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little distance you discover a most lovely individual, who has commenced the work of emancipation, by laying down a mighty sum, and going from wretch to wretch, breaking off the galling fetter, and bestowing the blessed boon of liberty; the ransomed collect together, and shout the praises of their deliverer. Or imagine yourself in a large valley that is covered with the dead bodies of the spoiled and mangled slain, and while you are surveying this affecting sight, you suddenly perceive one and another rising to life, and an evident movement through all the host. Such scenes as these are presented in India. The Sun of Righteousness is dispelling the clouds, the Redeemer is delivering the captive, the dead are rising to life. O blessed Gospel, what hast thou done? Blessed Saviour, what hast thou done for rebellious, miserable sinners! O sway thy sceptre all the world around!

"But, leaving figures, I will come to facts, and confine my remarks to Calcutta. Thirty years ago, there was scarcely a Christian, or any sign of Christianity in Calcutta, whether among Europeans or natives. Now, besides six episcopal churches, there are five dissenting chapels, and to say the least, two or three hundred pious people. The Sabbath is also beginning to be reverenced among the major part of the Europeans, although it is a lamentable fact, that Europeans seem to feel themselves under much less restraint in this country than in Europe. Yet, in consequence of the labours of Missionaries, many are brought to a sense of their duty, and I trust there is an impulse given to the whole of the English population. The churches are well attended, Missionary efforts are in much better repute than formerly, and wickedness that would formerly stalk the streets with the utmost effrontery, is now, in a manner, obliged to hide its head. The number of heathen converts is not so great as among the English; yet there are so many, and of that kind, as greatly to encourage the hearts of Missionaries. The wonder, I conceive, ought not to be that so few are converted, as that so many become Christians. The difficulties are immense in the way against heathen converts. My Pundit is a Christian, in consequence of which, his wife has been taken from him by his friends, and kept a close prisoner; he has been separated from her now, I suppose, several years. There is another individual, who has just come in to the Missionaries for protection. Some few months ago he signified to his relations, that he intended to become a Christian; in consequence of this he was seized by them, and has been kept in close confinement till, a few days ago, he contrived to make his escape. His friends have found out his retreat, and have been in a body to the house of the Missionary, and have besought the poor man not to injure them so much as to break their caste; for a Hindoo, in declaring himself a follower of Christ, not only loses caste himself, but causes his family to lose caste also. There is reason, therefore, to wonder that so many become Christians, rather than that so few are converted.

"There is now in Calcutta a great spirit for hearing the Gospel among the natives; in different parts of the city there are no less than

six Bengalee chapels in our own connexion, and many others belonging to other denominations. The places are frequently well attended, and the congregations listen with much more attention than formerly. I have been out with Paunchoo (who is a most excellent native preacher), when he has collected a large congregation in the open air, who have listened with great apparent attention and interest. It was exceedingly delightful to me to see the nods of assent that passed through the assembly, as the preacher pursued his subject, and at the close, to hear them inviting him to visit them again. The natives consist chiefly of Hindoos and Mussulmans: although a Hindoo has many more difficulties to prevent his embracing Christ than a Mussulman: yet, notwithstanding, the number of Hindoo converts is much greater. A Mahomedan is found to have the most inveterate hatred to Christ, which is seldom overcome. The Missionaries laboured here several years before they received from the Mahomedans the least fruit of their

labours; at length a Moonshi confessed himself a Christian, was baptized, and has proved himself to be a most valuable character.

"It gives me the greatest pleasure to state, that so far as I have been able to observe, the Missionaries of all denominations here seem to be zealously devoting themselves to the advancement of the Redeemer's kingdom; and I think I do not exaggerate, when I state that they exceed in piety the generality of dissenting ministers in England. This fact, I conceive, augurs well for the spiritual interest of India."

From the Pulpit. THE APPROVAL.

Written on reading "The Reply in Answer to the Saviour's Appeal-My sheep hear my voice."-JOHN X. 27.

HARK! I hear some voices making
Answer to their Lord's appeal,
Humbly at my cross adoring,
And with fervour breathing still-
"Leave thee-never!-
Where for refuge could I flee?"

Pleased, my soul's embitter'd travail
Rich in choicest fruits I see;
Little flock, my crown and glory,
Jesus' brightest gems are ye;
Happy Spirits-
Happy they who trust in me.

Are ye poor, and ask my Spirit?

