for much that is written against Dissenters at the present moment. We are not without hope that a better feeling is rising in the land. God grant that it may grow apace, until it shall drive all uncharitableness and false doctrine from the midst of us.

The SIGNS of the TIMES; or, the Present Position of the Established Church, considered in relation to the grand interests of the Protestant Reformation. A Discourse, preached at Reading, before the East Berkshire Association of Pastors and Churches, on Tuesday, April 11th, 1843. By JOHN MORISON, D.D., author of "Homilies for the Times, &c." Published at the urgent request of the Association.

Ward and Co.

Though it is obviously not to be expected that we should give much space to single sermons, and Dr. Morison is not in need of our recommendation, yet the portentous theme of this discourse, the semi-popery called Puseyism, and the faithful warning which the watchman in Zion has sounded, may well claim a departure from our ordinary rule. The new schism within the Establishment is here pourtrayed, with the vivid colouring of an artist, who was horrified at the monster he saw. Its opposition to that soundest part of the Establishment, the evangelical body, to which Dissenters turned when they wished to feed their charity and their hope, is here, with great force and propriety, made prominent.

"As Nonconformists, we are not alone in this estimate of existing controversies. Many devoted clergymen of the Established church, who have done noble service to their country and to mankind, have committed themselves to the opinion, that if Tractarianism shall give the type and colouring to the national church, it will then become an evil rather than a blessing to the country. I know not how any clergyman or private member of the Church of England, professing to hold evangelical sentiments, can arrive at any other conclusion. Tractarianism is essentially antagonist, both in doctrine and discipline, to the evangelical theory of Christianity. It aims a vital blow at the righteousness of God our Saviour,' by which alone sinful beings can be justified in the sight of God; while it connects all the vital functions of spiritual life with the participation of sacramental rites, which it regards as the exclusive channels of all saving grace to the human family. The prevalence of such a system in the Establishment must be the absolute downfall of evangelical Christianity, and the ultimate extinction of all that hallowed influence by which the Romaines, and Newtons, and Venns, and Cecils, and Scotts, of a former generation, laid the foundation

VOL. XXI.

of a great revival of godliness in the Established Church of this country."

"We have deep sympathy with those holy and enlightened men who are struggling to stem the tide which has set in against apostolic truth; we forgive any of them who may have looked on our little communities with an evil eye; we heartily wish them God speed in their efforts to hold fast the doctrines of grace; but, looking at the signs of the times, at the mighty influences enlisted against them, at the tone and temper in which the Tractarians have been received by the English people, we have not a shadow of hope that the evangelical clergy will ultimately triumph, or that they will be able, for any length of time, to hold fast their position as witnesses for God's neglected and persecuted truth. They well know that, within the last few years, their numbers have been greatly diminished; that some of their most honoured champions have gone over to Rome itself, and that others have abandoned the fellowship of their old connexions, and made common cause with the Tractarians; while it is a notorious fact, that the rising clergy are not generally in their wake, but in that of a school struggling for the downfall of the evangelical clergy as a distinct class in the Established Church."

The preacher then appeals to facts of an alarming character, such as the state of the periodical literature. The "Christian Observer," and some other publications, are mentioned as honourable exceptions; but the "Quarterly Review," the " British Critic," the "British Magazine," the "Christian Remembrancer," and some daily newspapers, are shown to be deeply engaged in the crusade against the Protestantism of the Estab. lishment and nation of Britain. An affecting passage occurs at page 16, which, though rather long, we must press upon the notice of our readers.

"We have pleasure, however, in acknowledging that the honoured men who were mainly employed by God towards the close of the last century, in reviving the spirit of evangelical religion in the Established Church, were but little anxious to put forth the extreme claims of the episcopate. They saw that such claims were ordinarily urged by those who were the antagonists of spiritual religion, and they could not but perceive that their main sympathies, at that time, were, after all, with a class of teachers who boasted of no apostolic succession, but who preached Christ and him crucified. They left, in fact, all the wrangling about exclusive orders to a body of clergymen, who talked and wrote much about the apostolic church of England, and lived from day to day like men of the world.

