of inward sanctification, and a growing devotedness to the Saviour and His cause, have marked a long period preceding their ordination. Ritualistic propensities are not an excrescence upon, but the substitute for, godliness of character. That which has been calumniously said (and, with associations which may occur to the minds of some, we here shew our great charity and candour,) of " Hebrew roots," is true of this root of bitterness. Ritualistic tastes

""Tis said, are found

To flourish most in barren ground."

For this reason it may be expected that there will be a desperate struggle for the retention of their practices by the devotees of symbolism, because, robbed of this, they will have been deprived of all. "Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, . . . . . . . and what have I more?" When his error and its evil tendency had been pointed out. in a mild and reasoning manner, by the vigilant guardian of his early course, Hoffman saw his mistake, and very soon, and for ever, turned away from the silliness of externalism; and (let this be carefully noted) never returned to it, but steadily grew in spirituality of mind, without any such adventitious aids, and with no stimulant supplied from without. His religion was purely spiritual; as it had begun, so it was sustained, from the Divine Source of all real holiness.

The biographer points out as the foundation of the character of Colden Hoffman, those old-fashioned habits of piety, private prayer, and early rising in order to it; constant self-examination, study of God's Word, careful use of the Lord's Day as wholly dedicated to God, and the high estimation which he set upon the ordinance of public preaching.

He dwells also upon the distinctive character of his personal religion; that, although of a naturally amiable disposition, and of pure life, he underwent deep conviction of sin, and had for a time no evidence of being pardoned and accepted. Much is said of the change he experienced in 1843, whereby Christ was revealed to his longing soul-a change which is spoken of as being, in its character, remarkable and enduring in its effects. That his motives in the choice of the ministry were pure, and his consecration to the service of God sincere, were natural and necessary consequences of such a foundation of his personal character.

When he had decided on becoming a Missionary, he offered himself to the Foreign Committee of the Board of Missions, and was accepted. This step was followed by the objections of friends, but by the ready consent of his mother and sisters. The interval between his ordination, in July, 1848, and his proceeding to Cape Palmas, (the ground on which he was destined

to labour,) was occupied in visiting various Churches in the States to plead the cause of Missions.

We do not commit ourselves to terms of excessive commendation in declaring our belief, that the annals of missionary excellence do not furnish a brighter example than that before us, of the presence of all those qualifications which constitute fitness for that high and peculiar service. His simplicity and self-denial in the original selection of the work, and in the prosecution of it to the end, were evidenced in these several respects. He chose, as the sphere of his work, an unhealthy climate. He prosecuted his plan at the hazard of losing the lady of his choice, instead of giving it up to secure her. He patiently bore the loss of his wife and child, adhering to his post, and not deserting it, after those afflictive events. Despite of sickness and of sorrow, he persevered in the work to which he had put his hand, with unabated zeal.

The Eighth Chapter of the book before us is especially valuable as giving a clear sketch of the origin of the colony of Liberia, a subject very little known. From this account we give one or two brief extracts.

"Before accompanying Colden Hoffman to the shores of Western Africa, the sphere of his future labours in the cause of Christ, it may be well to suspend the thread of our narrative for a little while, whilst we contemplate the country to which he was going, and its past history.

"The colony of Liberia had its origin in the sympathy felt by a small section of people in the United States for the African race, and in a strong desire which prompted them to colonize the free negroes of America on the soil of their ancestors; thus at the same time removing them from the scorn and down-trodden condition which they endured in the United States, and likewise opening out to them a new field of enterprise, which might develope their latent powers, and afford them scope for self-government and self-improvement, especially with a view to the future evangelization of Africa.

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Hence, there sprang into existence in the year 1816 in the United States, an organization known as the Colonization Society, the professed object of which was to enable free American negroes to emigrate to the coast of Western Africa, by the purchase of land, and the furnishing them with such pecuniary assistance as was needful. . .

"In the good providence of God, very beneficial results have followed, and are likely to follow, in the wake of the colonization of Western Africa, for the whole coast, before colonization commenced, was given up to the slave-trade; and so intensely is all Africa addicted to this vile traffic in human flesh, that the only hope of effectually breaking up the trade, lies in the establishment of communities on the coast, having the disposition and power to destroy it. Already much has been accomplished by this agency. From some

1500 miles of coast the slave-trade has almost been banished; a lawful commerce, employing more than 300 ships and introducing everywhere the English language, has sprung up; and ivory, palm-oil, camwood, gold-dust, and other products, are taking the place of traffic in human blood and tears; whilst important bases of Christian missions have been established, destined gradually to furnish the agency for carrying on the evangelization of the natives in the interior."

Of the republic of Liberia, Cape Palmas, the centre of Hoffman's missionary work, formed a part. The mission there was, from its commencement, placed under the direction of the Foreign Committee of the Board of Missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America, and still continues under that administration. We cannot withhold from our readers a passage of great importance for the principles which it enunciates on the respective merits of corporate and voluntary action in the mission cause.

The General Convention of the American Episcopal Church, recognizing the unquestionable duty (as the Established Church of Scotland does), that the Church itself, in its corporate capacity, should send the Gospel to the heathen, in pursuit of this theory formed a Board of Missions to represent American Episcopacy in this work.

