naked, any man, woman, or child employed under them, and either publicly or privately inflict upon the bared body 39 lacerations of the cartwhip, and might then subject the sufferer with his bleeding wounds to confinement and hard labour at pleasure; and, moreover, that all of these descriptions of persons might in their own absence delegate to their underlings or turnkeys the same privilege of flogging, but only to a more limited extent; let us further suppose that the whole of the labouring class was debarred by law from giving evidence in the case of any abuse of power committed by their superiors; and that, though permitted, in such case, to prefer a complaint before a magistrate (the magistrate himself being liable to have similar complaints preferred against him before his brother magistrates), yet, if they failed in proving their complaints to be well founded, they might be punished with 39 lashes for the very act of complaining; what should we think of the state of the county of Cornwall? And yet if some benevolent individuals, deeply affected with the cruelty and brutalising effect of such a system, were to propose to ameliorate the condition of their Cornish brethren, and to raise them " to a participation in those civil rights and privileges which are enjoyed by other classes of his Majesty's subjects," our ears would probably be dinned with representations of the humanity of the owners, and bailiffs, and supervisors, and gaolers of Cornwall, and of the superlative happiness of its labouring population. See how fat and sleek they are, how well fed, how well lodged; how much better off than the wretched labourers in other parts of England, who have no kind masters to look after them!! Should we listen to such representations for a moment? Should we not say "It is impossible that such power should not be abused: we cannot allow it to continue for a single hour. The owners, and bailiffs, and gaolers, and supervisors of Cornwall may say what they will; we cannot permit them to retain such tremendous means of arbitrarily inflicting evil on their fellow-subjects. They must cease to use the whip at their discretion, either in the field, or in the mines, or in the work-shops, or in the workhouses, or in the gaols. The law, and the law alone, shall in future regulate its application?" And what are the owners, and overseers, and bookkeepers, and drivers of Jamaica and the other colonies (the owners, indeed, are generally absent,) that we should defer more to their claim of inflicting the whip at their discretion, than we should to those of our Cornish brethren? Shall we be restrained from saying to them also, that this vile practice shall cease? And cease it must. Instead of one company with a capital of four millions, they may erect, if they please, ten such companies, to uphold this most iniquitous and barbarous system. All will not do. The voice of the people of England, to which we find that some cold hearts in high places are disposed to pay so little regard, will and must prevail. And now let it not be forgotten that the whip is but one feature of this accursed system, one of the many abominations which have converted some of the fairest regions of the earth, in the hands of Englishmen, into habitations of cruelty and oppression, into the charnelhouse of a whole quarter of the globe. It is true that Government have commenced the work of reformation in Trinidad, and we are grateful even for this. But Trinidad contains only the fortieth part of our slave population; and if the West Indians, influential as recent discoveries have shewn them to be, continue to resist, as they have done, the progress of improvement, centuries of misery may still roll over the heads of the hapless victims of British cupidity. Parliament, and Parliament alone, can avert this. With whatever sneers, therefore, their petitions may be met, the people of the United Kingdom we trust will neglect no opportunity of convincing their representatives that they at least are in earnest. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. We live at a period when, through the medium of various benevolent societies, extensive efforts are being made to benefit mankind. By the active exertions of Christian philanthropists, almost every species of human misery is in some degree alleviated, and while many of these valuable institutions afford temporal relief to our destitute fellow-creatures, they aim at what is of still higher importance, the welfare of their immortal souls. But, might not more be done with reference to this last object, and at the same time with a most beneficial effect as respects their own immediate design, by many of our charitable institutions, not of a directly religious nature? I will instance this in the case of the Mendicity Society.-A few weeks since, a friend put into my hand several of the Society's tickets: now, it occurs to me, that, if a striking and appropriate text of Scripture were printed on the back of these tickets, it might, in some cases, by the blessing of God, arrest the attention of some thoughtless or hardened mendicant, and give rise to serious and useful reflections. It must be considered, that these tickets are put into the hands not only of some of the most destitute, but perhaps also of some of the most depraved characters in existence; persons who probably never possessed a Bible, and much less were disposed to read it. By the simple method proposed, some momentous declaration of holy writ may reach their hearts, directed by the merciful interposition of Him who has said, that "his word shall not return unto him void." Thus, while seeking" the bread which perisheth," these pitiable objects, (pitiable, whether hardened impostors or