"It is surely for a lamentation, that the successors of these eminent men have not, in general, followed in their steps, as it respects 2 B

their published views of the outward form and offices of the church. Many of the evangelical clergy of our day have spoken as presumptuously as their heterodox brethren, on the exclusive orders of the episcopate, maintaining that none are ministers of Christ except those who have been ordained by a bishop, and that Christian ordinances must lack in their proper effect, as administered by any but such as have been episcopally qualified. Such stress do some of high reputation lay upon mere orders, that they have taught their flocks to believe, that if a regularly ordained priest should hand out poison' to the people, the chief shepherd will convert that poison into wholesome nutriment, if they will but look to him through their episcopally-trained guide. I am far from charging all, or even the majority, of the evangelical clergy with these monstrous notions; many there are who repudiate them with scorn and indignation, and who say, with Mr. Marks, that the doctrine of apostolic succession lies at the root of all high-church extravagances, of all Puseyism, of all Popery, and of every kind of spiritual intolerance.' But how many are there among the pious clergy who are continually magnifying their orders, in spite of all the ungodly and heretical priests who lay claim to them, and who employ a considerable portion of their public instructions in making light of the orders of Nonconformists, whose attachment to Protestant and evangelical truth is as much unimpaired at the present moment as when the Tractarians began their dire effort to unprotestantize the English church?

"To me, brethren, this appears to be the darkest feature in the history of the Established Church at the present moment. Many of those who should have been as a salt in the midst of it have lost much of their savour. They have symbolized with highchurch notions, though they never received life from them, and though life was never communicated by them to any who embraced them. If the spirit of the Reformation was to be maintained, and was to advance in the English church, it was by the rising energy of the evangelical clergy; but many of them forsook the humble, spiritual ground on which their fathers were content to stand; and God, in his providence, is teaching them the solemn lesson, that their strength is but weakness, in resisting that giant power with which they have now to contend. In so far as high-church notions have obtained in the Established Church, she has receded from the spirit of the Protestant Reformation, and has ceased to cherish heart-felt sympathy with the other churches of the reformed. The evangelical clergy have been the only powerful check against high-church notions; but they, alas ! have been sadly' entangled' of late in this

net,' as Mr. Marks would phrase it; and hence it is, that sympathy with the bold and decisive doctrines of the Reformation is every day becoming less popular within the pale of the Establishment. If my evange lical brethren of the Church of England, whom I love in the truth, would listen to the counsels of one so humble as myself, I would say to them, 'Do not vainly dream of keeping the hallowed ground you now occupy, by symbolizing with an ecclesiastical creed, which, as honestly maintained, must compel you to unchurch every other body of Christians, not recognising the rule of bishops, however orthodox in sentiment, however devout in spirit, and however holy in conversation. It is not by such weapons as these that you will be able to stand your ground against the enemy which now meets you in the field. You must take firmer footing on the rock of truth, if you would not be swept away by that fierce current which now dashes itself, like the waves of a tempestuous sea, against all the ancient landmarks, both of Protestantism and apostolic Christianity.' There would yet be hope for the Established Church, that she might recover herself from her present retrograde movement, if her evangelical clergy would fearlessly ally themselves to the great principles of the Reformation; if they would put on charity and love to all who abide firm in the truth of Christ; and if they would disencumber themselves of all those exclusive pretensions which have contributed, in no slight degree, to secure the triumph of Tractarianism, as a system hostile to the interests of the Reformation."

While we could weep over the failure of those who once inspired us with hopes, we cannot wonder if men like Mr. Sibthorp commenced in the Church of England what they have finished in the church of Rome.

An interesting account of the early history of Puseyism we had marked for quotation, but must leave it to be gathered from the discourse, by those who wish not only to see, but to feel what God has called us to oppose. The poisonous qualities of the schism are shown to be such as these-that the Bible is an obscure book, which laymen have not a right to interpret; that ministers of the Establishment and of Rome are the only real Christian ministry; that such men, however wicked, can save by their ministrations; that -but enough of the ravings of these madmen.

The last portion of the discourse administers pious healing counsels to all real Protestants, who are justly reminded, that these times demand the wisdom of the serpent, with the harmlessness of the dove, the charity that endureth all things among brethren, that they may secure the Master's mighty benediction on their struggles against the common foe. Islington.

J. B.

The HIGHLANDS, the SCOTTISH MARTYRS, and other Poems. By the Rev. JAMES G. SMALL. 12mo, pp. 288.

Longman and Co.

