women, some highly polished cocoa-nut dishes, to hold water, some hatchets, a sabre or two, a few sailors' knives, and several spears. A family generally possesses two or three boats. Their chief food is bread, made of a fruit of a kind of palm-tree; yams, several other good roots, and fruit from various trees and shrubs; plenty of pork and poultry, fed with cocoa-nuts, and remarkably good; and an abundance of crabs and sea-fish. Their dress is adapted to the climate, being merely an apron or strip of cloth passed round their bodies. They pride themselves upon their fine skin, which they keep very clean. They live in licentious habits, often to the utter ruin of their constitutions in very early life. They are a good-natured race, being always ready to do a kind action to their friends, of which Haensal mentions the following instance:-"We used to buy of them what we wanted, and to pay them with tobacco, which is the current medium. By the non-arrival of the ship, we were once left entirely without it: we therefore told the captain of the village, that the people need not bring us any more provisions, for we had nothing to give in exchange. The captain did as we desired; yet, on the very next day, we were supplied more plentifully than ever with the things we wanted. They would not even wait for pay; but hung up their fruit and meat about the house and went away. We called after them, and told them how we were situated. Their answer was: When you had plenty of tobacco, you gave us as much as you could spare: we have provisions enough, and you shall have as much as you want, so long as we have any, till you get more tobacco. This promise they faithfully performed. Such kindness we did not expect from such people; but they always showed great affection for us." As to religion, they are in a state of deplorable ignorance. They are not professed idolaters, like most of the other oriental nations. They have not even a word in their language to express their idea of God. When the missionaries endeavoured to explain to them the goodness of God, in pitying the lost condition of man, and providing the means of our redemption, they listened with astonishment and silent submission; but that they were interested in the message, was more than they could comprehend. "When," says the missionary, "we added that we had come to their island for no other purpose but to make them acquainted with their Creator and Redeemer, and urged them to lay the matter to heart, they only laughed at us. They insisted that they were good by nature, and never did any thing wrong, as we well knew." They believe that all dangerous diseases proceed from the devil, who is nevertheless under the control of their sorcerers: if, therefore, these men cannot cure a disorder by their tricks, by which they pretend to catch the devil and drive him off the place, they then pretend that he has entered into some man or woman, who, by witchcraft, is sucking the power of healing out of the patient's body. The sorcerer then proceeds to discover the witch, and finds no difficulty in fixing upon some person whom he dislikes. His word is taken for the voice of truth, and the poor person accused is murdered without further inquiry. They seem to recognise the spirit of evil in all their religious rites: they even ascribe the creation of the world to him. If they commit any crime, they answer, "It was not I, it was the devil that did it." If told that they did it themselves, they reply, "The Creator did not make me perfect;" and therefore they cannot help sometimes doing what is wrong. They speak of many sorts of devils, but all malicious and disposed to hurt them, if they had not such great and powerful sorcerers among them, who have superior power, and can catch and bring them into subjection. It is not difficult for the sorcerers thus to impose upon these poor ignorant people, as they possess much cunning, and astonishing dexterity, being perhaps the most expert jugglers in the world. Their deceptions are so great, that the missionaries often stood astonished, being unable to account for what they saw.-To cure disorders, they pretend with incredible slight of hand to conjure enchanted yams, potsherds, or other articles out of their patients' bodies, and they even attempted to practise their arts upon the missionaries themselves. But as it sometimes happened, that when the skill of the sorcerers proved ineffective, a missionary administered some simple medicine which had the desired effect, the people looked upon the strangers as the chief of sorcerers, though their medicines consisted of nothing but magnesia, spirits of nitre, and a few simples. But what astonished them most, was that the missionaries could inform them before-hand, by means of a perpetual almanack, that an eclipse of the sun or moon would take place on the very day when it happened. Their notion of the cause of an eclipse is, that an evil spirit comes to devour the sun or moon, and falls to work to gnaw off the edge; and, consequently, the sorcerers and the people assemble with spears, gongs, and hideous uproar to frighten him away.