profess, a monopoly of biblical criticism, it has been useless in your hands; and from a comparison of the two parties, we can only infer, that the purity of scriptural doctrine is far more effective of good than the accuracy of a scriptural text; and that the imperishable spirit of the New Covenant, rather than the fading letter, is the mighty weapon which will subvert the strong-holds of Satan.' pp. 58, 59.

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It is not the least valuable part of Mr. Halley's reply, that he has shewn by many examples (and those examples might have been multiplied almost ad infinitum) that the translators have violated the pledge they had given, and which has so often been vauntingly repeated, that their version is in exact coincidence with Griesbach's text. Mr. Yates, in his letter to the Vice Chancellor, mentions this first, as a benefit resulting from the Improved Version. Being,' as he asserts, corrected to Griesbach's last text, 'it assists English readers to know whether any part of the Greek text is to be received as genuine, or rejected as spurious. Had this been truly and faithfully performed, we should have been among the foremost to admit, that an important service had been rendered but if any person had previously been disposed to rely on the ipse dixit of Socinian writers on this subject, instead of examining for themselves, the question has been so thoroughly sifted by Mr. Halley within the compass of a few pages, that no doubt can remain on the subject. To pass over minor instances, we ask, Has Griesbach marked as spurious, or questioned the authenticity of those portions of Matthew's and Luke's Gospels, which the Editors of the Improved Version have dared to print in italics, while they are compelled to admit that the passages thus branded as spurious, are found in all MSS. and versions extant? On this subjeet Mr. Halley writes :

:

I might thus proceed from chapter to chapter in succession, and point out discrepancies in almost every page, which I should not have noticed, were it not for the vain and delusive profession of "complete coincidence with Griesbach." But, to furnish an adequate idea of the fallacy of this profession, it will be necessary to select a few more important instances, from which it will appear, that in omissions and alterations, in almost every possible way, the authority of Griesbach has been disregarded.

The printing of the introductory chapters of Matthew and Luke, "in Italics, as an intimation that they are of doubtful authority," has been animadverted upon by many writers in the Unitarian Controversy. The question is,--Did Griesbach print them with any mark of designation as of doubtful authority? For you print in the same type, and with precisely the same marks, some other passages which are noticed by Griesbach as probably spurious. See John viii. 1—11. I confess, I did hope, when I read your letter, that, as the version had been revised and collated with Griesbach, these chapters would appear, in the fourth edition, in their proper character.

From the style in which these chapters are printed, and from the unaccountable suppression of any notice of his opinion, the mere English reader must inevitably conclude, that they are marked as doubtful by the great critic with whom you profess to be in complete coincidence. But are they so marked? Griesbach's opinion must have been known to the editors: "That beyond the possibility of reasonable doubt, the Greek text of Matthew's Gospel never existed without these chapters." We find, too, these chapters, with the exception of the genealogy, inclosed in brackets. You say, in your advertisement, that you thus include "the words which Griesbach regarded as very doubtful, or perhaps spurious ;" and there is no other explanation. You thus in effect say, that Griesbach regards as very doubtful what he pronounces to be indisputably genuine. Thirty verses in one place are falsely bracketed; and every word in them is in unauthorized and unacknowledged opposition to his text. We do not ask, as we well might, for your proof, that the gospel of the Ebionites was the gospel of St. Matthew ;--we do not insist, if it were so, upon the probability of its having been grossly and purposely mutilated;—we do not stay to inquire whether you constitute a text upon the authority of tradition or upon the authority of manuscripts; we do not press you, as we well might, to admit other readings of the Ebionites, so far as they can be ascertained, to give consistency to your volume;-but we ask, whether you profess to print the canonical gospels of the Christian Church; and if you do, what is the meaning of your brackets? Unless you can reconcile them with your own advertisement, their condemnation of your book is far more severe than that of His Honour the Vice-Chancellor of England.'

pp. 49, 50.

We beg, in concluding, to present our very sincere thanks to Mr. Yates for having given occasion to the writing and publication of so acute and judicious a defence of evangelical truth, on the principles of sound criticism, as that contained in Mr. Halley's pamphlet, which bespeaks alike the gentleman, the scholar, and the divine.

Art. III. The Bow in the Cloud; or the Negro's Memorial. A Collection of original Contributions, in Prose and Verse, illustrative of the Evils of Slavery, and Commemorative of its Abolition in the British Colonies. 12mo, pp. xvi, 408. Price 12s. morocco, gilt

edges. London, 1834.

THIS volume was, we are informed, projected, and part of

the contributions were furnished, more than seven years ago; but the Editor has been prevented till now from executing her benevolent purpose. The delay of its appearance, if disadvantageous in one point of view, in another respect enhances the interest of the volume. Much of the excitement from which it might have borrowed popularity, has subsided; and some of the

VOL. XII.-N.S.

D

contributions may seem no longer seasonable. On the other hand, the once unbroken darkness of the sombre subject is relieved by the bow which is now seen in the cloud; and accents of gratulation and hope are blended with the notes of lamentation and pity which the wrongs of the negro had awakened. The papers being for the most part arranged in the order in which they were received, those commemorative of the abolition of the system are found towards the close of the volume, while those referring to the former state of the slave occupy the earlier pages. The general design and character of the volume will be sufficiently understood from this account of its origin; and we shall therefore proceed at once to give our readers a sample or two of its contents, which, considering the unity of the subject, are of remarkably varied a character. The following very striking stanzas occur among the earlier contributions.

