THEOLOGY.

Church of England's Pledge, or the Religion of the Reformation. 12mo. 7s. Tales in Verse, illustrative of the several Petitions of the Lord's Prayer. 12mo. 5s. 6d.

Wisdom and Happiness; containing Selections from the Bible, from Bishops Patrick, Taylor, &c.; by the Rev. H. Watkins, A.M. 12mo. 2s. 6d.

A Review of the Progress of Religious Opinions during the Nineteenth Century; by J. C. L. Simonde de Sismondi. Translated from the French. 8vo. 3s. 6d.

A Volume of Sermons on the Ninetyfirst Psalm.

Scripture Lessons on the New Testament; by T. Maw.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Memoirs of a Sergeant in the French Army, written by himself, comprising his Adventures in Italy, Spain, Germany, Russia, &c., from 1805 to 1823.

Life of Wickliffe. Post 8vo. 5s. 6d. Some Account of the Life and Character of the late Thomas Bateman, M.D. F.L.S.

The Political History of India from 1784 to 1823; by Major-Gen. Sir John Malcolm. 2 vols. 8vo. 30s.

Origines; or Remarks on the Origin of Empires, &c.; by Sir W. Drummond. Vol. III. 8vo. 12s.

A History of the Mahrattas; by James Grant Duff, Esq. 3 vols. 8vo. 21. 15s.

Regulations established by the King in Council, and Instructions issued by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, relating to his Majesty's Service at Sea.

Irish Antiquarian Researches; by Sir William Betham, F.S.A., &c. 8vo. 15s. Considerations on Volcanoes; by G. Poulett Scrope. 8vo.

Phrenology, in Connexion with the Study of Physiognomy. With thirty-four. Plates; by J. Spurzheim, M.D.

Poems, Miscellaneous and Sacred; by H. Rogers. Fcap. 8vo. 5s.

Waterloo; or the British Minstrel; by H. J. Bradfield. 8vo. 8s. 6d.

Original Rhymes; by T. S. Allen. Sibyl's Leaves; Poems and Sketches; by Elizabeth Willesford Mills. Post 8vo.

PRAYER-BOOK AND HOMILY

SOCIETY.

THE following is an abstract of the last Report of this highly useful institution, which, besides being interesting to every member of the Church of England, from the specific nature of its domestic objects, is rising into extensive importance as an auxiliary for the diffusion of the Gospel among the heathen. Wherever the Scriptures and Christian missionaries have penetrated, we should rejoice to witness the doctrinal and devotional formularies of our church following in their train.

In pursuance of the Society's plans for the benefit of seamen, 1261 ships and other vessels had been visited, and 1604 Prayer-books and 19 copies of the whole Book of Homilies sold at reduced prices, and nearly 1500 copies of a book of Select Homilies, bound in canvass, given for the use of the ships' crews. To these must be added a very considerable number of Homilies, and Prayers from the Liturgy, in various languages put into the hands of foreign seamen.

Besides making occasional grants of books to Sunday Schools, whose funds would not allow them to purchase, on the

application of parochial ministers or teachers, books have been given, at the request of chaplains of prisons, for the use of persons in confinement; as also, for the use of Spanish emigrants, who are in the habit of attending Divine service in English churches, and are desirous of being better able to join in the worship of the congregation: while, in other instances, Prayer-books had been committed to the care of clergymen, to be sold at a very small price; or Homily Tracts had been given for gratuitous distribution, in places where the neighbourhood is poor and the population numerous.

The Report next adverts to the Society's proceedings among our own countrymen or fellow-subjects abroad. "Some of your Prayer-books," writes a clerical friend, "I have circulated among the Indian Apprentices, who were educated and bound out at the charge of the NewEngland Corporation. A few copies I am about to send to a Man of Colour, who lives in a village of Negroes, from whence I lately returned after a visit to the Indians of that province. At this village I performed Divine service in a log-house on the Sunday morning. We had a goodly company assembled; and their sable

In noticing the translation, publication, and distribution of our Formularies in other languages, the Committee state, that the printing of the Indo-Portuguese version of the Liturgy, made by Mr. Robert Newstead, a missionary to Ceylon, and revised by other missionaries, had been proceeded with, under the care of the translator, as rapidly as circumstances would allow, and had been completed.

The accounts received from Singapore, respecting Mr. Thomson's Malay translations, were satisfactory. The morning prayers are read in the Malay chapel every Sunday morning.

