You request details which may assist your friends in their way hither, and I shall be glad to be of any use in that way. As a general caution, let me advise all who intend coming here to call into requisition a little of their common sense, and not expect in this New Country all the comforts, natural and artificial, of a highly polished society, for such anticipations can only terminate in disappointment, and more probably in disgust. Greatly indeed do I wish that I could inoculate all Emigrants with a spice of my own liking to Canada; a liking, perhaps, much strengthened by finding that the rational plain sense hopes with which I started, have been in no way disappointed, but rather exceeded. I certainly think that most writers upon Canada have understated the sum which is necessary for a gentleman with a family to set out with comfortably, and there is a vague sort of impression amongst the public that if a person lands with a few hundreds in his pocket he is at once comfortably provided for: this is a gross mistake, and must lead some into intolerable difficulties, for a time at least, when they may at last struggle through and succeed: but I should think with less than £1000 or £1200 much hardship and privation may be expected by those who have brought up their families genteelly in England: to be sure some people can bear these things better than others, and there must be different degrees of suffering according to habit and disposition in the parties; but in this country, even in the smallest way, with a few acres of your own, there is a feeling of independence a thousand per cent. better than the exterior show of comfort at home, while one is really pressed to the very earth with positive want and embarrassment. Those people who have grown up boys have a great advantage; they are so much wealth or money saved in the shape of labour, that is if they are under good discipline and made to be useful in the various ways they can be here.'

What is independence? It is generally understood of the circumstances of a man who has property enough to live upon independently of his earnings or profits. A proprietor of land is independent, if he can obtain rent for it. This is not, however, such independence as can alone be looked for in a new country. Here, independence means being able to depend upon the labour of others: there, it means being able to depend upon the results of one's own labour. The feeling of independence,' the conscious satisfaction of self-dependent industry, must be admitted to be a much more wholesome feeling than the aristocratic feeling gendered by the possession of that wealth which commands others' industry. Still, it is worth while to put the question, whether a man may not be substantially independent, and feel himself to be so, in the old country, who, though he owns not a rood of land, can command by his industry a sufficiency of the comforts of life, and fears neither creditor nor landlord.

Art. IX. The Literary and Theological Review. No. I. March, 1834. Conducted by Leonard Woods, jun. 8vo., pp. 164. New York. 1834.

THIS

HIS is the first Number of a new Quarterly Journal, undertaken by Mr. Woods, with the advice of an Association of 'gentlemen in the city of New York, and its neighbourhood,' and having for its leading object, the statement and vindication ' of the doctrines of the Christian Religion as held by the great body of the Reformed Church.' We so cordially approve of the object, that we willingly lend our aid to make the publication known on this side of the Atlantic, although we fear that it is of a character far too grave and weighty for English readers.

The present Number contains nine articles. I. An Introductory Article, by the Editor. II. Letter to the Editor, from Rev. Heman Humphrey, D.D., President of Amherst College. III. God without Passions. By the Rev. John Woodbridge, D. D., New York. IV. Review of Anti-slavery Publications, and Defence of the Colonization Society. By Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, Senator. V. Mental Philosophy. No. I. By the Rev. Leonard Woods, D.D., Andover. VI. Economy of Christian Missions, as developed in the Apostolic Age. By Rev. Horatio Bardwell, formerly Missionary to India. VII. Christian Sanctification. By the Rev. Gardiner Spring, D. D., New York. VIII. Theology and Natural Science, a review of Bretschneider's “Letters to a Statesman." Translated from the German, by the Editor. IX. Review of Olshausen's Commentary on the New Testament, by the Editor. To these articles are appended two brief literary notices.

Of these nine articles, three only are reviews, in the usual acceptation of the word: the greater part are papers in the form of Essays on the several topics. Dr. Woods promises a series of Essays on the Philosophy of Mind, in which his design is, to attend especially to those parts of Mental Philosophy which have usually received a less degree of attention than they seem to deserve, to those parts also which are attended with uncommon difficulties, and most of all to those which have an important bearing on moral and theological subjects. The present paper treats of the classification of mental acts, and of the use of the words volition, will, affection, and voluntary. Dr. Woods thinks it to be evidently necessary, that we should carry the classification of the intellectual operations and powers further than has commonly been done, and more definitely mark the different classes by appropriate words.

The mind perceives things in the natural world, and is conscious of its own actions; has ideas of the relations of things, such as cause and effect, etc.; and of general abstract truths, such as the principles

of mathematical, metaphysical, and moral science. Now it seems desirable that we should have a single word for the former class of these mental acts, and another for the latter; and that we should have distinct words for the different mental faculties developed in these different classes of mental acts. The word understanding might be used to denote the faculty to which the former class are referable, and reason, the faculty to which the latter are referable. Indeed this, or something like this, is already, to some extent, the prevailing sense of these words. It would manifestly do much towards clearing mental science of the doubts and difficulties which have generally cleaved to it, if the operations of the mind to be classed under the word understanding, and those to be classed under reason, should be exactly defined and settled; so that we could distinguish as well between what is meant by acts of understanding and acts of reason, as we now do between what is meant by seeing and what by hearing.

