of the rulers or the Pharisees" forth the first missionaries, containadopted these plans? is a question ed no allusion to philosophical rewhich overpowers the cursory in- searches; and when they were sent quirer; and" Art thou also of Ga- forth, they interpreted that charge lilee ?" is the assault made, too often in its simple and obvious import. with success, by the opponents of The missionaries of the present day religious activity upon any more must do the same; remembering happy spirit of their own fraternity the solemn injunction of the great who has had light and zeal and de- teacher of the gentiles, "Give cision enough to "come out and be thyself wholly to these things." separate" from his former habits and companions. Our author seems to be a little too anxious as it respects wordy assailants of this character; otherwise he could not, we think, so largely sacrifice at the shrine of mere literary taste, and so far mistake the character of the Gospel, and the arduous duties of its heralds, as to exact from the latter a register of every variation of heat from Greenland to the Cape, and from Siberia to New Zealand; the direction of the winds and the fluctuations of the atmosphere from Benares to Astrachan, and from Astrachan to the mouth of the Columbia; and deem the improved state of civil society and natural fertility so beautiful a part of the fulfilment of the prophecy which employs these figurative delineations, as almost to lead his readers (for certainly he does not really do so himself,) to look with but a secondary glance on the moral and spiritual amelioration, in the view of which all else is really "less than nothing and vanity." He would have done well to have very explicitly stated, that the want of a more absorbing sense of the truth of this moral renovation leaves "many wise men after the flesh," (how graphically does the conciseness of Scripture delineate them!) in the utmost "bewilderment" on these subjects. The simple duty of the Christian teacher, we conceive to be, to employ the most Scriptural, and apparently efficacious, methods of leading men from their idols, whether material or spiritual, to the one living and true God. The suggestions of philosophy have no connexion with this object. The first charge of the Saviour, when he sent We have already stated, that it may often be advantageous, (and, when so, the judicious teacher will embrace the occasion,) to gather up hints from an attentive observation of character, opinions, superstition in its diversified forms, the natural aspect of the country, and other points which may eventually prove beneficial in the prosecution of missionary objects. His mind ought, in short, to be prepared to turn every thing within the sphere of his observation, whether of a moral, intellectual, or physical description, to some useful account, in strict subserviency, however, to the great object of his pursuit-the diffusion of the light of the Gospel. But much beyond this will, in most cases, be an intrusion on the time. and efforts due to the direct objects of a Christian mission; and that teacher will surely suffer in his own religious zeal and affection, and in the success of his ministrations, who should be moved, by any deference to the false standard of this world's judgment, to depart, in the construction of his diary, or in the habits of his life and conversation, from the simplicity that is in Christ. At the same time we freely admit, that there have been many missionary diaries presented to the world which it would have been a great benefit to the cause of religion to have entirely suppressed.. Into these observations we have been led chiefly by the smaller work of Mr. Douglas on Missions. In the exciting contemplation of "the advance of society in knowledge and religion," in his large and more recent publication, we find him expatiating on various schemes for the successes. promotion of those two blessings, and calculating their results and What will our readers think of his suggestion of a few new pyramids, the erection of which in this country would, he says, be far more corresponding to the great ness of the nation than all such tame (but to be sure somewhat more useful) works as our canals, or the mole which protects our navy against the violence of the tempest? There are many truly excellent observations in Mr. Douglas's books; a few of which we must now, in justice to him, extract, that our readers may have a higher opinion of his talents and his views than our remarks may have hitherto led them to entertain. The following passage is on the duty which devolves on British Christians, from their possession of their mighty Indian empire. The duty is now widely acknowledged, but it is impressively defined by our author. "We know not whether God intends the stability of particular nations; but we know that he makes all revolutions subservient to the introduction of his own kingdom, that the appointed years of delay are now elapsing, and that the time to favour the Gentiles is at hand. A great improvement in the moral condition of Hindostan is therefore certain in the natural course of events, and still more certain in the interruption of those events by which God breaks in pieces the obstacles to his designs; whether in a political calm or storm, the mustard seed which has been sown