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authority and jurisdiction,-a matter which, when at all brought into question by the local authorities, or contending sects, the Bishop himself had no adequate means of deciding.

The magnitude of the East Indian diocese is, indeed, quite formidable; far exceeding all reasonable limits: still we cannot but acknowledge ourselves to have been greatly interested with the account of the Primary Visitation of this extensive circuit. We have been much pleased, not merely by the narrative of the journey through so extraordinary a country, but by observing the respect that seems to have been paid to the Bishop, and his perfect freedom from molestation, in all the places that he visited, for the first time, as a Protestant Christian prelate. All this is certainly extremely interesting, and we hope every succeeding Bishop may find less and less difficulty. The distance is, however, not only too great, but the hazards many; and though the clergy to be visited may be few, and the converts, comparatively, not numerous, yet it is impossible not to reflect, that the population, to every individual of whom, without any exception, the Bishop's care may be said to be, prospectively at least, directed, amounts to eighty millions! We do not say things could have been otherwise at that time;-we do not pretend to say, that they can even now be speedily put into such a state as we could wish; but it is impossible not to recollect, and with considerable anxiety, that we have, at this moment, a prelate there of high endowments, actuated, we verily believe, by precisely the same holy motives as Bishop Middleton; whose life and comfort, therefore, to say the least, ought to be the objects of public attention and regard. Yet, strange as it may seem, his diocese is extended so as to include New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. How an episcopal visitation in 40 S. lat. can be effected without neglect of ecclesiastical concerns in 28 N. lat. is not quite obvious. We can hardly believe that any Bishop would voluntarily incur a responsibility, so far beyond the powers of man to sustain with usefulness and credit.

We learn from the Memoir, that Bishop Middleton was the son of the Rev. Thomas Middleton, Rector of the parish of Kedleston, in Derbyshire, and that he began his career of life at that most admirable institution, Christ's Hospital, where, in virtue of his conduct, learning, and general merits, he obtained, from the Governors, the nomination to a scholarship at Pembroke Hall, in the university of Cambridge. The venerable biographer must, we are persuaded, have felt much delight in having to record of his friend, an act of gratitude and munificence, which reflects on him the greatest honour. No sooner had he arrivedat the highest post he could occupy as a minister of the Estab

lished Church, than he cast back his views to the comparatively humble beginning of his literary eminence, and nobly became a benefactor to the charity whence he had gratuitously derived such inestimable advantages. "I bless God," says he, in a letter to a friend, "that I have been able to do somewhat towards the repayment of so vast a debt."

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The first situation in which the Bishop officated as a minister of the Church, was, as Curate of the Church of Gainsborough, in Lincolnshire; whence he was removed, on becoming tutor to the sons of Dr. Pretyman, brother of the Bishop of Winchester, to Norwich, and thence to the Rectory of Tansor, conferred on him by the father of his pupils. On obtaining this preferment, he entered into the marriage state, his lady being the daughter of John Maddison, Esq. of Gainsborough, a lady now rendered an object of peculiar interest in the eyes of the public, as having been the companion of his labours in the East, his support and comfort at all times, but particularly in those of difficulty and trial. He afterwards received an appointment to the consolidated Rectory of Little Bytham, and in 1809, was collated by Bishop Tomline to a stall in the cathedral of Lincoln. He some time after resigned his Northamptonshire livings for the Vicarage of St. Pancras, in Middlesex, and the Rectory of Puttenham, in Hertfordshire, taking up his residence at the former place; and, in 1812, he became Archdeacon of Huntingdon.

It was in the year 1814 that Dr. Middleton was selected to fill the important office of Bishop in India, under a fresh clause in the Act for the renewal of the charter of the Company. On the first intimation of the intentions of Government, he "shrunk from the magnitude of the charge," as his biographer relates, but reflecting afterwards that he had declined it through, what he was pleased to term, "some unmanly considerations," he altered his opinion, and trusting that he might become an instrument in the hands of Providence, for the accomplishment of some great good, he came to the determination, that every other consideration was to give way; and on the 8th of May, 1814, he suffered himself to be consecrated the first Bishop of Calcutta, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the chapel of Lambeth Palace. On the 17th, he took a formal leave of a Society, whose interests he had constantly at heart, and where every endeavour was made to give solemnity to the scene.

In the name of the venerable Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, Bishop Middleton was addressed by Dr. Law, then Lord Bishop of Chester, in terms most happily appro priate, pointing out to him the chief objects taken into view, by

VOL. II. NO. III.

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the appointment which government had seen proper to sanction -objects which, in his answer, the new Bishop seemed so prepared to carry into execution as to leave no doubt on the minds of all who heard him, that if they were to be attained, a more competent or respectable agent could no where have been found,

On the 8th of June, 1814, his Lordship, Mrs. Middleton, and Archdeacon Loring sailed from Portsmouth; and they landed at Calcutta on the 28th of November following.

Of the state of religion in India at the period of the Bishop's arrival, it is not necessary for us to speak, because it is very plainly and dispassionately set forth in the volume before us; and thither we should wish to refer every reader who has any curiosity to gratify upon the subject. Those, indeed, who have not such a curiosity, must be few, for the Bishop's appointment very fairly constitutes an era in the history of the Established Church, and the propagation of the Gospel in British settle

ments.