-To expel the devil from a sick person or family, they construct and decorate a small raft. This toy they place between two boats, each rowed by a crew of stout young men. The head sorcerer, his skin painted all over in the most hideous manner, and armed with a club, makes gesticulations the most horrible with yells and howlings, till, pretending to seize the invisible enemy by a leg, an arm, or even by the hair of his head, he deposits him on board the raft, which the boats tow out to sea. The enemy, they say, may survive this rough usage, if driven on shore by the tide or wind within two days; but on the third day he must die. Should he land at another village, he does the mischief there, which he was prevented doing at the former place; and in consequence the greatest enmity immediately takes place between the two villages, and nothing can atone for the ag. gression but a combat between them. The business is soon decided, peace is restored, and all are convinced that the vanquished party was the aggressor. Shortly after entering upon their sphere of Christian exertion, the missionaries purchased a piece of land, and made a treaty of friendship with the people, so that they were no longer looked upon as foreigners, but as natives. Some malicious persons, however, endeavoured to * 214 Counsels for the Sanctuary, &c. raise suspicions in the minds of their country- the hearts and feelings of humble believers. His succeeding volume, addressed specifically, and with judicious discrimination, to the young, to the aged, and to families, rose to a higher elevation in point of real value, and have deservedly found a place in the select library of the practical Christian. The volume before us, is designed to complete the author's series of illustrations of Christian morality, in its ap life. It is addressed to various classes in the church and in society, while the difficulties of their respective situations, and the correlative duties are pointed at with clearness and precision. Without professing to have accomplished a perfect survey of the church or of the world in their varied aspects and modes of living, he seems to have selected those classes to whom the tuition of piety in its minutest statements and calls appeared to be most requisite and suitable; and while he obviously wishes to approve himself as the guide of the humblest, and to enter into their duties and trials with a kindliness which must interest them, he has done it with that delicacy which renders lessons for the poor agreeable to the more refined, and maintains the gravity and dignified decorum which ought ever to be the leading character of holy admonition. In regard to those in superior stations, or who occupy particular official places in society, we are confident that no man of ordinary sense and principle will charge him with presumption, but that he will be hailed with affectionate regard as their best and most valued friend. The failure of the mission was owing to various causes: among others, the extreme difficulty of learning the language; the unhealthi-plication to the various spheres and periods of ness of the climate, by which most of the missionaries were carried off before they could learn it; and the mode of life of the missionaries, who were obliged to employ themselves in clearing, planting, and other laborious work, to the great injury of their health and the consumption of their valuable time.-Not one of them ever learned the Nicobar language so perfectly as to be able clearly to explain to the people the will of God concerning human salvation. "But," adds Haensal, "I am of opinion that they are not the most hopeless subjects, and think that the Gospel might be preached to them with success, if the abovementioned obstacles were removed."-" I bless the Lord my Saviour," concludes this venerable man, 66 for preserving me in the midst of all trouble and danger; and if I appear to have endured some sufferings in body and mind in the East Indies, more especially by the total failure of our endeavours to gain souls for Christ from among the heathen in the place to which we were sent, I praise the Lord for the great mercies I have since experienced in the West Indies, where I have beheld with joy the power of the word of his Cross, in the conversion of hundreds and thousands of Negroes, among whom I have had the favour to proclaim it. I still think of, and pray for, the poor ignorant inhabitants of the East, and particularly of the Nicobar Islands; and trust that the time will soon come, when, though some of Christ's servants have sowed in tears, others shall reap with joy. May the glory of His saving Name be made manifest in all the earth, and the Gospel be proclaimed in its most dark and distant parts, by the present extended circulation of the Bible, and the exertions of His people of every denomination.” From the Edinburgh Christian Instructor. WITH such writers as Dr. Belfrage, we are "In Nothing delights us more than to meet with sound and practical applications of Christian principles to the business and the