cursory perusal, that the writer is deeply impressed with the sacredness of his subject: and that he has brought to the examination of it, a mind capable of reflection and well stored with scriptural know ledge. His method has the great merit of plainness and simplicity. In selecting the several signs of “conversion and unconversion," he has displayed a correct judgment, and evinced-although an undergraduate-a thorough acquaintance with the nature and duties of the pastoral office. The different branches of discussion, which he has introduced as subservient to the main design, are intimately connected with the question, and deserve all the prominence that he has given to them. In stating his own sentiments, he is distinct and forcible: he speaks with firmness and decision: no man can be more free from a narrow or dogmatical disposition. A writer of less judg. ment, or of more limited views would have probably indulged a controversial spirit. For it is a lamentable fact, that scarcely any argument, which relates to the duties or principles of the clergy, can be conducted in the temper of fair and liberal inquiry. But the pamphlet of Mr. Wilks is a noble exception: he takes up the subject on a right ground, and prosecutes his task in the temper and spirit of a Christian. In so young an author, we might naturally look for some deficiency of taste, and some want of discrimination; we might expect to find certain propositions hastily advanced, or maintained without the requisite guards and limitations. But we have seen nothing of the sort: however young in years, he is mature in intellect: and we exceedingly deceive ourselves, if he should fail to prove a valuable aecession to that church of which we understand he is now a minister. We presume that this pamphlet must have been generally dispersed through the diocese of St. Davids: and we shall consider ourselves a

rendering a real service to the interests of piety and religion, if we can promote its wider circulation. Happy would it be, if every clergyman in the kingdom were animated by the principles which are here recommended, and were careful to display their efficacy in his life and conversation!

It is possible, that some persons may object to the Essay in toto, on the ground of exclusive Christianity: the evidence proposed of a "converted" minister, must imply that clergymen of an opposite character are "unconverted." Now it must surely be admitted that a wicked man is not in a state of conversion: his life condemus him, and it is likewise plain that some doctrines are according to Scripture, and some are opposed to it. It cannot for example be true, that our creed with respect to the Trinity, is at the same time scriptural and unscrip tural: that men are justified by their faith alone in Christ Jesus, and are also justified, in some way, by their works: that the Holy Spirit is a person, and that he is not a person: that our minds are natur. ally prone to evil, and that they are equally inclined to good; and it is therefore obvious, that some men preach true doctrines and some preach false. To censure any person as the advocate of an exclusive system can hardly be the part of wisdom, unless it can be proved that his teaching is inconsistent with Scripture. If he speak ac cording to the oracles of God, his system to a certain extent is and must be exclusive. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned,”

We cannot conclude without referring to an advertisement, which is prefixed to the Essay. We were surprised to find in it one or two remarks upon baptism which we are unable to reconcile with the obvious sentiments of Mr. Wilks. We are morally certain that the passage which imputes to baptism

the power of" redeeming from original sin through the death and merits of Christ Jesus," not only was not written by him, but could never have met his eye previous to publication. Our readers are aware that in Prize Essays, it is not uncommon, nor perhaps improper, for the Society by which they are published to introduce occasional emendations. And it sometimes

happens that the author of the Essay is wholly ignorant of the correction till he finds it upon the printed page. In the present instance, we are supported in our conjecture by the total absence of any other syllable throughout the Essay, that can be possibly construed as according with the opinion ex pressed in the advertisement.

GREAT BRITAIN. PREPARING for publication: A new edition of Dr. Piukard's Work on the West Indies;-The Travels of Robert Johnston, M. A. F. L. S., through Rus sia and Poland, with plates, &c.;-The Philosophy of Human Nature, by Mr. Duncan ;-Arabia, a Poem, with Notes, by the Rev. Johnson Grant, A. M.;— Display, a Tale for Young People, by Jane Taylor, one of the Authors of Original Poems-A volume of Poems by Mr. Grenfel;-A quarterly periodical Work, entitled the Biblical Journal, by Mr. Bellamy, the Author of the His tory of all Religions;-An Abridgment of the True Christianity" of the vene-' rable John Arndt, byMr. Wm. Jacques; The Heavens Surveyed; or, Astronomy made Easy, by Bonnel George Thorn ton-A Treatise on the Economy of Fuel and Management of Heat, by Robertson Buchanan, civil engineer; England at the Beginning of the 19th Century, by M. de Lewis;—The Theological Works of Arminius;-Dictionary of Merchandize, by C. H. Kauffman, Svo, 124,

