lies as they were well acquainted with, in order to convey a more clear idea of the truth to their minds. There was a close attention paid by most of the audience to the truths that were delivered, not only as they might appear to them, new and striking, as I hoped, but as matters of the greatest importance, and infinitely interesting. Some, more especially the women, seemed really to lay things to heart.

"After sermon was over we sat a-while with them. We then proposed to speak to them again in the afternoon, if it was agreeable. We were told it would be. We then withdrew."

The missionaries set out on their return on the 24th of September; reached Fort Pitt on the 28th, Bedford on October 4th, Carlisle the 10th, and Neshaminy on the 15th. The following report was made to the Synod:

"Messrs. Beatty and Duffield's mission among the Indians and frontiers came under consideration. And they report that they performed their mission to the frontiers and among the Indians. That they found on the frontiers numbers of people earnestly desirous of forming themselves into congregations, and declaring their willingness to exert their utmost in order to have the gospel among them, but in circumstances exceedingly distressing and necessitous from the late calamities of the war in these parts. And also, that they visited the Indians at the chief town of the Delaware Nation, on the Muskingum, about one hundred and thirty miles beyond Fort Pitt, and were received much more cheerfully than they could have expected. That a considerable number of them waited on the preaching of the gospel with peculiar attention, many of them appearing solemnly concerned about the great matters of religion, that they expressed an earnest desire of having further opportunities of hearing those things; that they informed them that several other tribes of Indians around them were ready to join with them in receiving the gospel, and earnestly desiring an opportunity. Upon the whole, that there does appear a very agreeable prospect of a door opening for the gospel being spread among those poor benighted savage tribes."

Mr. Beatty cherished an ardent desire to do something more for the Indians; and when he went to Scotland in 1768, he wrote an interesting account of American Missions among the Indians, and of the encouragements for Missionary labour among them. The letter was addressed from Greenock to the Rev. Dr. John Erskine, of Edinburgh, and is a curious and valuable document.

Mr. Beatty's last public service was in behalf of the College of New Jersey-an institution which took the place of the Log College in the affections of the friends of learning and religion. He was appointed trustee in 1763, and remained a true friend to its interests until his death. The college being greatly in need of funds, the trustees requested Dr. Witherspoon to visit the West Indies in its behalf; but the latter not being able to go, Mr. Beatty was commissioned in his place. Death terminated his labour of love, and frustrated the undertaking. Shortly after reaching the island of Barbadoes, he died at Bridgeton, of yellow fever, on the 13th of August, 1772. His grave is in a strange land, but the American Church has the rich inheritance of his zeal, his public spirit, his labours for the souls of men, and his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The only writings of Charles Beatty, known to the writer, are 1. The Journal of a two-month's tour among the frontier inhabitants

of Pennsylvania, 1768. 2. Letter to the Rev. John Erskine, D. D., in which the theory that the Indians are the descendants of the Ten Tribes is maintained by a variety of arguments. Dr. Boudinot, in his "Star in the East," appeals frequently to Mr. Beatty's work. 3. Further remarks respecting Indian affairs, containing an historical account of what had been done for the Indians in America. 4. Double honour due to the laborious Gospel Minister: a sermon preached at Fairfield, N. J., 1756, at the ordination of the Rev. William Ramsey. These few writings show a strong and well cultivated mind. The sermon is an uncommonly able exposition of its subject.

Mr. Beatty had a large family; and his descendants of the present generation are very numerous, and among the reputable, religious and influential in the community. He was married June 24th, 1746, to Ann, daughter of John Reading, President of the Council of the State of New Jersey, and successor to the Government on the death of John Hamilton, in 1747, and again on the death of Governor Belcher, in 1757.* Mrs. Beatty died in 1768, of a cancer. Her husband sailed with her to Great Britain, to obtain medical advice in London; but she died at Greenock, to which port the vessel belonged, a short time after their arrival. Six of their ten children reached mature life, and four of his sons served their country in the army of the Revolution, the fifth not being old enough. General John Beatty, of Trenton, was a trustee of the College of New Jersey, President of the Trenton Bank, and a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church. Colonel Erkuries Beatty, was an officer in the Revolution, and accompanied General Sullivan into Western New York. He was the father of one of our ministers, the Rev. CHARLES CLINTON BEATTY, D. D., of Steubenville, Ohio, whose praise is in our churches. Dr. Reading Beatty was an intelligent physician at Newtown, Pa., where his father often preached; he was the Ruling Elder in the church. Charles Clinton Beatty died early, being wounded at Germantown. William Pitt Beatty was a Ruling Elder in the Church at Columbia. Mary, the eldest daughter, married the Rev. Enoch Green, who was one of the worthiest ministers of his generation, and who was settled in Deerfield, N. J. Mrs. Green died in Philadelphia a few years ago, aged 96. Elizabeth married the Rev. Mr. Fithian, of Ñ. J., a chaplain in the revolutionary army, who died while in the army. She afterwards married Mr. Joel Fithian, of Roadstown, N. J.

