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they were no accurate measure of the degree in which personal religion prevails. I was quite aware that, in many cases, and especially where there is no establishment, churches are sometimes multiplied by the very dissensions of a congregation; that a proportion of the active effort engaged in the promotion of religious objects, is often very little connected with Christian principle; and that respect for the form of godliness may survive its power. But at the same time I felt persuaded that, although a love of popularity may enrol the worldly in the list of contributors to religious societies, or engage them as public advocates in a sacred cause, still that diligent performance of the routine of official duties and selfdenying and persevering efforts, to which religious societies are usually indebted both for their origin and prosperity, imply, in most cases, the existence of a higher principle, and spring from a purer source.

My subsequent experience has convinced me that I was not incorrect in the persuasion in which I indulged myself as I passed along, that I was always in the vicinity of some at least who were united in Christian sympathy with the whole church militant on earth, and were travelling to a better country amidst the hopes and fears, the trials and consolations, which chequer the lot and form the character, of the Christian in every quarter of the globe. Sometimes, in the course of my route, some little incident would give peculiar force to this persuasion, or the surrounding scenery impart to it a particular in

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the institution to the piety, of its founders. It is from this establishment that the American Board of Missions has drawn nearly all its labourers. After tea we adjourned to the college chapel, where religious intelligence from various parts of the United States was communicated by the students or professors. We had then prayers, after which we separated. It was a beautiful star-light night in au tumn; and while looking out of my window, at midnight, on this quiet scene where many who were then labouring in distant regions of the globe first felt those ardent as pirings after extensive future usefulness, which prompted them to encounter the trials of a missionary life, and where many were then preparing for the same honourable enterprize-I could not but contrast the privileges of a life thus early and entirely dedicated to the noblest cause, with those of the most successful commercial or political career, where the flame of piety, if not extinguished by the very at mosphere which surrounds it, is exposed to a thousand blasts from which the religious zeal of the missionary is sheltered by his peculiar situation.

At Hartford, in Connecticut, in a church so richly adorned with "Christmas" (either winding round the pillars, or hung in festoons), as to appear almost like a grove, I was gratified by a sermon in vindication of our Liturgy; and my heart warmed when I heard the minister enumerate among its claims to the affectionate regards of the congregation, "the opportunity which it afforded them of worshipping in the very words in which saints for centuries had breathed their devotions in the land of their fathers, and of still offering their incense in the same censer with their brethren in Britain, that brightest star in the firmament of the Reformation."In the afternoon I attended the Presbyterian chapel, where the minister announced, at the close of

the service, that it was the wish of many of the congregation that the following Friday should be set apart for prayer and fasting, and that it was expected it should be so. observed by the members of the church. I felt that I was among the descendants of the puritanic exiles, (for exiles may many of them be considered rather than emigrants); and I could not but breathe a wish that the spirit of an Elijah might linger in the land which still preserved these vestiges of more devotional times.

At Newhaven, in the same State, after visiting Yale College,-in the library of which I was pleased to recognize, under the titles "Berkeley," and "The Dean's Bounty," substantial proofs of the liberality of our celebrated countryman, Bishop Berkeley, I spent the evening with Dr. Morse, whom I found engaged in drawing up a report on the state of the Indians, to be submitted to Congress. He had been selected by the President to travel among the Indians with reference to this object, in consequence of having been long employed by a society in Scotland in the promotion of their benevolent designs among some of the northern tribes. He has devoted a very long and very active life to the interests of literature and religion in his infant country, combining the attainments of a scholar with the apostolic zeal of a missionary, and often exchanging domestic endearments and literary ease for the perils of the wilderness, and the privations of solitary journeys in swamps andforests, When Mr. Hall's sermon on Infidelity appeared, he printed an edition at his own expense, although in very moderate circumstances, and has since endeavoured to introduce among his countrymen a high standard of practical excellence, by exhibiting to their view that extraordinary combination of the lowly and the splendid virtues of the Christian character which adorned the life, and has em

balmed the memory of the late Mr. Reynolds of Bristol.