destitute sufferers,) may be directed to the Bread which came down from heaven, and which whoso eateth shall never die. I am aware that by some such a proposal would be branded as fanatical and absurd; but let us not forget, that when the multitude followed our blessed Saviour for the loaves and fishes, as stated in the sixth chapter of John, that Divine Instructor took the opportunity of thus directing their attention to higher objects. "Labour not," said he, "for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life." In this highly favoured country, benevolent institutions abound; shelter is provided for the houseless, food for the hungry, and clothing for the naked; but where temporal relief alone is afforded, without any attempt, so far as is practicable and prudent, to include in the boon a still higher species of benefit, may we not apply our Saviour's words on another occasion?" This ought ye to have done, and not leave the other undone." The condescending consideration of our Lord towards the man who sat by the wayside begging, when he said, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee ?” presents to us an example which well deserves our imitation. Much has been done to extirpate mendicity from the land; but has all that is possible been done to reclaim its miserable and degraded victims from the error of their ways, by means of those exalted motives and principles which Christianity alone can exhibit, to soften the obdurate, to reclaim the wanderer, and to comfort the distressed? A-A. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. ENOUGH has been said and written to prove the danger of a Christian's conforming to the manners of the world, and especially of joining in many of its current pastimes and recreations. There may be no moral guilt, abstractedly considered, in many things, the habitual pursuit of which, nevertheless, gives to the character a stamp at utter variance with the Spirit of Christ; so much so, that no person who has made any great advances in the Christian life, needs to be reasoned out of them. If, however, any of your readers should be "halting between two opinions," hesitating between inclination and duty, the following observations, designed to prove the lawfulness and propriety of a Christian's joining in hunting and kindred pursuits, may as effectually shew the necessity of a decided separation from such engagements, and the company they necessarily lead to, as any express arguments which could be used for that purpose. They are taken from a recent Number, which accidentally fell in my way, of the Sporting Magazine." The writer, in describing a sportingtour he made in Sussex, and in giving a particular account of the Brookside Hunt, remarks: "There is a Reverend Doctor of Divinity, a very constant attendant on these hounds, and whose venerable presence adds much to the respectability of their field. The Doctor is not one of those gloomy sectaries who think that man is only sent into this world to mortify himself into condition for the next. His reading has informed him that Christianity forbids no reasonable indulgencesno innocent relaxations. If life be the gift of Heaven, it must be religion to enjoy it; and, as has been so beautifully told us, the mind goes a great way towards praise and thanksgiving, when filled with gladness; for such a disposition consecrates every field and wood, and turns a morning ride into a morning sacrifice.' Milton makes even the devil pleased with the beauties of nature. Nothing is more delightful than a green old age; and I confess I was not a little pleased with the appearance of Dr. Another clergyman who was hunting with them is honoured by CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 270. this writer with the compliment of his being fit to ride for the Derby stakes. He also takes the opportunity of introducing what he considers a most happy anecdote, very probably coined by the writer for the occasion, of a bishop who once on a journey fell in with the hunters, and, having formerly been a noted sportsman, could not resist giving them a view halloa. The huntsman, remembering the well-known voice, uttered with an oath an exclamation which it is not necessary to repeat. These remarks have probably been warmly applauded by numbers of the gay and thoughtless who peruse such publications; but must not every Christian instinctively exclaim, " My soul, come not thou into their secret, and to their assembly mine honour be not thou united." I shall not trouble your readers with any animadversions upon the lamentable religious ignorance of the writer of this sporting sketch; but, I would ask, must not a Christian suffer irreparable loss, and much positive mischief, from such pursuits and such society? Besides which, so far as those who profess godliness (as all, it must be presumed, do who bear the ministerial office) conform to the practices of the world, so far they strengthen the hands of the enemies of religion, and place a stumblingblock in the way of such as are "seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness." It is indeed freely admitted, that "Christianity forbids no reasonable indulgences, no innocent relaxations:" the Christian knows how to use the bounties of Divine Providence, so profusely poured around him; and though the chace, the revel, and the dance, have no charms for him, yet every day has its pleasures, and affords him fresh cause for praise. The morning beam that wakes the skies 3 B 66 But how this pure and elevated enjoyment, which truly consecrates every field and wood," can be identified with the noisy and tumultuous excitement of hunting, it is difficult to imagine; and I am equally at a loss to conceive what kind of "praise and