during the intermediate term to what may fit us for living in this foreign land; the case is widely altered: we begin to inquire, Is it certain that there is such a country? has this stranger unlimited power in it? are his offers to be trusted without scruple? And even if all this were proved to our entire satisfaction, how seldom would the present sacrifice be submitted to, as it was by the primitive Christians? For certainly those who first embraced the religion of Jesus, had no notion of a gratuitous offer of eternal happiness." pp. 357-359. Again: pro "It would be good, if all those who may demur with regard to the difficulty of changing the moral habits of a community, or of forming a sect which should walk by faith and not by sight,' and prefer things eternal to things temporal, would try the experiment, and see how much it costs to convert an individual. There are few who have not among their acquaintance some who are living in habits inconsistent with the Gospel, and which must exclude them, if persevered in, from the hopes of the Gospel. Let them try to reclaim these acquaintances, by setting before them the threatenings and the mises of God, the offer of mercy, brought by his Son Jesus, and all those truths which had such powerful effects in Greece and Asia. We would not say that they may not prevail: it is an attempt which is constantly making, and not unfrequently successful; but this we may safely affirm, that those who try it, will not pretend that they have had an easy conquest; and that those who are persuaded, will allow that no trifling victory has been gained over them. And this in a country where Christianity is supported by all the external advantages which long establishment, national profession, zealous and learned ministers, and multitudes of sincere believers, can supply." pp. 370, 371. The twelfth chapter treats of the effects of Christianity on the present happiness of mankind. On the common objection, that religion is an enemy to cheerfulness, and engenders gloom and despondency, Mr. Sumner has the following pious and sensible remarks. "The first Christians, in particular, were taught to expect tribulation. And this tribulation was to come upon them, because their brethren refused to listen to the Gospel, and chose to persecute those who did. No small portion of the difficulties which have always beset Christians, arises from a similar cause: from the ge neral discountenance which earnest piety and Christian circumspection meet with. The dread of this keeps multitudes still at a distance from God; and thus deprives them of the happiness resulting from the conscious possession of his favour, which nothing short of an entire devotion to his service can procure. And the feeling of this discouragement cannot but occasionally disturb the comfort of other more consistent believers. “The remainder of corruption adhering to those who do cordially embrace Christianity, is another cause of the imperfect happiness it procures to them. They have received an impression, with a force which nothing but the Christian religion could have employed, of the dreadful consequences of sin. They have declared war against it, and are striving for the mastery. But the enemy still makes head; is always restless; and will sometimes prevail. This cannot but occasion disquietude. A remedy is proposed to a diseased constitution; is accepted, and tried. But from the nature of the constitution, and inveteracy of the disease, the effect of the re medy is incomplete. Still the patient, if not in perfect health, is in a much better condition than he would have been withthat the man who is struggling against his out the remedy. And so none will deny tion, is in a much better moral state than evil passions, and keeping them in subjeche would have been by giving loose to them: though he cannot enjoy that perfect tranquillity which might belong to a heart brought into complete conformity with the will of God.. "These are among the reasons why Christians are often distinguished by a seriousness of deportment, which is ill understood by those who are strangers to their feelings, and misinterpreted as melancholy and gloom. Some persons are acutely sensible of that open ridicule, or even that silent contempt, with which religion is too often treated in the world. Others are tremblingly alive to those remains of corruption which they daily discover in their hearts, and afraid to take fear it would be presumptuous to indulge. home to themselves a comfort which they What shall we say then? To escape the censure of the thoughtless and profane, must principles be lowered down to a standard which none shall think too lofty? This will hardly be proposed; for we know, that to whatever depth we descend, a lower depth will still remain; multitudes will still be found, for whom the meanest standard of religion is too high. Or will it be argued, that, because a nature originally sinful cannot be altogether purified, therefore it should not be meddled with? That, because evil propensities cannot be entirely subdued, therefore they should not be opposed? None will avow this; yet anxiety respecting the success of a contest against sin must be inseparable from such a contest; and those alone can be without anxiety, who never resist their passions, or endeavour to regulate their hearts." pp. 383-386. The remainder of the chapter is intended to shew, that Christianity promotes the present well-being of man, by "consoling affliction," by "providing for the establishment of religious principles," and by "providing