will become a great tree, and spread wide the shadow of its branches, and any changes in the body politic will ultimately accelerate that great change from darkness to light, by which Hindostan will become full of the knowledge of the Lord. Nothing was ever more beyond all human calculation, than that England should become the mistress of India; that an island thinly peopled with barbarians, the prey of every roving pirate, should, after so immense a navigation, far as the sea-fowl in a year can fly,' subdue the empire of Sandracottus, overcome that hostile array that terrified the soldiers of Timour, and, with handfuls of men, put myriads to flight. That such events did not happen without the Divine will and guidance, even heathens would acknowledge it is thus that God casts a stain upon all human glory-by the weak things overcomes the strong, and baffles all the conjectures of human pru dence. But if Britain thus holds India, it holds it by an imperative condition, that Providence; and when that condition is of being subservient to the designs of not complied with, the possession ceases along with its infraction. The Portuguese and the Dutch have already been our forerunners; but the one pursued the course of its own cruel bigotry, and the other its gain, and neither of them did the work of the Lord if we follow, instead of avoiding their example, and neglect to make known so great salvation, the empire will be taken from us and given to another nation; our conquests will pass away like a dream, and the time of our benefitting India will be closed for ever. But let us hope better things of Britain, and that the nation and the government will at length co-operate in spreading every blessing in ameliorating the temporal and spiritual condition of the Hindoos, in fulfilling to the uttermost the sacred trust reposed, and in securing to themselves the perpetual gratitude of India." pp. 264-266. in India, from the alleged hopeless The objection to missionary efforts obstinacy of the Hindoo character, and their tenacity to their own creed, is met as follows: "The Hindoos are the thinking people of eastern Asia; their doctrines have spread to Siberia and Japan, and the new system which has been transplanted from Hindostan has overshadowed and nearly rooted out the native superstitions of central Asia, as well as of China, and has spread itself, with the Malay colonies, over the islands of the southern ocean. Thus, India has already changed the religion of the East, and may well change it again, if Christianity had once taken possession of India. Missionaries in abundance would be found among the Hindoos, who would carry the Gospel along with them to nations who already look to India as the fountain from which spiritual light has streamed out to them. It has been objected (for to what will men not object which is contrary to their inclinations?) that the character of the Hindoos will not admit of change, and that it is impossible to convert them; but this is an objection which is alike refuted by history, by reason, and by religion: the Mohammedan conquerors have left behind them abundant traces of the possibility of changing the faith of the Hindoos, though their method of conversion was not likely to be the most successful, as the courage and the enterprise which marked the beginning of their dynasties soon changed into effeminary; the intolerance with which they assailed the Hindoos at first, ended in religious indifference; nor was there any interval between persecution and acquiescence, which they filled up by commending the reasonableness of the unity of the Godhead to the conviction of the Hindoos. Still Mussulmans abound in India, not merely the descendants of the Mogul conquerors, but multitudes of those who have been won over from the native creed. The religion of the Hindoos has frequently changed without any foreign impulsion: the early worship of the elements has yielded to the complexity of the Braminical Polytheism. Polytheism for a time seemed to bend under the Pantheism of the Budhists, and then by a new revolution regained its former ascendency: even within that Polytheism itself, rival sects are ever rising and decaying; and the slightest acquaintance, either with the present or past state of the Hindoos may shew that the human mind with them has not changed its character, or lost its desire of change, and that if it is prone to error it is also prone to novelty. Reason also might demonstrate, that no forms of opinion can be perpetual, except those that are founded upon immutable truth. All errors have arisen from a combination of circumstances; and when that combination is dissolved, and the causes which gave birth to them cease to operate, the errors gradually lose their hold over the mind, and fall to decay. Again, from religion we have the sure word of prophecy, that every idol under heaven shall be broken; and as this has been fulfilled with respect to Greece and her idols, so it shall soon be fulfilled with respect to India and her idols." pp. 257-260. In both his works Mr. Douglas suggests a new arrangement of the geography of the globe, classing the sections of it by a moral, instead of an artificial or physical, division. Our readers may remember an attempt at this in a little chart prefixed to Dr. H. Pearson's prize essay, on