Are ye frail, and seek my grace?
Do ye lean upon my merit
Only for your righteousness?
Humbly seek me,

As your dearest, only hope!

Then, my chosen, I'll be with you,

To your weakness strength impart;
'Mid your frailties grace I'll give you,
In your sorrows cheer your heart-
By my Spirit,
And my presence ever near.

I, too, have endured temptation-
I have felt affliction's smart;
And can view your situation
With a sympathetic heart,
Deeply feeling

Every pang my people bear.

"Come to me all ye that labour,"
"Heavy laden" and opprest-
Come to me, ye sons of sorrow,
"I will give you peace and rest;"
O come hither,

And partake a Saviour's love.

'Mid the frailties of your nature

'Mid temptation, scorn, and grief—

'Mid the trials that await you

When in vain you ask relief;

Ever near you,
So am I a present aid.

Though in devious paths of error,
From your Shepherd frail ye stray,
Still ye shall not wander ever,
Back I'll bring you to my way;
Still beside you,

Ever watchful for your good.

Go then on, my well beloved,
Humbly walk in faith and love;
Fill'd with hope and sweet assurance,
Raise your thoughts and souls to God:
Blessed Spirit-

Blessed in his Saviour's love!

Soon the victor's crown I'll give you—

Soon shall ye the haven gain,
Enter heaven's portals singing,
'Mid the bright angelic train-
Ever, ever

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In the dominions of Schwartzburg, of the Princes of Reuss Lippe, Delmold, and Schaumburg, Waldock, and in Bremen and Lubeck, there are very few Catholics.

Thus there live near three millions of Protestants in the Catholic States of Germany, and five millions and a half of Catholics under Protestant rulers, mixed up with majorities of an opposite creed to their own.

About half the population of Wirtemberg are Catholics, where they and the Protestants under equal laws, appear mutually to have forgotten the necessity of asking about each other's religious sentiments. In Prussia, where the proportion of Catholics to Protestants is M. M. E. nearly the same (one-third,) as in the United Kingdom, every function of a citizen in military and civil life is exercised indifferently by Protestant and Papist.

With your Saviour there to reign!

From the Baptist Magazine. PROTESTANTS AND ROMAN CATHOLICS IN AUSTRIA.

The Allgemeine Kirchen-Zeitung contains the following statement of the number of Protestants living in Germany under Catholic Princes, and of Catholics under Protestant Princes:

From the Winter's Wreath.

THOUGHTS ON RELIGIOUS BIO-
GRAPHY.

His warfare is within, there evermore
His fervent spirit labours.-Cowper.

Ir is not very necessary we believe to ex

I. Protestants under Catholic Princes in Aus- plain what we mean by Religious Biography.

tria.

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4,300

We have chosen that phrase to express shortly a description of memoirs, which have for their object not merely to exhibit the outward oc24,700 currences of a person's life in his different re2,500 lations with his fellow-men, but to record also 17,000 the history of his "interior self," in that far 50,000 higher relation, for the true comprehension, and 68,000 for the perfect enjoyment of which man was made. We are quite aware of the defects of 166,500 taste and language that appear in many works 1,100,000 of this kind, and these it is not our purpose to 1,420,000 defend,-we had much rather that purity of 34,000 intention were always accompanied by purity of style, for there is certainly no necessary connexion between inelegance and holiness. We are persuaded, however, that no one pursuit of real information on a subject of common knowledge, would revolt at the homeliness of any

2,720,500 In the two Principalities of Hohenzoltern, and in that of Lichtenstein, there are very few Protestants.

Rel. Mag.-No. 2.

X

medium by which it was conveyed, and, therefore, if there is to be found truly recorded in the pages of any volume the history of a mind which, amidst all the weakness, and all the corruptions of its natural state, is yet holding itself attentive to the renewing education of the "Father of Spirits," and habitually feeling that