In personal appearance, Mr. Beatty was grave and dignified, with a fine, manly, open countenance; in manners, benignant and courteous; his delivery in the pulpit was zealous and attractive; and as a Christian minister, and a Christian gentleman, his intercourse and example were exemplary. His household, "trained after him," and their descendants-most of whom are members of the Presbyterian Church, and some of them elders--have risen up to call him blessed.

Precious is the memory of the Fathers!

*John Reading was among the earliest friends of Princeton College. His name stands first on the list of its trustees.

Keview and Criticism.

The Mystery Solved; or Ireland's Miseries; the grand Cause and Cure. By the Rev. EDWARD MARCUS DILL, M. D. New York, R. Carter & Brothers. 1852.

MR. DILL has done a thorough, straightforward work for Ireland. He takes hold of the plough, like a man who has been used to subsoil furrows. He understands Ireland well, with all its boggery, social, political, and religious. The land of Erin is the pauper-land of Christendom. Her decline, a number of years antecedent to the famine, had been as steady as the falling tide. About three-fourths of all the dwellings in Popish Ireland are built of mud; nearly one-half of all the families live in buildings of but one apartment each, and two-thirds of the population subsist on potatoes. In 1848, the number of paupers, public and out-door, exceeded two millions, or one-fourth of the entire population. Oh, St. Patrick! St. Patrick! thou destroyer of reptiles, what demon have thy successors substituted in their place?

During the famine of 1847, it is estimated that one million of the inhabitants perished. The country was transformed into a graveyard and a poorhouse, and it was not uncommon to find whole families dead in their cabins together. Since this terrific period, the general prostration of the country has continued. Emigration alone thinned the country last year of more than a quarter of a million of its population. The whole population decreased in ten years from 8,100,000 to 6,500,000. What is the cause of all this misery and adversity in a prosperous age?

Mr. Dill examines this point minutely and thoroughly. He shows that the cause is not physical-that the Emerald Isle has a soil proverbially fertile and a genial climate, is intersected by fine rivers, has rich minerals, abundance of fish, &c. Nor is the cause political. True, Ireland is not the best governed country in the world, and there has been a good deal of O'Connell agitation. But agitation owes its existence to other evils. In point of fact, Ireland has been the object of the most pains-taking legislation. Her canals, agriculture, manufactures, fisheries, and charitable institutions have been nursed by parliamentary grants, which have amounted to £26,000,000 since the Union. Nor are social causes sufficient to explain the mystery. The social state of Ireland is bad enough; but this is the very fact to be explained. It is itself derivative, and must flow from higher causes. The moral degradation of Ireland is undoubtedly a chief cause of her miseries. But to what source must it be traced? Either, says Mr. Dill, to some radical defect in the Irish race, or to some malignant influence? No one will maintain the former as a sufficient explanation. What then, is the malignant influence? Religion? Ireland ought to be a very religious nation. It has 2,176 established clergy of all grades; 2,361 Roman Catholic, 624 Presbyterian, and 281 others. The remarkable fact appears that in Ulster, Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, as is the Protestantism, so are the knowledge, virtue, and prosperity. Mr. Dill proves this by statistics. Hence he comes to the conclusion that the malignant influence is the ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIGION, and that the curse of Ireland is Rome.

This demonstration is further carried on elaborately and argumentatively. Mr. Dill maintains the following propositions: 1. Rome eclipses the mind. 2. Rome corrupts the conscience. 3. Rome destroys the heart. 4. Rome debases the whole nature. 5. Rome blasts man's temporal state. 6. Rome clouds man's eternal prospects. These propositions embrace an aggregate of causes, sufficient to produce the aggregate effects which constitute Ireland's curse. Protestant Ulster looms up in proximity with Munster in the argument, and fact confirms the logic of truth.

