sonable is the prejudice of Presbyterians and Baptists against so laudable a system!

Of the actual state of the population of these Colonies, as regards the means of religious instruction which they possess, or their own moral condition, no correct idea whatever can be obtained from these clerical representations, since no account is taken of any exertions made by other religious communions, except when they clash with the plans of this Society. No satisfaction whatever is expressed at the labours of Dissenters however orthodox,-not even in their previous exertions to supply the total deficiency of the means of grace occasioned by the scandalous supineness of the Church which is now sending out its agents for the purpose of contemptuously superseding them. In one instance, it is mentioned with evident satisfaction, that an active minister who had officiated regularly at the meeting-house, was now gone to the United States, leaving the coast clear as it were for the Church minister. But what places these proceedings in a still more offensive light, is, that these Dissenters are, in many instances, North Britons, or their descendants, members of the Established Church of Scotland, who have as good a claim to parliamentary aid in support of their Presbyterian churches in these colonies, as this Society has to such aid in support of its agents. Nay, the very country in which much of this singular zeal in the propagation of Episcopacy is manifested, is termed Nova Scotia !!

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Among the general notices, there is one which refers to the Protestant University' of Debritzen in Hungary, on behalf of which this Society, it appears, are trustees. There is a sepa rate cash account, in which the receipts of this trust for the past year are stated to amount to 1,2347. produced by a balance brought forward and dividends on bank stock. We are aware, that the trustees are not accountable to the public for the application of this fund; but we should have been gratified b some information respecting the university and its professors. The Bishop's sermon is founded on Isa. liv. 2,3., which words, when stripped of figures, and reduced to their mystical signification, while they plainly foretell the successful propagation of the Gospel, contain,' we are told, a commandment to the Church, to provide for her own increase and stability. Does the Bishop understand these words as an inti mation that the Church ought to provide for herself?-After commenting on the passage, the Right Rev. preacher proposes, 1. to consider some of the difficulties attendant on the attempts to propagate the Gospel among those heathen nations to whom the attention of the Society is now more particularly directed;

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and 2. to inquire how far the measures adopted by the Society afford a reasonable prospect of ultimate success. Among the obstacles to the conversion of the heathen world are enumerated, a temper of indifference and indolent dissent, on which passing events and the appeals made to reason and conscience make no impression;' the want of some ground common to both parties; and the strong influence of hereditary prejudice and superstition. These difficulties, the Bishop remarks, present themselves chiefly in the way of an attempt to convert the heathen population of our Eastern empire. It is obvions, that the same obstacles were encountered by the first promulgators of the Gospel in apostolic times. To our great surprise, however, we learn, that when the Apostles and their early followers entered upon the work of conversion, pagan idolatry had lost its hold upon a considerable part of the community;—it was tolerated rather than approved; its absurdity was seen and confessed by the thinking few; and many of their popular writers had ventured to exhibit it to their countrymen as an object of scorn and ridicule.' This manner of accounting for the early success of Apostolic preaching is quite new to us; but the learned Prelate has overlooked one fact, which does not quite tally with the hypothesis; namely, that it was not the thinking few, but the vulgar many,—not those on whom idolatry can be supposed to have lost its hold, if there were any such,-but the blind and superstitious multitude with whom the first preachers had the most success. Not many wise were called. The influence of superstition was in full force; the popular creed was received with an implicit belief; the obstacles which the Apostles encountered, were precisely the same as the Christian Missionary has now to contend with; and the might by which they despoiled t powers of darkness and pulled down their strong holds, was the same that is still necessary and still adequate to the

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success of missionary exertions,—the efficient concurrence of the Spirit of God with his word. But with regard to the necessity of Divine influence, we regret to state, that the present sermon contains little or no reference, except the vague remark, that we must depend upon the grace of God for the * success of our endeavours,' and that it is a first principle, that "the Son quickeneth whom he will.". On the duty of devoutly supplicating the quickening energies of the Holy Spirit, the Bishop is silent.