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Is with the Deity, his grace or frown,' we cannot admit the wisdom or the fairness of turning away from that in which we may gather the materials of much nobler science than all the labours of human wisdom can teach. If the mind or soul of man be in all its aspects a most curious and engaging subject of observation, it must be peculiarly so in that aspect on which its destiny throughout eternity depends; but it is not as affording subjects of curious moral speculation, that the works of which we speak are chiefly valuable; they have a stronger and a nearer interest to us, for they contain in them a most important part of that chain of evidence which attests the truth of Christianity. They contain in fact the history of the church of Christ. We read books which treat of the divine origin of our religion, and dwell on its benefits and blessings, and our time is well spent in doing so-they tend to establish our faith, and to exalt our hope, but have not many of us felt, in turning from these to look on the world, that the prospect is desolate;-are we not almost tempted to doubt whether the sun of righteousness has arisen, so many are the clouds that intercept his beams,-so little are there ripened here the fruits "meet for immor tality" hereafter? If we would be preserved from doubting the power or the practical efficacy of the religion of Christ, we must acquaint ourselves with the characters of those who have received it in simplicity and truth. It is by no means unfair to judge of the greatness of a cause from the correspondent degree of its effect, only let us be certain that the cause has had an actual field of operation. Now if we take the Gospel as a cause, of which holiness should be the effect, it is not fair to judge of its power by the general aspect of the Christian world, because among the numbers who receive it nominally, how few are there who receive it really. This declaration of great mercy, this "manifestation of the character of God" is not written in the heavens that it may be seen by the bodily eyes of all who walk on the earth,-it is written in the Bible that it may be transcribed on the hearts of those who read and believe; and as we value the original, so should we rejoice in looking at the transcript.

It is thought indeed by some that in the very publication of papers, written only for private use, there is a violation of the sacredness which should attach to such memorials, and the opinion is certainly entitled to respect, but we think it worth examining whether it be quite just, because it would, if acted on, deprive us of those parts of religious memoirs, on which their chief interest and usefulness are to be found. We do not ask how such publication might appear to the feelings of any individual

* Gambold.

|

while still alive on the earth, for we can well understand the shrinking sensibility that would forbid the exposure of that "bitterness" which the "heart only knoweth," or that joy with which a stranger "intermeddleth not;" but is it not one of our imperfections here that we do so far feel strangers to one another, and that our communications are so often restrained by feelings allied to selfishness or distrust? When removed to a higher state, may we not hope that it will be otherwise? and if the followers of Christ are raised to partake not only of the happiness, but of the benevolence of Angels, we cannot imagine that the diffusion of any records respecting themselves which may tend to inform or influence a single child of their great Father's family on earth should in any degree offend the spirits of those "just made perfect."

But there is an objection sometimes made to the published memoirs of devout Christians, which if well grounded would indeed be a very strong one, and this is, that by the tone of melancholy in which their private meditations are often expressed, they tend rather to darken the prospect of a religious life than to invite to its pursuit, and by the continued severity of their self condemnation, they scarcely allow us to mark the progress of that sanctifying work which we are assured, the Holy Spirit does indeed carry on in the heart of a believer. As to degrees of cheerfulness or the reverse in all our views, much depends on the constitutional frame of the mind and spirits; generally speaking, we believe, the strongest impressions of religious truth are to be found in those who are grave rather than gay by natural temperament, but even if this should not be the case, still it must be remembered that strong affection is, by its very nature, anxious and apprehensive concerning the approbation of its object; the deeper the sensibility of any mind, the less is its love allied with confidence, and the more susceptible is it of alarm, and if this be the case even with respect to human objects of attachment, how infinitely more must it be so when the mind has fixed its supreme regards upon Him whose " loving kindness is better than life." From the same source, and in close connexion with this feeling, arises that self-condemnation of which we have spoken; it is the unfailing result of a self examiner's inquiries when they are made in sincerity and recorded with truth, and painful though it be it can appear strange to those only, who are accustomed to "measure themselves by themselves," and not by the standard of the holiness of God. When we find Sir Isaac Newton lamenting the smallness of his attainments in natural philosophy, and comparing himself to "a child who passes its hours in picking up pebbles on the shore while the wide sea of knowledge lay unexplored before him," we do not less admire his genius or estimate his attainments, we venerate his humility, and receive from thence an enlarged idea of the dignity and difficulty of his objects of pursuit. We must not refuse to the self-condemning Christian the same honour, we must rather learn from his experience that the higher his view of the holiness of God, the deeper will be his selfabasement, because from the very light that

rendered much more familiar, and its effect therefore must be more usefully felt. But in saying that the representations of Christianity, given by divines in general, are of too abstract a kind, we have not stated the only or (as it appears to us) the chief defect that exists in their writings, when we look into them for practically useful information. In these we have often been struck with a disposition to magnify some one doctrine of Christianity to the neglect, if not at the expense of others, and as we cannot help thinking that this results from a habit of considering the subject apart from its intimate adaptation to the varieties of the human character, so we can imagine no means so likely to assist in restoring and settling the just balance of Christian truth, as to consult the personal records of Christian experience. If we are right in attributing such utility to this practice in the rectifying of our faith, we cannot be less so in saying that it may be made of great use in the enlargement of our charity. These two graces of the Christian life, are indeed so linked together in the New Testament, that when we meet them in the

