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the facts of the case would justify. In his seventh sermon, entitled, "The Christian's Treatment on Earth," from 1 Pet. iii. 13, 14, his lordship urges that Christians, in the ordinary circumstances of life, have no sufficient reason to fear either persecution, or material molestation from the world, on the ground of their religion; and that much of the inconvenience and trouble which good men have met with in their Christian course may fairly be attributed to their indiscretion and unnecessary singularity. In some measure, this is doubtless true. Trials and opposition, on the score of real piety, have been frequently overrated; are sometimes imaginary; and, even when real, might have been avoided by the exercise of Christian forbearance and discretion. Still, Christianity in its humbling doctrines, holy principles, and practical require ments, has never been, and never can be, a favourite with a world to whose popular maxims, fashionable pleasures and predominant pursuits, it is in direct opposition; and whenever it comes in collision, as it must frequently do, with a worldly spirit, it will assuredly elicit the opposition of "the carnal mind," with its inherent "enmity." "The victory which overcometh the world," is never achieved without conflict, and seldom without severe and protracted struggles; and though Christianity is now recognised by human laws, so that no direct pains and penalties are inflicted on its disciples, yet the truth remains un changeable, that all who will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer persecution. The scourge of the tongue, reproach, contempt, domes tic unkindness, and sometimes the positive injury of a person's prospects in life, still prove that the "offence of the Cross has not ceased."

The next sermon is on "the Pharisee and Publican," and abounds with valuable and judicious remarks. CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 338.

But we must pass on to the ninth, on "the Good Samaritan," which displays less of talent and judgment than any in the volume. The history (for such it probably was) is treated, by Bishop Heber, as an allegory, and thus affords ample scope for the flights of a poetic imagination. The traveller is the representative of mankind : his journey from Jerusalem to Jericho indicates his departure from the favour and protection of God, to partake in the pleasures and pursuits of the world: his falling among thieves signifies his coming into the power of the devil and his angels : his wounds and exposure intimate the consequent misery and danger of sin: the passing by of the priest, shews that sacrifices could not avail him: the Levite is the representative of the Jewish law, which was equally inefficient with its sacrifices: the Samaritan is Jesus Christ: the wine and oil, exhibit his precious blood shed on the cross the inn is the ark of the covenant, or the church; and the two pence are the two sacraments. This is an epitome of the discourse; and it will at once be seen that it is far better calculated to amuse the fancy, than to convey useful instruction. It has not even the merit of being novel; and we cannot but regret that it has been thought worthy of a place in this valuable selection of sermons. We are afraid it will find more imitators than those in the series which abound with mind and matter; since it is far easier to give the rein to fancy, than to discipline the vagrant and reluctant mind: and we are sorry that those who will be unwilling to copy the illustrious example of Bishop Heber, in putting restraint on a poetic imagination, should be able to plead it in giving scope to its vagaries. Mr. Jones, of Nayland, and others, have sermons on the passage in a similar strain; and Bishop Heber has probably taken the explication at second hand,

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without due caution. Justly does the venerable commentator Scott remark, in reference to this parable, -"Several accommodations have been made of the subject; the oil and wine have been considered as representing the blood and Spirit of Christ; the inn, his church; the host, his ministers; and the two pence, the sacraments: but these fancies are far more amusing than instructive; and it may be seriously apprehended that, by such interpretations, men's thoughts have been very much drawn off from the grand practical inference, Go, and do thou likewise."" Such, we are sure, was far from our excellent prelate's intention.

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The tenth sermon, on "the Labourers in the Vineyard," is eloquent, pious, and judicious. In it Occurs an affecting description of a humble minister of Christ of slender talents, modest pretensions, but unwearied diligence, labouring in an obscure corner of the vineyard without any visible fruits of his industry; contrasted with the station, popularity, and commanding talents of another, occupying a more spicuous, and, apparently, more productive part of that vineyard. The eleventh sermon, on "the Conversion of the Heathen," both on account of the importance of the subject, and the ability with which it is treated, deserves particular attention. If any person can rise from the perusal of this discourse without a conviction of the paramount duty of attempting that conversion, without a persuasion of its practicability, without a confidence that it will one day be achieved, and without a readiness to make great sacrifices to promote it, we should equally doubt the soundness of his understanding and the reality of his religion. In this sermon, the bishop has concentrated the powers of his understanding, and the riches of his imagination. He has combined the best qualifications of a good writer, with the purest principles of a sound

Christian; and has shewn himself as able an advocate of the best of causes, as he was a formidable opponent of its adversaries. The Charge with which the volume commences, and this elaborate vindication of missions, will be always selected by his friends as proofs that he merited the high opinion which, by public suffrage, was given to his eminent talent and piety.