the Propagation of Christianity in the East, and also given in the third volume of the Missionary Register, and in several maps on similar plans. The following is the author's view of those advantages which an overruling Providence may eventually compel the wickedness of man to produce for wretched Africa. "Out of the very depth of the calamities of Africa, a prospect arises of ultimate relief: the slave trade, which heightened all the evils to which that devoted country is subject, has brought a portion of the African race into close contact with men who are civilized. Europe and AfEurope and Af rica have been dissevered in their fates from each other, but they have met together in the colonies of America; and the rising prospects of that new world afford the means and the hopes for the improvement and civilization of Africa. While the Europeans from the climate, were prevented from settling in Africa, and the Africans had no means of acquir ing the knowledge of Europe, an impassable barrier seemed raised between them; but now that both have been brought to inhabit a third country, it is comparatively easy to educate and train those Negroes in America, who will be able to introduce into Africa the first rudiments of amelioration. The rapidity with which the Negroes are increasing in America, and the peculiar circumstances in which they are there placed, insure a return of numbers of them to their original continent, carrying with them the languages, and not unfurnished with the acquisitions, of Europe. In a century, there will be more Negroes in the United States alone than exist in Africa itself at the present moment; and an emigration, like that which is now carrying the Europeans to America, or the African slaves to the coast of America, will restore the descendants of those slaves to their native countries. Africa is the natural resort of the Blacks that are emancipated by their White masters placed in the new world in an ambiguous situation, between the freemen and the slaves, they can scarcely taste the sweets of liberty, while they are still considered as a degraded race, and looked upon with an evil eye, as persons who but in Africa a new career awaits them; have no ascertained situation in society; and, while they are slighted by the Whites, and every impediment thrown in their way, they will be hailed by their kindred of whatever is useful, and the instructors race across the Atlantic, as the introducers of nascent empires. What is wanting is a landing place, some settlement to receive them on their first touching the spread from one tribe to another, till they coast, from which, in time, they would diffused themselves over the interior of the continent; and when that returning emigration to Africa has once begun, it will every year widen and extend, as one race of emigrants will smooth the passage for others, and prepare a more eager reception for those that are to follow." pp. 270-273. Such a landing place as our author deems so desirable, has in truth been formed in the colony of Sierra Leone. The deduction which the unhealthiness of that settlement demands in reference to Europeans, is not necessary in respect to native Africans; and the hope may justly be cherished of its becoming at some future period the gate of life to Africa, in addition, we would add, to the American colony of Liberia, formed on similar principles. We may certainly anticipate much from the introduction of writing and education among the natives, who are known to possess the greatest reverence for written characters. The stream of emigration which our author anticipates from the United States is at present diverted towards Hayti, where a Black skin is no civil disqualification or source of daily mortification, as is the case in our Christian colonies. The freedom conferred upon all classes in the South-American Republics will also render emigrations to Africa less numerous. In his reasoning on the case of the Jews, Mr. Douglas suggests the direction of learning and talent towards an exposure of the rabbinical traditions and writings (see p. 281). In this suggestion, however, he is at variance with Mr. Jowett and the converted Jew Mr. Wolff, who both agree that it is better to quit all discussions with them on the Talmud or the rabbinical writings, and to confine them to the simple ground of Scripture. In this conclusion we agree, for this among other reasons, that the Jew is likely to prove the more able disputant when argument is drawn from the former sources; and the latter appears to us the legitimate and available weapon-a weapon, not as the other "carnal," but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds." 66 In another suggestion, also, is Mr. Douglas at issue with the dictates of experience. He recommends the pursuit of trades and professions in the missionaries. But with one voice all whose opportunities of observation entitle their opinion to the greatest weight on this subject enter their protest against the secularizing tendency of this permission in the missionary himself, and the diminution of his influence, which is the strongest where raised far above all suspicion of interested motives. See Mr. Jowett's last volume of Researches, and Mr. Marsden's Hints respecting the Australasian Mission, in the last Church Missionary Report, p. 101. We