surrounds him, the more distinct will be his view of his own imperfections. If it were not thus-if the assurance which a believer is authorized to feel of the love of God towards him were in no degree subject to be disturbed by his want of conformity to the perfect law of God, or if he were ever permitted to feel his desires after personal holiness fully satisfied in this world, we have reason to fear that he might be hushed into a security very fatal to his spiritual advancement, and he would at all events be deprived of the natural, and necessary training which is every day preparing him for a fuller enjoyment of the happiness of Heaven. The search which the mind of man is constantly making after" things not seen," and its unceasing desire for greater satisfaction than can be obtained here, is the foundation on which the very idea of Heaven is built, while the aspect or form of future blessedness must vary (according to the spiritual condition of the mind that desires it) from the degrading expectation of a Mahommedan Paradise, to the pure, and enlightened hope of a place or state whose bright mark of distinction from the earth we inhabit is that therein "dwelleth righteous-world in a state of separation from one another, ness."-Such is the heaven promised in the Bible, a state of entire moral health, with the capacity to behold "as he is," and to praise, as we desire to do, the good Physician who hath healed us;-just in as much, therefore, as the Christian knows and laments the disease of his moral nature, will such an anticipation be precious to him, and its fulfilment glorious.

we may well doubt whether it is the very faith and charity of the Gospel that we behold, or only some false resemblances placed in their stead by the passion or the indolence of men, but of no account with Him who searcheth the heart. To feel bound together by a common belief in the great doctrines of Christianity, is the way in which the disciples of Christ will best fulfil the "new commandment" of their holy Master" to love one another."-We cannot doubt therefore that the charity, proceeding from a "pure heart, and a good conscience, and

and a useful cultivation in tracing the "unity of the spirit" through every variety of external profession, for it will delight to acknowledge a brotherhood in Christ, with all who have come unto him "weary and heavy laden," and seeking have found "rest unto their souls."

When the ardent reformer exclaimed in his disappointment that "the old Adam was too strong for the young Melancthon," he had only made a discovery respecting others, which every one who enters on the course of a Chris-faith unfeigned," will find a blessed exercise tian life with too sanguine expectations of a sensible and unfaltering progess in it will sooner or later make with far deeper disappointment respecting himself, not because he has overrated the power of religious motives, but because he has under-rated the strength and variety of the influences that oppose them. This is a species of information that can be but imperfectly obtained from any professed treatise on a religious subject however eloquent, but we find in it marked and expressive distinctness in the simplest record of a religious life. We hold it to be in truth among the most important benefits to be derived, from the class of books of which we now speak, that they tend to correct those too abstract representations of religion, which prevail in the pages of some very excellent writers on the subject, and that they exhibit Christianity to us not merely as an object of admiring regard, perfect in its plan, as coming from the hands of an Almighty Author, but as it exists in visible application to the wants of our brethren of mankind-as it appears (to use the words of an old sacred poet of England*) when

To those who have been accustomed to make the reading of religious memoirs a part of their employment, we have already said more than may seem necessary, but as our object is to influence to a more favourable regard for them, those who have not been in the habit of seeking in such works for religious knowledge, we cannot conclude without reminding the latter that the plan adopted, in describing the divino communications to man, contained in the holy Scriptures, is at once a warrant for this practice and a pledge of its usefulness. Turning first to the Old Testament we need hardly say, to any one conversant with its contents, how much their interest to us depends on the minute knowledge of human nature (from individual instances), that is there conveyed to us, for in nothing does even the historical part of the Old Testament differ from other histories more than in this, that it calls the attention of the reader not so much to the external narrative of its wonAnd if the picture which a devoutly contem-derful events as to the moral history of those plative imagination delights to paint, should be somewhat lowered in its tints when received through this medium, its expresssion will be

"Meeting sin's force and art."