In Dec. 1815, the first Bishop of India set out upon his pri mary Visitation, but it was the work of an Apostle. Nay, and more than of an Apostle; for, as his biographer remarks, it was an undertaking not to be accomplished in less than 5000 miles, and this by land and by sea. The account of this long journey and episcopal visitation, is, as we have before intimated, extremely interesting, but our limits prevent our entering into particulars. The visitation seems, as nearly as can be, to have occupied the Bishop one whole year.

In Feb. 1819 the Bishop began his second visitation, which was direct to the eastward, to the Malaccas, Sumatra, &c. and he returned to Calcutta in June, after no small peril in the Bay of Bengal. In Nov. 1820, the Bishop laid the foundation-stone of a church at Calcutta; but nothing engaged his attention more than the foundation of a College "for the education of youth in sacred knowledge, in sound learning, in the principal languages used in the east, and in habits of piety and devotion to their calling, that they might be qualified to preach among the heathen." In this undertaking the Bishop was fortunate enough to receive the favour and patronage of the Crown; and the foundation-stone of the building appears to have been laid on the 15th of Dec. 1820.

Having gone through the Memoirs thus far, in as abridged a manner as possible, we have little more to record than the melancholy termination of Dr. Middleton's valuable life, on Monday, the 8th of July, 1822, at Calcutta. We are relieved from the task of endeavouring to set forth the character of this first Indian Bishop,

by the care that has been taken in other quarters to do him ample justice in all such particulars. In the Appendix to the Memoirs may be seen the attention paid to his memory by the supreme government at Calcutta,-by the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, in their determination to erect a monument for him in St. Paul's Cathedral,-by the editors of the Christian Remembrancer,-by Dr. Maltby, in a sermon preached before the Society of Lincoln's Inn,-and by the very learned Bishop of Bristol, before the Society for the propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. In every instance so far from any exuberance of praise being perceptible, it would seem as if nothing were wanting to do justice to the subject, but the plain and unsophisticated language of perfect truth. The Bishop was buried with much solemnity, and every mark of respect, within the walls of his own cathedral at Calcutta, and it has been well and beautifully observed, with reference to these last honours, that in ordaining his ashes to rest in the land of his high and holy exertions, Providence would almost appear to have placed his heavenly merit upon their worth.

It remains to give some account of the works of the learned and amiable Bishop, reprinted in this volume,-which we are taught to believe, with the exception of his very able work on the Greek article, are all that are ever likely to be delivered to the public. For, with a modesty that we must not question," and a forbearance that we are bound to respect, every other production of his pen was, by his last will and testament, consigned to the flames!

In this volume, then, are preserved seven Sermons, five Charges, four public Addresses, and a Letter to Mr. Hamil ton, secretary to the Society for the propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, on the subject of the Mission, or Bi shop's college, to be founded at Calcutta. Of the seven Sermons, two were preached in England, and five in India. The first at Norwich, on the day of general thanksgiving, Nov. 29, 1798: but as this has been long before the public, and properly noticed in the reviews and periodical works of the day, we shall, to save room, forbear to make extracts from it; for we have more to notice elsewhere, than we well know how to manage. The second, which is a Visitation Sermon, preached at Grantham in the year 1809, we could willingly transcribe from beginning to end, as a perfect model of such discourses; learned, temperate, instructive to the highest degree, and displaying such a correct knowledge of the exact circumstances of the world, with regard to the adherents to the Church and the several classes of Dissenters, as need leave no clergyman

at a loss, not only how to conduct himself towards those opposed to him, but how to regulate his own behaviour, so as by "well-doing to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." Not that the Bishop applies even such terms as these to his opponents; but he properly and becomingly lays such stress upon the moral character of the Clergy, as to deem it capable of procuring respect to the Church, even under the worst and grossest circumstances of opposition.

This Sermon, as well as the preceding one, was probably noticed at the time, and may be considered from its date, to be sixteen years old, and therefore not requiring to be brought forward as any thing new. It may very reasonably be expected,, besides, that in looking to this volume as comparatively a modern, or very recent publication, chiefly occupied in setting. forth the merits of the learned Prelate, during his last and very. conspicuous exertions in the cause of the Church, that we should rather direct our attention to his Asiatic and foreign, than to his English, and merely parochial labours; but we have two reasons weighing with us, to dwell a little upon his Visitation Sermon of 1809: the first is, that his Indian Sermons and Charges have been already, and very naturally, much noticed in some of the periodical publications subsequently to the Bishop's death, and almost as much said of them there as we could find to say, though we mean to advert to them also; but the second reason weighing upon our minds is, that in a new Review, professedly theological and ecclesiastical, it would be blameable to omit availing ourselves of so good an opportunity of making some extracts from a discourse, which in our estimation, excels almost all that ever came to our hands, bearing the character of a Visitation Sermon; that is, a Sermon addressed to an assembly of the established Clergy, with the bishop at their head, and therefore exactly entering into those particulars which may, be judged likely to interest the majority of the readers of such. a Review.

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The text is most appropriate, 1 Cor. i. 13. " Is Christ divided?" The sermon begins with some extracts from the Fathers, Ignatius, Clement of Alexandria, and Cyprian, not only recommending unity, as an indispensable Christian virtue, but, defining that unity to consist in "a people united to their Bishop, and a flock adhering to their pastor.". And in confirmation of the necessity and obligation of such an attention to the unity of the Church, many passages from the New Testament are cited, the force of which it would be impossible to deny. The Church, it is admitted, may have many branches, but there must still be one bond of union, which if it be broken upon any principle not

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