In designating the cure for the ills and woes of poor Ireland, Mr. Dill makes prominent, of course, the gospel. Nothing else can bring virtue, happiness, and general improvement to mankind. The gospel awakens the mind, purifies the conscience, elevates the whole nature, and brings temporal and spiritual prosperity. A great amount of evangelical effort is put forth at the present time to give light to benighted Ireland. The Irish Presbyterian Church (comprising 5 Synods, 36 Presbyteries, 522 ministers, and 483 congregations) has planted, within the last 16 years, 160 new churches in destitute localities; established a large number of mission stations in the south and west; supported from 300 to 400 Irish and English mission schools, in which upwards of 20,000 Roman Catholics have been taught to read the Scriptures; and circulated a large number of Bibles and tracts in Popish districts. Education is a strong ally of direct evangelical effort. The Church Education Society supports 1,800 schools, which have 100,000 scholars. Mr. Dill is a strong advocate for education -education of any kind-secular rather than none-but religious as the best. He also advocates the suppression, by law, of convents, of which wretched decoy-places there are 113 in Ireland, and the repeal of the Maynooth endowment. Mr. Pitt was induced in 1795 to grant parliamentary aid in establishing a Roman college at Maynooth for the education of priests, on the plea, made by the Roman bishops, that if their priests continued to be educated in France, they would imbibe revolutionary opinions. The result is, that the Maynooth priests have been generally of the lowest order, badly educated, and bitter opponents of British rule. And yet Sir Robert Peel, in 1845-against the remonstrance of 1,284,000 individuals, and with only 17,000 in its favour-transformed an annual grant into a permanent endowment of £30,000 a year! The Protestant masses are calling for a repeal of this State support of Popery; and, as Dr. Candlish remarked in the late Free Church Assembly, the people will persevere, and will din the ears of ministers until the very starlings shall cry out, Maynooth! Maynooth! Maynooth! Since the establishment of this institution, the number of Irish priests has increased from about 60 to 848; and the present number of students of all kinds is 500!

There can be no doubt that the pure gospel will accomplish for Irish hearts what the sun does for Irish night. Evangelization and day-light are the hope of the island. Mr. Dill will be acknowledged as a great benefactor of his countrymen. His thorough discussions, ample array of facts, and just conclusions, must awaken a new and deeper interest in all measures to recover this neglected portion of a race, possessing so many noble characteristics. The words of the celebrated John Owen, addressed 400 years ago to the parliament of England, may well be addressed to the evangelical churches in Great Britain now: "So far as you find God going on with your work, go you on with his. How is it that Jesus Christ is in Ireland only as a lion staining all his garments with the blood of his enemies, and none to hold him out as a Lamb, sprinkled with his own blood, to his

friends? God has been faithful in doing great things for you; be faithful in this one do your utmost for the preaching of the gospel in Ireland.”

THE GOOD MAN: A Discourse commemorative of the late Rev. David M'Conaughy, D. D. By the Rev. DAVID ELLIOTT, D. D., Washington, Pa.

Dr. Elliott first elucidates and describes the character of a good man. He has piety towards God, is just and benevolent in his relations to his fellow men, and scrupulous in the discharge of duties he owes to himself. A truly good man is, also, like Barnabas, "full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith." After this appropriate introduction, Dr. Elliott turns more particularly to the character of his friend and brother, Dr. M'Conaughy, and remarks: "Although from literary institutions of high reputation he had received the honorary distinctions of 'Doctor of Divinity,' and 'Doctor of Laws,' the still higher and nobler title, that of 'A GOOD MAN,' was conferred upon him by the united suffrage of the whole community."

Dr. M'Conaughy was born in 1775, near Gettysburg; was graduated at Dickinson College, under Dr. Nisbit, in 1795; studied theology with Dr. Grier, of Brandywine; was ordained pastor on the 8th of October, 1800, over the United Churches of Upper Marsh Creek, and Great Conewago; opened a grammar school while pastor at Gettysburg, in 1807, where Dr. Jeremiah Chamberlain and other eminent men were educated; was inaugurated President of Washington College, Pa., in 1832; resigned the Presi dency in 1849; and died on the 29th of January last.

Dr. Elliott's portraiture of his friend is a model of its kind. Every Presbytery ought to preserve such a record of its departed ministers.

A SERMON on the Modes and Danger of Departing from God; preached in the Presbyterian Church, Columbia, Pa., by the Pastor, Rev. EBENEZER ERSKINE. J. G. L. Brown, Columbia, Pa. 1852.

AN able and interesting discourse from the text, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the liv ing God." The sermon was preached in the ordinary course of ministerial duty, and a part published in one of the papers in Columbia. Some Arminian brother, took offence because, among other things, the doctrine of falling away from grace, as he understood it, was not advocated. Mr. Erskine agrees with Paul: "being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ.” The text of Mr. Erskine's sermon is an exhortation to perseverance. The use of means is necessary to keep us from falling; and a true Christian, who uses the means of grace, will not depart from the living God. The apostacy of Christian professors is explained, not by the theory that "they once had religion," but that "they never had true religion;" or in the language of John: "they went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us." The true believer, not being perfect, may temporarily backslide, but not apostatize. It is remarkable that the loose theology of Wesley, which Taylor has so thoroughly exposed, goes from the believer's "sinless perfection" down to his "final apostacy." Such a doctrinal pendulum has a tremendous vibration, and it is not surprising that the clock of the system is very irregular, and often out of order.

Mr. Erskine, in his discourse, shows, 1st, What it is to depart from God. 2d, What are some of the leading forms of such departures. And 3d, Ap