thanksgiving" that must be which is so closely connected with the wanton torture and death of an innocent animal. My object, however, in the present paper, is not to allude to this individual "sport" in particular, but to point out generally the evil tendency of worldly society and pursuits. Should my remarks meet the eye of any who, while they join in the pursuits and society of the world, still wish to serve God-at least to be numbered with his people, and to partake of their lot at the last day, I would affectionately ask, looking at the whole tenor of their conduct, whether so to live is to "walk in wisdom towards them that are without," or to "shine as a light in the world, holding forth the word of life;" whether it is to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ," and to "walk in his steps,"-to be "not of the world, but chosen out of the world," "a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people." Without multiplying similar passages, I hope it will be sufficient to add the apostolic admonition "Whatsoever things are just, what soever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." MONITOR. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. In the Bishop of Limerick's Primary Charge, lately reviewed int your publication, there occurs the following remark respecting clerical recreations:-" Nor is a clergyman circumscribed in the choice of safe and even profitable amusements. The delights of social intercourse, the creative wonders of the pencil, the moral inspiration of the poet, and that voice of melody which transports the spirit from the visible to the invisible world,-these are all within his range, and these may all be made subservient to the highest duties of his calling." The conduct of the late Rev. William Gilpin, vicar of Boldre, in the New Forest, and well known as the author of many useful publications, furnishes a striking illustration of the truth of this remark. Mr. Gilpin was in the habit of devoting a part of his leisure time to drawing; and he published several of his sketches, which were well received by the public, as also a work on the beauties of forest scenery. His residence in the New Forest afforded him many opportunities of sketching the majestic oaks, the growth of centuries, with which the forest abounded till the late war demanded them to recruit our navy. With the profits of his drawings, and solely from them, as I have understood, he endowed a school in his parish, for the instruction of the children of poor labourers, which he lived to see completed, and the parish is now deriving very great advantages from his benevolence. There is a school-house with a permanent salary for a master. Thus did he render a delightful amusement the means of benefiting his flock for generations yet to come. T. S. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. In reply to some allusions of your correspondents to the constitution of the new churches and chapels, I trespass on your pages with a few lines, to lay before your readers a concise and general idea of the several classes to which our Episcopal Chapels belong. It is very desirable that all persons who feel interested in promoting subscriptions for building new churches should be aware of the several modifications of our anomalous chapel system, in order to ascertain what particular plan is best calculated to secure their intended objects. A chapel built by the bounty of an individual, may be either a private chapel, a parochial chapel, a chapel of ease, or a free chapel. 1. A private chapel is a chapel built by the king, or by his license, and may be erected and used without consecration or permission from the bishop. 2. A parochial chapel may be used for burying and baptizing, and differs from a church only in the want of a rectory and endowment: the offerings made to it go to the mother church, unless by custom the chaplain have them. 3. A chapel of ease is only for prayers and preaching, not being, strictly speaking, allowed for the administration of either of the sacraments. The curate is usually removable by the parochial minister. The incumbent of the parish nominates the minister, unless by special agreement to the contrary, with compensation to the incumbent. Chapels of ease have usually the same officers as churches, and are visitable by the ordinary. 4. Free chapels are such as are built by voluntary bounty; they are exempt from all ordinary jurisdiction, and maintain their own minister without charge to the parish. I believe, however, that there are amphibious cases, in which it would be difficult to say precisely to which class the chapel belongs, its regulations combining some of the characteristic provisions of two or more classes. The Church-building Act of 1818 has also decreed various important regulations, with which it is desirable that every clergyman, and every layman who takes an interest in the stability and progress of the Established Church, should be well acquainted. (A copious abstract of this Act will be found in the Christ. Observer for 1818, p. 844.) A. B. C. REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Memoirs of the Public and Private THE Volume, the title of which we have just transcribed, has two great faults, almost fatal to its becoming a widely-circulated and popular book,-a habit of incessant moralizing, and a most wearisome prolixity in the narration of facts. Our author seems to have exercised little or no judgment in the selection of his materials: every incident and memorandum that he could collect, every particle of a saying, every fragment of a leaf of a pocketbook, that seemed to bear the most indirect stamp of a connexion with John Howard, is heaped up with an industry of which some idea |