It is unnecessary in this place to extend these remarks to the other operations of the mind. My object is, to expose the unsoundness of the opinion sometimes advanced, that there are and must be just so many faculties of the mind, and no more; and to show that if we would cultivate in ourselves and others a just and accurate habit of thinking and speaking, we must carefully notice the smaller as well as larger differences among the operations of the mind, and must make new and more particular classifications, and employ new and appropriate terms to express them, as occasion requires; and that we must proceed in this way, till all the important relations among our mental acts, whether more minute and recondite, or more obvious, are distinctly and clearly marked. All this, which is desirable and necessary in regard to the operations of the mind generally, is specially so in regard to those which are of a moral nature, and stand in direct relation to God and his law. Here the want of a just and careful discrimination will expose us to dangerous mistakes respecting our character and our eternal welfare. It is with an ultimate reference to the affections which we exercise as moral and accountable beings, and to the general interests involved in them, that I have entered on the consideration of the present subject.' pp. 88, 89.

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We regret that a new Quarterly Journal devoted to the interests of religion, should have committed itself in the first Number, by a feeble and sophistical article in defence of the Colonization Society, and consequently in opposition to the advocates of emancipation. When we are urged,' says the Honourable Theodore Freylinghuysen, to the immediate abolition of Slavery, the answer is 'very conclusive, that duty has no claims, where both the right and the power to exercise it are wanting. Very conclusive, truly! The same argument would have applied with equal force to the earlier efforts of the Abolitionists in this country to put down the Slave Trade. What hinders each State of the Union from performing its duty in this matter, seeing that the state legislatures at all events have the full right and power to comply with the claims of duty in this particular? These hollow pleas will

not long avail the Americans. Slavery must fall; and let the Carolinians look to themselves in time, for they will be able to obtain no twenty millions of compensation from Congress. The insertion of this article does no credit to the judgement of the Editor.

The article on the Economy of Christian Missions, attempts to answer the question, What was the cause of the immediate and powerful progress of the Gospel in the Apostolic age? That cause is resolved into the principle of entire consecration to Christ which actuted the primitive Churches; and it is inferred, that when Christian Churches shall be animated with the same spirit, the success will be equal. The article would make a good platform speech, but is far from being a satisfactory discussion of the subject. The concluding paragraphs shew that the same specious objections are raised against Missionary enterprises in New York, that are sometimes heard in this country.

'It has been said that our country is looked upon by the world, as an example of the tendency of a free, elective government; and that the progress of free institutions through the world, will be accelerated or retarded by the experiment our country is now making. And as the success of this experiment depends on the moral and religious character of our growing population, it is thought to be of immense importance for the world, as well as for ourselves, that all our resources, of a religious character, should, at least for the present, be retained and employed within our own borders,—that we should first save ourselves; and that in this way we shall do the world the greatest good in our power.

It is readily conceded, that consequences of vast importance to the world, are suspended upon the experiment which our country is now making; and it is equally true, that to be successful, we must rely, under God, mainly on the progress of morality and religion in our community. Every thing, then, that tends to enfeeble or diminish our moral strength, has a portentous aspect; and every thing that increases it, brightens our hope and prospect of success. Now the foreign missionary enterprise is just such an object as is suited to impart tone and vigour and strength to that morality which is necessary to give complete success to our free institutions. The reflex moral influence which this work exerts upon our churches, and which is thrown back from our foreign missionary stations through our community, is great and eminently salutary. The tone of morality and piety is not only elevated, but diffused through the length and breadth of the land. This Christian community needs just such an object as the foreign missionary work, as a means of self-preservation. If our country is ever saved from the pollutions of infidelity and the withering blasts of popery, it is to be done by that spirit of enlarged benevolence" that seeketh not her own," that spirit which aims at nothing less than the conversion of the whole world to Christ.'

pp. 102, 3. We pass over the homily on Sanctification, which opens in the

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style of a schoolboy's essay,- Sin is the source of all the mischiefs which have, with such unpitying severity, scourged the 'family of man.' Such vapid prosing can surely contribute little to the investigation, dissemination, and defence of the doctrines ' of the Christian religion.' There is not a sentiment in the paper above common-place, and the style is heavy and flat in the

extreme.

The most valuable article in the Number, is the VIIIth, which is translated from the Evangelical Church Journal, published at Berlin, under the direction of Dr. Hengstenberg. In his Letter to a Statesman, Dr. Bretschneider takes the ground, that there must be some compromise between the antiquated doctrines of theology, and the results of modern scientific pursuits. To effect this compromise, he regards as the office of Rationalism. Selecting uniformly those results of scientific discovery which seem to militate against the statements of Revelation, and presuming these results to be infallibly true, although in many cases merely hypothetical, he arrives at the conclusion, that the doctrines of theology must be so modified as to agree with the progress of science, or fall into contempt. The writer of the article in the Berlin Journal has fairly closed with this insidious champion of masked infidelity, on his own ground; and we shall insert as much of the article as our limits will admit, not doubting that it will be equally acceptable to our own readers.

'I. GEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE.

"Geology," according to Dr. Bretschneider, "can no longer succeed in reconciling the Mosaic account of the Creation, with the revolutions which our globe has experienced. It teaches, without enquiring how the theologian can extricate himself in this matter, that the earth has passed through many great epochs of formation, of indefinite, but long duration, and that the first creations upon it afterwards perished." If the Bible speaks of a flood, which was universal, and covered all the mountains of the earth, "this is now known to be mathematically impossible, since we have become acquainted with the entire globe, and understand the laws by which the swelling of the sea is governed."

'To begin with the last point, we wish to know who has shown, or is able to show, this mathematical impossibility? A late distinguished geologist says, "We have attempted to penetrate as far as possible beneath the surface, into the interior of the earth. But if we compare the depth to which we have actually penetrated, with the real diameter of the earth, it will be seen, that we have scarcely broken the surface, and that the scratch of a

. . Brogniart.

VOL. XII.-N.S.

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