shall feel that they are countermanded by a greater | than any earthly sovereign, His prayer, that moves the hand which moves the universe.' "If what has been written, prevail with any to offer one fervent prayer for China; or if the reader being a minister of Christ, shall be induced, with new earnestness, to urge upon his flock the necessity of the duty, the appeal is not in vain. "Dear Friends, your missionaries need your frequent remembrance before God. Pray that they may daily walk with him, the living God! and possess the faith which realizes all the declarations and promises of Jehovah. "PETER PARKER." RECENT SUDDEN DEATHS OF METROPOLITAN CHRISTIAN MINISTERS. NEW YEAR'S DAY, while many were making merry, was a season of sorrow to several families of the faithful ministers of Christ; and we cannot refrain from uniting with the sympathy of the churches, in lamenting the sudden removal of several, who were deservedly honoured in life, and whose memories will long be cherished on account of their talents consecrated to the honour of God. REV. W. NEWMAN, D.D., more than forty-two years the faithful pastor of the Baptist Church at Old Ford, Bow, was seized with apoplexy, while delivering an exhortation to his flock on Monday evening, Dec. 21. Consternation filled the congregation; but medical aid was immediately procured, though in vain: for he died early the next morning, Dec. 22, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. The funeral of this excellent minister of Christ, was attended by a vast number of persons on New Year's day; and, as an expression of the respect for his high integrity, primitive simplicity, unaffected piety, and active zeal in the advancement of religion, the inhabitants of the village closed their shops and houses as the procession passed. The Rev. Dr. Cox, Rev. Dr. J. P. Smith, Rev. W. H. Murch, Theological Tutor of Stepney College, Rev. C. Stovel, and Rev. Dr. Fletcher, were the principal ministers who engaged in the funeral service. Dr. Newman has, we hear, left his valuable library to Stepney College. REV. ISAAC SAUNDERS, A.M. This respected and beloved servant of Christ, rector of the united parishes of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe, and St. Ann's Blackfriars, London, was called away from earth to heaven, while delivering his usual anniversary sermon on New Year's Day. Prayers having been read, Mr. Saunders entered the pulpit, and chose for his text the following words, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of man, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ; for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him, who is the head of all principality and power." (Col. ii. 8-10.) The rev. preacher, in discussing this text, had described the apt configuration of the physical frame of man for the great objects of motion, respiration, and life, and was proceeding to impress upon his audience the necessity of a strict obedience to the ordinances of our Saviour, in order that their spiritual frame might, "through the body of his flesh, be presented to God holy and unblameable;" when, on uttering the words " you will be complete in Christ," he suddenly stopped short, fell on his breast upon the cushion on which his sermon was placed, and then dropped backwards on the floor of his pulpit. Excessive alarm filled his congregation; when two medical gentleman who were present, rushed up to his aid, and opened a vein; but only a few drops of blood followed the lancet, and he breathed his last at twenty minutes past twelve o'clock, in that pulpit from which he had preached the doctrines of salvation for many years. Mr. Saunders was born Sept. 18, 1781, and was a member of Edmund Hall, Oxford. He was ordained about the year 1804, as curate, and was afterwards elected afternoon lecturer at Blackfriars. On the death of the Rev. W. Goode in 1816, Mr. Saunders was appointed his successor. REV. JOHN WILCOX. This popular and successful clergyman, minister of Tavistock Chapel, Drury Lane, died very suddenly a few days before the close of the year. He is reported to have been preaching at Hampstead, and immediately to have hastened to a coach with a view to return to London. Soon after being seated in the coach, a female, and the only passenger, observed him change countenance, and on calling to the coachman, it was found that this servant of Christ had breathed his spirit into the hands of God his Saviour. REV. HENRY BLUNT. This devoted clergyman, minister of Trinity Church, Chelsea, died after a lingering illness, the first week in the new year. Mr. Blunt, being in a declining state of health, is understood to have consulted his medical friends, some time ago, whether it were probable, if he spent a year or two in quiet, in a milder climate on the continent, that his life and labours might be greatly prolonged; to which they replied, that it was very doubtful; when he piously resolved to persevere in his active services at home, endeavouring to fulfil the great end of his ministry, in seeking the conversion of souls to Christ. His valuable writings praise him; and doubtless he has heard his Divine Master welcome him, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!" REVIEW. Familiar Letters to a Gentleman, on several important Subjects in Religion. By the REV. JONATHAN DICKINSON, A.M. President of PrinceTown College, New Jersey. 