During the last year, some important additions had been made to the Society's Spanish Translations; and many copies of the Book of Common Prayer, as well as many Homilies, in that language, had been issued. In this part of their object the Committee had been much encouraged by the following letter from an English clergyman now in South America:-"The Spanish Prayer-books I particularly requested for gratuitous distribution among the clergy and others, to whom I might wish to present a copy of our admirable Liturgy in their own tongue. Repeated applications for them would soon have exhausted my little stock; but as I did not like to bestow them all until I could obtain another supply, I reserved a few copies for particular occasions. I have been greatly struck, and much gratified, with the pleasing testimonies which have been offered to the simplicity, the excellence, and the spirituality of our formularies, by different persons here; and no part of them appears to excite greater admiration than our Communion Service. which I confess I have always considered as the purest form of devotion that could proceed from an uninspired pen. Among

In addition to those Homilies which had been previously rendered into and printed in Spanish, the Sixth Homily and the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion have now been translated; and four tracts, containing extracts from the Liturgy in Spanish, entitled "Collects and Portions of Scripture," have been prepared for the press.

A tract, consisting wholly of a selection from the Rev. Dr. Küper's German version of the Book of Common Prayer-the copy of which selection had been seen and approved by the Committee-was about to be printed at Darmstadt, under the care of Professor Van Ess.

The Committee had undertaken, on behalf of the Society, to reprint those portions of the Liturgy in Arabic which were translated by the celebrated Orientalist, Dr. Pococke, the copies of which had become scarce. This work had been carefully inspected by Professor Lee, who says of the Arabic, that it is good and classical, and such as will be perfectly understood in all countries in which that language is spoken.

The Burial Service, printed as a tract in two of the languages of the continent, has been much admired and sought after. This service is frequently used at funerals; and copies of the tract distributed afterwards are very thankfully received. Nor are the Homilies less valued.

"You may feel an interest," says a clergyman resident in a foreign country, "in knowing the description of persons who received from me the Liturgy of the Church of England." After first men. tioning several individuals, for the most part of distinguished rank, to whom copies had been very acceptable, he proceeds to state; "To the French Protestants, who, after receiving these books, formed a second congregation in the

palace chapel where I officiated, I gave eight copies in French. They had no place of worship belonging to their own countrymen in this city, nor had they any copy of the Church-of-England Service among them; and had not these books of the Society been presented to them, they would have had no opportunity of joining in public worship." "To an Egyptian, who came hither with a gentleman who had travelled in Egypt, and who spoke a little Italian, which he afterwards learned to read in an Italian copy of the Liturgy which he purchased of me, one copy. He afterwards constantly attended Divine service in our chapel." "To a Greek born at Athens, who was very anxious to procure a copy of the Liturgy in his own language, having heard much concerning it in conversation among his acquaintance, one copy." "One Romaic copy was presented to the daughter of the Princess B—. This amiable and accomplished young lady had suffered severely in her spirits and health from the misfortunes of her family, and sought consolation in reading and using the excellent prayers of our Liturgy. During a long and painful illness, she constantly kept a copy of it in her native language under her pillow; and the last hours of her life were spent in reading and meditating on its contents."

We have already mentioned the discovery, by the Right Rev. Bishop Chase, on a visit to an Indian tribe, of a copy of the English Liturgy in Mohawk, printed in London in 1787, at the expense of the incorporated Society for propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts. From this book, during a long series of years, prayers had been read every Sunday, in the morning and evening, to the assembled members of that tribe. The Bishop was with them on the Sabbath; and, though ignorant of their language, was enabled, through their possession of this book, to unite with them in the same supplications and thanksgivings presented at the Throne of Grace. "By proceed ing with all the prayers," he says, "as the Church has directed, the whole congregation, through an aged Reader, could join in repeating and offering up the same petitions and praises with myself-they in the Indian language, and I in English. My mind was most favourably impressed toward these poor people; and my attachment to our primitive Liturgy mightily strengthened by this instance of its great utility. Without such a help, how much

of the missionary's labour is lost, like oil spilt upon the ground without a vessel to contain and preserve it! Had it not been for this Prayer-book, the worship of God would, to all human view, never have been perpetuated, to the edification of these now interesting people."

During the last year, 9198 Prayerbooks, Psalters, and copies of the entire Book of Homilies, have been issued by the Society; and 72,048 Tracis-i. e. Homilies, Articles, and Selections of Prayers from the Liturgy in foreign languages.

