committee at Calcutta, had willingly voted grants of money in favour of the Serampore translators. "Besides two large grants of L.3000 and L.2500, on account of new versions in hand, it is stated, that for each of which, when accomplished and approved, they are to receive L.500." But in 1831, when Mr Yates applied for assistance in the printing of two Bengalee versions, the approval of the Calcutta committee was withheld, on the ground, that a word signifying immersion, was uniformly inserted for the "baptism "in the Greek Testament. The matter being referred by both parties to their constituents in Britain, the strife was waged with due warmth here at home, the Baptists almost uniformly, we believe, taking the part of their missionary translators. The Bible Society, refusing to yield the point to the Baptists, the controversy resulted in the origination by the latter of a separate institution-"The Bible Translation Society," in March 1840. The biographer has not expatiated on this, by no means the least interesting episode in Dr Yates' life a lengthened note, presenting in chronological order the leading facts of the case, being all the extent to which Dr Hoby allows his predilections to carry him. We must confess that to our mind the expectations and demands of our Baptist brethren in this matter seem so clearly unreasonable, that we wonder how such a question could afford ground for a ten years' controversy between men professing to be guided by the maxims of simple justice. Here is the simple case between the Baptist supporters of the Bible Society and its other supporters, the latter forming a vast majority of the whole. A difference of opinion prevails as to the meaning of the word Barriga in certain passages of scripture. The one party say it means to immerse in the passages referred to: the other say no; and each give their reasons in support of their view, reasons which must be regarded as satisfactory, at least to the party advancing them. How is the matter to be settled, so that co-operation may continue? "You must make it immerse, say the Baptists, else we are done with you." "It must not be immerse," say the Society by a great majority, "for the word does not convey what we hold to be the true meaning in the case; but let the original term baptizo be simply transferred, as in our English translation; let us unite in the mean time on this ground, which we have in common; and afterwards, in expounding and preaching, let us each take care to show what reasons we can for the translation we severally prefer." Which of these propositions is the more consistent with common fairness and Christian charity, it surely needs no argument to prove. Dr

Hoby says, "A very large number of the members of the churches comprised in the (Baptist) union, being devoted friends and active supporters of the Bible Society, felt themselves aggrieved by this unlooked-for departure from the lofty principle and unsectarian practice of this noble institution." On which side were the sectarianism and the lack of high principle, will, by and by, we trust, be more clearly seen by our AntiPodobaptist brethren themselves. Mean time, their peculiar perception on the subject strongly reminds us of the divine counsel "Take the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to take the beam out of thy brother's eye." We must add, that this procedure of theirs in reference to Bible translation in India, happening simultaneously, as it did, with a movement of the same kind and toward the same object, though carried on to a more vexatious length, by the Baptists of America in relation to the American Bible Society, proves to us the necessity of some such organization as the Evangelical Alliance, for the purpose of showing to some Christians, who think they have least need to learn the lesson, what really is rartyspirit, and what is the true basis of Christian co-operation.

It was shortly after his return to India that Mr Yates became involved in this Bible Society controversy. By this time he was relieved of strictly missionary labours, and was occupied wholly with the work of translation, and with the duties of a Christian pastor in Calcutta. In 1839 he resigned the pastorate, for the purpose of giving himself exclusively to the works of translation, so congenial to his taste and talents; but his plans of still extended usefulness in this department were soon to be arrested. In 1840 he was seized with a severe cough and cold, which required him to return to this country for the sake of health; and his responsibility increasing through the death of his wife and of various missionary brethren, his failing strength led him to contemplate a return to England for the second time. Having delayed as long as possible the execution of this purpose, at length, in May 1845, it was decided by his advisers, that if he remained to encounter the rains then at hand, his death was inevitable. He embarked for Suez on the 3d June, and the vessel having reached the Red Sea, his exhausted frame could hold out no longer. On the 3d July he departed, and what was mortal of William Yates was committed in Christian burial to that gulf, whose waters of old gave place to the advancing Israel of God.

