 9th, St. John's Free church, New Haven, Connecticut. Also, December 10th, the Mission Chapel of St. Paul's church, in the same city.-December 13th, Christ church, Delaware City, Delaware.- December 26th St. Mary's church, Northfield, Vermont.

THE CHURCH ABROAD.

One of the latest and most hopeful movements in the English Church comes in the shape of an organized and systematic opposition to the pew system, and in favour of free churches. In furtherance of the cause, a General Committee has been established, with the Hon. Colin Lindsay at its head, and the Rev. J. W. H. Molyneux for one of its Secretaries. The Committee have put forth a manifesto in which they hold the pew system responsible in a great measure for the present low state of religion in the cities and large towns, and mark out their plan of operation as follows:

1. To promote the general adoption of Scriptural principles in the arrangement of churches.

2. To urge upon the Metropolitan and Diocesan Church Building Societies, the duty of applying their funds to the erection and endowment of churches in which the private appropriation of seats shall not be permitted.

3. To induce individual Churchmen to subscribe to the erection of churches, conditionally on their being "free and open."

4. To assist (when desired) the incumbents and congregations of existing churches in the adoption of the Scriptural plan, by restoring them to the people and substituting (where necessary) for pew-rents the weekly Offertory. 5. To promote the formation of a fund in every diocese, to be called "The Church's Restoration Fund," in aid of this object.

6. To obtain, by petitions to Parliament or otherwise (1) the appointment of committees in both houses, for inquiring into the fatal results of the pew system upon the religion of the people; (2) an enactment prohibiting the assignment of any parochial district to a new church, until it has been secured in perpetuity as a parish (i. e.), a wholly free and unappropriated) church to the inhabitant of the parish; and (3) such further legislative remedies for the existing evil as Convocation may suggest.

This, together with divers other things, may be justly hailed as a sign that the spirit of reformation, which has long been moving in the Church, is working off, from year to year, more and more of its bad or questionable elements, and assuming a more practical turn. We shall watch the movement with very great interest; hoping that, as the American Church learnt the pew system from her English Mother, so she will have the grace and the opportunity to unlearn it from the same great teacher. To be sure, the advocates of free seats in England have some advantage over us, in that the pew system is all against the law of the land, and they have only an illegal custom to contend with. On the other hand, things are probably in a somewhat more limber and plastic