avocations of ordinary life. While we are pleased with such searching books as those of Owen on dwelling Sin," or "Alleine's Alarm," and can recommend them most cordially to public attention, we must say that we still desiderate more such works as those of Stennet on "Domestic Duties," and Dr. Chalmers's" Commercial Discourses." We think we see, in the religious aspect of the Christian world at present, a something that renders such works peculiarly seasonable. An idea has gone abroad amongst us that faith, if real, will necessarily lead to practical godliness, and that provided you establish principles and furnish motives, you may save yourselves the trouble of expounding the law and laying down rules. Indeed, we have more than once heard the holy law of God openly denounced, and by some ministers of the sanctuary too, as being absolutely nothing to us; as having nothing in any shape to do with a believer; and as entirely at variance with the grace of the gospel. An antinoinian of this class once said to us in a familiar conversation, "Oh, I dislike that cold word-duty." We asked him what he liked in place of it? and he replied, "love-privilege-comfort—that's the thing for a New Testament believer." We could not see the inconsistency between the duties and the enjoyments of a believer, especially when we thought of the Psalmist's declaration, "Great peace have they who love thy law," or the statement of the prophet Isaiah, "The fruit of righteousness is peace; and the effect of righ teousness, quietness and assurance for ever;" or the words of a greater than either David or Isaiah, "If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." We wonder greatly that our modern "marrow men" are so ignorant as not to know, that while part first of that celebrated book seems to countenance them in their unholy dogmas by some very objectionable and unguarded expressions, the second part, which was not published in Scotland till the heat of controversy about the doctrine of the book had subsided, contains a most admirable set off against the supposed doctrine of the first, în one of the clearest and most powerful delineations of the obligations and rules of the Christian life we ever read. It expounds the whole law given at Sinai, as the rule of a believing life; and the morality which it breathes is very high-toned. We wish our modern speculators on the high points of the first part would deign to look into the plain and common-place morality of the second; and, we think that this last is fairly entitled to a place in the valuable series, entitled "Select Christian Authors," and perhaps our worthy friend, the author of the Unconditional Scheme," might be worse employed than in prefacing it with an "introductory essay;" to do away, if possible, the mischief which his own book is doing among the fair dames of our land. | His meaning was, that there had been fully enough of plain, every day, common morality, though even grounded on evangelical principles, and he wished his minister to rise into a more elevated and attractive sphere. A dignity belongs to the pulpit, beyond question; but the "minuteness of fidelity" requires a faithful minister to descend frequently from the ethereal regions of a sublime theology, into the less splendid, but not less healthful atmosphere of Christian morals. The sanctified ingenuity of a zealous minister will make all things pay homage to the cross, and he will studiously apply the rich stores of intellect and of theology to the business of ordinary life, and to the varied aspects of civil society. Believers, it is very true, will be inclined to follow holiness; but neither our Lord nor his apostles seem to have thought practical directions useless. The New Testament teems with such; and, high as our standard of doctrine is, we will be perfectly satisfied if all our preachers and all our authors are just as evangelical as our blessed Lord and his apostles. The funeral sermon on Dr. Waugh is interesting. We knew the man well; and he was the object of our love and reverence. His chief failing was one that "leaned to virtue's side," an excess of affection-a fondness for drawing characters and paying compliments in a too luscious style, and a readiness to give certificates of good character to all that asked them. Dr. B. has spoken of him con amore, but in the copy we recognise distinctly the fair lineaments of the original. From the Spirit and Manners of the Age. LETTERS TO A FRIEND. THE object of this very interesting and highly useful work, which was originally published in America, but not until after the death of its pious and gifted author, is made apparent by its title; but its nature will be more immediately shown by a passage from the introduction.