1. La vindicating the measures adopted by the Society, the Bishop contends, that · Our labourers must set out from those places where the Church of Christ exists palpably and visibly, in connexion with our civil and commercial establishments,'

aposition not quite in unison with a subsequent remark, that we must avoid every thing which may appear to connect the cause of religion with the power of the sword, the labours of the evangelist with the authority of the magistrate." In this opinion we are happy to concur most decidedly with his Lordship. But what must we say to the following picture of the constitution and operations of all other missionary societies?

Little,' says his Lordship, can be expected from the efforts of zealous and well-intentioned Christians, if they are not tied together by some common principle, and placed under the control of a simple, uniform, and steady discipline............... What impression can be made upon the minds of the people, what impulse can be given to their belief, by men acting without concert or co-operation, professing various tenets, or giving various forms and colours to the same truths, differing in ceremonies and modes of worship, subject to no common government, and responsible to no common authority?"

Where his Lordship would expect little, we might expect much; but what has been effected by our Missionaries in the East, is matter of fact. An impression has been made on the minds of the heathen, and his Lordship cannot gainsay it. But is it true, that the proceedings of the Missionaries have been without concert or co-operation? Can it be said with any propriety, that they are subject to no common government, recognising as they do one perfect rule, one Master and one Head? The uniformity of doctrine which prevails among the various Protestant missionaries, is much more perfect than exists at home among the prelates and clergy of the English Church. Tenets more various, forms and colourings of the same truth more different, are not to be found among the whole body of our Missionaries in the East, than the sentiments respectively held by the present Bishop of Gloucester and his predecessor. When will the Church of England shake itself free from the shackles of this narrow, paltry, sectarian spirit, which would enthrone Diocesan Episcopacy, that mitred idol, in the place of the Divine Head of the Church, and estimate the triumphs of the Gospel by the extension of a sect? But let it be tried, this miraculous panacea for the conversion of the heathen. Would to God that the Bishop's crosier possessed the efficacy of the rod of Moses! In the mean while, our Missionaries, who have no such weapons, will continue to maintain the warfare with the powers of darkness in the might of weakness,' having no other armour than the shield of faith, no weapon but the sword of the Spirit,

no other authority than the commission of their Lord, no trust but in the promised aid of Him who has engaged to be with his faithful servants even to the end of the world.

Art. XI.__Man responsible for his Belief; two Sermons, occasioned by a Passage in the inaugural Discourse of Henry Brougham, Esq. M.P. on his Installation as Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, April 6, 1825. By Ralph Wardlaw, D.D. 24mo. pp. 232. Price 2s. Glasgow, 1825.

WE are always glad to hear from Dr. Wardlaw through the medium of the press, but we have seldom perused any production of his pen with higher satisfaction. The subject is so important, the occasion presented so direct a challenge, and the manner in which it has been met, is so temperate, so gentlemanly, and so masterly, that, small as is the publication, we attach to it no ordinary value. Mr. Brougham's position, is, That man is not accountable to man for his belief, inasmuch as he has no more control over it than over the hue of his skin, or the height of his stature. In the first part of the position, Dr. Wardlaw, of course, fully concurs; that man ought not to render account to man for his belief. In so far as this is meant to express the grand principle of universal toleration, there is no length,' he says, to which I would not 'cheerfully go along with its eloquent and powerful advocate.' But, if the second part of the position be true, it follows, with equal certainty, that man has no account to render for his belief to God; that there is no moral responsibility.connected with it. To expose the utter fallacy and pernicious tendency of this mischievous sophism, is the purpose of these two Sermons; and nothing can be more triumphant than the Author's success. We earnestly recommend to our readers the purchase and distribution of this little volume, which is got up in a cheap form, apparently, with a view to its wider circulation.

ART. XII. SELECT LITERARY INFORMATION. 1

ART. XIII. LIST OF WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.