must now proceed to notice the other works at the head of our paper; and in dismissing for the present this elaborate work of Mr. Douglas, we cannot but acknowledge that we have enjoyed considerable gratification in the perusal of it. He is a writer of a bold and original character: he reasons with the spirit and confidence of one who knows he has surveyed the globe in all its parts, who may challenge a disproof of his acquaintance with its statistics and its phenomena, who delights to trace up the history of the past to all its secret springs in the heart of man, and expatiates with a glowing rapture in the anticipations of the future, and is not afraid to define the aspect and the influence of European and Asiatic society on all the rest of the world, as that period when "the oak which was planted yesterday shall have reached its full maturity." The unpretending but pleasing volume of Poems which we have placed at the head of our list, is dedicated to Mrs. More, the longtried friend and advocate of those principles out of which alone missionary exertions must spring, and on which alone they can depend for support. It is the production of a lady who veils her family or marital name from view: the title-page presents only names which are the common property of many. In the Preface we slightly glance at the motives of its authoress in sending the volume to press : it is described to be like herself, "one of the weak things of the world," but sent forth with fervent prayer for the Divine blessing. Well had it been for the world had some of our loftier bards met their muse on ground like this; it would at least have purified their lays, if not exalted their poetical merit. We take the present Tale as we find it; having often expressed our opinion on the use of the imagination in the service of religion. It is evidently a fiction, and we are not informed whether any part of its groundwork has been fenced off from actual occurrences. It is very simple in its construction. Osric, the hero of the tale, is the last survivor of a shipwrecked crew on some part of those icy regions which cool the northern summit of "Columbia's mountain throne." The precise spot is not named, but our readers will understand it when they hear of icebergs floating in all directions. After recovering from the effect of his calamities, and paying the tribute of a tear to the memory of his companions, he is found by Indians: signs of friendship are exchanged, the rites of hospitality displayed, and Osric accompanies the band through pathless woods, where the incision of the Indian's knife on the bark of the sapling is the only guide to their distant kraal. In the cabin of their chief, Osric is received and entertained. He whiles away his weeks and months in the pursuits of hunting and fishing, conforming to all the native habits, when an incident occurs which, like the first smoke of a volcanic flame, warns him of the hollowness of that soil on which he has so confidently planted his feet. A visit is paid to the chief of the valley by a deputation from a distant tribe, who, with their wampum belts of doubtful bue, relate the report which has reached their river of this hospitality to one from the White man's land; and they declare the purport of their three suns' journey to be the investigation of its truth; when the insidious Ayuta, (the chief,) from his matted seat, in a dialect unknown to Osric, who surveys the assembled tribes with deep and unconscious interest, disavows the motive of hospitality, and in proof declares that moment to be the occasion for which his victim had been lured and nourished; and he then offers him to their united fury. Unable to resist the number of his enemies, and more than vanquished by the surprise which this treachery occasions, Osric is seized; and his death as a sacrifice to their fury and their appetite is determined on, but is deferred till the tribe of the mountain, returning with the calumet of peace, shall have regained their home, to "hide their hatchet and to plant their tree," and feed it with the White man's blood. The midnight feasting and revelry succeed, and Osric is placed in one of the cabins, with a guard of his enemies, Ayuta, at the head, stationed in the side. open All hope of deliverance fails the victim: the vigilance of the Indian, he believes, can keep "at wondrous bay the leaden wand of sleep." But at length the flickering flame betrays the effect of the night's carnival on the whole party; though as they are stretched across the cabin's mouth, escape is impossible. We must now inform our readers, that an aged chief, who dwelt among this tribe of the valley, has an only daughter. The "Last Minstrel" would have said, "Her ebon locks to shame might bring The plumage of the raven's wing." Of course Osric's soul has been a long time captivated with this maiden, who is not insensible to his feeling; but Osric is as yet no Christian, except in name; and Zaila had heard a British teacher in a distant missionary settlement, and had become converted to the faith. She hoped therefore to have heard from Osric's lips " that theme which White man knows," but is disappointed. Yet she loves him, and contrives his escape through the aperture in the roof of the cabin. In safety, but not without peril, the maiden conducts him through the |