Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

young prince, and present him first, he would find accceptance. Ac. cordingly he took the first opportunity he could to lay hold of the young prince, and approached his offended King with the child in his arms which, when his Majesty saw, he could not refuse; but granted him both pardon and reconciliation, with complacency and delight. This is what we poor sinhers must do :- We must take the child Jesus in the arms of our faith, and present him to our great King. Without this Prince of Peace we shall find no favour..

"When I hear people say, If we are faithful, and do our part, God will do his, it galls me : I am not able to contain myself. Faithfulness in the creature! I wonder where it dwells! I never yet found or saw that person for the space of fifty-six years; and I have been with high and low Christians. The faith of the operation of God will shew itself by good work; but to think that we must do any thing to make up what is wanting on God's part, I loathe,

I detest it.

--

"My happiest days were, when I rose at four o'clock for prayer; and I would say it, to the praise and glory of God, I find it no cross at this day (being in my eightyfourth year) to rise early to wait upon God, no more than when I was thirty. O Lord, keep my soul awake, and athirst for thee! It has both been my grief to see and feel such deadness and dullness amongst Christians."

May God revive his work in the hearts of his people, and render the example of this eminently gracious woman subservient to it!

LITERARY NOTICE.

Proposals have been circulated by the Rev Josiah Pratt, for publishing, in ten volumes, 8vo, The Whole Works, now first collected, of Bishop Hall. A new Life of the Bishop will be prefixed; and a complete Index to the whole will be added. One volume, price 78.6d. in boards, to be raised to 9s. when the Work is closed, will be pub lished quarterly. To be paid for on delivery.

SELECT LIST OF RELIGIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

Vol III of the Works of Dr. Hawker; comprizing the Specimens of Preach. ing, with Four additional Sermons on Particular Occasions. 8vo, 8s. 6d.; 12m0, 45. 6d. - The Four additional Sermons may be had separate from the Specimens, &c. to accommodate the Purchasers of the former Edition, price 2s. 6d.

A Handsome Octavo Edition of the Village Dialogues. By the Rev. R. Hill. Four Vols in Two, 12s. boards.

By

A beautiful Edition of Watts's Lyric Poems; with a Sketch of the Author's Life and f'ortrait, and a Translation of the Latin Poems, by Dr. Gibbon. Foolscap, 8vo, 6s. boards; smaller edition, 4s. bds. Letters on the Study and Use of History (including Scripture History). John Bigland, Author of Reflections on the Resurrection of Chrift, &c. 12mo, 6s. Hore Poeticæ. Poems; sacred, moral, and descriptive. To which are added, Four Essays. By Jos. Jefferson 35. 6d. The Influence of Religious Principles upon the State of the Nation; illustrated with a Review of the Cause of the French Revolution. 8vo, 15. 6d.

Divine Breathings (a Second Part): a Manual of teo Practical Contemplations. Small, Is. 6d. bound.

A small Edition, 32m0 (good paper and print) of Watts's Psalms and Hymns.

2s. 6d. bound.

The Christian Directory, or Sure Guide to Present and Eternal Happiness. By the Rev. and Pious R. Baxter. Abridged from the Original by A. Clarke. large Vols. 8vo, 16s, beards.

Two

Vol. I to IV, of the Bibliographical Dictionary; containing a Chronolo, ical Account, alphabetically arranged, of the most curious, scarce, useful, and important Books, published in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and other Foreign Languages, with Anecdotes, &c. 12mo, 65.; of on Royal Paper, 95.

Divine Meditations upon Several Occa sions, with a Daily Directory. A New Edition. By the Hon. Charles Home, Esq. izmo, 2s. 6d. bound.

Hall's Sermon on Infidelity. New Edition, Evo, 15. 6d.

Horne's Sermon to the Volunteers.
New Edition, 8vo, Is; '12mo, 6d.

Claims of Cesar and of God. A Sermon
to the Volunteers. By G. Clayton, 15.
A Fast Day Sermon, at the Episcopal
Chapel, Loudwater. By W. Price, 18.