At Boston I had the pleasure of an interview with the late venerable Dr. Worcester, the secretary of the American Missionary Society, and received much interesting intelligence from the Missionary Board, and its excellent treasurer. There I found an association of young men, who have set apart a portion of their income for the establish ment of a missionary press at Jerusalem. There also I had the gratification of seeing Henry Martyn in an American dress, going forth in the character of a departed saint, to advance in the West the cause in which he himself fell so early and lamented a sacrifice in the East; to fau, in the very scenes where his beloved though unknown Henry Brainerd had laboured and expired, the missionary zeal which that eminent man had kindled; and to animate every succeeding Ameri can missionary by an affecting proof, that a ray of fervent picty, though emanating from the solitudes of an American forest, may penetrate even the cloisters of Cambridge, and revive a fainting bosom in the deserts of Persia or Hindostan.

(To be continued.)

To the Editor of theChristian Observer. IN reading the account in your Number for September last (which I did not notice till a few days since), of an antiquarian visit to the Meeting-house in which the celebrated John Bunyan used to preach to listening muititudes in Zoarstreet, Gravel-lane, I was surprised to find your correspondent ascribing the liberation of that persecuted servant of God from his long imprisonment in Bedford gaol, to the interposition of Dr. Barlow, the Bishop of Lincoln. As there is clearly an error in your correspondent's statement, I trust I shall have both his and your thanks

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* A letter, signed "B. Hanbury," has just appeared in a contemporary Magazine, in reply to a paper in that work, copied, with additions, from the communication in the Christian Observer. In this letter Mr. Hanbury brings evidence to prove that it is "only by inference that Zoar-street Meeting is said to have been Bunyan's." Wilson, in his voluminous "History of Dissenting Churches," takes no notice of Bunyan's alleged connexion with Zoar-street Meetinghouse; but, treating of "Duke-street Park, Southwark," says, "This Meetinghouse belonged to a very ancient society of General Baptists. The former Meeting-house, which was an ancient

building, is said to have been the place where the celebrated John Bunyau most usually preached when in London." Mr. Hanbury therefore recommends the admirers of Bunyan to explore "Duke-street Park Meeting house," instead of Zoar-street Meetinghouse, in search of their antiquarian entertainment. Mr. Hanbury further thinks, that in the account which says that Bunyan 66 preached several times about London, particularly in the parish of Southwark," the word parish is a misprint for park, there being five parishes in Southwark,

form in half a year, the bishop may release him upon that bond; whereupon a friend of this poor man desired Dr. Owen to give his letter to the bishop on his behalf, which he readily granted. The bishop, hav-' ing read it, told the person who delivered it, that he had a particular kindness for Dr. Owen, and would deny him nothing he could legally do. Nay, saith he, with my service to him, I will strain a point to serve him. (This was his very expression). But, says he, this being a new thing to me, I desire a little time to consider of it; and if I can do it, you may be assured of my readiness. He was waited upon again about a fortnight after, and his answer was, That indeed he was informed he might do it; but, the law providing that in case the bishop refused, application should be made to the lord chancellor, who thereupon should issue out an order to the bishop to take the customary bond, and release the prisoner: now, said he, you know what a critical time this is, and I have many enemies; I would desire you to move the lord chancellor in this case, and upon his order I will do it. To which it was replied, This method was very chargeable, and the man was poor, and not able to expend so much money, and being satisfied he could do it legally, it was hoped his lordship would remember his promise, there being no straining a point in the case. But he would do it upon no other terms; which at last was done, but little thanks to the bishop."

Tothe Editor of the Christian Observer. IN allusion to the Jewish custom of releasing a prisoner at the Passover, it was for many ages the practice in some parts of Christendom to liberate one or more persons from bonds at the annual commemoration of our Saviour's resurrection. This custom is said to have been preserved among the Vene

tians as late as towards the close of the last century: and I should be much obliged to any of your readers who, in this age of travelling, may have had occasion to pass an Easter in Venice, to inform me whether the practice has been

abolished; or, if abolished during
the reign of French principles,
whether it has been revived since
the late political and religious
changes; and if so, with what
ceremonies.
P. Q.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

Travels in South Africa, undertaken at the Request of the London Missionary Society; being a Narrative of a Second Journey in the Interior of that Country. By the Rev. JOHN CAMPBELL. 2 vols. London. 1822. pp. 706.

