brands, arrows and death,—and saith, Am not I IN SPORT?" Mr. Robinson is a layman, and, we believe, is, or recently was, connected with the Methodists at Beverley. His letter is, therefore, independent of its intrinsic worth, the more valuable, because his able labours in coping with the selfstyled "Esquire" of Beverley, cannot be charged by the enemy with being mercenary and interested. Upon any mind, not lost to all sense of decency, not "hardened through the deceitfulness of sin," into utter callousness,— not dead to that common notion of honour and honesty even among the heathen, the well-merited castigation inflicted by Mr. Robinson in the first page of his letter would have some salutary effect. Nor is the well-earned castigation administered through a "roaring pamphlet," (to use Mr. Beverley's elegant phraseology,) but in the language of a gentleman, and the spirit of a Christian; and Mr. Beverley, though an Esquire," at least in his own opinion, and though, by some strange mistake of well-meaning friends, gifted with a university education, would be no loser were he to take a few lessons in Mr. Robinson's school. But the man who has firmly placed himself "in the seat of the scornful," is not likely to descend of his own accord: he prefers proclaiming from that seat his own folly and blasphemy, to the sport of the wicked, and the grief of the righteous, until retributive justice hurls him down, and makes him an object of detestation and horror, or until forbearing mercy stretches forth her hand and leads him to the lowly seat of repentance.That the latter may be the lot of Mr. Beverley, we devoutly wish, notwithstanding his "railing;" though we fear, on his own account, that he will soon throw off the mask of religion, and appear in his real character, —an open INFIDEL. Mr. Beverley's "Letter" has had an extensive circulation in this kingdom, and that principally through the active agency of the sectaries, who are glad to wield any weapon, or to unite with any faction, against the Established Church. The combined efforts of the multiform and multicoloured religious sects, dividing from, and hating each other though they do, and the infidels of the day, in their unholy and malignant crusade against the Church of Christ, are not without a parallel in the annals of that Church. Such a combination against the great Head of the Church was formed by Herod, a religious hypocrite, and Pilate, an infidel judge. The jarring discord and jealousy of Herod and Pilate soon subsided when the despised and persecuted Jesus came before them; and the base passions that before had rankled in their degenerate hearts were directed against the Saviour of the world. As it was with the HEAD, SO it is with the members; and they must expect to partake of his sufferings. Most gladly would we introduce some of Mr. Robinson's able remarks and masterly arguments, did our limited space allow; but we must content ourselves with earnestly recommending the whole pamphlet to every friend, not of the Church only, but of the TRUTH. And we take the liberty of adding, that the friends and guardians of the Church would do much good, or at least counteract much evil, were they to promote the circulation of Mr. Robinson's letter in their respective neighbourhoods. The Christian's Appeal; or, Rules of Faith and Practice, selected from the Holy Scriptures, with a Commentary. By a LAYMAN OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. London: Seeleys. 1831. 12mo. Pp. vii. 75. All WE have here a little book of very emphatic capitals, demi-emphatic minor capitals, and demi-semi-emphatic italics, included in a very impressive multitude of inverted commas. these will, doubtless, have a very subduing effect upon the nerves; and, were it not that the cloven-foot of calvinism every now and then peeps forth, and that a little spice of uncharitableness towards "exclusive professors of Orthodoxy" is occasionally visible, we should have no great objection to the appeal. * Luke xxiii. 12. A SERMON, IN BEHALF OF THE INCORPORATED SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL IN FOREIGN PARTS. MATT. xxviii. 18-20. And Jesus came, and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you alway even unto the end of the world. Amen. IT is repeatedly foretold, both in the Old and New Testaments, that the Gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ, however slowly it may now appear to be making its way in the world, will at length be universally received among men; and that all the nations of the earth, which have so long been wandering in ignorance and error, will in due time come to the knowledge of the truth, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.