In the inscription on a tablet, erected to Dr Yates' memory in the Circular Road Chapel, Calcutta, of which he had been

--

pastor, the extent of his literary labours are thus briefly and comprehensively stated "He translated the New Testament into Hindustani and Hindi; the whole Bible into Bengali; the New Testament and a great part of the Old into Sans Krit; and was the author of many useful works in various languages."

As an addition to our missionary biography, Dr Hoby's Memoir of Dr Yates deserves, and will be welcomed, to occupy a high place. The character he had to sketch, and the incidents he had to relate, were both possessed of much more than average interest; and, in the author's hands, they are turned to excellent account as materials for instructive history.

WHO WILL LIVE FOR EVER? an Examination of Luke xx. 36.-With Notes. By JOHN HOWARD HINTON, M.A.

London: Houlston & Stoneman.

Is immortality-meaning by the term, not eternal happiness, but simply endless duration of being an attribute of human nature generally? or is it a special gift bestowed by Christ on his own people? Some writers who, though they dislike the doctrine of eternal punishment, see the unscriptural nature of the tenet in which that feeling usually seeks refuge--the tenet, namely, of a universal restoration-have, within the

last few years, attempted to explain away the offence of scripture on this point, by teaching that the souls of the wicked are not partakers of the immortal quality, and will therefore cease, within a certain limited time, to be subjected to punishment. The object of Mr Hinton's Essay is to meet and refute this dogma, by the exposition of a single scripture text--the words of the Saviour (Luke xx. 36)--" Neither can they die any more." His lucid, vigorous, and severely logical discussion of these words, is thoroughly conclusive, and forms quite a model of scriptural exegesis. The argument is so close and compact in the author's own words, that it were vain to try any further condensation to make it suit our crowded columns.

REMARKS on CHURCH DISCIPLINE, in a Letter to the Eldership of the United Presbyterian Church. By a Friend of the Union. Second Edition.

Edinburgh Oliphant & Sons.

AN earnest and faithful appeal, on a subject of vital importance to the efficiency and peace of our church. The sin specially referred to, as demanding the discipline of the church, our own as well as others, is Sabbath desecration, especially the traffic in intoxicating drinks on the Lord's day. We fondly hope that the sessions, and the church at large, will profit by the friendly and salutary hints here imparted.

THE remainder of this unhappy border warfare may be briefly told. Ere the beginning of 1847, all the chiefs, save Pato and his tribe, had submitted, and were registered as private British subjects. Sandili, on receiving his ticket, remarked dryly to Sir P. Maitland, "I am glad that I am no longer responsible for the people. The thieves brought me into trouble. I am no thief myself. Henceforth I shall only have to take care of my mother and myself. Let me see if you will be able to rule the nation and put down thieving too." This, if I mistake not, will prove a piece of statesmanship about as difficult as the pacification of Ireland.

Pato, at the head of, it is said, 1500 warriors, alone kept the field, and gave employment to between three and four thousand of the choicest troops in pursuit of him, till Sir Henry Pottinger, who arrived on the frontier in February, ordered the military back to quarters, leaving Pato the hero of the chase. Nor has he submitted yet (November 1847). But his country is occupied

with several posts, which will prevent him regaining much footing in it, unless he surrender at discretion.

Till about two months ago, the Geikas, i. e. Sandili's immediate subjects, remained quiet. Sir H. Pottinger had been gradually admitting to qualified authority the chiefs whom his predecessor had denuded of rank and responsibility, and was acting, it is said, on the old commando system, making the kraal nearest to the spoor of stolen cattle give restitution, leaving them to indemnify themselves with the assistance of the chiefs, by following up the spoor to the delinquent's kraal, fining it, and reporting to the government agent. The gentleman now holding this office is Mr Calderwood, who succeeded Captain Stretch, that long tried, able, and humane officer. Matters seemed really to be settling, though not satisfactorily to either party, and except the erection of new posts in the country, and the continued interdict on all trade and intercourse with the colony, a stranger would have suspected nothing beneath the ashes of last year's conflict. The people were forming kraals, tilling the ground, and tending

their reduced herds of cattle as before, only eschewing portions near the new boundary, to avoid paying the penalties for plunderers who might drive the stolen beasts past their kraal, to delay pursuit, and probably elude detection. One missionary after another went in to sit on the ruins of his station, but soon returned. Any one acquainted with the posture of affairs, could see that both parties looked very much like as if they were still disposed for quarrel. The qualified employment of the chiefs on criminal cases, afforded speedy occasion for eliciting smothered dissatisfaction.