18mo. cloth. pp. viii. -349. London: Religious Tract Society. “FAMILIAR Letters on Religion," if written by a learned, wise, and truly spiritual man, cannot fail to be in a high degree valuable. For though religion in its perfection is found, taught, and exhibited in the Holy Scriptures, and in its divine power is learned by experience under the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, a thousand doubts and difficulties may arise in the mind of a sincere inquirer after the way of truth and salvation. Hence the wisdom and goodness of God in ordaining the standing ministry of the gospel, not only for "the calling men out of darkness into the marvellous light" of Christ, but "for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." "Letters on Religion" we have whose value is very great, written by Dr. Olinthus Gregory; and Newton's " Cardiphonia," are manifestly written from the fulness of the heart. Both these works are deservedly esteemed by the Christian public: but neither of them can supersede the volume before us. Dr. Gregory's embrace the "Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties of Christianity," and their end has been answered in their having been the means of the con version, it is believed, of many to the faith of Jesus Christ. Mr. Newton's are peculiar, as soothing and comforting to experienced and tried Christians; and to such they have been eminently useful. President Dickinson's Seventeen Letters, are the production of a great divine; and they embrace, in a condensed form, the "Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties of Christianity," treated in an unusually powerful and discriminating manner, with the design of removing those perplexities which are common to young Christians. This is a volume especially adapted to aid the religious inquiries of those who possess superior intellectual endowments, and who are slow to receive any principles, however sanctioned by great names, without solid and satisfactory evidence of their truth. Ministerial Solicitude and Fidelity. A Farewell Sermon, addressed to the Congregation of Holland Chapel, North Brixton, June 21, 1835. With a Brief History of the Author's Connexion with that place of Worship. By JOHN STYLES, D.D. 8vo. pp. 44. London: Westley and Davis. THIS is an unusually powerful and impressive discourse, and highly appropriate to the occasion of the preacher relinquishing Holland Chapel, in which he had exercised his ministry during a period of twelve years. The "Brief History" in the appendix will afford much satisfaction to many who may not be accurately informed concerning the reasons of Dr. S. leaving his chapel; and though our notice of the "Sermon" is late, it will probably more effectually promote the object of its publication, now his attached friends are erecting him a new and spacious place of worship. In that place we pray that he may long enjoy the Divine blessing, and see pleasure of the Lord prosper in his hand." "the The Young Christian's Protestant Memorial for the commemoration on the fourth day of October, 1835, of the Third Centenary of the Reformation of Religion, by the Restoration of the Holy Scriptures, the first English edition being finished printing October 4, 1535. Originally written for the Christian's Penny Magazine, by THOMAS TIMPSON, Author of "The Companion to the Bible;" "Church History through all Ages," &c. 18mo. boards. pp. iv.-82. With a frontispiece. London: George Wightman, Paternoster Row. MANY of the readers of the Christian's Penny Magazine, are probably not aware that the papers on the Protestant Reformation, published in this work in October last, have been republished in a small volume, adapted for a Sunday School reward book. It is presumed to be peculiarly suitable as a present for the young, as it gives a condensed view of church history and the Reformation. An Historical Inquiry concerning the Principles, Opinions, and Usages of the English Presbyteterians; chiefly from the Restoration of Charles the Second to the Death of Queen Anne. By JOSHUA WILSON, Esq. 8vo. pp. 260. London: H. Fisher, R. Fisher, and P. Jackson. "LADY HEWLEY'S Charity," to the amount of about 3,000l. per annum, having been for many years appropriated to the support of Socinian doctrines, by Unitarian trustees, contrary to the design of the benevolent and truly Christian lady, who bequeathed that large property for the benefit of "godly ministers of Christ's holy gospel," has occasioned the writing of this valuable pamphlet. Mr. Wilson has done ample justice to his subject; and in this excellent publication, the reader will find most delightful proofs of the sound orthodox and Trinitarian sentiments of the former English Presbyterians, from the imperishable writings of Drs. Bates, Manton, Calamy, and Messrs. Baxter, Chandler, Flavel, P. Henry, M. Henry, &c. This work deserves to be read by all who feel interested in the baseless claims of Unitarians to be accounted the representatives of the Presbyterians, by whom their dishonourably retained places of worship were endowed, for the support of scriptural christianity. The Teacher's Offering; or, Sunday School Monthly Visitor. Edited by the REV. JOHN CAMPBELL. Vol. VIII. New Series for 1835. 