* The manner in which these prophecies will be fulfilled has not been revealed to us: it would therefore be an act of presumption and folly to endeavour to search too minutely into things, which can be fully known only by their accomplishment. But, since our Saviour himself has established a regular order of Ministers in his Church, commanding them to go and teach (or make disciples of) all nations, and assuring them that He will be with them even to the end of the world, we have surely reason to hope that He will signally bless the efforts of those, who, in reliance on this promised aid, endeavour faithfully to execute the command. The apostles, to whom the words of the text were directly spoken, passed their whole lives in the work to which they were thus divinely appointed; and true Christians have ever since been anxious to imitate in some degree their example; and to communicate to others those spiritual advantages which they themselves enjoy. The reformed Church, established in this country, has been eminently distinguished by zeal in this holy cause: and, though necessarily directing her principal attention to her own immediate flock, she has not been unmindful of those who, in distant lands, are scattered abroad as sheep which have no shepherd; but, according to her means and opportunities, has laboured, diligently and successfully laboured, to prevent the wanderings of those who already belong to the Christian fold, and to lead home those who have strayed from the right way, that they and we may become one fold under one shepherd, the good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep.† In the course of the last fifteen or twenty years, many events have occurred, by which the opportunities for thus spreading the knowledge of Christianity have been rapidly and extensively multiplied: and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, in her zealous and laudable anxiety * Rom. v. 2. John x. 11, 16. 4 R VOL. XIII. NO. XI. to take advantage of these favourable circumstances, has made, and is daily making exertions, which her present funds are altogether unable to meet, and for the continuance of which, she must depend on the countenance and support of the Christian public. Our Church therefore feels convinced that the nature, extent, and magnitude of these exertions, only require to be brought forward more prominently to the notice of her members, in order that their importance may be more generally known and better appreciated; and that the pecuniary means, by which alone they can be carried into effect, may be cheerfully and abundantly supplied. Having been called upon therefore to address you in behalf of this Society, I shall not dwell on the general duty of affording religious instruction to those who are unable to provide it for themselves, but proceed at once to a consideration of the circumstances more immediately connected with this Society, confining myself to a simple statement of facts with regard to its objects,—its instruments, its resources. I. The general object of the Society is well stated in its title, "A Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." But perhaps this object will be better understood by considering distinctly its two principal branches,-preserving the Gospel in our own colonies, -and spreading it among the neighbouring heathen. 1. To preserve the knowledge and practice of true Christianity among our own countrymen, members of our own Protestant Church, who are living in our colonies in various parts of the world, was the first, and for a considerable time the only object, which the Society had in view. It is easy to imagine that, in the infancy of our foreign settlements, their inhabitants would consist almost entirely of a few agents, whose business it was to conduct our commercial transactions with the nations of the several countries; and the families of these original settlers would gradually form a colony, more or less extensive according to the circumstances in which they were severally placed. These persons, though born, and living and dying in a distant land, would naturally preserve the language and habits, the affections and associations, of Englishmen; and the very circumstance of their being cut off from direct communication with the mother-country, would only attach them more closely to all its civil and religious institutions. Yet in almost all these infant settlements, however extensive and populous they might in a few years become, it is clear that we should look in vain for a Clergyman of the Church of England, simply because at the first planting of the colony there was no established provision for one. In very many instances, but for the establishment of this Society, the only opportunity afforded to the inhabitants of our foreign settlements on the sea-coast, of assembling for public worship, and of having their baptisms, marriages, and funerals, performed according to the ritual of the Church of England, would arise from the accidental visit of the chaplain belonging to some vessel which might happen to touch at the port; while those who penetrated into the interior of the country would be completely shut out from all public communion with the Christian Church. To provide a remedy for this lamentable state of things was the original object of our Society, by raising a fund for building Churches, and placing a resident Clergyman in the most populous and central stations of our foreign colonies. * 2. This first object of the Society naturally introduced the second; and the means employed for preserving the Gospel in our own colonies, was but the first step towards spreading it among the neighbouring heathen. For it was scarcely possible but that the Clergy, thus placed in the midst of an isolated Christian congregation, surrounded on all sides by the votaries of a debasing superstition, should, like the apostle St. Paul while waiting for his companions at Athens, feel their spirit stirred within them, when they beheld the natives wholly given to idolatry, and that, like him, they should proclaim the power and wisdom, the holiness, the justice, and the mercy of the unknown God. Thus each of the Society's establishments among our own colonists is as a lamp shining in a dark place; ‡ not only cheering the hearts of those who live within its immediate influence, but dispersing in some measure the gloom of heathen superstition, and giving an earnest of those future times, when the dayspring from on high shall visit these benighted lands, § and the Sun of righteousness shall rise upon them with healing in His wings. As however the proceedings of our Society among heathen nations differ little or nothing from those of other missionary institutions, I shall not enter into any further details respecting the objects of the Society, but proceed to state II. The instruments which it employs for their accomplishment. 