* Herbert.

who were concerned in them. It is not thought enough to our edification in that book, that we have the account of creation, and the promise of redemption, the pronouncing of the law from Sinai, and all the miraculous doings of God for

the preservation of his chosen people, we are admitted to a nearer and more interesting view still of His divine government, in the records of its felt effects on the hearts of those who dwelt in a conscious nearness to Him as a Father and a friend. Passing over all that might be urged on this subject from earlier parts of the Bible, we find in the book of Psalms, a full and perfect illustration of what we mean.From the earliest time at which religion becomes to any mind needful or attractive, to the latest hour of the Christian's earthly pilgri mage, he finds in some portions of that book his chosen comfort in sorrow, and, in others, the expressive organ of his heart's gratitude and joy. It cannot be to the often deep and mystical sense which the learned have found in them, that we are to attribute this, nor even to their plainer prophetic intimations; not even to the delicious sweetness of pastoral imagery, or the incomparable sublimity of thought and diction with which the Psalms abound;-they have a source of interest to us more endearing than all these, which is, that their words are spoken out of the fulness of the heart.-We know from them what the writers personally experienced and felt.-We have the veil of ceremony drawn aside which commonly obscures the communication of thought between one man and another, and we see the soul itself, abased in penitence, or seeking shelter from danger or affliction, or rejoicing with childlike confidingness in the presence of God. We should be guilty of very bad taste, as well as of irreverence, if we proceeded to compare any uninspired compositions with these in their degree of value or of interest, but if we are right in what has been mentioned as giving to the Psalms their peculiar interest, the same principle of moral taste (we should rather perhaps say of moral sympathy,) ought, we think, to be applied to other writings which possess, in however inferior a degree, the same claim to our regard.

ings of an oppressed heart, when it is first visited by the hope that infinite power, joined with infinite goodness, are concerned for its relief, could convey a picture to our minds half so intelligible or affecting.-When we read that "the Lord turned and looked upon Peter," and that " Peter went out and wept bitterly," we do not require even words to tell us how severe is the remorse of an erring believer when he has in any instance suffered the fear, or the love of the world, to prevail in his heart over the love of Christ. We need not multiply such instances from the Gospels, they are many, and not one of them is likely to be forgotten. In the Apostolic writings, the same principle is applied to excite the interest and attention of those who read them, and that it is not done in vain, is proved by the peculiarly deep feeling with which all, who have entered in earnest on the Christian warfare, read such passages as this." For to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."This is more than eloquence, it is the language of heart-felt experience; all the symptoms of our moral disorder are here recounted to us, not in the tone of a teacher, but in that of a fellowsufferer, and when at the close of the melancholy reckoning he asks, "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" we are well prepared to rejoice with him in the answer "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."-It is from himself also, that St. Paul draws a picture of Christian perseverance-(unequalled in the energy of its expression, yet not more calculated to repress arrogance than it is to cherish the devout confidence that is needful to invite to the pursuit he describes)-when he addresses his Philippian converts he says, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."-These are but two among numerous instances in which the great Apostle, by the same means, does not only throw a life and warmth into his teaching, which it could not otherwise have possessed, but seems anxious, by a reference to his own personal experience on religious subjects, to correct any possible mistake or abuse of the doctrines he taught, when stated in their more abstract or general form. The strength of the testimony thus afforded to his integrity is too obvious to be here insisted on. We urge St. Paul's example in the present case chiefly to show that even while holding, as he did, the lofty commission of an inspired "ambassador for Christ," he yet knew no better means of conveying the full import of his Master's message to the minds of others than by declaring the effects of his reception of the same great truths on his own.He does this as a simple disciple, and are we not therefore warranted in saying that whenever a sincere follower of the same Master has recorded his progress in the same school, there must be benefit to those who scek for it in read

When we turn to the New Testament, and study the greater, and "better covenant," wherein indeed we find the "substance of things hoped for," and gain "the evidence of things not seen," we find that by Evangelists and Apostles, the same principle of interest is understood and confessed. The writers of the Gospels are scarcely more faithful in reporting the words of their Divine Master, or the facts of his miraculous interposition, than they are in showing us what were the effects produced on the minds of those who listened to his voice, or who had felt, or desired to feel, the personal benefit of his saving power. "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind now I see," (words which closed a repeated confession made in the face of danger and obloquy by the man whose eyes had been opened) show us with the energy of living evidence a state of mind well pleasing to the God of truth; and to such, we are told in the account that follows, Christ will further reveal himself." Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief" were the simple words in which an afflicted father" cried out with tears," when looking to his Saviour for the restoration of his son, and surely no description of the feeling the record?-That the degree of benefit as

* John, chap. ix. ver. 35-38.

well as of interest must vary, not only according to the attainments of the writer, but ac

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