Mr Commissioner Calderwood (who is likewise superintendent of an armed Caffre police) called in question the chief Sandili for his treatment of a case in which he had punished one of his people for stealing some goods from the colony. The commissioner demanded that the thief should be given up, along with all the confiscated property taken from him. The chief refused the latter demand, pleading, it is probable, Caffre precedents on the subject. The next message from the commissioner was an armed force of 300 men, who seized the chief's cattle, and returning with them near a bushy ravine traversed by the Keiskamma river, were attacked by the natives* and spoiled of most of their booty. The British lost two men besides several wounded, and were glad to retreat to their quarters at Fort Hare. Another inroad on the colony was feared, but the chief forbade any crossing the border, and he was implicitly obeyed.

A fearful suspense ensued. Military preparations were seen quickly in progress for some concerted movement. At length Sandili received a message from his Excellency through the local agent, on or about the 18th of August, demanding him to deliver up 200 stand of arms as a fine for the resistance offered the troops; two days were allowed him to consider the proposal, three to comply with it, if accepted, the alternative, a visit of the army to take the satisfaction refused. The negotiation issued in Sandili's declining to do more than he had done, observing, it was said, to the organ of government, that he saw no use in again making peace with those who were determined on war. This was a deplorable result. The exaction of government was moderate in the circumstances. No doubt, the chief had no arsenal from which to take the required tale of small arms, and could only procure them by disarming his followers, who were not likely to tolerate the attempt. But past events, I fear, have effectually alienated his mind from the English, and he is determined to enjoy, if he can, a

This is denied by some, who affirm that Mr Davis, captain of the police, opened fire on a few

rude independence and rank without them. Sighili, son of Hintza, and paramount chief of the Caffre nation, on Sandili's reporting to him, in constitutional form, his having retaken his cattle from our troops, disapproved of the transaction, as I understand. He advised him to allow cattle to be seized, and cling to the land, as it was more valuable to them, and was becoming smaller by every conflict with the white man. Sandili began to act on this politic advice, but it was too late. On the 18th of October, the troops, to the number of about 6000, marched for the Amatola, which is the district chiefly occupied by Sandili's followThere were reports from the field up to the 27th, to the effect that the progress of the troops was unresisted, and that cattle were left for the captors in the abandoned kraals.

ers.

Such is the present state of affairs with the banned chief and his retainers. The governor has proclaimed him a rebel, invited the colonists to arm for plundering him and his tribe, promising to allow them to keep all the stock they can catch, and has encompassed his war haunts to complete his overthrow. Scarcely a European colonist has joined the commando-some say not one-nor any at all save sixteen Hottentots and thirty Fingoes from the Kat River settlement. Sandili seems now far beyond the reach of his foe, and wisely, as his force cannot number one-fourth of that in motion against him.

The other sections of the frontier tribes, amounting to three-fourths of the whole, continue neutral. Not one has joined their prince in this quarrel, or is likely to do so, unless the tide turn in his favour. This is a happy circumstance, which will greatly facilitate the settlement of the country, and diminish the risk of renewed disturbance. His Excellency has an intricate and arduous task to perform. Every friend of the species must feel alive to the consequences to the aborigines dependent on the system he may establish. I hope it will be such as he can leave in a practicable form, capable of beneficial expansion in the hands of an intelligent, upright, and humane executive.

[The remainder of Mr Niven's paper, containing practical observations and hints on missionary work, founded on the late proceedings, is deferred till our next.]