The celebrated dramatic poet Wernet, whose tragedies, founded on the life and writings of Luther, have attracted so much attention in Germany, has embraced Popery, The history commonly given of his conversion to the Church of Rome, is singular. He had repaired to Vienna for purposes of amusement. One evening, while employed in contemplating the cathedral of St. Stephen, and absorbed by the reflections which so easily suggest them

selves to a man of lively imagination he saw the door of the cathedral open, and a priest issue from it, carrying the host in procession to a dying person, with much solemnity, and amidst the light of torches. Struck with the picturesque effect of the procession, the poet, with a rapidity somewhat con, genial to his function, at once felt a yearning to Popery; went to Rome, abjured Lutheranism, and united him self to the Church of Rome, in the Basilica of St. Peter. He has now returned to Germany, as a popish preacher, and attracts most numerous and splendid congregations. Several of the foreign princes are said to have been among his hearers. His countenance is striking, his voice absolutely sepul chral; and he carries this claim to attention, that he has manifested the sincerity of his change by passing two years in eremetical seclusion at the foot of Mount Vesuvius. If any de. pendence may be placed on the accuracy of this account, which has ob. tained considerable currency, this is a singular instance of the mischievous influence of an over-wrought imagina tion. Popery could have gained nothing from the circumstances of the host being carried by torch-light, except in the eyes of one whose ima gination had got the better of his reason. A very different account, however, of the change of communion in Werner, has reached us, viz: That such was the prevalence of scepticism in Germany, as to drive him, in common with many well-disposed persons, to Popery, in pursuit of the nearest approach to

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orthodoxy. We ourselves remember to have heard a person, not very far distant from Vienna, declare that "he thought Jesus Christ not a better man than Kant, the philosopher." From such opinions even Popery is not a bad retreat, if no other were to be found.

The seventh edition of a sermon preached at Cadiz, by Father Blasins Ostalaya, has issued from the Spanish press. The immediate cause of its popularity appears to be the account it gives of the domestic employments of Ferdinand VII. at Valentia. That so vereign, it seems, began the day with prayers, confessions, and offices of piety; and then proceeded, much to the satisfaction of the worthy confessor, to embroider a robe for the virgin Mary.

It is a general complaint, that the finest apples of this country have degenerated. It would not be difficult to shew that every successive graft dete riorates the fruit engrafted. It may be of use to suggest a scheme for securing the race of apples which has been recommended by very scientific gardeners. Every perfectly ripe apple contains some flat and some round seeds. The round seeds will produce good trees; the flat will produce the crab, on which the tree has been originally grafted.

At the table of Collector Anderson, of Thurso, was lately produced a dish of potatoes, being part of a second crop during the same year. The first crop

was planted in March, and taken up on the 10th of July; the second was planted the 11th of July, and dug up 19th of October. This fact will be interesting to cultivators.

The good judges of painting who have visited Paris protest strongly against the exaggeration of colours which prevails in the French school.

M. Thiebaud de Berneaud, one of the librarians at the Mazarine Library, has been during several years employed in bringing forward a translation of the work of Theophrastus on the history of plants: and to render his labours more correct, he has travelled through various parts of Italy, for seven years, on foot. And yet a man shall decide upon the comparative claims of Calvinism and Arminianism, who has not thought for seven weeks on the subject of religion.

Mr. Forbes, the benevolent author of a late splendid work, called Oriental Memoirs, states the fact of his having for some time, when in India, kept a cameleon. Its general colour was

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a pleasant green," spotted with pale blue. Its customary changes were to a bright yellow, a dark olive, and a dull green; but when irritated, or when a dog approached, the body became inflated, and the skin clouded like tortoise-shell. The animal was most affected by any thing black, and carefully avoided the skirting-board of the room, which was of that colour. The change of colour appeared to be painful to it.

THEOLOGY.

