Theological Review (now combined with the British Critic) took a different line, vehemently censuring the Bishop, and vindicating abuses which every true churchman must deeply lament. The article, it seems, was currently imputed in the United States to the Rev. Mr. Norris of Hackney; in consequence of which the church publications of that country have circulated the following notification from his pen "It is a tirade of scurrility, without one redeeming property. It does not contain one sentence of argument, but is just such a volley of trashy, insulting verbiage, as you might expect to meet with at our Billingsgate, or any other place upon the same scale of respectability." We shall not adopt Mr. Norris's peculiar language: but we fear it is quite as applicable to other articles in the "British Critic and Theological Review," as to the one in question; for instance, to the article noticed in the Supplement to the Anti-Slavery Reporter of this month. Even the character of Bishop Heber and Bishop Chase could not shield them from the- (let our readers select which of Mr. Norris's appellatives they prefer) of the British Critic, because those beloved prelates were not of the BritishCritic party, but approved of the Bible Society, the Church Missionary Society, and similar institutions. men of distinguished worth, and of truly evangelical spirit, are yet exceedingly jealous even of the good influence of all who do not happen to be within the pale of the Establishment."-We insert this extract only for the sake of assuring our Dissenting friends at home, and our transatlantic friends abroad, that we utterly disclaim all such jealousy. We are glad to witness "good influence " wherever it may be found; while our especial wish is to see a wider extension of it in our own pale. Pollok's Course of Time, reviewed in our Appendix, has not only gone through several editions in America, but has been stereotyped. A Presbyterian minister in Virginia, who is labouring in a wide moral waste without a salary, and whose property consists almost entirely in slaves, has offered to liberate them all, as soon as they can be removed to Liberia. An American clergyman, the Rev. Dr. Sprague, who has lately published an account of his travels in Great Britain, "The distinction in the Episcopal Church in England is not so much between High Church and Low Church, as between Evangelical and Anti-Evange says: lical; While in England intoxication is increasing to an alarming extent, and no public efforts are made for its prevention, in the United States the exertions of benevolent and religious persons to check the evil have so abundantly prospered, that numerous spirit-drinkers have been reclaimed; in some townships the consumption of spirits has diminished one half; and even the yeomanry and artizans are beginning very widely to abstain from all intoxicating liquors. The need of such a reformation may be inferred from the simple fact, that in New York there are more than three thousand dram-shops; that is, one to every sixty-six persons, including men, women, and children. The Rev. J. Oson, the Coloured man, some time since ordained by Bishop Brownell, to serve as missionary in Liberia, expired just as he was about to embark for the scene of his labours. SOUTH AMERICA. Captain Head, in the account of his journey over the Pampas, says: "The priests at Mendoza live a dissolute life; most of them have families, and several live openly with their children. Their principal amusement is cock-fighting, every Thursday and Sunday. I was riding one Sunday when I first discovered their arena, and got off my horse to look at it. It was crowded with priests, who had each a fighting cock under his arm; and it was surprising to see how earnest, and yet how long they were in making their bets. How justly shocked the people in England would be, to see a large body of clergymen fighting cocks upon Sunday!”. INDIA. The monument erected at Madras to the memory of the beloved Bishop Heber, is inscribed with an elegant epitaph by Archdeacon Robinson, in which the learned writer justly says, that "with admirable candour of mind, the sweetest simplicity of manners, and Divine benevolence of soul, to the last hour of his life, Bishop Heber laboured even beyond his strength to nourish, cherish, and sustain the infant Anglican church in India." We have given the passage in English, as we see no reason, except mere prejudice, why a monument in India to the memory of an Englishman should be locked up in Latin. At home the intercourse of learned foreigners may be pleaded as an apology for Latin epitaphs in some of our more public edifices, though even there we see no necessity for them, and we consider them quite misplaced in country churches; but Bishop Heber's epitaph we should have been glad to have had written in our vernacular tongue, that even the English soldier, or the poorest native who understands English, might be gratified with the perusal. The defendant in the action brought by the Rev. Dr. Bryce, the Presbyterian minister, for a libel on him as the editor of a newspaper, has put in no fewer than seventeen hundred and eighty folios, containing extracts from Dr. Bryce's journal, to shew that a clergyman ought not to conduct such a publication. The extracts contain, it is stated, accounts of boxingmatches, horse-races, and sundry other matters, which, however consistent with Dr. Bryce's Unitarian views of clerical editorship, would certainly not be allowed as admissible articles of intelligence by any synod, presbytery, or assembly of his own church. Among other experiments for the cure of cholera morbus, phosphorus has been tried in large doses, but with as little suc cess as most other remedies. LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. THEOLOGY. Sermons on the Lord's Prayer. By the Rev. J. Nance, D.D. 6s. 9s. Sermons. By the Rev. W. Mousley. 