* "There is certainly no state of mind which involves more interest in its issue, or presents a more imperative claim on our sym The volume before us is a valuable addition to our stock of Christian morals. Were we to mention the particular discourses in it which appear to us to possess no common interest and value, we would at once mention the series from number 10 to number 18, the titles of which run thus: "Grace to the Poor; Caution to the Rich ;* The Shipwreck; The Devout Soldier; The Husbandman Admonished; The Honourable Merchant; The Respected Physician; The Christian Doctrine respecting Law Suits." We think our author has been particularly happy in his delineations of the "Honourable Merchant," and the "Respected Physician"—subjects somewhat delicate to handle; and more especially when there are so many of both professions who are ready to look on with a disdainful smile, and to put the contemptuous question, "Dost thou teach us?” We know many who will read them with inter-pathies, or brings more effectually into exerest and profit; and our wish for all classes in the sanctuary and in civil life is, that they may each and all receive, with a suitable spirit, the "portion of meat" here provided for them. Dr. B. has proved himself to be a skilful "divider of the word of life;" and his minuteness never degenerates into mean vulgarity. The pulpit, we fear, has been injured by the very idea of exclusive sacredness which is attached to it; and a worthy friend of ours who had been preaching, as was thought, rather long on the duties of masters and servants, &c. was lately accosted thus by one of his elders: "Wae, Sir, some of us are thinking you have been rather long about the kitchen." cise our hopes and our fears, than that of the man who has been partially aroused from the slumber of spiritual death, and looks around him with an agitated feeling to ask-What must I do to be saved?" The design of the work as here intimated, is to assist the serious inquirer after truth, and to convey to him, at the moment of anxious solicitude, an answer to the solemn and important question-"What must I do to be saved?" The prefatory matter of the volume comprehends-Memoirs of the Author; Extracts from a Funeral Sermon on the occasion of his Death, by the Rev. B. Gildersleeve; and Extracts from the Author's Letters to his Friends in England; but its principal contents consist of thirteen Letters addressed to a Friend. They are evidently the production of a strong natural genius, assisted * Written by the learned Dr. Pye Smith. by deep experimental knowledge of the truths they inculcate, added to the fervent operations of a mind influenced by the most earnest concern for the salvation of man. The author, we have said, was prevented by death from seeing the completion of his design,-he died while the work was preparing for publication; but he has bequeathed us a rich legacy, which cannot but make his memory dear to the heart of the Christian. His letters are remarkable for the simplicity, and yet the elegance, of their style; and the examples afforded, as illustrative of the important precepts laid down, render them equally interesting and instructive. They exhibit a picture of the human mind in its most interesting, and, we may justly add, alarming, state. Their composition breathes throughout a spirit of purity and exalted piety. We cannot view such a work with common feelings; we have read its pages with deep interest, and therefore those who feel the vital importance of the subject, and are disposed to follow the advice of one whose deep experience and ardent piety were strikingly exemplified by the able and zealous discharge of all the duties of a Christian minister, during a period of eleven years, we can, with confidence, promise a rich store of usefulness and enjoyment. And there is Hope, when hearts with anguish swell, That those same hearts with joy may soon be beating: And there is Hope that, in the dungeon cell, The lonely captive in his chains is greeting And even tells him, "Thou shalt yet again Behold thy home, thy wife and infant train." There is a Hope for seamen on the deep, And morning usher in unclouded skies: From the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine. TO THE INFANT DAUGHTER OF A FRIEND. THOUGH like some pledge of angel's love, Semblance of things in heaven above, Image of cherubim, thou be, -I may not, would not, "worship" thee! But whom ev'n angels might caress, Shall not these lips have leave to bless? Thy opening charms, thy witching smiles, Thy innocent sports, endearments, wiles, And-like a casket ivory-wrought, From heaven's repository broughtThy fair form-and, just sparkling to my eye, The gem of mind, of immortality,All, all, thou cherub-babe, my heart have won, And prompt its feeble, fervent benison. What blessing shall I give, or pray My God to give thee, day by day? There's one, which not affection more For thee constrains me to implore, Than grateful feeling for a friend, (For all thy joys with her's will blend,) Whose kindness once, uncourted, cared Ev'n for a stranger, and prepared Her peaceful home, and made it seem, In sickness, like a home to him. She is thy Mother.