"This system, so greatly admired at the time, proved much less perfect in practice than in theory; for it very soon appeared that it was the means of clogging missionary enterprise with all those unsatisfactory differences of opinion, which are evils inseparable from the constitution of a Church, but which it is by no means necessary to import into missionary organization. . . . . Whether the Foreign Committee will, in like manner, be superseded by a voluntary society, remains to be seen; but in times like the present, when the divergence of religious opinion in the Church is so great, it can hardly be expected that any organization can enjoy general confidence which recognizes Church membership alone as the bond of its association; whereas, when men holding the same principles band together for the formation of a voluntary society, they know for what they pay their money, and are able to make sure that their own convictions of truth, and not the various creeds of error which abound, will be transmitted to the heathen.

"The prosperity and success of the Church Missionary Society in England have sprung from this cause; that being a voluntary society, under a strictly evangelical administratiou, it has commanded the fullest confidence and affection from the evangelical section of the church; and having seen to it with great sedulity, that nothing but sound Scriptural truth, the Gospel of the grace of God, was transmitted by its agency to the heathen, the blessing of God has rested on it in a remarkable manner.

"And I doubt not that the recent organization in the United States, which has adopted the time-honoured name of the Church

Missionary Society, will likewise prosper; because, preferring truth to theories of church organization, its founders have formed a voluntary society on principles which will secure the exclusive agency of men sound in the faith."

Were it possible to add even an outline of the labours of the excellent and devoted man who is the subject of Mr. Fox's Memoir, we should gladly furnish what would be a very interesting and profitable narrative. Instead of this, though not supplying its place, we may be permitted to do for this book what, as a general rule, we decline; to express our opinion that, placed in the hands of any young man whose character and course in life were as yet unfixed, this volume, should the Divine blessing attend the study of it, might prove the instrument of awakening an emulation to walk in the steps of him whom it describes, in his self-consecration to the service of his Lord, as a private Christian or a devoted missionary, or possibly as both.

The following seven illustrations, beautiful as works of art, embellish the volume:-1. Portrait of C. C. Hoffman. 2. Map of Liberia. 3. Orphan Asylum, Cape Palmas. 4. Portrait of Virginia Hoffman. 5. Native Village, Cavalla. 6. Native Chapel, Cavalla. 7. Hoffman Station.

Two distinguishing portions of Mr. Fox's book must not only not be forgotten, but particularly mentioned. They stand as the first and the last articles. The one is a "Preface," written specially with the view of recommending the work, by the Bishop of Carlisle; the other is, in an Appendix, a communication from Dr. Payne, Missionary Bishop at Cape Palmas, with whom, on his recent visit to England, it is known that Mr. Fox conferred, for the express end of obtaining from him the Notice he has furnished, and which he was peculiarly qualified to contribute, having been intimately associated with Hoffman throughout his missionary career at Cape Palmas.

Two passages from Bishop Waldegrave's "Preface" (founded on Gen. xlix. 22) shall conclude this Article. The first is a vindication of the Evangelical clergy from the imputation laid on them by Romanizers, that all real self-denying work is being done by them; and that evangelical men are sluggards, because they do not advocate the asceticism of a corrupt religion.

"It is far too much the way, now-a-days, to speak as if the fruits of an increasing and holy service of love to God and our neighbour were confined to the devotees and the imitators of Rome. The unostentatious, the peaceable fruits which the Gospel of the grace of God brings forth in rich abundance wherever it is faithfully and prayerfully preached, are utterly ignored, and the unstable and the unwary are beguiled by bold assumption into an admiration and a following of so-called

Brothers and Sisters, who are not ashamed to exhibit the Papal livery in the cities and villages of Protestant England. Should these pages fall into the hands of any such, let them learn from them how grievous the imposition that has been practised upon them."

The other (p. xxii.) is a summary of the imitable points of the character who is the subject of the work.

"Reader, wouldst thou learn how to keep near the well? This memorial will teach thee. It not only speaks of the missionary toil, the ministerial faithfulness, the personal fruitfulness of Colden Hoffman, but it also unfolds to thee his inner life. That inner life was lived in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God. Note well his constant habit of early prayer; note well his systematic study of Holy Writ; his hiding of the word within his heart; note well his companionship with all them that feared God and kept His commandments; note wellhis delight in the ordinances of Jehovah's house, prayer, preaching, the bread and wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received. Truly there is no undervaluing the means of grace here. No! there was diligent, increasing improvement of them all, even while he looked through them all to the Master: they were joints and bands by which nourishment was ministered, and, therefore, even while he confessed that all came from the Head, he prized them well.

"But I must conclude. At the early age of forty-six Colden Hoffman fell asleep. He was taken from the evil to come. Reader, the Lord will come for you, for me, at His own appointed hour. May He find thee, may He find me, as he found him, with our loins girded about and our lights burning, like unto servants that wait for their Lord.”

KRUMMACHER'S "DAVID THE KING OF ISRAEL."

David the King of Israel: a Portrait drawn from Bible History and the Book of Psalms. By Frederick William Krummacher, D.D. Translated by the Rev. G. Easton, M.A. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. 1867.

In this volume the character of David, King of Israel, is beautifully and justly drawn. There are no doubt passages in this history which many a follower of Christ may regret to read, and peruse with sorrow, perhaps not unmixed with doubtful misgivings. Such as David's seduction of Bathsheba, and his murder of Uriah; his subterfuge before the king of Achish, and his