promising to live as true Christians live, becomes a member of the Christian Church upon earth. : There are but two ways in which any person can be received and considered as a Christian. One is according to the judgment and opinion which his neighbours may form of him; and the other is according to the rules and arrangements of the Church. It would be a very bad way to submit every person's christianity to the opinion of his neighbours it would be contrary to Scripture, and would lead to many evil consequences. The Church does not allow of such judging; but makes certain rules which depend upon the regular profession of true religion; and, though her rules cannot certainly point out who are the real spiritual Christians, yet they give all who keep them a claim to the name of Christians, without any reference to private opinion. Now everybody may choose upon which footing they will lay claim to be called Christians. They may depend upon their neighbours' opinion of them; or, they may comply with the Churchs rules. Few persons would like to allow their christianity to depend on their neighbours' opinion; and therefore, they wisely rest their claim upon church-membership: but those only are members, who are so according to rule; and many persons, who would not like to allow the right of their neighbours to judge them, fancy themselves to be Christians, though they have no claim to be called so by the rules of the church. If they wish to be considered Christians, as belonging to the Church, they must, at least, keep her rules: if they do not keep her rules, they must give up their claim as members. The Rules of the Church concerning membership have been so often explained to you that it is not necessary to repeat them here; and these remarks have been made now, only to introduce the following account of the true state of the church in this parish. The numbers are taken from exact lists of names kept by your Pastor; and if any persons should be in doubt as to which list contains their own names, let them apply personally to the Pastor, and he will give them the information they require. There are in this Parish 752 Inhabitants, not including strangers who are lodging here only for a time. Of these 398 are Male, and 354 are Female. The only persons who have a right to be considered THE CHURCH (that is, those who are such according to the strictness of her rules) may be classed as follows: 1. Communicants continuing to frequent the Lord's table 146 2. Their children, being baptized, and under the age of 15 years 3. The children (under 15 years of age) of persons who, 5. Baptized persons between the age of 15 and 18 years; These are the only persons in the parish who can claim to be called the Church; amounting to To this number however, a charitable hope may lead us to add the following6. Persons who, having formerly communicated, have withdrawn from the Lord's table without being excommunicated by authority. These are what may 104 56 107 83 496 be called self-excommunicated; and as there is no 7. Persons who have confirmed their vows, but who 47 143 These together amount to 190 Which with the regular members of the Church 496 Make together 686 The other inhabitants of this parish may be classed as follows 8. Persons who, having been baptized as infants, have refused when they grew up to claim their baptismal privileges— Of these have passed the confirmation in 1832, 38 According to the above account, the following classes of persons are those who ought to come forward to be confirmed at the present season. Class No. 5, 83,-Class No. 8, 60. Together 143. The number of persons who have, up to this time, expressed their desire for confirmation at the present season, is as follows: Persons who have only become of age (or come into the parish) since the last confirmation; Those who were of age (or who came into the Those who were of age before the confirmation 35 5 9 49 To which is to be added, persons who have been already admitted to the Communion, upon their expressing themselves "ready and willing to be confirmed;" and who were therefore included in Class No. 1 Present number of candidates 2 51 Of 38 of age before 1832, have now come forward 9, leaving 29 143 who ought to be confirmed, come forward 49, leaving 94 It will be useful to know the results of the two last confirmations, which are as follows:: 53 persons were confirmed in 1832.-Of these 8 never joined the Communion at all; and 45 communicated.-13 of these however, have declined; and only 32 have continued. M 2 51 persons were confirmed in 1835,-Of these, 20 never joined the Communion at all; and 31 communicated.—14 of these however, have declined; and only 17 have continued. The number at the Confirmations together was 104.-Of these, 6 have died; and 29 are not now in the parish: SO that only 69 of the whole number are included in the foregoing account. Of this number 20 are those who have never joined the communion (included in Class No. 7): and 19 have declined, after communicating for some time (included in Class No. 6.) So that the actual result of the two former Confirmations, as regards the present state of the Church in the parish, has been to add 30 continuing members to her Communion. It may be well to complete this account by shewing the state of the Church in this parish, as regards the number of the members who are Sponsors; upon which subject an Address was lately sent round the parish. The Rules of the Church in this respect have been carefully kept in the parish since the beginning of the year 1832. Since that time, the number of infants who have been The number of different persons who have stood as Sponsors, is 186 Of these have come from other parishes, to stand for 73 Leaving the number of Sponsors in the parish 113 |