"Thirdly, The idea of a personal death and hell (or the grave) to give up the dead which were in them; which language equally applies to the righteous and the wicked: and as to the last judgment, which immediately follows, had it been confined to the wicked, it would not have been said, "Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire," since on this principle they could none of them be found written in it. reign represents believers as raised to a state of immortality a thousand years before the close of Christ's mediatorial kingdom; whereas the scripture represents the one as immediately succeeding the other. Speaking of the resurrection, the apostle says "Christ the first fruits, and afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power; for he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Cor. xv. 23-28. Now the resurrection of the saints will itself be the destruction of death. If therefore the end then cometh, there is no place for a personal reign of a thousand years between them. Besides, if death be the last enemy, and this enemy be destroyed in the resurrection, how can there be a Gog and Magog army to be destroyed a thousand years after it? "If the last judgment, as described in chap. xx. 11-15, do not include that of the righteous as well as the wicked, there is no proof from this account of their being judged at all. The scriptures, however, are very express, that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and give account of the deeds done in the body;" and that "God will bring every work into judgment, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Fifthly, The account of Satan's being loosed after a thousand years' restraint, and going forth to deceive the nations, and to gather together the armies of Gog and Magog, does not comport with a state of immortality, or with the condition of men after their resurrection. Wicked men may rise, indeed, with the same enmity against God and religion as they possessed at death: but as to their being able to collect together, and to encompass the church of God in hope of destroying it, the idea is gross and inadmissible. The sea and the grave will give up their dead, not to become followers of Satan in a new enterprise, but to be judged every man according to his works. Ver. 13. "Finally, To represent the Millennium, which precedes the last judgment, as a state of immortality, is to confound it with the New Jerusalem which follows it. "For these reasons, as well as The latter is indeed a state of im- from the figurative language of mortality: for "there shall be no almost the whole of the prophecy, more death, neither sorrow, nor I cannot think that the Millencrying, neither shall there be any nium is to be understood of a permore pain; for the former things sonal reign of Christ, in a state of are passed away;" (chap. xxi. 4.) immortality; but of that glorious but this language itself implies that rest which the church will enjoy till after the final judgment it shall after the destruction of her Antinot be so. christian enemies.” POETRY. The Rise of Salem. BENEATH the palm tree weeps the maid Judah's bereft, and all her grandeur shorn; No marshalled armies now attend thy gate; Wisdom no more arrayed in mystic dress, array; No longer glitter in the blaze of day; And thus in darkness caused thy name t'ex- But why, desponding, thus thy fate deplore, Behold the prophet bard with joy appears, years, When from the dust fair Salem shall arise, And science dwell in her Arcadian bower; The rays of truth upon thy plains shall And sacred pleasure light each faded cheek; cease; 1 Samuel iv. 20. She heard, but she wept not, her spirit was broken, In grief and in anguish her infant was born; No smile was its birthright, no welcome was spoken, No gazing of maidens, no gifts to adorn. For the ark of her God, by the Philistines taken, Her country no more with its light to Israel at once of its glory forsaken,— illume, Is her death-wail of woe, as she sinks to the tomb. How fearful the stroke that her spirit hath riven, REVIEW. 1. Statement relative to Serampore, supplementary to a" Brief Memoir." By J. MARSHMAN, D. D. With Intro ductory Observations by John Foster. 8vo. pp. lxxi. 172. Price 3s. Parbury, Allen and Co. sons at home who were most intimately connected with the mission, and with all its transactions and agents. After a course of years, however, an officer of the Institution -one of the few with whom it had originated-one who had watched every step of 2. A Letter to John Broadley Wilson, Esq. its progress, and bound up his life in its Treasurer of the Baptist Missionary fortunes-the venerable Dr. Ryland-wrote Society, occasioned by "A Statement to the brethren in India, of whom he was relative to Serampore, by J. Marshman, now the oldest and most endeared friend in D.D. with introductory Observations existence, not, as he has often since deby John Foster;" including Original clared, to satisfy his own mind or the minds Correspondence, &c. By JOHN DYER, of others, that the Society possessed proSecretary to the Baptist Missionary perty there, of which no doubt was enterSociety. 