32mo. half-bound. pp. 376. THIS cheap periodical for Sunday School children and families retains its interest, and continues worthy of its inviting title. We believe it is the oldest of its class; and though there are several others of this size and sort, this appears equal to any if not superior to all, especially in the range of information which it conveys, from the pens of several popular writers. EDUCATION IN FRANCE.-In 1820, the number of scholars in France was to that of the inhabitants as one is to 27; in 1829, as one is to 233; in 1832, as one is to 16; and in 1834, as one is to 14. But the mass of the population, deducting children under struction, amounts, it is supposed, to upwards of two years of age, which is as yet totally void of innineteen million individuals, or sixty-three out of one hundred, the three-fifth of the population. It is calculated, that to make education general in France, it would require 169,000 establishments of public instruction. At present there are but 34,000 therefore there is an enormous deficiency of 135,000 schools to be founded. SUGAR FROM INDIAN CORN.-M. PALLAS lately presented to the Académie des Sciences of Paris a sample of this substance, extracted from the stem of the plant, which has been found to contain nearly six per cent. of sirup, boiled to forty degrees, a part of which will not crystallize before fructification; but it condenses and acquires more consistency from that period to the state of complete maturity. The most favourable time to obtain the greatest quantity of sugar, is immediately after the maturity and gathering of the fruit. The matter left after the extraction of the sugar is capital to feed cattle or to make packing paper. HINDOO DEITIES.-The gods whom the Hindoos worship are impersonations of all the vices and all the crimes which degrade human nature; and there is no grossness and no villany which does no treceive countenance from the example of some or other of them. The vilest and most scandalous impurity pervades their mythology throughout; is interwoven with all its details; is at once its groundwork and completion; its beginning and its end. The robber has his god, from whom he invokes a blessing on his attempts against the life and property of his neighbour. Revenge, as well as robbery, finds a kindred deity; and cruelty, the never-failing companion of idolatry, is of the essence of the system.-Thornton's India, ON THE DEATH OF THE REV. ISAAC SAUNDERS, RECTOR OF ST. ANDREW-BY-THE-WARDROBE, AND ST. ANN'S, BLACKFRIARS, WHO DIED IN HIS PULPIT, JAN. 1, 1836. THE year began its round 'Midst many a joyful peal, Some happy souls it found Dispos'd in prayer to kneel At this appointed time Which could alone afford A shelter from the storm; And he had read the word, And in its purest form, Had pray'd the prayer-and then the song To Him whose guardian care, year To join that song in heaven; The word of God, and took From out the holy book, The counsel of the Lord; This he had not withheld; And they were oft compell'd To view the Lamb for sinners slain- This was his motto now "Beware!" the truth believe, And keep the sacred vow; "There are who would deceive, "Or through philosophy, or teach "Some vain deceit, or else they preach "Traditions form'd by man, "Which was of old set forth; "In whom the fulness of the God, "United is with flesh and blood; "In whom complete ye are !" Had droop'd his head, as on his tongue He droop'd his dying head To speak no more on earth, His ransom'd spirit fled To meet its heavenly birth; Oh! who can guess the joy !-'tis past All finite thought!--but it shall last. * Col. ii. 8, 9. YES! it is a truth most cheering, We shall reach the heavenly land! Jesus is our vessel steering; All must bow at his command. Numerous are our foes menacing, Trying to distress our souls; But 'tis Jesus us embracing, Who the winds and storms controls. Though by dangers we're surrounded, Though our road be dark and drear, We shall never be confounded, For behold the Saviour's near. He inspires us with his gladness, He our grace and faith restores; He dispels from us all sadness, In our wounds rich oil he pours. Then, since Jesus us is guiding, We'll unite to sing his praise; Ever in his word confiding, May we walk in all his ways. Blessed be his love, amazing, Vast, surpassing, free, and great; Blessed be his name for raising Sinners poor to bliss so great. MY NATIVE COUNTRY. W. R. S. BRITAIN, my dear, my native, honour'd land, Could I for thee lift up one fervent prayer, 'Twould be, that o'er thy mighty realms should stand, Thy God thy wide extended fame to bear. Held by his hand, age after age should fly And witness thee a nation mighty still, Thy glory should the blasts of time defy, Till the last trumpet's sound the heavens should fill. As some vast city founded on a rock, Against which ocean's billows dash in vain, Thou shouldst stand firm midst war's tempestuous shock, And as the stedfast sun unchang'd remain. Empires and kingdoms should be swept away, Borne by the floods to dark oblivion's deep, But thou, beneath prosperity's bright ray, Through rolling ages