From a paper published by the Society, containing the interesting speeches delivered at the last Annual Meeting, we copy the following passage, for the information it contains respecting the scene of the speaker's mission. The Rev. R. Newstead, on presenting to the meeting a copy of the Liturgy in Indo-Portuguese, already adverted to, said, "I am thankful for the honour of being the humble instrument of conveying this form of sound words, in another language, to the subjects of our Indian empire. In Ceylon and throughout a great part of the coast of India, the language in which this book is now rendered is known: consequently, a wide field is thus laid open to the Society's labours in regious to which before it had not access. The Indo-Portuguese language is spoken principally by a number of persons who profess the Roman-Catholic religion; but in India, that is often but another name for no religion at all: and I cannot but entertain a lively hope that this book will be a great mean of good among persons of this description, as well as help to promote among heathen converts and inquirers who attend Divine worship, that order and reverence and attention which becomes creatures when they approach the Majesty of Heaven. In Ceylon, four languages principally are understood-the Tamul, which prevails in that part of the island nearest to the continent of India; the Cingalese, which is the vernacular language, and prevails through the interior and in the southern part; the Indo-Portuguese; and the English. The Dutch likewise is spoken there. In Cingalese, the Baptismal Service of the Church of England is frequently performed; and many young Cingalese mothers, educated in schools formed and supported by the Wesleyan mission, are seen bringing their children to the baptismal font, and joining in this as in other services of the Church of England. The same I hope to see realised by means of this Indo-Portuguese translation.

We have in our schools 4,000 children going through a course of instruction; and all the schools are regularly opened every morning with a solemn sentence out of this very book, (part of which has already been printed in Ceylon,) which strikes at the roots of heathenism; while the children are taught to say, 'We praise thee, O God! we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.' In performing my work, as a translator, I was struck with the scrip. tural character of the Book of Common Prayer; for so large a part of this book is extracted from the word of God, that, should we take away all the inspired portions out of the volume, we should reduce a large octavo to a small pamphlet. And this very circumstance, I apprehend, as well as the copious reading of holy Scripture in the course of the daily services, has done much to maintain the spirit of the Christian religion in our land. Again, with respect to the doctrinal fidelity of this book, whatever leading heresy may have prevailed in the world, or may prevail now, it is directly opposed by the doctrines here maintained. The eternal Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, so assailed by infidels, the all-important agency of God the Holy Spirit, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy; i. e. the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, is so distinctly recognised throughout this volume, that if it had no other great and valuable characteristic, I should upon this ground alone venerate it from the very bottom of my heart."

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE

SOCIETY.

The committee commence their last Report with adverting to the decision which they have adopted on the question, whether the funds of the British and Foreign Bible Society can be applied to assist the circulation of copies of the Holy Scriptures accompanied by the apocryphal books. Our readers are aware, that, after the most deliberate examination of the subject, they have finally and most judiciously adopted the resolutions given in our Number for June (p. 374), as conformable to the interpretation of the fundamental rule of the Society which has been generally admitted.

The principal feature in the transactions of the committee, on the continent of Europe, during the past year, is the visit of their foreign agent, Dr. Pinkerton, to the chief Bible Societies in no less than seven kingdoms. His object was to see what had been done, what is doing, and

what can yet be done for the circulation of the sacred volume; and his efforts have been crowned with considerable success.

In his way from Calais to Brussels he had an opportunity of learning the thankfulness with which copies of the Scriptures are received by the peasantry; and was assured that they often carry the New Testament into the field with them, and literally labour, and read, and pray alternately. In addition to one small depôt already formed in this tract of country, he had the happiness of establishing a few others, for the more abundant supply of the Scriptures to those who so earnestly search for them.-At Brussels Dr. Pinkerton found the Society proceeding well; but it will henceforth be connected with the Netherlands Bible Society. In this city an important work has been completed; the re-printing, by a bookseller, of the Flemish Testament, an edition of which has not been issued since the year 1717.-At Antwerp Dr. Pinkerton had the satisfaction of prevailing upon the friends of the Bible Society to conform both their title and their practice to that of other Foreign Bible Societies, they having previously united the distribution of other books of piety with that of the sacred volume. The committee have already opened two depôts in that city, for the sale of the Scriptures.-Between Brussels and Cologne much needs to be done. The population amounts to more than a million. The Society's friends in Cologne, by the Society's assistance, have, in former years, circulated among them more than 27,000 New Testaments: and 1,500 more have been placed at their disposal. They have formed some Auxiliary Societies, and have availed themselves of opportunities for supplying the military in their own city and in other places. The prisons have also engaged their attention.