JUDAISM AS IT NOW IS,

THE Society on behalf of the Jews, whose exertions are by far the most extensive, is that denominated the London Society,

Caffres sitting at a kraal looking on the party passing.

which in its management and spirit is rigidly Episcopalian; and appears to be, in its leaders, so deeply tinctured with millenarianism, as somewhat to influence their plans of operation, and to modify the character of the gospel which their agents teach. We shall present a condensed view of the present state of their missions in Europe and the lesser Asia, with the most recent intelligence from the several stations. Beginning with the Continent of Europe, we may first take notice of the melancholy pictures which their missionaries continue to draw, from personal observation and intercourse, of the present moral and religious condition of the Jewish population. Having for ages had no religion of their own excepting rabbinism, which is just as entire a perversion and caricature of the religion of the Old Testament, as Popery and other corruptions of Christianity are of the religion of the New, there is nothing in this religion of theirs to keep a hold of either the mind or the heart; and the consequence is, that in the present age of agitation and change, they appear to be gradually relinquishing it, and lapsing into utter indifference, or avowed infidelity. In Paris, where the Jewish population amounts to 2000 families, an agent of the society who recently visited them, divides them into two classes; one holding by the Talmud in profession, but not in practice, being as ignorant of it as of the Old Testament, and expecting no Messiah; the other class, the richer and more educated Jews, believing neither Moses nor the Talmud, but regarding the Old Testament as an uninspired book, good enough for the time in which it was written, but out of date now. This class desire only to maintain a nationality of birth; they will have no Jewish religion; but entertain, some one opinion about religion, some another, and some none at all. A similar classification is given by a missionary in Strasburg; one class are fanatic Talmudists; a second class, those who have received a classical education, are, the great majority of them, indifferent to all religion; and a third class, the most numerous, consists of ignorant men, some following the Talmud, some indifferent, some infidel. In Germany the condition of the Jewish mind on the subject of their own religion, has led to movements among them of a very exciting character. The necessity felt for change has resulted in the holding of several Synods of rabbies, to deliberate and determine what reforms ought to be admitted into the institutions and services of the Jewish religion. The greater advancement of some of them in their views of reform, has led to a division in the moving party. Berlin is the central point of the most zealous reformers; where they have assumed

the form of a "Reform Association." Their leader, Dr Holdheim, advocates the observance of their day of rest on the first instead of the seventh day of the week, as more convenient; and considers that they have a good precedent for the change, in the substitution to which they have been long accustomed, of prayer for sacrifices, The use of the Hebrew language in their service is discarded, and the vernacular tongue chiefly employed. They have no kind of chanting, as is usual in Jewish synagogues. Among this party there is said to be much sincerity and earnestness of purpose. Their views of reform extend also to some regulations respecting circumcision, to the observance of the second festival days, and the ancient customs of mourning. The more conservative reformers have separated themselves, and formed a new society, with Dr Fränkel of Dresden at their head; adopting, as their standard, a belief in the Scriptures as an immediate revelation from God, along with a belief in tradition, and in the authority of the Talmud, to which the interpretation of the Scriptures, therefore, must be subjected; thus continuing to make void the law of God by their traditions.

The missionaries of the London Society are fixed at different stations over the Continent. In Amsterdam their missionary has baptized thirty-four since the commencement of his labours there in 1844; he last year had a chapel opened, and is about to open a school. In Strasburg their missionary has, during the year last reported, baptized six Israelites; and others are under instruction. He has itinerated in the neighbouring provinces on both sides; but found the Jews in general very bigoted, and often violent even to personal harm. In Frankfort-on-the-Maine, three Israelites were baptized during the last reported year; and a family of five were, in June last, baptized there in the Reformed Church. The missionary is favourably listened to. From Bruznach, thirty-seven miles S.W., nothing special is reported by the missionary; but at Newied, in the neighbourhood, a Jew was baptized in September last by a resident minister. From Breslaw, the capital of Silesia, nothing of interest in the labours of the missionary is reported. From Berlin seven baptisms are reported for the year; and, since the close of the annual report, two adults and two young children have been baptized. A new place of worship has been opened in connexion with the mission; and a monthly periodical is circulated. In the province of Prussia, which has a missionary stationed at Konigsberg, its capital, twenty-six Israelites were baptized during the year. From Dantzig no results are reported; but the two mission