should thy station keep. L. P. London: Printed and Published by JAMES S. HODSON, at 22, Poppin's Court, Fleet Street; where all communications for the Editor (post paid) are to be addressed; sold also by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., and by all other Booksellers, Newsvenders, &c. in the Kingdom. The trade may be supplied in London, by STEILL, Paternoster Row BERGER, Holywell Street. Strand; in Manchester, by Ellerby: Shefeld, Innocent. STATISTICS OF MANCHESTER. MANCHESTER, in many respects, is by far the most important provincial town in the British empire; and whether it be considered in relation to its vast population, its prodigious manufactures, or its active religion, it cannot fail to be peculiarly important in the view of every intelligent Christian. Whitaker, in his elaborate History of Manchester, has, with great probability contended, that the ancient Britons had a settlement on the site of this town, before the invasion of this country by the Romans. It is, however, a fact, that Julius Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain, A.D. 79, having carried his victorious arms as far north as the banks of the Clyde, erected various fortresses to secure his conquests, one of which in this place, called by the Britons MANCENION, was called MANCUNIUM by the Romans; and from various notices remaining of this military station, in conjunction with local researches, it appears to have occupied a spot called Castle Field. The Saxons or Angles, taking possession of the country, called this place Manceaster, whence its present name Manchester; and the thane or chieftain fixed his residence on the Castrum Estivune, or summer camp of the Romans. The town, which had gradually accumulated around the ancient fortress, was ruined during the early incursions of the Danes, and subsequently restored by Edward the Elder, about A.D. 920. On the Norman conquest, Albert de Grelley, one of the adventurers attached to the standard of William I., obtained possession of this place, and made it the seat of his residence; and his son, Robert de Grelley, A.D. 1134, after returning from an expedition into Normandy, whither he had attended his sovereign, Henry I., obtained from that prince, as the reward VOL. V. of his services, a grant of a fair to be held in his lordship of Manchester, annually on St. Matthew's day, and the days before and after it; and this fair, which still subsists, under the appellation of Acker's Fair, now takes place on the first of October. Thomas de Grelley, lord of the manor in 1301, gave the burgesses of the town a charter of the custom of the manor, by which Manchester was constituted a free burgh. From the Grelley family, this lordship was transferred to Robert de la Warr, whose descendant, Thomas Lord de la Warr, in the reign of Henry V., founded that wealthy establishment, the Collegiate Church. In 1579, the manorial rights and immunities were sold for 3000l. to John Lacye, who in 1596, resold them for 3500l. to Sir Nicholas Mosley, in whose family the manor, now immensely increased in value, has ever since continued. particularly of the cotton manufacture. The making of woollen goods at this place has been traced as far back as the year 1552; and the town was long famous for the manufacture of fustians; but it was not till about the middle of the last century that the cotton trade became very considerable. Its subsequent increase and improvement have been materially influenced by the invention of machinery for the abridgment of labour. In 1781, two years previously to the introduction of Arkwright's machines, for carding and spinning cotton by steam, the quantity of cotton-wool imported annually was but 5,198,778 pounds; but after the successive inventions or improvements of Highs, Hargreaves, Arkwright, Crompton, and Watt, had been brought into action, the quantity of the goods manufactured was augmented more than thirty-fold. In the year 1800, the quantity of cotton-wool imported into this county was 56,010,732 pounds; in 1810, 132,488,935 pounds; in 1820, 144,818,100 pounds; in 1825, 228,005,291 pounds; in 1826, 177,607,401 pounds; in 1827, 272,448,909 pounds; and in 1828, 227,760,642 pounds; whence it appears that there has been for twenty years past an immensely progressive though somewhat fluctuating increase in this very important branch of manufacture. This deduction may be confirmed by reference to the official statements of the exports of cotton goods, the value of which, in 1815, was 17,655,3787.: in 1820, 18,282,292/.; in 1825, 30,155,901; and in 1830, 37,269,395/.; though in this case also the increase was irregular, the quantities of goods exported in 1827, as well as in some of the preceding years, having been inferior to to the exports of the foregoing years. About fourfifths of the entire amount of the cotton trade of this kingdom centres in Lancashire; and it has been estimated that in that county the capital invested in the buildings and machinery, exclusively appropriated to the cotton manufacture, amounts to more than eight millions of pounds. There were, in 1825, in the parish of Manchester alone, more than 20,000 steam-looms in motion; and it appears that since that period the number has increased. In