to the Bible Society to print the whole of the Book of Psalms on one side of a large sheet of paper, or two or more sheets, if necessary, to be joined together at the edges like maps. The four Evangelists might be printed in the same manner. A few such sheets stuck up, or hung on rollers, in cottages, workshops, nurseries, kitchens, and clergymen's libraries, would be invaluable for prompt reference. The eye would soon be so familiar with the sheet that any passage would be glanced at with the utmost facility, and scores of quotations might be made without the labour, distraction of mind, and loss of time of turning over a variety of pages. Let the experiment be tried, and I doubt not it would be found highly popular and useful. I should not think the whole of the four Gospels contain any thing like as much printing as appears in one of the enormous Atlas double-sheets, which have lately been published.

A PANOPTICAN.

ON THE MORAL APPLICATION OF

PHRENOLOGY.

Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer.

I AM not one of those who would make ridicule the test of truth, even in the matter of craniology, which has been assailed almost entirely by that weapon. There is nothing more abstractedly ridiculous in supposing that different parts of the brain may be handmaids to different affections of the soul, than that the brain, as a whole, is the handmaid to the soul; but whatever of abstract truth or error there may be in this general position, the system at all events is too indigested to admit of any thing like certainty in its application; and even were it perfected, it would still be absurd to make it a basis for moral or religious cultivation.

It was with justice, therefore, that one of your correspondents ani

madverted some time since upon an advertisement, in which the conductors of an Infant School announce their intention of educating their pupils upon the principles of craniology (to say phrenology is begging the question). But still more absurd, if possible, would it be to apply the system to theological instruction; yet such has been the case, as I find by the speech of a clergyman at the dinner given by the Phrenological Society to Dr. Spurzheim. On that occasion one of the founders of the institution, the Rev. David Welsh, stated that phrenology had afforded him " unspeakable advantages in his professional capacity." "I think it right," he added, "to declare, that I have found the greatest benefit from the science as a minister of the Gospel. I have been led to study the evidences of Christianity anew in connexion with phrenology, and I feel my confidence in the truth of our holy religion increased by this new examination. I have examined the doctrines of our church also, one by one, in connection with the truths of our new science, and I have found the most wonderful harmony subsisting between them. And in dealing with my people in the ordinary duties of my calling, the practical benefit I have derived from phrenology is inestimable."

But it is not schoolmasters only it seems, or clergymen, who are to be benefited by this "new science;" for on the above occasion Dr. Spurzheim stated, that women were better gifted than men, to become practical phrenologists; and the vice-president said he had seen, both in London and Edinburgh, "crowds of female auditors breathless listeners to truths destined, and not least in female hands, to ameliorate incalculably the condition of mankind." " Yes," he added, "the good work is begun. Mothers are managing with case a moral engine, by the side of which all the practical fabrics of all the schools shrink into insignificance. Children are lisping at a mother's

knee the lessons of true practical self-knowledge, and are made aware of their besetting impulses, and come to confession of the faculties they have abused. What will not social men, what will not Christians gain by this so much wanted moral foundation?"

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I thought the matter at first only absurd; but if it advances after this fashion, it is mischievous also. Craniological schools! craniological pulpits! and craniological nurseries! We have only to introduce this new science" into all our public establishments, to make its triumph complete. What a world of labour would it save! "The organist of your parish is dead: I am a candidate for the office, and have the very highest testimonials of competency from ten of our leading musical professors." "You, sir let me feel-avaunt-not a particle of music in you; testimonials forsooth! I have testimony enough; you musical! murderous more like ly." "What an active, zealous, affectionate, and heavenly-minded parish priest is Y. Z. !" "Y. Z! did you say? a mere ruffian. Heavenly minded! Look at the vertex of his scull-not a trace of veneration.""I am a candidate for such an office; your vote and interest, sir."