It is unnecessary to give the mere title of the remaining sermons, which are all excellent; yet in different degrees. That we do not agree with all the sentiments of the Right Reverend author, nor think that he always rises to the full standard of scriptural truth, is evident from the freedom with which we have animadverted on some of his express sentiments and incidental remarks, to which others might have been added; but still he was both a good and great man. Bonum virum facile crederes, magnum libenter. The amiableness of his temper, the elegance of his accomplishments, the urbanity of his manners; above all, the genuineness of his piety, the zeal he manifested for the best interests of India, and the sacrifice he made of his time, his talents, and finally of his life, to promote them; have resounded, not only through the vast continent of India, from Cape Comorin and Ceylon, to the mountains of Himalaya; but have been re-echoed from the Ganges to the Thames, and' from the Thames to the Mississippi. "Finis vitæ ejus nobis luctuosus, amicis tristis, extraneis etiam ignotisque non sine cura fuit." may add also, "Et ipse quidem, quanquam medio in spatio integræ ætatis ereptus, quantum ad gloriam," higher glory than the heathen knew" longissimum ævum peregit."

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Essays on the Present Crisis in the Condition of the American Indians, first published in the (American) National Intelligencer, under the Signature of WILLIAM PENN. Boston (New England). 1829.

THIS ably written publication has just reached us from the other side of the Atlantic; where, we trust, it has already met with that attention which its importance demands. The minor details would not interest European readers; but the general question is not alien to any mind that is alive to the claims of justice or humanity.

We noticed the subject in our Number for last May (p. 326), and have also alluded to it in our reference to President Jackson's message, and on other occasions. The Indians have been again and again recognised by treaty as independent nations, and their lands and laws secured to them by the most solemn pledges; and for Georgia, or any other state in the Union, to force them involuntarily to submit to its sovereignty, under pain of banishment beyond the Mississippi, is both inequitable and cruel. The religious part of the community in America have expressed themselves on the subject in a manner that does them honour; but we fear their arguments will not avail in the legislature, where there appears to be a strong disposition to side with Georgia against the poor Cherokees, as unhappily recommended by the president. The result is the more lamentable as the Cherokees are rapidly advancing in civilization, and all the characteristics of a free, happy, intelligent, and religious nation. They know their own rights, and feel keenly the injustice of their oppressors.

We had written the above, when some recent American papers reached us, in which we find a debate in congress on the presentation of a memorial from New York in favour of the unfortunate Indians. No

thing, except it be some of the speeches in our own West-Indian assemblies, can be more harsh, tyrannical, and unchristian, than the remarks of one of the members for Georgia on the occasion. He thought it most supercilious for persons to pretend to interfere in behalf of others; let them mind their own business; it is quite time enough for persons to complain when they are hurt themselves; the Indians are savage tribes," "the remnants of a conquered people," "infidel aliens ;" and those states within whose limits they live have a right to extend their laws over them; "it might be well enough for the state of New York, or," continued he, sneeringly, "the British Parliament, to legislate for that amiable and oppressed race of vagrants;" but, for himself, he hated such "political homilies," such "mawkish mixtures of sentiment and selfishness;" it was "ridiculous and disgusting;" and the memorial (which another member said had been "got up at a grogshop,") was intended only to shew the "eloquence and philanthropy of the memorialists." We can only say, that the orator is worthy of the cause. If common justice and humanity, or the irrefragable arguments of "William Penn," had not convinced us which was the right side of the question, this speech of Mr. Wilde, of Georgia, would have done so. As to his argument, the lands of the Cherokees are not "within the limits of Georgia," though surrounded by Georgia; they never formed a part of that state; the possessors are not represented in the legislature; they no more belong to Georgia, than the vineyard of Naboth to Ahab: and if taken, as we fear they will be, either by fraud or force, the curse of God cannot but alight upon the aggressors.

A Defence of the Serampore Mahratta Version of the New Testament, in Reply to the Animadversions of an Anonymous Writer in the Asiatic Journal. By W. GREENFIELD, Editor of Bagster's Syriac New Testament. 2s. London. 1830.

THE Anonymous assailant of the Serampore version is convicted by Mr. Greenfield of an utter want of fairness in his argument, and of the veriest sciolism in his criticisms. We only lament that the tone in which they were penned should have led the replicant to think that a little causticity on his part might be very appropriate; deserved, we allow, it was.

We can assure Mr. Greenfield, that this supercilious attack upon the poor Serampore missionaries, come from what quarter it may, will find no echo in the hearts of pious and candid Episcopalians, either in India or at home. The Serampore translations may not be perfect; it is impossible they should be so; but they are a splendid monument of the zeal, the piety, the munificence, the literature, and the persevering industry of the Baptist missionaries; and especially of the erudite and learned Dr. Carey. The anonymous stripling who has made this lordly attack upon this Goliath of oriental literature, has been utterly discomfited by Mr. Greenfield; though, even were the Mahratta, or any other eastern version, as imperfect as the assailant maintains, it would not abate one jot of our veneration for those devout and holy men whose character is the public property of Christendom nor would it prove the inutility of their labours, since even an inferior translation is infinitely