The appearance of a new poet in the republic of letters, is a circumstance as rare as it is joyous. We are not only lovers of poetry; but firm believers in the mighty influence which it has exerted in the improvement of mankind. When, indeed, it is possessed of an evil genius, it carries moral pestilence and death in its train. But when it is animated by pure and lofty sentiments, -and more especially when it is baptized by the spirit of Christianity, it tends to refine the taste and intellect of mankind, to soften the asperities of human life, and to impart to young and buoyant minds some of their rarest pleasures.

We hail the author of "the Highlands and of "the Scottish Martyrs as a bard of no mean promise; and though, perhaps, it would be presumption in us to dream of fixing his reputation, yet we do venture to predict that other critics will do so, to whom the lovers of poetry will be ready to pay a willing homage. Mr. Small has all the qualities of a real poet. He is a lover of nature, has a keen perception of its varied beauties, and possesses withal a power of description which enables his readers to follow him in all his wanderings. To us who had gone before him into every nook and corner of the Scottish Highlands, he has imparted the high gratification of reviving some of our early recollections of scenes which can never pass from the regions of memory and imagination, and of connecting them with a depth of feeling, rarely surpassed, with those legendary and historical associations, which impart to Scotia's mountains and glens their richest charm. Mr. Small, too, is a philosopher and a Christian, and well knows how to render tributary to all his poetic reveries and imaginings, all the discoveries of mental and moral science, and all the transcendent principles of revealed truth.

His Scottish Martyrs is a beautiful poem, which will live when the author has been called to sleep with his fathers. True in general to history, it is fraught with noble sentiments, and rears a monument to the Protestant Reformation which will perpetuate the fame of the Scottish martyrs, and read lessons to sacerdotal tyrants in every age. We hope, in some future number of the magazine, to introduce some extracts from this excellent volume, which will tend to confirm the high opinion we have expressed respecting it. Meanwhile, we would warmly recommend it to all young people of taste, who either have visited the Scottish Highlands, or have any purpose of doing so.

WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED.

1. Discourses on the Nature and Extent of the Atonement of Christ, By RALPH WARDLAW, D.D. 12mo, pp. 296. Hamilton, Adams, and Co.

We have read this volume with a delight we can hardly express; and venture to hope that it may go far to unite moderate Calvinists in the whole of that truth which pertains to the doctrine of atonement. Next month, we intend reviewing the work fully.

2." The Signs of the Times;" or, the present position of the Established Church considered in relation to the grand interests of the Protestant Reformation. A Discourse, preached at Reading, before the East Berkshire Association of Pastors and Churches, on Tuesday, April 11th, 1843. By JOHN MORISON, D.D. Royal 18mo. 8d. Ward and Co.

3. The Case as it is; or, a Reply to the Letter of Dr. Pusey to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury; including a compendious statement of the Doctrines and Views of the Tractators as expressed by themselves. By WILLIAM GOODE, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, Rector of St. Antholin, London. Third edition. 8vo. pp. 56. Hatchard.

4. Puseyism, or Anglo-Catholicism briefly considered in connexion with the Doctrine of the Church of Rome. By a Member of the Protestant Reformed Church of England. 8vo. West Strand.

pp. 24. John Lee,

5. M'Gavin on "The End of Controversy;" being Strictures on Dr. Milner's Work in Support of Popish Errors, entitled, "The End of Controversy." By WILLIAM M'GAVIN, Esq. 32mo. pp. 416. Tract Society. Is.

6. Sketch of Popery. 32mo. pp. 3C0. Tract Society.

7. Proposed Protest against Puseyism, for the Laity of the Church of England. With illustrative notes. 8vo. pp. 16. Hatchard and Son. 3d.

We are much gratified at the sight of this Protest. If the laity of the Church of England should take their stand against Puseyism, its reign will be very short. No other movement will be equally effectual.

8. The Papal and Hierarchical System compared with the Religion of the New Testament. 12mo. pp. 276. C. Gilpin, 5, Bishopsgate-street.

9. A Letter to the Right Hon. and Right Rev., the Lord Bishop of London, in which the chief doctrinal points of his Lordship's recent Charge are proved to be Unscriptural, Tractarian, and Popish. By the Rev. JAMES SUTCLIFFE, M.A., Perpetual Curate of Knockholt, near Sevenoaks. 8vo. pp. 48. J. Nisbet.

10. The Question, "Is it the duty of the Government to provide the means of education for the people?" examined. By GEORGE PAYNE, LL.D. 12mo. pp. 32. Hamilton, Adams, and Co.