No, indeed; we want a mathematician." “True; and I was senior wrangler at Cambridge." "Youyou a wrangler! a liar, you mean; out of my house instantly." "My lord, I bring my papers for deacon's orders, and should be glad to know when the examination takes place." "You need not trouble yourself, sir, about the matter: I examined you the moment you took your hat off: you will make a very good civil engineer."-Is this caricature? I cannot see that it is. I only apply what Mr. Welsh and Dr. Spurzheim say is applicable, and ought to be applied. Let the phrenologist (so called) take the fair consequences?

A PHRENOPHILIST.

RELINQUISHED MISSIONS

BERMUDAS.

For the Christian Observer.

THE anomalies of the moral scenery of the enchanted islands of the Bermudas, have resembled their physical condition. As amidst the amenities of a climate, breathing almost perpetual spring, where vegetation never loses its verdure, the foliage of one year surviving till succeeded by that of the following; where there are no venomous reptiles, and where the feathered race sport and sing, unconscious of winter, there prevail the most frightful desolations of storms and hurricane; so are the moral aspects of an insulated society that might, under the guidance of true religion, be virtuous and happy, deformed and ravaged by the baleful presence of slavery,-not, indeed, in its most horrific form. But in what form is not slavery horrific? to what community has it ever worked its way without blighting all around it, degrading and brutalizing the master, while it pierced the heart of the slave?

To these lovely islands, since Sir George Somner's shipwreck upon them in 1609, and their subsequent occupation by Great Britain, several missions have been sent. We might painfully notice, under the head of Relinquished Missions, the magnificent scheme of the benevolent Berkeley, who went out in person, in 1732, to America, to establish a college in Bermuda for the conversion of the Indians, and who did not quit his enterprize of mercy, to which he had devoted unwearied zeal and energy, and all the resources which his private fortune or influence could obtain, till the breach of faith of the British government in not granting the promised assistance, rendered his plans abortive. A recent effort has been made by the venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel,

to establish a mission in the islands, which is yet but in its infancy, and, we trust, will not come under the title of these papers till it shall no longer be needed by its object having been accomplished.

The relinquished, or we should say suspended, mission, which we are about to notice, is that established by the Wesleyan Methodists in 1799; an abridged account of which we shall copy from Mr. Williams's valuable Missionary Ga

zetteer.

In the beginning of the year just mentioned, a Methodist missionary, the Rev. J. Stephenson, a native of Ireland, proceeded to the Bermudas. Coming from Ireland at that particular juncture, it was instantly concluded that he must be a rebel, and that he was about to introduce disaffection among the slaves. Under this preposterous notion, many of the inhabitants were unwilling that he should come on shore, and would probably have exerted themselves to prevent it, if an enlightened magistrate, who happened to be standing on the quay, had not disarmed their prejudices and dispelled the gathering storm.

After waiting upon the governor, and laying before his excellency the certificate of his ordination as a Methodist preacher, and the testimonial which he had received prior to his quitting Dublin, certifying that he was appointed as a missionary to the island of Bermuda, he commenced his ministerial labours; and, though at first his hearers were but few in number, and of those the greater part appeared hostile or indifferent to the subjects introduced to their notice, the violence of prejudice and opposition soon began to subside; his congregation visibly increased; subscriptions were raised for the erection of a chapel; and by the

year 1800, seventy-four Whites and thirty Blacks had joined the society.

The prosperity which now began to shine upon the infant mission was viewed with a jealous eye by