5s. A Manual of Intercessory Prayer. By a Clergyman. ls. A Funeral Sermon for Mr. Alderman Lea. By the Rev. A. Brandram. Counsels for the Sanctuary. By the Rev. H. Belfrage, D. D. 7s. 6d. The Scripture Reader's Guide. By C. Fry. 2s. 6d. Scripture Melodies. By the Rev. F. G. Crossman. 3s. 6d. Prayers for the Sick. By the Rev. J. Slade. 4s. 6d. St. Paul's Doctrine_on_the_Divinity of Christ. By the Rev. T. S. Hughes. The Scripture Student's Assistant. By the Rev. J. Barr. 3s. 6d. The Character of a Good Servant; a Funeral Sermon. The Modern Martyr. 2 vols. 10s. bds. RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. NAVAL AND MILITARY BIBLE SOCIETY. THE Society's last Report states the issues of Bibles and Testaments during the past year as follows: To the army 3,470 Bibles, making a total since the existing regulations adopted in 1825, of 29,413: In the Navy, more than 1,100 Bibles and Testaments. In this department are included the seamen employed in the Blockade Service. His Majesty's ship Asia, bearing the flag of Sir Edward Codrington, in the sanguinary conflict at Navarino, had had the benefit of a full supply. There were other ships also in that engagement which had been supplied. The supply of the whole body of commercial seamen having been undertaken by the Society, the Committee have been engaged, by means of agents and auxiliaries on various parts of the coast, in establishing an organized system for this extensive department of the Society's labours. The number of individuals to be provided for, and kept in constant supply, amounts to more than 200,000. The men employed on canals and in barges, hitherto too much neglected, now form a specific object of the Society's care. Between 500 and 600 copies of the Scriptures have been thankfully purchased by them, at the reduced prices of the Society, in the vicinity of London alone. There are about 160,000 men of another description, whose religious destitution is a stain that cannot be too soon wiped away; the maimed and aged pensioners of the public, in the army, navy, ordnance, and marines. These worn-out veterans avail themselves with eagerness of the Society's offer, to become possessed of the sacred volume at reduced prices. The issues for the year make a total of 11,829 copies. The number of annual subscribers to the Society continues to increase. The receipts for the year amount to 3,5221., and the expenditure to 3,538. BEYROOT MISSIONARIES. quished their station at Beyroot, for which they specify the following reasons: The prospect of war; want of an asylum in case of war; want of consular protection; their solitary situation; the fickle and capricious character of the Pacha; pecuniary embarrassment, on account of the stagnation of trade; the plague; the scarcity of vessels; the immediate call for some of them at Malta. As they passed to the water side, those from whom they might have expect ed scoffing and ridicule, exclaimed with every appearance of seriousness, "The Lord preserve and prosper you." NEED OF BOOKS IN BUENOS AYRES. A gentleman in Buenos Ayres writes: "The elements of education are diffusing to some extent in this city, and gradually in the villages of the country; and there is--not a scarcity-but an absolute destitution of that fund of amusement and in struction to which children in the United States and England have access. A few primers and catechisms, which, beside the rudiments of spelling, contain little, but the grossest absurdities of Popery; the popish edition of the Ten Commandments, with the second left out, and the ninth made into two, to conceal the deception; the seven sacraments, and seven mortal sins, &c. &c. These are all the books which, in a vast multitude of cases, the children see. Those who are taught in the government schools, read the Scripture lessons of Lancaster, but have no books at all. "For the youth, which might form our Bible classes, there are books of devotion,' in which whatever of Popery is not in words, is supplied by pictures, with which the books are filled. Here is purgatory, with the angels coming down from heaven and holding up, by the hair, out of the flames, the souls of those for whom the priest is saying mass; while the anguish depicted in the countenances of the poor wretches for whom no mass is saying, and on whom the exasperated devils are exerting all their fury, is sufficient to wring a dollar even from the hard-hearted miser, to purchase a temporary relief to the departed spirit of his father's wife.", MISSIONARY EFFORTS IN GREECE. The following interesting passage is from a letter of an American Missionary in Greece. "Multitudes were calling on me to beg the Gospel. I know not that I ever saw people so absolutely hungry for books as they are in this place. Not more than three or four have asked me for charity; hundreds have asked me for books. The way is perfectly opened for me to establish schools to almost any extent. If you can send me fifty thousand dollars I can employ it for that purpose. Could not the ladies of New York collect money enough for building a school-house, and the establishment of a school of superior order for females in Greece? Would not such an act of