1. And here, in the first place, is a body of regularly ordained Clergymen of the Church of England, a body of catechists acting under their superintendence, and a body of schoolmasters engaged in the instruction of the children, both of the settlers and of the native Indians. And you will judge of the scale of their operations from the statement contained in their last Report, that at this day, in our possessions in North America, there are more than one hundred and thirty persons acting as catechists or schoolmasters, who are appointed and partly maintained by this Society, and an equal number of Clergymen engaged in her service as missionaries, and altogether supported from her funds. T 2. After the persons employed by the Society, the next instrument to be noticed is books. The Bible, the Prayer-book, other books of religious instruction, and school-books, are liberally furnished to our own settlers, translated into different languages and dialects, and printed and dispersed among the various heathen nations, in the midst of whom their missionaries are placed. 3. The next instrument in furthering the designs of the Society is the building of schools for the religious instruction of the children, and the building and endowing of colleges for the training of young men selected from the natives themselves, who are receiving a complete education at the charge of this Society, in order to qualify them for becoming ministers of the Gospel among their own people. 4. Lastly, as a proof that the Society has not laboured in vain, it is stated that, in consequence of the religious knowledge which has thus * Acts xvii. 16. Mal. iv. 2. † Ver. 23. § Luke i. 78. been spread abroad, and of the zeal which has thus been awakened, the inhabitants themselves, aided in some instances by the funds of this Society, have been induced to build churches for the perpetual celebration of divine worship by her missionaries, in strict accordance with the doctrines and ordinances of our Church. The number of churches built and consecrated in our colonies in North America, within the last sixteen years, amounts to not less than one hundred and sixty. Any observation on these simple facts, would only weaken their influence. Feeling, as every one must feel, the immense importance of communicating Christian light and consolation to thousands of our brethren in distant lands, by the direct exertions and indirect influence of this Society, you will naturally be anxious to inquire, III. Into the resources from which their operations are supplied. The income of the Society is derived partly from a grant of money annually voted to them by parliament; partly from land and funded property, and partly from voluntary contributions. 1. With regard to the first source, the annual grant by parliament, it will not, I trust, be questioned by any member of this congregation that it is the bounden duty of the state to make provision for the maintenance of true religion amongst the people; or that the claims of our colonies in this respect are as strong and as sacred as our own. And it is no slight proof of the fidelity and the wisdom with which the business of this Society has been conducted, that the government of this country has appointed them the dispensers of that provision which the state has made for the clergy of the Church of England, in the North American colonies. Nay, surely we may infer an increasing conviction in the minds of our rulers, of the importance of the objects to which the efforts of the Society are directed, and increasing confidence in the measures adopted for the attainment of those objects, from the fact, that the sum which, since the year 1814, has been annually intrusted by parliament to the charge of the Society, has gradually been augmented to more than four times its original amount. Still the aid which the Society thus receives from government, is, with a single exception, confined exclusively to our possessions in North America, and its amount is considerably less than two thirds of her expenditure in that part of the world.* In every other scene of her labours she is left to her own resources, and upheld only by the voluntary support of the Christian public. 2. The second source from which the income of the Society is drawn, consists principally of the dividends on funded property, which has grown out of donations and legacies given and bequeathed to the Society in the early periods of her history. And you will hear with regret that, owing to the numerous additional applications which have been made to the Society since the conclusion of the late war, her annual expenditure has for several years past unavoidably *Parliamentary grants 1814 £3,600 0 0 1819 15,532 0 0 Ditto for North America and the Cape of Good Hope |