the enemies of religion; and as they found themselves incapable of checking its progress without the aid of law, they procured an edict to be passed by the house of assembly, prohibiting all persons, not ordained according to the rites of the Church of England or Scotland, from preaching, lecturing, or exhorting, any collected audience, public or private, under a penalty of 50%., and six months' imprisonment for every offence; and inflicting a similar punishment on the person in whose house the meeting should be held. Mr. Stephenson, considering this law as hostile to the spirit of toleration-as an infringement upon the birthright of every subject of the British crown, and as diametrically opposite to the avowed sentiments of the reigning monarch,--continued his ministerial labours as formerly; but though he was suffered to proceed for a few weeks without interruption, he was at length apprehended, carried before the magistrates, and committed to the common gaol, to take his trial at the next assizes. The person in whose house he had preached was also committed with him. Mr. Stephenson, however, procured bail, and obtained his liberation on the fifteenth day of his imprisonment, as his companion had done some days before. He was at length brought to trial for the crime of having preached the Gospel, or as one of the principal evidences swore, of having "read prayers from a book which he held in his hand, and sung Psalms to a congregation." And for this offence he was sentenced to be confined six months in the common gaol, to pay a fine of 501. and to discharge all the fees of the court. After he had been imprisoned about five weeks, the governor offered to set him at liberty, on condition of his promising to quit the island within sixty days; but as be conceived such a proposition dishonourable to the cause for which he had suffered, he declined accepting it, and remained a prisoner til!

the period of his incarceration expired. He continued on the island some months after; but his health was so seriously impaired that he was no longer equal to the exertions he had formerly been accustomed to make; and, as the interdiction of the law precluded him from uniting in public or social worship with the members of the society, he was recalled from Bermuda in 1802, and those who had formerly heard the word of God with gladness from his lips, were left as sheep without a shepherd.

Applications, in the mean time, had been made to his Majesty's government in England, to disallow the intolerant edict which had driven Mr. Stephenson from the scene of his labours; but though the request of the petitioners was readily granted, nearly three years elapsed before the repeal of the act was publicly announced. And even subsequently to that period, so determined a spirit of hostility continued to be exhibited, that no missionaries could be induced, for some time, to venture among the inhabitants. The mission was, however, at length resumed; for in the spring of 1808, the Rev. Joshua Marsden sailed from New Brunswick to Bermuda, with the view of re-establishing it. After repeated interviews with the governor, Mr. Marsden was permitted to commence his ministration; and though at first he was attended only by twenty or thirty hearers, his congregation soon increased; and in the beginning of September, he had the satisfaction of uniting about fifty persons to the society, most of whom were Negroes or People of Colour, who appeared anxious for spiritual instruction. A chapel was afterwards erected, and some of the most respectable persons in the island became regular attendants.

In 1811, a quantity of Bibles and religious tracts were sent to Bermuda, and the happy effects resulting from their distribution are CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 329.

thus described by Mr. Marsden :“The Bibles which you sent to this place, were as the sun rising upon a dark and benighted land. The poor Blacks, who could read, eagerly inquired for them; and those who could not, began to learn, that they might peruse the word of God. To this new employment, their intervals of rest, their meal-times, and their Sabbaths, were devoted. Passing through a field or a lane, with a spelling-book in their hands, they would solicit little boys coming from school to teach them; and would frequently beg of me, upon the road, that I would stop a few moments, and hear them repeat their lessons. To be able to read, was to them like being placed in a new world, as they beheld things in a different light, and a train of new ideas sprang up in their minds. In a short time many of them understood the word preached, and a work of reformation was immediately visible among them. Profane oaths and imprecations were now laid aside; the polygamist left all his wives but the one who had a prior claim *; the evening worship called them from the licentious dance, and the midnight theft; the stupid and slothful became pliant and diligent; monsters were transformed into men; and the voice of religious melody sounded from huts and cottages, formerly blackened with the vilest pollutions."

It is not our province to follow up the account of this mission to the present moment. That it has

And yet the chaplains, catechists, and other agents of another society, have not effected even this initial reform upon estates under their own care, which for many generations have been wholly under their controul, and with all the weight of the society's authority to urge them to the effort. What can these individuals, and their predecessors, urge in extenuation of their negligence; when a few Bibles and tracts, and the labours of a despised Methodist missionary, could, by the blessing of God, so speedily effect what they have represented as impracticable? The Methodists never tolerate polygamy, in any of the islands, among their members. 2 R