charity in the ladies of your city be to them a more brilliant ornament than chains of gold and pearls? I have to-day had another interview with the President; and he has invited me to visit the schools which he has established here, and then to come to Egina, to be schools which he has there established." introduced to the bishop, and to visit the 66 UNITED STATES EPISCOPATE. "The duties of our bishops," says a United-States publication, are arduous, and the station a highly responsible and unenviable one. The nurture of so many small societies, scattered over so large a tion of all who go astray, the examination surface of territory, the painful admoniand ordination of suitable candidates for the ministry, the visitations of the churches at great distances from each other for confirmation, and other Episcopal duties, the attendance upon the diocesan and of each member of the house of bishops, general conventions, the peculiar business as prescribed by the canons, these and many other things incident to the office, superadded to the ordinary business of a - parish church, and the common and indispensable concerns of domestic life, made the more pressing by reason of there being no Episcopal salary to defray the very large, increasing, and unavoidable expenses of the bishopric, present a view of the labours and difficulties attending the office, which may readily lead a considerate mind to a refusal of the proffered honour.” RELIGIOUS NECESSITIES OF OHIO. We quote the following passage from a letter of a clergyman in Ohio, as shewing the necessity for such an institution as Bishop Chase's College: the description applies also to the other newly settled parts of the United States. "You can scarcely conceive how destitute our people are of religious books: I have expended nearly one hundred dollars for religious works; for which I have advanced the money, and take my pay in the produce of the country. Money in this region is very searce; and the merchants and pedlars piek up nearly all that is in circulation, and carry it eastward. And as books cannot be obtained without ready money, there is a great dearth of all kinds except the Bible, and thousands are destitute of that. The people need something to stir them up to the examination of the oracles of God; and I fear many of them will die unacquainted with the things belonging to their everlasting peace. If you have any publications which might be useful in this region, tracts in particular, please to forward them." We regret extremely to learn, that Bishop Chase, after all his indefatigable and self-denying efforts to establish his college upon a permanent basis, finds himself compelled to sell his own patrimonial estate and dwelling, in order to pay the current expenses of the building. Some friends in this country, who have from the first zealously assisted the bishop's Christian object, are exerting themselves to prevent this sacrifice, and we trust a sufficient sum will be collected by loan or gift, and arrive in time to effect the purpose. The bishop's immediate plan is, to build a church, which is indispensably necessary, both for the college, and the population of the rising town. EPISCOPAL MISSION. SEMINARY FOR COLOURED PERSONS. An institution has been recently opened in Hartford, Connecticut, by members CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 325. of the Episcopal Church, for the education of young men of Colour, who give promise of future usefulness as missionaries, catechists, or schoolmasters. It is formed with more particular reference to the contemplated mission on the African coast. RELIGIOUS PRISON REFORM. A clergyman in Connecticut writes: "The state of things in our public prison is most interesting. The silence of the prisoners when at their work; their solitary confinement two hours during daylight, when they can read the Bible and religious books, the only ones they are allowed to have their eating alone in their cells the most perfect system of discipline and order; and their attendance every morning and evening, to hear the Scriptures read and prayers, are circumstances calculated to afford opportunity for reflection, for the operation of the truth, and for subduing the spirit. No band of soldiers were ever more perfectly subdued to order and discipline. Probably not less than one fifth of them give good evidence of a change of heart. More give us reason to indulge hope. Some of the converts who have been out of prison for months, and who were the very worst of men, now live to the admiration of all Christian beholders. Probably there is not on earth another prison, where religious truth, the only effectual means of entire reform, is so happily and successfully applied. The legislators and courts of our land are yet to be convinced that religion is the only adequate and effectual remedy against crimes. The Gospel has and does accomplish what nothing else can. Here the experiment is made, and the results are wonderful. Reduce our prisons to silence, and prisoners to solitary confinement, and then give them the Gospel, and more would be effected than has yet been done, to reform the worst and most dangerous men in the community. Let them work steadily, and acquire trades to support themselves after they leave. Their health demands this; the vigour of their minds to attend to religion demands it. Let their sentence be executed in confinement and labour, but let them be treated and governed by the law of kindness and love to their souls. Penitentiarics can never succeed with