At Elberfield an interesting meeting took place with the committee, who gladly acceded to the proposal of following the example of Cologne, and 1000 Bibles have been voted for the purpose. In eleven years this institution has distributed 11,942 Bibles, 9,498 Testaments, with more than 15,000 copies of the Book of Psalms. They have addressed a circular to all the superintendents and schoolmasters, requesting inquiry into the want of the Scriptures; and have opened new channels, for distributing the sacred volume.At Iserlohn Dr. Pinkerton met the committee of the Mark Bible Society, and proceeded upon the same principle as at all other places, not merely encouraging

them with the hope of assistance from London, but requiring also an increase of exertions on their part, and with this reasonable condition they cheerfully complied.-At Osnaburg increased exertions were agreed to, and inquiries were set on foot. The Weserland Bible Society is situated in a country where great poverty and varied distress put it quite out of the power of the people to do much for themselves, and 500 Bibles and 1000 Testaments have proved a very acceptable present.-At Hanover, the formation of new Auxiliaries, an examination into the state of parishes, and a general collection at the churches in favour of the Society were acceded to. Affecting applications had been received from sufferers by the inundations; but the committee not being able to attend to them all, a grant of 500 Bibles has been made, with an encouragement to expect, in the event of new Auxiliaries being formed, still further assistance. The Government kindly consented to collections being made, which, considering all circumstances, have turned out exceedingly well. A desire for Bibles has been excited, which in some districts was very earnest; and various persons have been induced to join the Bible Society.

At Bremen it was resolved, among other measures recommended, to appoint an agent to visit the shipping, and also to direct attention to South America. In Bremen itself, not a single citizen can justly complain of being without a Bible.

The attention of the committee at Hamburg was particularly drawn to the seamen frequenting that port. The distributions of the year, had considerably exceeded those of the preceding; and, since the formation of their society, they have issued 28,000 copies of Bibles and Testaments. They had had demands from Philadelphia and the Brazils; from the former place for 1000 Bibles and Testaments. The Lübeck Society has been encouraged by a donation of 250 Bibles: the poor in its neighbourhood, the hospitals, and prisons, together with the shipping, were pointed out as deserving of increased exertions.

At Wismar a branch of the Schwerin Bible Society exists, and a school, in which are 170 boys and 130 girls. This little institution never having received any aid, and the Scriptures being much wanted in this interesting school, 150 Bibles and 300 Testaments have been given to the Bible Society, which has felt encouraged anew to proceed with reCHRIST, OBSERY, No, 296,

doubled zeal in the prosecution of its work.

At Rostock greater demands were found for the Bible than the Society could supply, and a grant of 500 Bibles has been made; and it was at the same time strongly urged upon the Committee to unite with that at Schwerin in forming Auxiliaries in the thirty-three dioceses, or superintenditures, into which the grand duchy of Mecklenburgh is divided. There is every prospect of the intentions being carried into effect.

The committee at Stralsund had come to a determination to exert themselves in forming Auxiliary Societies in the nine dioceses into which their province is divided, where they do not already exist. To enable them to lay the foundation of these new institutions, 600 Bibles and 1000 Testaments have been granted. To Stettin a similar donation, under similar conditions, has been made.

The Berlin Society recommended 500 Bibles, and 500 Testaments to be given to a zealous friend at Warsaw, and they have met a most ready circulation. An edition of 10,000 Bohemian Testaments had been prepared at Berlin: 2,500 had been sent to Herrnhut; and arrangements were made for placing another thousand in the hands of different individuals and societies, who will most gladly co-operate in supplying their neighbours. The Prussian Society has been aided by 150 Hebrew Bibles. Its funds are indeed augmenting, but the demands for Bibles far exceed them. His Prussian Majesty has complied with a request for an annual collection in all the Protestant churches of the kingdom, to promote the circulation of the Bible, The whole kingdom will by this means, and every individual Protestant congregation in it, become identified with the biblical cause, and interested in it. The Prussian Society, during the past year, has distributed 7,550 copies; and in all 85,795.

At Dresden, Dr. Pinkerton attended the eleventh Auxiliary of the Saxon Bible Society. This Society was engaged in forming several new Auxiliaries in the twenty-three dioceses of which the kingdom is composed.

At Herrnhut, 47,000 copies have been issued. At Leipsig the receipts during the year have been greater than in any of the preceding. At Erlangen, about 1,800 copies of Bibles and Testaments had been circulated previous to the formation of the Society; and since that period between 400 and 500 had been

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