11. A Tract for these Times. A plea for the suffielency of the Scriptures and the right of private judgment, viewed with reference to national education and the present crisis of religious freedom. By J. C. GALLAWAY, A. M. 12mo. pp. 40. Ward and Co.

12. Suppression of the Opium Trade. The Speech of the Right Hon. Lord Ashley, M.P., in the House of Commons, on Tuesday, April 4, 1843. 8vo. pp. 56. Houlston aud Stoneman.

13. Essays on the Principles of Morality, and on the Private and Political Rights and Obligations of Mankind. By JONATHAN DYMOND, Author of" An Inquiry into the Accordancy of War with the Principles of Christianity." Imperial 8vo. pp. 198. Gilpin, 5, Bishopsgate-street.

14. Equity without Compromise; or, Hints for the Construction of a just System of National Education. By EDWARD SWAINE.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.

Thirty-ninth Anniversary, May 3.

The Right Honourable Lord Bexley, the president of the society, occupied the chair. The report, read by the Rev. A. Brandram, stated, that a larger distribution of the sacred scriptures had taken place during the past than in any former year, and that it amounted to nearly 1,000,000 copies, bringing up the grand total circulated since the formation of the society, to 15,000,000. The report of M. de Pressençé, the society's agent in France, presented the same features as on former occasions-the same obstacles, the same successes, the same resistance of man, and the same blessing of God. There were about fifteen communes in which a remarkable religious movement had taken place, in the midst of a Roman Catholic population, a portion of whom had decidedly renounced the superstitions of popery for the pure creed of the gospel of salvation. From the Frankfort depôt, Dr. Pinkerton reported a distribution of 68,525 copies. From Berlin, Dr. Pinkerton wrote that the issues of the past year had amounted to 14,000, of which only about 700 were Testaments. At Hamburgh, 500 copies had been distributed to the sufferers by the late conflagration in that city. In Hungary, 57,247 copies had been distributed since 1837, and 17,086 during the past year. In Belgium, the society's agent, Mr. Tiddy, reported that the numbers distributed amounted to 12,546 volumes, being 3,000 copies more than in the preceding year. In Belgium, a deeplyinteresting series of Bible meetings had also been recently held, which had been attended by M. de Pressençé, of Paris, and the Rev. Dr. Malan, from Geneva. With regard to Prussia, his majesty the king of that country had transmitted, through the hands of Chevalier Bunsen, a donation to the society of 1007., and had become an annual subscriber of 251. The issues of the Prussian Bible Society and its auxiliaries, made a grand total of 1,091,321 copies. At Stockholm, during the year 1842, 10,000 Bibles and 15,000 Testaments, in Swedish and Finnish, had been recived into the depôt ; and 19,935 had been issued from it. To the agency at St. Petersburgh there had been supplied 1,918 copies, and their entire issues for the past year had been 25,160. Forty thousand poor families in Finland had received through the hands of their clergy, and chiefly by the help of this society, a copy of the New Testament. In south Russia, 12,356 copies had

been issued up to April, 1842. In Spain and Portugal, the committee regretted that they had been disappointed in the hope that the door would have been opened ere this for the admission of the scriptures. The society regretted that the Church Missionary Society had been lead to break up its mission in Malta. From that spot, as a centre, 3,522 copies of the scriptures had been issued in various languages to Egypt, Abyssinia, Corfu, &c. From Greece, the Rev. H. D. Leeves reported an issue, during the year, of 8,428 copies. From Mitylene, 4,417 copies of the scriptures were distributed last year to Smyrna, &c. There prevailed an increasing demand for the Turkish New Testament in Syria, Trebisond, and elsewhere. In India, the labours of their valued agent, Dr. Hoeberlin, had been seriously interrupted by repeated attacks of illness during the past year. He had, however, been enabled to leave Calcutta in December last, to commence a lengthened journey on the part of the society. Dr. Hoeberlin had taken with him 60,000 volumes from Calcutta. The issues of the Calcutta Auxiliary had been, in the past year, 25,032; and the Calcutta Bible Society continued its very useful labours. The total issues in Madras for the past year had been 23,968. In Jaffna, 50,250 portions of the Old Testament had been issued, and 20,651 volumes of various portions of both the Old and New Testament. With respect to China, the committee rejoiced at the recent results of the last three years of hostility, and had passed a resolution, that it be communicated to the directors of the London Missionary Society that their missionaries were at liberty to draw upon the depôts of the British and Foreign Bible Society in Canton and Malacca for such copies of the Chinese scriptures as they might require, &c. Special subscriptions had been kindly given, by several friends of the society, for the benefit of China. Several remittances had been received from Sydney, New South Wales, and from other parts of Australia, by the society. At the request of the Church Missionary Society, 20,000 copies of the New Testament had been provided in the native language of New Zealand; of which, 10,000 had been placed at the disposal of that society, and 5,000 at that of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, in consequence of the earnest demand for them in New Zealand. Five hundred reams of paper had been granted for printing the Old Testament in the language of Rarotonga. The Committee regretted that, with one or two