8vo. pp. 86. Price 2s. Wight- tained, but simply to propose such a legał investiture of a portion of the property, as man and Co. Price 3. Vindication of the Calcutta Baptist might preclude the most sceptical from the Missionaries; in Answer to "A State-possibility of doubting the literal truth of ment relative to Serampore, by J. Marsh- what was habitually affirmed. This proceman, D.D. with Introductory Observa-dure was in coincidence with the advice of tions, by John Foster." By EUSTACE one out of three of the very parties adCAREY and WILLIAM YATES. dressed. No event had previously occurred 2s. 8vo. pp. 104. Wightman and Co. to break in upon the harmony, or impair the confidence, which had from the beginning 4. The Spirit of the Serampore System, marked their correspondence; yet this letas it existed in 1812 and 1813; with ter was answered by one consisting of many Strictures on some parts of Dr. Marsh-closely printed pages, recurring to natural man's "Statement relative to Seram- principles and inalienable rights, and appore," in a Series of Letters to a Friend. pealing to every poignant feeling of indignaBy WM. JOHNS, M.D. F.L.S. F.H.S tion against flagrant oppression, and all that 8vo. pp. 74. Price 1s. 6d. Wightman is tender in sympathy for the oppressed. and Co. 1 (Continued from p. 462.) "The Committee were filled with consternation. They believed that the measure which simple expediency had induced them to propose, had been entirely misconceived; and they sought by friendly correspondence to dissipate the misunderstanding. Explanation followed explanation; remonstrance succeeded to remonstrance; no entreaties, no concessions, no solemn declarations were spared, so long as any hope of an honourable HAVING presented our readers with the leading facts, in relation to the state of things at Serampore and Calcutta, it remains that we briefly advert to the separation of the former from the Parent Society, and the spirit and conduct of the Committee in this critical junc-adjustment of differences remained. With ture. The following extract, equally concise and comprehensive, contains a lively representation of the perplexities into which they have been thrown; and in which, taking into consideration all the circumstances of the case, we are of opinion they have exhibited a happy combination of firmness and amenity. to this object, for many years, that it seemsuch intensity did they devote their counsels ed almost to absorb their anxieties, and materially diverted their attention from the more vital and permanent interests of the Institution. They receive, with friendship, the misunderstanding originated: they conthree successive agents from the scene where sent to the overtures of the two first, and to the first proposals made by the third. But while felicitating themselves and the religious world on the peaceful termination of the disputes, new interviews are sought: additional demands are pressed; preceding adjustments are set aside; and they are thrown back into the frightful maze of former altercations, with the discouraging reLL collection of frustrated efforts and disap-gravely inquiring at the close, whether the pointed hope." Vindication, pp. 6, 7. Committee claimed the same right over them as a West India planter did over his slave? To such a question, of course, there was no difficulty in replying; but it appeared that nothing would satisfy the Doctor except an explicit declaration, on the part of the Committee, that when missionaries were placed in the situation in which he and his colleagues stood, they became, both de facto and de jure, wholly independent of the So The result of these negociations is universally known and regretted; and it becomes a matter of serious inquiry, on whom must rest the onus of a disruption, which, however affected by circumstances; is in itself deeply to be deplored-on Dr. Marshman, for demanding too much; or on the Commit-ciety which sent them forth—a proposition tee, for conceding too little? on which the Committee had never deliberated, and involving such a reference to the first principles of all Missionary Societies, that it was clearly impossible to decide upon Our readers will bear in mind, that long before the arrival of Dr. Marshman, the Committee had solemnly dis-it at the moment." Letter, p. 20. claimed all intention to interfere with the management at Serampore; and beyond this point they could not advance, consistently with their obligations to the Christian public. But this did not satisfy Dr. Marshman; for the very first question he proposed at the Committee-meeting in August, 1826, as a point to be settled before he could enter on any minor negociation, was-" Do you esteem your Serampore brethren as co-operating with you, and as perfectly independent of you as you are of them?" Here, we conceive, a gross fallacy has been imposed on the public. An attempt has been made to divert the mind from the real gist of the argument, by losing sight of the official relation which subsists between a Missionary Society and its agents, and viewing both the Committee and the missionaries, not as public functionaries, but as private individuals. As private individuals, mutual independence is the natural and inalienable right of both parties; but this is not the question. The point to be determined is-Are Societies and their missionaries mutually independent as such? "It was stated, iu reply, that for many years the word independent was never heard of; that they had declared themselves to be so, and the Committee had since acted with them as fellow-workers, without claiming any authority; and the resolution of Dec. 31, 1819, was appealed to in confirmation of this statement. This resolution, the Doctor remarked, was unsatisfactory; to disclaim an intention was one thing; to disclaim the right was another; and proceeded to explain his own views on the subject at some length, The mooting of this question naturally led to the subject of