preferable to none, and may serve as a foundation for a better. What version is there that may not be carped at; nay, in many instances, justly censured? The "carping," in the present case, is amply exposed by Mr. Greenfield, and the translation powerfully defended; but even were it otherwise, there would be no ground for an attack in the spirit of the anonymous assailant. A grave, modest, and scholar-like critique, the Serampore missionaries themselves would have been glad to receive, and to profit by; and if the assailant can improve upon their labours, so much the better; but a paper of sneers and party-spirit is unworthy of the cause of scriptural truth which it professes to advocate. Such an assertion as, that Dr. Carey,-who for a quarter of a century has filled, with distinguished ability, the office of professor of Sanscrit, Bengalee, and Mahratta, in the college of Fort William,-betrays "a deplorable ignorance of the very first principles of philology, particularly as applicable to the languages of Asia," wants only the name of the asserter, to enhance the wonder of every scholar at the assertion: a degree of wonder equal only to that with which every honest man will hear that the professor and his colleagues are "a set of narrowminded, tasteless, money-making bigots;" and the Bible Society "guilty of a practical imposition on the religious gullibility of John Bull." If this be the assailant's notion of a tasteful style, we only hope he will confine his improvements to the elegancies of the Mahratta dialect, and not attempt to amend our vernacular translation. So much for the style; we leave the spirit of the article to the writer's own serious reflections.

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE,

&c. &c.

GREAT BRITAIN. In the press, and preparing for publication:-Sermons; by the Rev. H. Moore, with a Memoir; - Sermons on various Subjects; by the Rev. J. Edwards ;Sermons; by the Rev. J. Parsons ;-Lectures on a Revival in Religion; by the Rev. J. Hinton ;--The Living Temple; by the Author of "The Morning and Evening Sacrifice ;"-Discourses on the Millennium, Election, Justification, &c. ; by the Rev. M. Russell, LL.D.;- Stories from the History of Scotland; by the Rev. A. Stewart.

The selection of Family Sermons, from the Christian Observer, announced in our last Number, is nearly through the press. Applications have been often made for a reprint of a portion of the Family Sermons in our pages, in a distinct volume and a large type; which object will be attained by this publication. The volume will contain forty discourses from the pen of the Editor.

A new era has commenced in the publication of cheap popular works of literature and science, written, in many instances, by persons of the highest celebrity, in various departments of knowledge. Nearly seventy sixpenny numbers have already appeared of the Library of Useful Knowledge, with eight two-shilling parts of the Library of Entertaining Knowledge. Mr. Murray has published ten five-shilling volumes of his Family Library; and Dr. Lardner several of the six-shilling monthly volumes of his Cabinet Cyclopedia. We are unwilling to make invidious comparisons where all is so cheap, and in general so admirably executed, both in the literary and the mechanical department; though with some exceptions in a religious point of view, to which we may probably feel it our duty to advert. Considering the quantity and character of the letter-press, and of the plates and cuts, of some of these works, to say nothing of copyright, it is only a very large sale which can reimburse the spirited proprietors. The UsefulKnowledge Society do not publish the names of their writers; but some of them are persons of the highest literary and scientific celebrity. Mr. Murray gives us the names of Mr. Williams, of Llampeter, for his interesting life of Alexander the Great;

Mr. Milman, for his lively, but exceptionable History of the Jews; Allan Cunningham, for his Painters; and Sir Walter Scott, R. Southey, Dr. Brewster, and other eminent writers, for other subjects. Dr. Lardner has begun giving us the History of Scotland, by Sir Walter Scott; Domestic Economy, by Mr. Donovan; and Maritime Discovery, anonymous; all admirable in their way, and preeminently cheap; and to be followed by volumes from the pens of Sir James Mackintosh, R. Southey, T. Moore, Dr. Brewster, J. Herschel, T. Bell, aud numerous other well-known authors. Mr. Valpy is publishing a very neat but cheap Family Classical Library, beginning with a translation of Demosthenes; and one or two attempts have been made to publish a series of theological treatises, but hitherto without adequate encouragement.

The Bishop of Chester, in his Charge reviewed in our last Number, justly denounces that exceptionable custom still kept up in many parishes, of distributing the sacrament alms among the poorer communicants; which often leads to the altar some of the wickedest people in the parish. We apprehend that the custom was originally intended as a religious test: for in the disgraceful days of Charles the Second, we find the Middlesex and other country justices, with a view to exclude Nonconformists from parochial charity, ordering that no person should receive parish relief who did not communicate at the parish church. The same wise men ordered, that all alehouse keepers should receive the Lord's supper at church, under pain of forfeiting their licence. Not a pint of Presbyterian ale was to be sold, or a penny to be given to a Nonconformist pauper, with the consent of these sapient justices; who thought they saw, in every Dissenter, an abettor of the alleged plot for which Russell had just suffered,

Among the annual House-of-Commons votes of thanks for the sermons preached on the 30th of January, there is none to be found for the year 1700. The reason was, that the preacher, one Stephen, rector of Sutton, Surrey, impudently told his audience, that the day was not kept out of abhorrence of the execution of King Charles; but to remind other kings to behave themselves better to their subjects,

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