stupendous and imperial exertions have hardly sufficed to arrest a few of its smaller currents, and that only to turn them aside into other channels; the main streams roll on swollen by internal tributaries, as they proceed in their rapid progress, while some dark and fathomless abyss, in the centre of Africa, by which they must be principally fed, has not yet been even seen by the white man's eye, much less reached by the healing hand of Christian benevolence. What then is to be done? Parliaments and cabinets stand aghast, and mere philosophic philanthropy is mute! To this question there is only one correct answer. Let the churches of Christ go and erect the cross in the midst of the carnage! Let them point the nations of Africa to the Lamb of God. Let God's own remedy be applied to stanch the wounds of that bleeding country. Let the wisdom of the world give place to the Revelations of mercy, and let the saints of Europe rally to a new and holier crusade !"

Christianity, is indeed, the parent of freedom and the foe of oppression; it raises man to his proper dignity, it forbids the strong to oppress the weak-it requires those who rule, so to exercise the powers of government, as to protect those who are unable to protect themselves, and to put down cruelty and oppression. As far as the influence of Christianity has been allowed to operate these effects have been produced. Much, however, even in our own country, yet remains to be done. The labouring and middle classes of the community have cause to complain of the existence of laws, which fetter industry, and oppress the poor, for the purpose of augmenting the wealth of the rich. Nevertheless Christianity has to a considerable extent, conferred upon us the blessings of freedom, and we are assured that, as it prevails, evils will be destroyed, and all the blessings designed by our common Father and God to be enjoyed by his whole family, will be plenteously possessed by all. To obtain these blessings, let us most fervently pray, and labour to extend the knowledge of the religion of Christ. Of the influence of Christianity on the civil condition of this country, Dr. Campbell has the following remarks:—

"Oh, happy England! how changed her condition since the period when she groaned under the despots of the Norman line, who subverted her Saxon constitution and destroyed her liberties! In those dreadful days, the will of the prince was the law of the people. Take the forest laws of those times as an illustration of the misery of the country. Castration, the loss of the eyes, the amputation of the hands and feet, were the penalties for killing a hare! The house of Stuart would fain have walked in the paths of our Norman tyrants. James the first frankly informs his parliament, that he and his ancestors were the gracious source of all the people's privileges, and that 66 as to dispute what God may do, is blasphemy, so is it sedition in subjects to dispute what a king may do in the height of his power." This is the pure and genuine diction of despotism! It is, nevertheless, most revolting to the feelings of free-born Englishmen. Yet time was, when the guardians and expositors of our laws were so lost in subservience to power, that when Richard II., impatient of the fetters of certain acts, asked the assembled judges whether he could not annul them, the ready answer was, "The king is above the law." From such a principle the transition is easy to another, viz., "The king is the law ;" and this will conduct us at once to the palmy days of true despotic glory-the days of Nebuchadnezzar, whose dreadful sway is thus described by Daniel: "All people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him; whom he would he slew, and whom he

would he kept alive; whom he would he set up, and whom he would he cast down." Such was once the government of England, now the chosen abode of legal freedom. Our lovely sovereign is as much bound by the laws as the humblest cottager in the empire. The prince, the peer, and the peasant, are on a perfect level in the presence of the law. Every British subject is equally protected with regard, to life, liberty, and property. The entire people dwell within the common sanctuary of legal protection. None are excepted, none are privileged. The law is supreme. To this divine fellowship of freedom, the Missionaries of Christ are introducing the nations of Polynesia. I say the Missionaries are doing this thing. Those isles were visited by the students of science in search of facts, by the conductors of commerce in search of gain, and by the voluptuous in quest of pleasure-the object of all these men was to find good, not to impart it. It was reserved for the Missionary of the Cross, not merely to visit, but to become a resident on the islands, and to sacrifice all that the world holds dear in order to promote the people's welfare. He took with him the fundamental element of British freedom, the Gospel of Christ, and the results are such as we have set forth."

The letter to Lord Brougham extends to ninety-two pages, occupying about one-fifth of the volume, and it is an admirable production, It contains a most interesting and graphic description of his Lordship as a statesman, orator, philosopher, moralist, and patriot. His high order of intellect-his varied talents-his extensive learning - his commanding powers of oratory-his philanthropic exertions to extinguish slavery - to avert warr-to promote general education-to improve the civil and social condition of mankind, are duly acknowledged in all these respects his greatness is confessed. Dr. Campbell records not only his Lordship's excellencies, he also points out his defects-he refers most exquisitely to his Lordship's incorrect opinions on the most important questions, relating to the person of Christ-his atonement-and the means of obtaining salvation. Although due homage is given to the commanding and varied talents of his Lordship, yet, he is dealt with most faithfully-he is addressed on the most important subjects, with earnestness, with a dignified freedom, and with learned and convincing eloquence. We believe he was never before addressed in a manner, so becoming his own character and the importance of the subjects discussed. We most sincerely hope, that his Lordship may give the letter an attentive perusal, and we pray that the truths it contains may find a residence in his heart. The letter to which we have just been referring abounds with passages of great force and beauty, many of which we should like to place before our readers. The following passage may be regarded as a specimen of the entire letter:

"My Lord, will you allow me to say, that while speculating on the glory which, in coming ages, awaits you, I could not help also anticipating the judgment of posterity in regard to your lordship's religious character. I would allude to this point with profound respect and great tenderness; but I dare not be wholly silent, because I can even now speak with certainty as to the light in which they will view you. Before me are the writings of holy prophets and apostles, with the true sayings of Christ, the rule of judgment. By these records will posterity estimate you. Its conclusion may, therefore, be easily ascertained. Its higher tribunal will affirm the decision which

has been already pronounced by a great majority of educated and liberal Christian men, your contemporaries. It will declare your lordship to have been a man of pure morals, of unusual disinterestedness, and of an ambition not greater than your capabilities to serve your country, and benefit mankind -the prince of patriots and philanthropists. But, my Lord, while future generations thus pass sentence upon your personal and public character, they will tremble when they think of the possible condition of that mighty spirit which once informed the frame that bore the name of Brougham! They will be unable to discover any thing in your lordship's past history which bespeaks true sympathy with the religion of the Son of God! They will discover nothing in all that you have written or spoken that indicates a right understanding of the doctrines of the cross, or any anxious concern about the world to come! I have looked for such indications in vain, where, if at all, they might have been expected to be found-in your speeches for the missionary Smith. This is a remarkable and mournful defect in those otherwise admirable orations. On that tragical occasion, an opportunity was furnished such as no senator ever before enjoyed, of doing justice to a class of men "of whom the world is not worthy;" an opportunity, too, of atoning to earth and heaven for the injury done to the cause of humanity, instruction, freedom, and religion among the whole human race, by the impious, calumnious, and atrocious articles on "Methodism and Missions," which had appeared in the great literary organ of the North, with the origin and early conduct of which you are closely identified. But you let the occasion slip. This was the more to be regretted, my Lord, because your case fully admitted-nay, demanded -a defence of the class as well as of the individual. In your exordium, you truly represented those around you as pouring contempt upon your cause, ridiculing the petitioners, and adding, that "after all, it is merely about a poor missionary." Oh! my Lord, then was the moment to have summoned your boundless resources, and collected your giant strength, that you might exhibit to your ignorant auditory the progress of civilization, with the degree to which it had been the effect of missions, and the impossibility of its extension and completion over our world but by their means-to have set forth the claims of these truly noble persons to the world's gratitude and admiration, to the protection of governments, the patronage of princes, and the smile of kings-to have shown that the home deeds, even of a Howard, and his short continental tours of compassion, were but trifles, cheap and safe amusements, as compared with the suffering and sacrifice, the disheartening toil and the voluntary exile, the frequent perils and the cruel persecutions, the ill-paid and unpraised labours of these apostolic men-and then to have hurled your thunderbolts of burning indignation at all governments, whether home or colonial, and at all functionaries, whether civil or military, subjects or sovereigns, who dared to impede the progress of these best benefectors of the human race! Never, my Lord, never had orator such subjects before! Never had statesmen such an occasion of promoting the highest enterprise on earth-an enterprise comprehensive of the interests of all classes, of all nations, through all times! Heroes and sages, all who have been deemed first among this world's wise and good, are poor and limited subjects, poor beneath all poverty, and limited within all limitation, as compared with the murdered missionary of Demerara!"

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"Such, my Lord, is the basis of the system in behalf of which I am anxious to enlist your powers and sympathies. There appertain to it a grandeur, a magnificence, a philanthropy, which are calculated to attract and interest a mind like yours. Your literature will enable you to pronounce at once upon the utter insignificance of all projects of human illumination as compared with this of Jesus Christ. His divinity, his atonement, the Divine Personality and agency of the Holy Spirit, the Apostolic miracles, and the doctrine of Regeneration, these, wholly apart, who can adequately estimate the vastness and

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glory of the Christian mission, considered simply as a scheme of education? It contemplates nothing short of the complete instruction and subjection to moral rule of the entire human race throughout all the isles and continents of our globe! The Founder of the Christian Mission hath thus commanded :-" Go and teach all nations". -"Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." Oh, my Lord, what benevolence is here! How immense the magnitude of this conception! Who can hear it without feelings of indescribable emotion? I will not degrade the stupendous theme by attempts at comparing it with aught that patriotism, philosophy, or philanthropy has ever dreamed of, for the good of mankind. No, my Lord, the universe of God supplies no materials for adequate comparison! The mighty scheme, as a mere system of intellectual and moral culture and social government, stands forth in immeasurable and incomparable greatness, and in peerless glory. It will one day be the wonder of earth, as it is now of heaven. If this scheme, my Lord, is not sublime, where is sublimity to be found? And its sublimity is equalled only by its benevolence. Though I decline, yet your lordship may compare Jesus Christ, in the character of a teacher and the founder of an order of teachers, with all whom history has transmitted to us. The exercise will be salutary. The honest inquirer will rise from it, filled with shame and astonishment at the world's injustice and infatuation! How comes it, my Lord, that the most gifted spirits of our race are so apathetic on this transcendent subject? How is it that they can see so much to admire in Socrates groping in thick darkness amid the scarcely visible light of the glowworm, while they can discover nothing to attract in Jesus Christ clothed in the cloudless splendours of the noon-day sun? How is it that poets and orators kindle into rapture at small exhibitions of benevolence, connected with the physical welfare of our species, while they are unmoved, or only moved with sentiments of scorn, at the wonderful provision of the gospel for the moral and intellectual necessities of all mankind, and for their happiness in the life that now is, and in that which is to come ?"