Nine Sermons on the Nature of the Evidence by which the Fact of our Lord's Resurrection is established; and on other Subjects. With a Dissertation on the Prophecies of the Messiah dispersed among the Heathens; by S. Horsley, LL.D. F.R.S. F. S. A. late Lord Bishop of St. Asaph. 8vo. 10s. 6d. Facts and Evidences on the Subject of Baptism; by the Editor of Calmet's Dictionary of the Holy Bible.

A New Edition of the Rev. C. Buck's Practical Expositor. 6s.

MISCELLANEOUS. On the Commutation or Abolition of Tythes; by William Clash, Esq. 8vo.

15.

General Report of the Agricultural State and Political Circumstances of Scotland; drawn up under the Direc

by R. Bell, Esq. Advocate, second Edit. 2 vols. 8vo.

An Easy Introduction to the Mathematics, with Notes, &c. and Memoirs, Mathematical Authors, &c. &c.; by Charles Butler. 2 vols. 8vo. 11. 11s. 6d. Essays, Moral and Entertaining, on the Faculties and Passions of the Human Mind; by the Right Hon. Edward, Earl of Clarendon. 2 vols. sep. 8vo. 12s. Public Disputation of the Students of the College of Fort William, in Bengal, before the Right Hon. Earl Moira, with his Lordship's Discourse, June 20, 1814. 8vo. 3s.

A Father's Reflections on the Death of his Child. 12mo. 1s. 6d.

Mr. Mallison's Plan of an Attempt to render Assistance to Shipwrecked Mariners. 2s. 6d.

Harmonies of Nature; by Bernardin de St. Pierre. 3 vols. 8vo. 36s.

Maria; or, the Hollanders; by Louis Bonaparte. 3 vols. 12mo. 16s. 6d. Guy Mannering; or, the Astrologer; by the Author of Waverley. 3 volumes, 11. 18.

A New Pocket Dictionary of the Italian and French Languages; by C. Graglia. Square 12mo. 8s.

Charlemagne; or, The Church Delivered; an Epic Poem, in 24 books; by Lucien Bonaparte. Translated into English Verse, by the Rev. Samuel Butler, D. D. and the Rev. Francis Hodgson, A. M. 2 vols. 4to. 41. 4s.

The Works of Robert Burns, with engravings from designs by Stothard. 4 vols. 8vo. 21. 2s.

The History of the Secret Societies of the Army, &c. which had for their Object the Destruction of the Govern ment of Bonaparte. Translated from the French. 8vo. 7s.

History of the Island of Guernsey, from the remotest Period of Antiquity, to the Year 1814; with Particulars of the Islands of Alderney, Sark, and Jersey; by William Berry. 4to. 31. 3s.

Hints to Travellers; by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart. 8vo. 4s.

Travels in the Ionian Isles, in Albania, &c. in 1812 and 1813 with an Account of a Residence at Joannina, the Capital and Court of Ali Pacha; by Henry Holland, M.D. F.R.S. &c.; with a map and engravings. 4to. 31. 3s.

The Principles of Surgery, as they relate to Wounds, &c.; by John Bell, Surgeon. Part I. to IV. 12s. each.

LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY A MONG THE JEWS.

THE following paper has been transmitted to us, containing a brief sketch of this Society, as it exists under its new constitution, conducted on the principles of the Established Church:-Pa. tron, his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent;-President, Sir Thomas Baring, Bart. M. P.;-Vice-Presidents, His Grace the Duke of Devonshire; Right Hon. Earl of Crawford and Lindsay; Right Hon. Earl of Stamford and Warrington; Right Hon. Earl Grosvenor; Right Hon. Earl of Besborough; Right Hon. Earl of Egmont; Right Hon. Lord Viscount Northland; Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Cloyne; Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Killaloe; Right Rev. Lord Bishop of Meath; Right Hon. Lord Dundas; Right Hon. Lord Calthorpe; Right Hon. Lord Erskine; Right Hon. Lord Robert Seymour; Hon. and Very Rev. Dean of Wells; Right Hon. Chancellor of the Exchequer; Sir George Leith, Bart.; Sir Thos. Bernard, Bart.; Thomas Babington, Esq. M. P.; Est court Cresswell, Esq.; George Freek CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 140.