the same year there were in the townships of Manchester, Chorlton Row, Ardwick, Salford, Pendleton, and Hulme, 104 spinning-factories, worked by 110 steamengines, the aggregate power of which was equal to that of 3598 horses; and within the same districts there were used in different manufactures, exclusively of those employed in the cotton-works, 102 engines, altogether of 1277 horse power. Though cotton goods form the staple manufacture of Manchester, there are others carried on very extensively, as the manufactures of woollen, linen, and silk, especially the last mentioned, which has greatly increased of late years. Several branches of industry practised here are subsidiary to the principal manufactures, as bleaching, calico-printing, and glazing, engraving for the calico printers, engine-making, machinemaking, dyeing, the preparation of iron liquor, vitriolic acid, and various other articles. Among the varieties of cotton, linen, woollen, and silk textures, made here, may be specified muslin, fustian, crape, table-cloths, blankets, carpets, flannel, baize, bombazine, ribbons, stuffs, and fancy mixtures of different kinds, rivalling in novelty and beauty the productions of metropolitan or foreign artisans. Manchester has also long been noted for the manufacture of hats; and those sold as London hats are, it is said, usually made in this town and its vicinity, some of the finer kinds only being finished in the capital. RELIGIOUS STATISTICS OF MANCHESTER. Established Church in Manchester.—Gorton, in his great 66 Topographical Dictionary," recently published, says, There are in Manchester and its suburbs sixteen churches and three chapels, connected with the establishment. The principal church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, St. George, and St. Denis, was founded as a collegiate institution, by Thomas West, Lord de la Warr, in the reign of Henry V., in whose French campaigns that nobleman participated, and acquired great wealth from the ransom of prisoners, and the booty which fell to his share, as the reward of his courage and military services, a portion of which, according to the custom of his age, he appropriated to works of piety, and especially to the erection and endowment of this church. It was rebuilt in the reign of Henry VII., by means of the contributions of various benefactors. This edifice is a noble specimen of decorated Gothic architecture, being richly ornamented with open battlements and pinnacles, and having a handsome square tower at the west end; the interior is adorned with tabernacle work, and there is a large and excellent organ. The college, which had been suppressed at the Reformation, and afterwards restored by queen Mary, was refounded by Elizabeth in 1578, under the style of Christ's College, Manchester. The collegiate body consists of a warden, four fellows, two chaplains, two clerks, four choristers, and four singing-men. Trinity church or chapel, in Salford, was founded in 1635, and rebuilt in 1752; St. Anne's church, in St. Anne's Square, was erected in 1709, and consecrated in July, 1712; St. Thomas's chapel, Ardwick, was consecrated in November, 1741; St. Mary's church, Dean's Gate, built by the clergy of the college, an elegant structure, in the choir of which is curious carved work, was opened in September, 1756; St. Paul's in Turner Street, a spacious edifice, with a lofty tower, was consecrated in July, 1765; St. John's, in Byrom Street, was commenced in 1768, and consecrated the year following; St. Stephen's in Salford, was consecrated in July, 1769; St. James's, Charlotte Street, was consecrated in August, 1788; St. Peter's, at the bottom of Mosley Street, a handsome stone structure, with a lofty spire, was founded in 1788, but not consecrated till 1794; St. Clement's, Lever Street, was commenced in 1792; St. Michael's, Angel Street, was consecrated in July, 1794; St. Mark's, Cheetham Hill, was completed the same year; St. George's, in St. George's Road, was opened for public worship April 1, 1798, but not consecrated till 1818; All Saints, Chorlton Row, was consecrated in April, 1820; St. Luke's, Chorlton Row, is a licensed chapel; St. Philip's church, on the north side of Bank Parade, Salford, was consecrated in September, 1825; St. Mathew's, Liverpool Road, near Castle Field, a fine example of pointed architecture, was commenced in 1822, and consecrated in September, 1825; St. George's, in the suburb of Hulme, a spacious edifice in the Gothic style, was commenced in September, 1826, and completed in 1828." Dissenters in Manchester.-Mr. Gorton says, "The Roman Catholics, who are numerous at Manchester, have three chapels; St. Augustin's, Granby Row, a noble edifice, built under the superintendence of Mr. John Palmer, architect, at the expense of 10,000l.; a chapel in Rook Street; and another in Mulberry Street. There are more than forty places of worship for various sects of Protestant dissenters, viz.: five for Baptists, one for the Society of Friends, eleven for Wesleyan Methodists, nine for Independents, one for Welsh Independents, one for Independent Methodists, two for Methodists of the new connexion, one for Primitive, one for Tent Methodists, two for Swedenborgians, two for Unitarians, one for |