The Rev. Timothy East is the much honoured servant of our Lord, by whose ministry the Martyr of Erromanga was converted to the faith of Christ. It is therefore with great propriety that Dr. Campbell

has addressed the letter "On the character and death of the Rev. John Williams to that gentleman. The task of writing the history of the life of Mr. Williams, having been assigned to other hands, Dr. Campbell is careful of intrenching upon the territory of the Biographer. He, however, has delineated the person, talents, habits, and character of Mr. Williams with the pencil of an experienced and accomplished artist. Mr. W. is described as not having possessed what is usually designated high intellectual attainments. "He was decidedly a man of genius-of great genius-but of genius wholly mechanical. His judgment, although sound, was neither strong, comprehensive, nor exact. His style was simple, but strong,-rough, but manly-his delivery was heavy, and his voice monotonous; his air tame, and his action stiff and awkward." From these statements we learn, that, the greatness of Mr. Williams was not the result of high personal intellectual endowments, but of personal piety, magnanimity, philanthropy, zeal for God and love for souls. These moral virtues, which are attainable by all persons, constituted his true greatness; and as Dr. Campbell justly observes, "Our praise and our approbation ought to rest, not upon what men are," accidentally, "but upon what men do. Real goodness is real greatness; and the scale of its measurement is sincere desire as tested by practical efforts, to promote the

welfare of the human race, and to promote the honour of our Creator."

One of the letters is addressed to the Rev. Thomas Gillespie, D. D. on the following subject, "Intellectual and moral greatness, compared and illustrated from Hume, Byron, the ancient classics, and the late John Williams." And in a letter to the Rev. John Foster we have "Intellectual and moral greatness, illustrated and compared from the Jewish prophets, the apostles, modern writers, and Christian missionaries." The first of these letters manifests extensive acquaintance with both the Greek and Latin ancient classics. The renowned authors are brought under notice, their intellectual and moral qualities described; and then they are compared with the superior moral qualities and greatness of the missionary Williams. Dr. Campbell affirms, that Williams's "Enterprises is a publication of infinitely greater worth than all that Greece and Rome have transmitted to our times." In the letter to Mr. Foster, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, men of literature, philosophers, astronomers, mathematicians, metaphysicians, jurists and political economists, are brought under review, and their characters most instructively delineated, and the infinite superiority of moral over mental greatness, most delightfully and impressively demonstrated, Although we are exceeding the limits we had prescribed, we must give to our readers the following eloquent testimony in behalf of Christian missions:

"Thus, Sir, I am again brought back to the Christian Missionary, the true philanthropist, the only agent endowed with the power of elevating and sanctifying corrupt, fallen humanity. He goes forth to the heathen upon principle, for he goes in obedience to the command of his Master; and his instincts of compassion powerfully prompt him to the performance of his duty. If this groaning earth shall ever be delivered from the oppression of cruelty, the confusion of darkness, and the misery of sin, it will be done, not by the philosopher, but by the Missionary. How comes it that philosophical societies have sent forth no missionaries to benighted nations? Have they no desire to diffuse the delights of science,-no wish to divide their pleasure with their species? How is this? Will not that which is beneficial to the individual, be beneficial to the millions? Is not that which is useful and ornamental for the people of England, equally so for the whole human race? Why, then, are the philosophers idle? Why are they not aroused to a sense of the honour and of the duty of diffusing the doctrines of science to the ends of the earth? Why? Is it because systems of science supply no sufficient motives ? Is it because they possess no moral power? Natural philosophy has but little in common with Christianity. The one deals only with matter; the other, with mind. That is simply a subject of science; this, of salvation. The organ of Christianity is the heart; the organ of science, the understanding. The whole system of natural philosophy, with every thing that appertains to it, does not supply the moral motives comprised in a single verse of the Gospel of John. Philosophy is not the parent of true philanthropy; true philanthropy is the offspring of Christianity. A million of mere philosophers -of men ignorant of the gospel-do not possess the moral principles and the moral power of one devoted missionary! Nay, the Missionary often excels them in the advancement of their own objects; a Single Missionary has occasionally done more for the honour of letters, and for the spread of science in benighted climes, than all the academicians of Europe! But this was only. an appendage to his mighty work. He conducts the people of his affections