Evans, Esq.; John Louis Goldsmid, Esq.; William Henry Hoare, Esq.; William C. Hogan, Esq.; Thomas Read Kemp, Esq. M. P.; Ebenezer Maitland, Esq.; Hon. Charles Noel Noel, M. P.; Lewis Way, Esq.; W. Wilberforce, Esq. M. P.; Matthew Wood, Esq. and Alderman ;-Treasurer for the General Fund, Benjamin Shaw, Esq. M. P.;Treasurer for the Hebrew Testament, Thomas Read Kemp, Esq. M. P.;~ Secretaries (gratis), The Rev. Basil Woodd, M. A. Rector of Drayton Beau. champ, Bucks,-The Rev. Chas. Sleech Hawtrey, M. A. Vicar of Whitston, Monmouthshire, -The Rev. David Ruell, M. A. Chaplain to the County of

Middlesex,

"The Directors of the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews, relying upon the Christian benevolence of the British public, and their readiness to promote every undertaking

which has for its object the temporal and eternal welfare of mankind, earnestly request the favour of their patronage and assistance to forward the designs of the above Institution.

"The highly respectable and dignified 2 L

characters who have honoured the Society with their names and support, sanction this appeal to the liberality and Christian zeal of the public at large. But the grand argument, which it is presumed will plead with most powerfal influence, is that this Institution combines the united objects of all others. In its aim to promote the knowledge of Divine Truth, to convince the Jews that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true Messiah, and thus to guide the ignorant and wandering transgressor into the fold of the good Shepherd, it solicits aid as a Missionary Society.

"In its exertions to provide for the afflicted, the necessitous, and such as, by embracing Christianity, may be reduced to distress for want of employment, it asks support in the capacity of a House of Industry and a Refuge for the Destitute. In its parental protection, education, and support of children of Jewish extraction, it claims the aid of the benevolent, to rescue from vice, to impress the infant mind with religious principles, to relieve the affliction of the widow, and to become the father of the fatherless.

"Moreover, the Directors of the London Society cannot but be persuaded, that compassionate and zealous exertions, to collect the dispersed of Israel and Judah, will be acceptable to the God of Abraham; and may prove a means of bringing the blessing of that eminent Patriarch more largely on the Gentiles. For if the casting away of the Jews be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead.' For 'blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in. This argument establishes the duty, the Christian policy, the holy obligation, of endeavouring to promote Christianity amongst the Jews; in the hope that we may be the honoured instruments of accelerating the day when both to Jews and Gentiles the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together as the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.'

"The following means have already been adopted by the London Society, for the furtherance of this great and desirable object:

"The establishment of Lectures addressed to the Jews, and the erection of a large Episcopalian Chapel, for their

use.

"Schools have also been established, of nearly 100 Jewish children, boys and girls; also a Female Asylum, Printingoffice, and Basket Manufactory, for the employment of such Jews as are deprived of subsistence amongst their brethren, for having manifested a desire to inquire into the truth of Christianity. Nearly the whole of the New Testament has been translated into the Hebrew. The Gospel of St. Matthew has already been published; dedicated, by permission, to the Right Reverend the Bishops of Durham, Salisbury, Norwich, St. David's, Cloyne, and Meath: and the Gospel of St. Mark is in the press, and almost finished.

"Various appropriate tracts, in Eng. lish, Hebrew, and German, have been printed and circulated, at home, on the Continent of Europe, in the Mediterranean, and in the East Indies.

"Auxiliary Societies have been insti tuted in various parts of the United Kingdom; and many benevolent per sons, impressed with the obligations of Christians to seek the conversion of the Jews, have formed, and are now form. ing, Associations to promote a subscrip tion, in which the poorest disciple of Christ may take a share, by contributing one penny per week, or sixpence per month.

"It must be evident to all, that an In stitution embracing such a variety of objects cannot be carried on without a considerable annual income, which it is earnestly hoped the charity of the Bri tish public will continue to supply.

"The success which has already attended the efforts of this Society, has been sufficient to encourage perseverance in this labour of love, and to inspire a lively hope that under the Divine blessing we shall in due time reap if we faint not.

"The children of Israel have abode many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim.' But let us not forget that God hath also said, 'Afterwards they shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days! Let us rejoice that we have the distinguished honour of being called to be instruments in the hand of Providence to hasten the ap proach of the glorious period, when the promise of the Lord shall be fulfilled; I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all