IT is dismal to look at a map of Africa, and there observe the blank which stretches through the centre of that vast continent. An area, measured from the 10th degree north of the equator, to the 25th degree of south latitude, and comprehending a width, in some parts, of 20 degrees of longitude, presents nothing but a mighty void, concerning which, except that we guess it to be land, we know almost as little as we do about the regions in the moon. The Portuguese have possessed settlements on the eastern and western coasts for more than two centuries. The distance between the extreme inland boundaries of Congo and Angola, on the one side, and those of Mozambique on the other, probably does not exceed one thousand miles. Yet, during their long period of possession, they have made no attempts towards discovery in the interior, or towards promoting an intercourse between the opposite coasts. Such a state of contented ignorance, and such a total absence of enlightened curiosity, so opposite to the early habits of the Portuguese, surely never before disgraced the annals of a country, calling itself civilized. The cause CHRIST. OBSERV. No, 245.

may be traced to the Slave Trade; the effect of which is to brutalize not only its victims, but the perpetrators and agents of its atrocities. The latter are indifferent to all objects but that of their lawless and cruel gain; and among the former, the trade necessarily produces that state of universal distrust and suspicion, and that insecurity of person and property, which, while they prevail, must continue to cover a large part of Africa with its present obscurity. Fortunately for the traveller whose advance into the interior of that continent we have now to notice, the horrors of the Slave Trade have not yet penetrated to the line of his march; and, although the people whom he visited appear to stand at a very low point in the scale of civilized existence, and although many of the worst evils of savage life are to be found among them, yet they are not cursed with this tenfold aggravation of them all. Hence, in part, the comparative security which our traveller enjoyed, during his adventurous progress.

We are certainly disposed to think, that if discovery is at length to extend itself in the interior of Southern Africa, it must be by the labours of such enterprizing travellers as Mr. Campbell, aided by the zealous countenance and cooperation of the local authorities at the Cape, whose best encouragement, we are persuaded, will never be wanting, either to the curious 2 Q

traveller, or to the disinterested and benevolent missionary.

As men, we take a lively interest in all attempts to enlarge our knowledge of the earth and its inhabitants; and as Christian Observers, we take a more than common interest in such attempts, when we find them connected with the growth and diffusion of true religion. But, even that interest is heightened, whenever, as in the present instance, the information relates to a part of the globe which excites so many painful recollections, and to which we owe so deep a debt of reparation. It is on this ground chiefly that we bring a second journey of Mr. Campbell's in Southern Africa before the notice of our readers. We cannot, indeed, bestow great praise upon his work as a composition. It is thrown too much into the form of a tedious and minute diary. There is a frequent recurrence of the same little circumstances, related in nearly the same words. The reader is seldom enlivened by interesting observations, proceeding from comprehensive views of human nature; and the style is as tame and flat as any desert in the continent of Africa. Whatever oases the author might find in his travels, he has treated us with none in his language and composition. Yet his work is well worth reading, because it abounds in matter of fact, upon which we may rely with confidence. Every now and then too, some curious circumstance rises up to relieve the general heaviness of the perusal. In short, we much admire Mr. Campbell's courage, enterprise, and activity; we most highly venerate his Christian and benevolent motives; and we cannot form a more suitable wish, either for him, or for ourselves, or for Africa, than that, encouraged by his past success, and by the rapid progress of the missions he has founded, he may again renew his journey, and bearing with him, as before, the pre

cious gift of the Gospel, may penetrate as far as the mouth of the Niger, or the mountains of the Moon, and return in safety to end his pilgrimage in his native land.

We gave some account of Mr. Campbell's first journey, in our work for 1815; and we now intend to present our readers with a brief review of his recent volumes. They are published, as the former was, at the expense, and under the superintendence, of the London Missionary Society. Amidst such a mass of information as the present work exhibits, it is evident that we can make only a scanty selection; and all we can promise our readers is, to follow the traveller throughout that part of his progress which extends beyond the limit of his former journey, and to insert a few of the most interesting passages relating to the interior of Southern Africa. We shall reserve, for the close of this article, some reflections on the subject of Christian Missions.

The traveller, Barrow, as well as our author, had before penetrated as far as Lattakoo, a town situated in about 27 degrees south latitude, and more than 100 miles to the north of the Orange River*. In their present journey they took a different route from the former, passing by the site of a projected new town, to be called Beaufort, at the northern extremity of the colony. Between this and the Orange River, they had a tedious and somewhat hazardous journey across the country of the wild Bushmen. These are a race of poor, wandering savages, half-famished, and so inured to dirt, that, when advised to wash themselves, " they were much diverted with the idea, and seemed unable to comprehend what end could be answered by such an operation." This country abounds

* Our author left Cape Town, Janufriends, and the necessary Hottentot ary 18, 1820, in company with two attendants. Their conveyance consisted of waggons, drawn by oxen.

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