property, and of course to the repeated assertions of Mr. Fuller as to the extent and value of the Society's property in India. If further evidence on this point were needed, we could produce a letter from Mr. Fuller to Dr. Ryland, by which it appears, that in 1811 he considered that the premises at Serampore belonged to the Society, not only "to have and to hold," but, if occasion required, to be pledged as security for pecuniary advances! The production of this letter, however, is not only unnecessary, but in the judgment of Dr. Marshman it would be perfectly nugatory. There was a time, indeed, when the views of Mr. Fuller on this subject were considered decisive; but since Dr. Marshman has found that they were in unison with those of the Committee, and opposed to his own, he has received new light, and made a prodigious discovery! In reply to the assurances of the Committee, that if they had been led into erroneous views of this question, they had the sanction of his friend Mr. Fuller, Dr. Marshman very sagely observed, that Mr. Fuller was 66 mistaken,” that he was "totally wrong," and that "the Committee must allow he was a fallible man!" So then, Mr. Fuller is an oracle, or "a fallible man," in proportion as his sentiments happen to agree with those of Dr. Marshman! But, apart from the absurdity of this assumption, the assertion of Mr. Fuller's fallibility is perfectly idle. Surely it an admiring world. Now, as nothing can be more irksome and distressing to an ingenuous mind, than to be congratulated on the possession of a virtue which has no existence, so it might have been presumed our brethren would does not require infallibility either to while we feel no disposition to impute read or to understand the letters which blame to the makers of this " paper the missionaries wrote! Unless we dis- constitution," for abandoning a volunbelieve their statements, it is absolutely tary arrangement which they found to impossible to arrive at any other con- be impracticable, we are compelled to clusion. We presume Dr. Ryland's avow our conviction, that they ought, fallibility will be gravely asserted next, in common candour, to have avowed the because in 1812, he was so simple as to change. They could not be blind to believe that his friend Dr. Marshman Mr. Fuller's exhibition of this noble really meant what he said, when he as-monument of missionary self-denial, sured him, in the most unequivocal nor deaf to the responding plaudits of terms, that the Society had property in India to the amount of "full twenty thousand pounds!" Seriously, we conceive the only question for consideration is-(and we cannot too deeply lament that it should ever have become a question,)—Are the statements of Dr. Marsh-have been in haste to avow the truth, man, in 1812, to be believed? For, if this humiliating as that truth might be; and question be answered in the affirmative, that, when all classes of the Christian the subject of property is decided for community, in the eastern and western ever, and decided by himself. In the hemispheres, viewing them as almost letter to which we allude, he not only super-human, concurred in offering the states the simple fact for which we are incense of praise, they would instantly contending, but expressly distinguishes | have interposed, and said, "Sirs, why between the property which belonged do ye these things? We also are men of to the Society as such, and property like passions with you!" The avowal of which belonged neither to the Society the change by Dr. Marshman, after a nor to the missionaries, but to "the concealment of more than twenty years, church of God and the religious public!" might well excite in the minds of the A more complete and unequivocal an- Committee sensations of "surprise, swer to the miserable subterfuge after-strong and universal." "It did appear wards resorted to, of substituting "the strange, that a fact like this should ne. cause of God" for "the Society," is ver have been stated before." scarcely conceivable. Surely, the Doctor will not negative every pretension to common sense, by reiterating that these were "casual expressions, drop-reservation. Not that we intend to ped in affectionate carelessness!" that we It is with unfeigned concern, cannot receive Dr. Marshman's account of this meeting without considerable insinuate that the Doctor is chargeable with intentional misrepresentation; but surely he must possess a most treacherous memory, and exactly answer to the description given of him by his friend Mr. Ward-that "about business he has no settled recollection." From the question of property, the transition was easy and natural to the "Form of Agreement in 1805." But what will our readers think, when we inform them, that it was now announced, for the first time, that this Act of the Serampore Parliament did not continue We had intended to present our in force many months, that it certainly readers with the memoriter account to was not acted upon a single year, and which we have referred, and to have that, to Dr. Marshman's knowledge, it placed beside it the passage introduced was never once read, as it was stipu- by Mr. Dyer, not from recollection, but lated it should be, at their monthly from the minutes taken at the time by meetings! We are not, indeed, greatly a skilful and well-known short-hand surprised at this result. Like some writer. In that case, we should have other schemes of Serampore, it was too requested our readers to look, first on romantic for practical purposes. But this picture, then on that, and discover, |