A Charge at the Ordination of O A.
Jeary, by T. Young, of Canterbury, 64.

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

DR. VANDERKEMP.

and the whole troop immediately fled. The Doctor now saw the ne. cessity of retreating to the fort; and accordingly removed thither on October 1.

dren. "The number of enlightened," says the Doctor, "increased from time to time; and many are touched by the preaching of the word, and the example of others. Long before day-light, several go into the woods, where, approaching them silently, you may hear their fervent prayers," &c.

By Advices received from Holland, it appears that Dr. Vanderkemp was attacked, soon after set. tling at Bota's Place, near Algoa Notwithstanding these severe Bay, with an intermittent fever, trials, the work of the Lord pros. followed by a severe rheumatism, pered. In August and Sept. there by which he was confined to his was a general conviction of sin, and bed for eleven months; but that a sincere desire for Christ maniMr. Read, his colleague, was en-fested, especially among the chil abled to proceed with his Missionary work, amidst many difficulties, and not without success. Before the British Governor, General Dundas, left the Cape, he paid a visit to the Doctor; and advised him to remove from Bota's Place, on ac. count of the imminent danger to which he would be exposed, from the plundering Hottentots, when the garrison should be withdrawn. The Doctor answered, That he hoped to remain faithful to the call of God; and that if he knew that his continued residence there would cost him his life, and he could save it by leaving the people, he should not fear to offer it for the sake of the least child among them. ther Read concurred in the same resolution. The Governor then left with him an ample store of provisions, and wished him to retire into the fortress; which, however, the Doctor declined at that time.

Bro

About a week after the departure of the English from that quarter, the Missionaries, and their company, of about 160 persons, were attacked in the middle of a dark night, by a troop of lundering Hottentots, who fired at them fifty times, and took away all their Cattle. All endeavours to pacify them were fruitless; and a messenger, who went to intreat them, was shot in the leg. Their intention emed to be, to Kill the Missioneries and their people. Compelled to act upon the defensive, some of the latter fired at the assailants, but without taking any aim. They fired only twice; but one of the balls killed the enemy's Chief;

In the month of May last, his Excellency Governor Jansen (the new Dutch Governor) paid them a visit; and persuaded them to leave that situation. He condescended, himself, to search out a proper spot for a new settlement; concerning which the Doctor says (May 30, 1803) "We have to-day ob tained from the Governor the place which he had chosen for us, and named it The Village of Bethel.

The small congregation at Algoa Bay was not dispersed, as might have been feared, by the attacks of the belligerent powers: the work of God is still preserved, and increases there; while it is sincerely hoped that Bethel may prove a permanent and fruitful Missionary settlement.

Larger Accounts of these remarkable events may be expected in the Tenth Number of the Missionary Transactions; which will probably appear in the course of a few weeks.

Missionary Society,

as misrepresented in France, THE following article is one of the most curious that we ever presented to our readers. It is well known, that, a few years ago, the

Missionary Society was stigmatized in a certain virulent publication, as hostile to the Government of this country; but a charge of a very contrary nature is now brought forward, in a Paper called Le Journal des Debats, published in Paris; the sagacious writer of which pretends to have discovered, that the Society is nothing more than a political engine, employed by the British Ministry to strengthen their interest in the several countries to which the Missionaries are sent. We extract the follow. ing passages:

Societé des Missions, etablié en

Angleterre.

"The English, always ready to take the advantage of our misfortunes and our mistakes, have occu pied themselves for some time past, in organizing Missions for their immense possessions in Asia, Africa, and America. No one can doubt that this is entirely a political speculation; and that their sole design is to attach to them more firmly, by means of their Missionaries, the new nations which they reduce every day under their dominion. They know full well, that every Christian they make in those distant countries will be an Englishman the more, and an enemy the less. They have not forgotten the services which the French Missionaries in China rendered to Lord Macartney, in his embassy to Pekin; and the gratitude he testified to them in the account of his jour ney. They know all that the French Missionaries have done for the honour and benefit of their country; the discoveries both in astronomy and geography for which we are indebted to them. They know that in proselyting to Chris. tianity the savages of America, our Missionaries have cleared the shores which have proved nurseries for our commerce; and that, in fine, if we have conquered our colonies by our arms, we have attached them to us by our religion. We Cannot doubt that it is on these poitical considerations the English

have formed the design to have Missionaries also.