for the gradual improvement, intellectual and moral, of the whole Human race." Here we must close our review of Mr. Sumner's volume. Our general opinion of it will be readily collected from the foregoing remarks and extracts. We consider it both a valuable and a seasonable addition to the Christian library. The author's reasoning is conducted with great fairness. His matter is almost always sensible and judicious: occasionally, it is striking, original, or profound. He impresses his reader with that respect which always arises from a union of soundness in argument, and decision in principle, with sobriety of tone and. manner. The unbeliever will have no reason to complain of any want of due courtesy or Christian benevolence. And, with regard to the true Christian, what will chiefly recommend this volume to him, is the vein of unaffected piety which runs through it; the seriousness and correctness of the author's views; his elevated standard of moral duty and practical religion, and his concern for the best and highest interests of mankind. Mr. Sumner's style is in general pure, correct, and luminous; but we have found it sometimes heavy, and occasionally a little obscure. This obscurity arises not from any confusion of ideas, but, we apprehend, from an error, not very uncommon among deeply thinking men, leading them to imagine that what they have clearly present before their own minds, they can, without difficulty, convey clearly to the minds of others. We have sometimes observed a careless and ambiguous use of the pronoun it; a word of little dimensions, but of no little importance and no easy management in writing. Our author, we are sure, will excuse this criticism, which perhaps he may deem too minute, and believe us, when we express our wish and hope that his pen may not lie idle, but may long continue its able and most beneficial exertions in the great cause of Christianity, by fresh endeavours to illustrate its evidences, or to explain and recommend its doctrines. We must now reluctantly take our leave of the first work on our list, reserving our notice of the other two for the next Number. Mr. Sumner has exhibited the internal strength of Christianity; Mr. Benson has obviated its alleged difficulties; while Mr. Faber has boldly made an incursion into the enemy's country, and shewn the "difficulties of infidelity." This three-fold cord, we are persuaded, cannot be broken by the force, or untwined by the sophistry, of scepticism and infidelity. (To be continued.) LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INTELLIGENCE, &c. &c. By his Majesty's special command, will be published, early in the ensuing year, in one volume 4to., "Joannis Miltoni Angli De Doctrina Christiana, Libri duo posthumi, nunc primum Typis Mandati, edente C. R. Sumner, M.A." At the same time will be published, uniform with the above, a Treatise on Christian Doctrine by John Milton, translated from the original, by Charles R. Sumner, M.A., Librarian and Historiographer to his Majesty, and Prebendary of Worcester. In the year 1795, when his late Majesty, was about to visit Weymouth, and wished to have what he called " a closet library" for a watering place, he wrote to his bookseller for the following works. The list was written from memory, and is copied from the original document in the King's own hand-writing, by Mr. Dibden in his last publication. We omit the dates, editions, and number of volumes, which are appended by his Majesty with the greatest bibliographical accuracy. "The Holy Bible, 2 vols. 8vo. Cambridge. New Whole Duty of Man.The Annual Register.-The History of England, by Rapin.-Elémens' de l'Histoire de France, par Millot.-Siècle de Louis XIV. par Voltaire.-Siècle de Louis XV. par Voltaire.-Commentaries on the Laws of England, by William Blackstone.-The Justice of Peace, and Parish Officer, by R. Burn.-An Abridgement of Samuel Johnson's Dictionary.-Dictionnaire François et Anglois, par M. A. Boyer. The works of the English Poets, by Sam. Johnson.-A Collection of Poems, by Dodsley, Pearch, and Mendez.-A Select Collection of Poems, by J. Nichols. -Shakespeare's Plays, by Steevens.— Euvres de Destouches, 5 vols.-The - Works of Sir William Temple.-The Miscellaneous Works of Addison.-The Works of Jonathan Swift." A late Act, to amend the several Acts for the Encouragement of Banks for Savings in England and Ireland, enacts, That after the 20th of November, 1824, no sums shall be paid into any savings' bank in England or Ireland, by any person, without disclosing his or her name to the trustees of such bank; and it shall not be lawful for trustees to receive from any one depositor, any sum or sums exceeding 50%. in the whole during the year next ensuing ; or exceeding 301. in the whole, exclusive of interest, in any one year afterwards, ending on the 20th of November; nor to receive from any depositor any sum or sums whatever, which shall make the sum, to which such depositor shall be entitled, exceed 2007. in the whole, exclusive of interest: but depositors may withdraw such sums, and again deposit the same, or other sums, not exceeding the amounts aforesaid, during any such year. And persons entitled to any benefit from any savings' bank shall not make any deposit in any other savings' bank, and shall make a declaration to that effect; and in case any such declaration shall not be true, every such person shall forfeit all right to any deposit in every such savings' bank, Sir Humphrey Davy has been engaged during the months of July and August, in pursuing various philosophical