exceptions, South America presented a very painful blank. Mr. James M'Murray, the new agent in the West Indies, had arrived on the 20th March in Jamaica, and had met with a most cordial reception. One of his first movements was to establish a depôt at Kingston. Large supplies had been forwarded to Jamaica, amounting to more than 25,000 copies. The expediency of adopting a similar course at Antigua and Barbadoes was also suggested. Supplies of Bibles had been forwarded for all these places.

Under the head of domestic affairs, the Rev. Dr. Daly, now Bishop of Cashel, had been added to the list of Vice-Presidents. The entire receipts for the past year had been 92,4761.28. 8d., consisting of the two items of 39,8217. 78. for the general objects of the society, and of 52,6541. 158. 8d. received for Bibles and Testaments, including drawbacks, the expenditure amounted to 86,9647. 10s. 6d. There had been 101 new societies formed; making 2,870 in this kingdom. Grants of copies of the scriptures had been made to the amount of 13,000 to the London Hibernian Society; to the Sunday School Society for Ireland, 23,750; to the Church Scriptural School Committee (Cloyne) 1,000; to the Irish Society, 2,000; the Baptist ditto, 1,250.

The resolutions were moved and seconded by the Bishop of Winchester, and Professor Sack (Bonn); the Dean of Salisbury, Rev. A. Tidman, and Rev. P. Jacobs (Canada); Rev. F. Close, and Rev. Dr. Hannah; Rev. A. Hanson (Gold Coast), and Esq. (Lyons); the Earl of Chichester, and Rev. Dr. Steinkopff.

Milsom,

made an appeal for a subscription of 2,0007. Of the general progress and result of the society's missionary labours, the report referred to several very satisfactory instances; and the Committee adverted with much gratification to an extract from a report of a Committee of the House of Commons, relative to West Africa, in which the benefits which had been conferred upon that part of the world by the exertions of the Church Missionary Society were spoken of in high terms, it being stated that on that part of the African coast not less than one-fifth of the whole population had attended the schools of the society, and that the effect was visible in their general moral and religious improvement. In the East African mission, the same desire for the word of God, which was noticed in the last 'report, continued to increase; and the Mediterranean missions were equally progressive. With respect to the New Zealand mission, it was advancing in every respect, in spite of the opposing efforts of popery and worldliness. The bishop had arrived on the 19th of June, at the Bay of Islands, and had made such progress in his knowledge of the native language, that, immediately on landing, he had commenced conversing with the people in their own tongue. In the eastern and western districts there were increasing evidences of usefulness and of real faith. War was almost entirely given up, and the old chieftains spoke of it with disgust. The desire to possess copies of the New Testament was general and intense. Within the last four years, the number of natives who had embraced Christianity had increased from 2,000 to 35,000, and not a few to the saving of their souls. The arrangements for withdrawing the operations of the society from Trinidad had been delayed by circumstances justifying the delay; nor were they quite completed at Jamaica, but three stations only remained out of nineteen which existed in 1842. In North-west America the work progressed favourably. At Calcutta the good work had prospered during the last year, and on the out-stations great success had followed the efforts of the missionaries. Those stations comprised eighteen villages, and the number of converts was 300, of whom ninety-six had been baptized during the past year. In South India, from the Tinnevelly station, the report differed in some degree from that of last year. It had pleased God to visit and purify the church in this district with a violent persecution, which had occasioned many to go back. The total number of baptized on this station was 13,604, and there had been 1,221 baptisms in the course of the last year; and notwithstanding the number that had gone back on account of the persecution, there were still 1,178 communicants.