Vah-ta-ah, the Feejecan Princess; with occasional allusions to Feejeean Customs, and illustrations of Feejeean Life. By the Rev. Joseph Waterhouse. London: Hamilton, Adams, and Co. THIS little book unfolds the dark and sanguinary picture of human nature reduced to the lowest state of savage life. We see stolid ignorance combined with deep depravity, working their direst results in all uncleanness, malignity, and ferocious cruelty. Alas, what is man when left to himself, but a combination of the demon and the brute? Yet, over a nature so deeply fallen, the gospel has effected a complete triumphtransforming the savage into the image of the blessed God. While this gracious change is seen in the experience of Vah-ta-ah, the ameliorating influence of the Gospel is seen in the general effects produced in Feejee; that land of cannibalism is now added to the number of Christian lands. Churches and schools are planted at Bau, and on other largely peopled islands of the group. Native ministers are the spiritual guides and instructors of congregations of willing worshippers. The art of reading is widely diffused. The Holy Scriptures are studied with devout attention. Peace and security to property and life have restored to cultivation many fertile tracts of land, which had for a long time been forsaken and laid waste. Industry and foreign commerce are introducing the arts and comforts of civilized life. A social, moral, and religious revolution, hardly to be paralleled in the history of the world, has been effected within the last twenty years by the intrepid and persevering labours of a few devoted missionaries. Persons and Places; or the Right Man in the Right Place. A Lecture by J. Stokoe. Second Edition. London: J. B. Cooke, 21, Warwick-lane, Paternoster-row. WE are glad to see a second edition of this clever and interesting lecture. The former edition had our warm commendation, but the present one is an improvement in some respects, and is printed on better paper. That a second edition should be called for in so short a time is creditable both to the author and his readers. POETRY. "NO NIGHT THERE." DAY and Night, with solemn greeting, Unto me are still repeating, "Life is wasting, Time is fleeting: "For the end prepare! "Look beyond thy low condition, "Upward to the great transition, "To the land of open vision "Night comes never there!" May each night, while slowly falling, Be to me mine end recalling, Lift my mind from Time's enthralling, And my spirit bear Thither where no sin distresses, Lord! my light and my salvation, Night comes never there! E. AL *ter se of ent makes known nese words, " And Melchizedek, king -སgu0 1orth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God, and he blessed him and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth and blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all."-Genesis xiv. 18-20. The only additional particulars we learn of Melchizedek, even from St. Paul, are contained in these perplexing words, "Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually."Hebrews vii. 3. With these statements men are not satisfied; and hence the numerous conjectures concerning Melchizedek. Many of the ancients and some of the moderns have supposed that he was a superhuman person, even the Son of God himself, or the Holy Spirit, or an angel. The absurdity of such opinions must strike every one who considers the fact, that he must have been a man, or he could not have been the priest of the most high God. "Every high priest taken from among men, is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins; who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he also is encompassed with infirmity."-Hebrews v. 1, 2. Now if Melchizedek had been the Holy Ghost or an angel, instead of a man, where would have been his infirmities to have fitted him for the priesthood? and surely the Son of God could have no infirmities before he was made flesh and dwelt among us. Besides, St. Paul expressly says that he was a man, in these words, "Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils."Hebrews vii. 4. Even Jesus Christ had to be made a man before he could become "a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."-Hebrews ii. 14, 18. In this respect Melchizedek, Aaron, and Christ are alike, they were all men. Among men, Enoch, Shem, and Job have been thought worthy of being called the Melchizedek of the Bible. The editor of Calmet, Mr. Taylor, earnestly contends that Shem, the son of Noah, is the veritable Melchizedek of the Scriptures. By long and elaborate reasonings he tries to prove his opinion; but one fatal objection lies against all that he has written upon this subject. And that is, we are all well acquainted with the genealogy of Shem; and of him it never could be said, in any sense, that he was "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life." The best writers now acknowledge that these remarkable words mean, that, as a man, his birth and death, or father and mother, are not recorded in Scripture, which certainly is not the case with Shem, the son of Noah. Melchizedek was a real person, and there seems most probability, in the opinion of Josephus, and several eminent modern writers, that he was a descendant, not far removed, of one of the sons of Noah: that he was a powerful chieftain, or head of a tribe, among the Canaanites, and, after the custom of the patriarchal ages, was, as head of his tribe, both king and priest. My own conviction is, that Melchizedek was his proper name, and there is just as much sense in asking, who was Melchizedek, king of Salem? as there would be in asking, who was Amraphel, king of Shinar? spoken of in the same chapter in Genesis. What we have to do with is, the instruction to be derived from his priesthood and reign, in both of which he was pre-eminently a type of Christ. II.-Melchizedek was the priest of the most high God. St. Paul represents him as being far superior to Aaron and his sons, whose origin, consecration, life, and death are well known; and as Melchizedek is superior to the Aaronical priests, and as Christ is a priest after his order, so Christ must be far superior to them. Such is the conclusion to which we are brought by the reasonings of St. Paul in this epistle on the priesthood. That this conclusion is just, is evident from the following considerations : First, Melchizedek's priesthood was superior to Aaron's on the ground of its universality. It is expressly stated both in Genesis xiv. and in Hebrews vii. that Melchizedek was the "priest of the most high God." This implies that he was appointed to the office in such a public manner, that all the worshippers of the true God in Canaan knew him to be the "priest of the most high God." And his designa |