aries have made extensive itinerancies. In Prussian Poland, missionaries are stationed at Pozen, and at Frankfort-on-the-Oder; and Jewish elementary schools are maintained at several stations, attended by from 397 to 591 scholars. In these schools languages, arithmetic, history, and religion are taught, under teachers well educated; many of them intelligent Jews, who have no faith in the Talmud, and teach Christianity to the children as a matter of history. In Gothenburg a missionary is stationed, who also visits, and spends part of the year in other places, as Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Hamburgh. He complains much of the prevalence of infidelity among the Jews of these places. In May last, two youths were baptized at Copenhagen. In the kingdom of Poland four stations are occupied ; and fifteen had, during the year, made a profession of Christianity by baptism, while, since the close of the annual report, eleven others have been baptized at Warsaw. In this country, where the Jewish people have maintained most firmly their peculiar character and their national rites, there are now symptoms of a great change taking place. By an imperial decree they are required to change their peculiar dress; and it is feared lest many of them change with it their religion also. The rising generation differ in many respects from their fathers; it requires great compulsion on the part of the parents to make their children study the Talmud, which they detest from the heart. A learned Jew, two days before his death, when his relatives and acquaintances besought him to say something to them by way of remembrance, said, after a short time spent in thought-" Now, my beloved, listen to me. I die certain of two things, but uncertain of one, viz. I am certain that I die a Jew; I am certain that my grandchildren will die Christians; but I am uncertain whether my sons will die as Jews or Christians." Since the incorporation of the Republic of Cracow with the Austrian empire, the missionaries of the society have been compelled to quit that town, on the ground that, by existing laws, foreign missionaries are not permitted to reside in the imperial and royal states of Austria. At Bucharest in Wallachia, two missionaries were stationed in May last, where they found the numerous Jewish population divided, in respect of religious condition, into the same classes as elsewhere, the devout, the utterly indifferent, and the avowedly infidel. Persecution was soon got up against any who were known to attend on Christian instruction; yet the missionaries found the inquirers generally stedfast, and have had the satisfaction of seeing five or six baptized. In Smyrna, where the Jewish population is estimated at 15,000,

there are two missionaries, who have had much opposition to contend with, but are now in more favourable circumstances. The Jewish community are divided into two classes, the rich and the poor; the former of whom were permitted to exercise a lordly and cruel tyranny over the latter, imposing on them unnecessary and unjust taxes, and inflicting arbitrary and cruel punishments. The warfare between the two parties became recently such as to call for the interference of the Pasha, who adopted measures which have led to a satisfactory restraint upon the oppression of the wealthier upon their poorer brethren. The English Consul also assisted; and it is to be hoped that the evil will, after some attempts to revive it, be finally put down. The present result is, that the missionaries now enjoy full and free intercourse with Jews of all classes. The rabbies have no longer the power to prevent, by imprisonment and other corporal punishments, their brethren from visiting them. The school has, during the year previous to their report, averaged an attendance of from ten to twelve young men and boys, who have been instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, languages, and especially in the word of God. Repeated anathemas have since been published against their school, but with little effect.

EAST AFRICA.

A MISSION has been commenced by the Church of England Society, on a small island, named Mombas, about the middle of the East African coast, lat. 4° 4' S. Two missionaries are placed here; one of them, Dr Krapf, having been formerly a missionary in Abyssinia. They are in the neighbourhood of several native tribes on the continent, whom they describe as sunk in the deepest degradation, frequently ready to sell their children for an intoxicating drink extracted from the cocoa-nut, and sometimes without clothing. The missionaries have already made large translations from the scriptures into two of the native languages; and Dr Krapf has compiled a dictionary containing above 10,000 words of three of these languages; as also a grammar of the same, for the use of future missionaries. In his excursions among these tribes, he has uniformly met with a favourable reception; and the chiefs of a village, which appeared the most suitable for a missionary station, promised him every thing he might need. "As the inlet of a missionary host to Central Africa," he says, "this mission cannot be but deeply interesting to every true friend of the kingdom of Christ. We have, by God's mercy, gained a point whence the unknown regions of Central