entire confinement without labour. The prisoners must die from inactivity, and their minds must be stupid." I SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL. In calling the attention of our readers to the last Report of this venerable institution, we wish to premise, that we should be deeply grieved if any difference of opinion on the subject of the Society's slave estates in Barbadoes should cause to be forgotten its great importance as a missionary institution. In our pages, for nearly thirty years, the Society's claims have been often and warmly advocated, at a time when the very existence of such an institution was scarcely known to the great majority of the British public, or even to the clergy themselves. Even so late as the year 1818, the Society numbered only about 300 subscribers, whereas it now comprises nearly 5000. We rejoice in this accession of prosperity; and it is not inconsistent with this rejoicing, that we have respectfully pointed out the duties which result from it; for example, investigating more thoroughly the proceedings of its agents, drawing up its reports in a more succinct and lucid manver, printing them more economically, but, above all, placing the administration of its affairs upon a footing of reciprocal contact with the public, by allowing its subscribers to share in its deliberations, either as an open board, or by means of a committee chosen annually at a general meeting, instead of restricting its counsels to the self-elected members of a close corporation. To the Report is prefixed an excellent sermon preached last year before the Society, by the Right Reverend Bishop Jenkinson, of St. David's, which we need not further advert to, as we gave, before its publication, a copious memoriter outline of its contents, in our Number for last February. The Report and its appendices are too copious and unconnected to allow of a regular digest; but we cull a few particulars, as a specimen of their contents. In the diocese of Nova Scotia, the attention of the public is first directed to the island of Newfoundland. The Bishop has visited every part of the island where a Protestant population of any magnitude was collected; and the Society have every reason to believe, that the beneficial effects of the visitation will manifest themselves at an early period, in a more general desire of spiritual improvement. All the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, it is stated, bear testimony to the laudable spirit of devotion of the people, and their eager desire to participate in the ministrations of religion. The Society urge it upon the consideration of a benevolent public to afford them the means of rearing their offspring in the nurture of the Lord, and of cherishing and exhibiting the pious dispositions of their hearts by the public worship of God. The Bishop during his visit preached in behalf of the Society for District Committee was revived under very promoting Christian Knowledge, and a promising auspices. On the eastern coast, through a line of not less than six hundred miles, there are at present stationed at long intervals only eight clergymen, the whole strength of the ministry in the province. Scanty, however, as this supply of clergy manifestly is, the result, it is stated, is visible in the improved habits of the of the ordinances of religion. On the people, and an increasing desire to partake southern coast there is not a single resident clergyman. In the course of the year two new missions have been opened.Turning to Nova Scotia, the Report relates, that in the early part of the history of this province, a large body of Germans charge of these our Protestant brethren settled at Halifax, and the ministerial formed an interesting portion of the labours of the Society. For many years a distinct congregation existed in Halifax, retaining their original language and customs; but in the course of years this distinction was lost, the service was performed in the English language, and the congregation formed a considerable part distinctive character. of the population of Halifax, without any It has therefore been deemed expedient to divide the parish into two rectories; and the Bishop rejoices in reporting that the affairs of both are in a satisfactory state. In the eastern part also of the province, the Report states, that the discipline and doctrine of the Church of England are gaining ground, and are held in the highest estimation. The occasional visits of Missionaries are of the utmost importance in furthering the views and objects of the Society; as under the present circumstances of the country, it is in vain to hope that provision will be made for a full supply of parochial clergy. In the province of New Brunswick, it is remarked, that the state of the church, and the prospects of its rapid growth, are of the most encouraging na ture. clergymen have been in constant residence In some of the parishes, where for many years, the ordinances of religion, and its duties and observances, it is added, have been so effectually recommended, that it would be difficult to name any part presentation can be made. Encourageof England where a more gratifying rement has been given with a liberal hand, Church principles; and the erection of to every effort for the promotion of several new churches has shewn, that the encouragement has not been tendered to Bermudas, it is stated, are adequately a reluctant or insensible people. The supplied with the means of religious instruction. In reviewing the proceedings of the past |