'APPEAL FOR THE INJURED AFRICAN.

'O THOU, to whom the mournful sigh
Of sorrow and despair ascends,
Who hear'st the ravens when they cry,
The babe when at thy feet he bends!
More weak than is the raven's brood,
Less pure than infants though we be,
Our silent prayers for Lybia's good,

O Father! let them rise to Thee!

By realms dispeopled, tongues struck dumb
With the brute outrages of years,
In thy remembrance let them come→→→→
The negro's wrongs, the negro's tears!

'Whate'er of crime, whate'er of woe,
Europe has wrought, or Afric wept,
In his recording volume, lo!

The angel of thy court has kept.
• Yet―ere the assessing Spirit stands,
Prepared to sound from shore to shore,
That golden trumpet which commands
The tyrant's scourge to smite no more:

Ah! stay his vials-with our prayer
No vengeance breathes,-in judgment break
The oppressor's galling chains, but spare
The
oppressor, for thy mercy's sake.

‹ Didst thou not form, from pole to pole,
The various tongues and tribes of earth
Erect, with an immortal soul,

Expectants of one holier birth?

And shall the nations dare to hold

In chains whom THOυ hast chartered free,
Or buy with their accursed gold

The sinewy arm and servile knee?

No: not for this didst Thou command,
With westering keel and sails unfurled,
Columbus o'er the waves, to rend

The curtains of that younger world.

'And O, 'twas not for this, that he
Upreared thy hallowed ensign there;
Alas! that e'er the cross should be
The joyless herald of Despair!—
That whom thy Loved One died to save,
Man, guilty man, should hold subdued,
And plead prescription o'er the grave,
When questioned of his brother's blood.

But Thou art righteous; Thou wilt rise
All mighty as in days of yore,
When Israel sighed, as Canaan sighs,
Beneath the tasks his children bore.

'Cry not the isles themselves aloud,

"Three hundred thralling years are fled,
Since earth by tyranny was ploughed;
The vintage of the land is red?”

In that great day, when Afric's race
Are from their house of bondage cast,

O hide us in some peaceful place,
Till all thy wrath be overpast.

For dark, except thy mercy shine,
That later passover must be:
Hear then our pleadings at thy shrine;
O Father, let them rise to thee!

'J. H. WIFFEN.'

Our next specimen is a brief narrative from the pen of the much respected Baptist Missionary, Mr. Knibb. All the artifice of Sterne could not have produced any thing equal in genuine pathos to the touching simplicity of this unadorned recital of fact.

Yes, he was a lovely Christian, and to him was given, not only to believe on the name of Jesus, but also to suffer pain for his sake. He was a plantation-slave, and had been promoted for his consistent conduct. A few years ago, one of the slave-members belonging to the Baptist Church at Montego Bay was banished from his home, and sent to the estate where David lived, to be cured of his praying. By the pious conversation of this exiled christian negro, David was

brought under serious concern for his soul, which ended in his conversion to God. Acting up the christian negro's motto, that "what good for one negro, good for him brother too," David spoke to his fellowslaves about Jesus, and his love in dying for poor sinners. God, who despiseth not the humblest instrument, blessed the efforts of this poor negro, and, in a short time, about thirty on the estate began to pray, and at length built a small hut, in which, after the labours of the day, they might assemble and worship God. Tidings of these things reached the ears of the white persons employed on the estate, and David was summoned before his attorney, and asked whether he was teaching the slaves to pray. On replying in the affirmative, the hut was demolished and burnt, and David was stretched upon the earth and flogged with the cart-whip till his flesh was covered with his blood. Next Lord's-day I missed my faithful deacon at the house of God. His afflicted wife came and told me the sad tale of his sufferings, and informed me, that his hands were bound, and his feet made fast in the stocks. Often did I inquire after him, and for him, and the same answer was returned, " Massa, him in the stocks ;" till one morning, as I sat in my piazza, he appeared before the window. There he stood—I have his image now before me-he was hand-cuffed, barefoot, unable to wear his clothes from his yet unhealed back; his wife had fastened some of her garments round his lacerated body. I called him in, and said,

““David, David, what have you done?

With a look of resignation I shall never forget, he replied, "Don't ask me, ask him that bring me, massa.'

Turning to the negro who had him in charge, I said,

6.66

Well, what has this poor man done?

"Him pray, massa, was the reply," and Buchra sending him to the workhouse for punishing."

'I gave him some refreshment, for in the state I have described he had walked thirteen miles under a burning sun, and followed him to that den of cruelty, properly designated a Jamaica inquisition. He was chained to a fellow-slave by the neck, and sent to work on the public roads. The next day I went to visit him again, when I was informed by the supervisor of the workhouse, that he had received orders to have him flogged again, as soon as his back was well enough to bear it. In these chains David remained for months; frequently I saw him, but never did I hear one murmur or one complaint, except when he heard that the partner of his joys and sorrows was ill on the estate, and he was forbidden to go and see her.

'At the end of three months he was liberated, and returning to the estate, was asked,

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Now, sir, will you pray again?

"Massa," said the persecuted disciple, "you know me is a good slave, but if trouble come for dis, me must pray, and me must teach me broder to pray too."

Again he was immured in a dungeon, and his feet made fast in the stocks.'