"According to a Journal printed at Lausanne, entitled, "The Voice of Religion to the Nineteenth Century." it appears, there are in England two Societies for the propagation of the Christian faith: -The one English; the cther composed of English and Scotch Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, Puritans, &c. There is also another, formed on the same plan and with the same object, at Edin burgh. There is also one in England, principally occupied in Greenland; and another, which has distributed about 800,000 Religious Tracts; and attempted to make proselytes of the French prisoners, among whom they have distributed many Tracts, &c.

"Before the treaty of Amiens, they had concerted the project of having some confidential persons in France for the same object; and when the treaty was concluded, they sent over three ministers and one merchant, charged to second these views. On their return, these four Missionaries presented to the Society a Report of their Journey, which is printed, and which led to the adoption of the following mea[Here follow the Resolutions of the Society; and a general Account of the different Missions to Otaheite, Africa, America, Ceylon, &c.]

sures:

"These details fully prove that England is at last occupied with an object to which she has hitherto appeared indifferent; and one cannot but ask her, How this spirit of religious proselytism has reached her so late? We are far from thinking that these Propaganda of London and Edinburgh will ever rival that of Rome. We think the Episcopalians too lordly ever to take up the trade of our poor Franciscan Friars. The Methodists are too dry, and too much lack that unction of piety so necessary to success in persuasion, ever to work great marvels in this way; and, in the doctrine of Puritans and Presbyterians, there is too much philosophical alloy for them ever to manifest a very strong desire to water,

with their sweat or their blood, the Jands of either the south or the north *. But whatever we may think of this information, or of their success, it is easy for any one, who knows the dominant spirit of our English rivals, to see that, in all this, they only second the English Ministry; and that this new Missionary Society is not formned so much for the extension of the kingdom of Christ, as for extending the empire of the British Leopard, who hereby only seeks to unite all his moral and physical powers, the better to hold in his grasp all his distant conquests."

Extracts from a Journal of a recent Tour through Part of France, Switzerland, and Germany.

[Continued from our last]

My stay in Paris for a week was rendered very agreeable and instructive, by the conversation of some friends from Switzerland, whom I met with; and who also pointed out to me what was most worthy of observation. Paris affords many interesting objects to a man of reflection, as well as plenty o food for a man of pleasure. Whatever art and luxury has invented to gratify the senses, is there to be met with in the greatest vaiety and perfection. The Boulevards, the Elysian Fields, the Thuilleries, the grand palaces of St. Cloud and Versailles, with their beautiful gardens and works of art, present to the eye a variety of the most charming scenes which nature or art can produce. It would require several days to take a complete view of every thing that is

remarkable in Versailles, Maving never seen any thing of the kind before, I was the more struck with the sight of it; and yet Versailles is much inferior to what it was during the life of the king, for many parts of it are going to decay; and in the front court grass grows already. Sic transit gloria mundi,-"Thus the glory of this world fades away."

At Paris, my attention was particularly engaged by,

1. The library; together with the hall, containing a collection of antiquities, an Egyptian mummy, and a great number of Heathen idols. When contemplating the latter, the description of St. Paul, in Rom. i. 23-26, recurred to my mind with peculiar force.

2. The incomparable picture gallery, where the finest masterpieces, both in sculpture and painting, are to be seen. Here are not only paintings of every description, landscapes, cattle-pieces, portraits, historical paintings, representations of Heathen mythology, and of Romish superstition; but likewise master-pieces of Scripture. history, which are most admira. ble. I was both delighted and edified with the contemplation of so many exquisite pictures, representing the crucifixion of our Lord, his being taken down from the cross, as laid in the grave, as rising from the dead, and as appearing to judgment. That master-piece of Raphael, The Transfiguration of Christ on the Mountain,' was likewise among them. 1 could mention many other pieces, but it' would lead me too far: I will only make this general observation, That when comparing the finest productions of art, on Heathen and Chris