-May she live to be Mother, and such a mother, long to thee! And may thy presence long to her be spared, Her solace, triumph, treasure, and reward! Ah! and when thou must cease to feel That source of bliss, and balm of ill, The blessing of a mother's care,May He who hears the orphan's prayer, Himself to thee, thy Father give! Or, certain and alternative,When she must lose her earthly prize, Reclaim'd, refitted for the skies,May He, who is the archangels' all, Be hers, propitious to her call! Yea, from thy childhood's earliest wants and fears, And to her latest and her loneliest years, And evermore may He, the eternal He, The daughter's friend, the mother's portion be! ALEC. 1 5 RELIGIOUS MAGAZINE, OR SPIRIT OF THE FOREIGN THEOLOGICAL JOURNALS AND REVIEWS. NOVEMBER, 1829. From the British Critic. ARCHDEACON TOWNSON'S PRACTI CAL DISCOURSES.* THE world is occasionally refreshed by the spectacle of persons, whose Christian walk seems, in some sort, to resemble the life of the ancient people of Attica, as described by their own poet, where he speaks of them as nourished with all sacred and noble wisdom, and expatiating with delight in the perpetual serenity of their cloudless skies.t Incessant calm and sunshine appears to rest upon the heads of these blessed, almost sainted individuals. To all human discernment, their faith is free from vicissitudes, their hope is liable to no dim and disastrous eclipse, and their charity is like a heavenly dew which the Holy Spirit is constantly shedding on their hearts. Their life is sanctity and benevolence, and their end is peace. Among this favoured class may be numbered the author of this volume, if we are to judge of him by the account of his original biographer, Archdeacon Churton, an abridgment of whose narrative is prefixed by the editor to the present posthumous selection from his sermons. From the cradle to the grave his days appear to have glided on in a tranquil tenor, agreeably and gently diversified by literary pursuits, theological studies, and parochial duties. From the earliest to the latest hours of his life, he never for a moment lost sight of the star, which they who follow shall surely be brought into the presence of their Saviour: and he appears to have been conducted by it, over a quiet and level country to the end of his wayfaring, where it shed a pure and peaceful light over the termination of his labours. What secret conflicts he may have endured in the course of his pilgrimage; what may have been the internal warfare by * Practical Discourses: a Selection from the unpublished Manuscripts of the late venerable Thomas Townson, D.D. Archdeacon of Richmond; one of the Rectors of Malpas, Cheshire; and sometime Fellow of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford. Not published. London. 1828. pp. 400. Η — ἀποφερβόμενοι κλεινοτάταν σοφίαν, ἀεὶ διὰ λαμπροτάτου Czívortes åСpüs áidépos.”—Eurip. Medea, Rel. Mag.-VOL. IV. which his gentle spirit was perfected, and made meet for its unfading inheritance; it is impossible for man to know. Of outward suffering and trial, his share appears to have been moderate. His life was, on the whole, prosperous and secure, and (what is a rare and enviable felicity) his occupations were exactly congenial to his disposition, and to his powers. A considerable portion of his days, it is true, were passed in solitude, not wholly by choice, but in consequence of an early disappointment in his affections; and this seems to have been the darkest shadow which passed over his existence. But his solitude does not seem to have been haunted by melancholy or discontent. His life was one of cheerful equanimity, enlivened by the consciousness, that wherever he was known he was honoured and beloved. Sickness appears scarcely to have touched him until he was seized with the malady which terminated his existence; and then, full of years, and without severe or protracted suffering, he fell asleep in the Lord. There is something very soothing and delightful in the contemplation of such a life. It may, indeed, be more awful and spirit-stirring to look abroad upon the raging ocean around us, where thousands and tens of thousands, perhaps, are making shipwreck of faith and virtue, while some few dauntless spirits are winning their way, through the strife of the elements, to the haven where they would be. But if we would for a moment breathe the air of a better world, and look upon scenes which speak of the orderly, serene and blissful obediof placid devotion, and of retired beneficence ence of the angels, we must seek the dwelling and usefulness; we must watch the manifestations of a soul in peaceful communion with God. Such scenes are sometimes presented They offer us a relief from the feverish exciteto us for seasonable and salutary purposes. ment occasioned by a close inspection of that desperate game which is constantly going on before our eyes; that turbulent and ruthless collision of sublunary interests, which drives away all recollection of the rest that is reserved for the people of God. The life of such men as Townson is not merely gratifying to the moral sensibility; it is something more; it may fairly be regarded in the light of positive evidence that there is a higher and purer state of existence yet to come. No one can see and think upon such men, and yet believe that No. 23.—T |