« Nous pensons que les Episcopaux sont de trop grands seigneurs pour se determiner a faire le metier de nos pauvres Franciscains; que les Methodistes sont trop secs, et manquent trop de cette onction de parte, si nécessaire an succes de la persuasion, pour se promittre beaucoup de marveilles en ce genre; et qu'il y a dans la doctrine des Puritains et des Presbyteriens trop d'alliage philosophique, pour qui jamais ils aient une bien forte envie d'artoser de leurs sueurs ou de leur sang, soit les terres australes, soit les bords hyperbordeens." †

It is evident that the writer is grossly ignorant of the various religious denominations of this country. By the Methodists, he means the Quakers, whom be calls Me. thodists, from their precision in method; and he falsely supposes, that the Puritans, or Dissenters, are all Socinian Presbyterians, or disciples of Dr. Priestley,

tian subjects, I could not but congratulate myself on my being a Christian. The bare view of the Heathen deities, represented in the most shameful attitudes and actions, is calculated to inflame the mind with ideas of the vilest nature. On the contrary, the soul is inspired with the purest sentiments and noblest resolutions, on beholding our Redeemer in his sufferings; kis humble and pious Mother, the meekness of St. John, a penitent Magdalen, Peter weeping bitterly, Cornelius in the attitude of prayer; Saul suddenly converted, when breathing out threatenings and slaughter; or a primitive Christian suffering martyrdom for Christ's sake. Indeed, as every thing is liable to be abused, paintings and images have likewise been sadly abused, to the exclusion of the worshipping of God in spirit and in truth; and made the instruments of gross idolatry. But the abuse of a thing is no argument against its proper use. I will only add, that notwithstanding the person, the character, and the sufferings of the Redeemer are expressed in so beau. tiful and striking a manner by the pencil of those celebrated artists, still there is something wanting, which is unattainable by any human art; and this has been strongly felt by the most skilful masters, who have candidly acknowledged how very far they fell short of the divine original.

3. I was also highly interested and entertained with viewing the botanical gardens, the cabinet of natural curiosities, and the collec. tion of wild beasts.

of man in a thousand ways! How astonishingly wonderful are the dif ferent classes of animals constructed! What strength in some, swiftness in others! What dread do some inspire, and yet they must yield to the superiority of human. wisdom and contrivance! How just is the exclamation of the Psalmist: "O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches!"

If in the picture-gallery we are led to admire the works of human, art, here we are struck with still greater admiration of the Divine Architect, displayed in the various productions of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. What a multiplicity of different species of earth, stones, and ores! What a mixture of colours! How gradually do they ascend from the meaner classes to those which are more noble and precious! What an abundant store of plants and trees, all provided for the use and pleasure

4.

I took a view of the magnifi cent hospital for invalids, and of the church belonging to it, which is most deserving of notice; but my feelings revolted at the inscription over the entrance: Temple du Mars, - Temple of Mars,' shew-ing that it was devoted to a Heathen. Deity. The whole church is hung with ensigns, taken by the French from almost all nations; and with paintings, representing battles and. victories gained by the French Ge nerals. This sight gave ine more pain than pleasure, which may easily be accounted for. We then ascended, by a winding staircase, to the top of the church; from whence we had a most extensive view, not only of Paris, but also of all the surrounding country, which affords an enchanting prospect. My bowels were moved with compas. sion, when reflecting on the im-, mense multitude of sins and sinners. in this great capital; and my soul poured out that petition, “Thy kingdom come."

With regard to the present state. of religion and morality, it is hardly, possible to form a just idea during so short a stay. As to dress, I met with more decorum than I ex

pected. With respect to the celebration of Sunday, the constrast is indeed great, between London and Paris. In the former, a more general quietness and devotion prevails; nearly all traffic and daily labour is suspended, and external order and decorum are greatly promoted by the laws of the country. All this I found widely different in Paris: As soon as I awoke in the morning, my ears were saluted by the cries of sellers and buyers; many shops were opened, the same as on a week

« AnteriorContinuar »