researches along the coasts of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. He has ascertained that his principle of preserving the copper sheathing of ships by the contact of 1-200th of iron succeeds perfectly in the most rapid sailing, and in the roughest sea. A source of danger from the use of culinary vessels of copper, is alluded to by Sir H. Davy; namely, that weak solutions of common salt, such as are made by adding a little salt for boiling vegetables, act strongly upon copper, although strong ones do not affect it. The marble bust of the lamented Dr. E. D. Clarke, by Chantrey, is now placed in the vestibule of the University Library, Cambridge, among those fine specimens of ancient architecture which that celebrated traveller brought from Greece. A philosophical lamp has been lately invented on the following principle:-A stream of hydrogen gas, passing over finely granulated platinum, inflames it. The contrivance consists in retaining a quantity of hydrogen gas over water; which is perpetually produced by a mixture of a small quantity of zinc and sulphuric acid, and which, being suffered to escape by a small stop-cock, passes over a little scoop, containing the platinum, which it instantly inflaines. From this a candle or lamp may be lighted, and the metal extinguished by a small cap being put over it. The climate of London, as dependent on its atmospheric phenomena, has been illustrated as follows, by Mr. J. F. Daniels, in his "Meteorological Essays." The mean pressure of the atmosphere, as denoted by the barometer, is 29-881 inches of mercury. The range being from 30-82 to 28-12 inches, and mean daily fluctuation .015 inch. The mean temperature derived from the daily maxima (its mean being 56 deg. 1 min.) and the minima (its mean being 42 deg. 5 min.) of the thermometer of Farenheit, is 49 deg. 5 min. the range from 90 to 11 deg, The force of radiation from the sun averages 23 deg. 3 min. in the day, and that from the earth at night 4 deg. 6 min.: the highest temperature of the sun's rays 154 deg., and the lowest temperature on the surface of the earth 5 deg. The mean dew point 44 deg. 5 min., and the range of the dew point from 70 to 11 deg.: the pressure of the vapour varying with it from 0.770 inch to 0.103 inch. The greatest degree of dryness, or least degree of moisture, as indicated by the author's hygromatic seale of 389, was 29 deg. Not less than 30,000 power looms are now in use in the district that surrounds Manchester. According to a calculation, that every person employed in spinning produces 900lbs. per annum, the number of persons employed is 161,111; the number of spindles employed is 9,666,666; and the capital invested in buildings and machinery 10,000,0002. FRANCE. The French Institute have offered a gold medal of the value of 1500 francs, for the best paper on the following subject: "What were the provinces, towns, castles, and estates acquired in France by Philip-Augustus? how did he acquire them? which of those domains he disposed of by gift, by sale, and by exchange; and which he retained and united to the crown." Great attention is now paid in France to the cultivation of Oriental studies. The king has recently given his sanction to a plan, the nature of which will appear from the following extract, from the report on which it was grounded. "The individual zeal of the laborious men who have devoted themselves to these arid studies is not enough: it requires to be favoured and seconded by a powerful hand. Why should that not be done now for Oriental literature, which was done in the 16th and 17th centuries, for the study of antiquity and classical literature? Might not collection of the principal Oriental works be undertaken, which should be published under the auspices of your majesty; also the great Byzantine collection, the collection of the council and of the historians of France, formerly executed at the royal printing-office? It would be easy for the royal printing-office to execute this undertaking without interrupting the ordinary course of its labours, and even without incurring any consideraable expense. Pupils are maintained in that establishment to be instructed in the typographical management of Oriental characters. "The French literati will, I doubt not, be eager to concur in this important enterprise, and to contribute, by their attention and their councils, to the new monuments which your majesty will consecrate to the glory of letters and of France." 66 Twenty-eight curious Armenian inscriptions, collected by an Armenian priest, have been translated by M. Klaproth. The following is a specimen:-Above Mount Araz stands an ancient church, upon one of whose columns, on the right hand, we read the following: Christ, Creator, remember Grigor, Lord of Kentouniatz." In the Armenian province of Chirag is a very large and handsome church, with a beautiful dome. On the north side is the following inscription:"By the favour and grace of the merciful God, I, Zak'haré, Mandatour Takhoutses, Amir Sbassalar of the Armenians and Georgians, son of the great Sarkis, have enriched, to the astonishment of all the world, and at my own expense, the church of St. Haridjaï, for the preservation of the life of my mistress, the pious Queen Thamar, as well as for my salvation, and that of my brother Iwané, our sons Chabanchah and Awak, and of my parents. I have built in it a fortress, domes, and towers, at a great expense. I have endowed it with all that is necessary for its embellishment. I have given to this church one of my villages, named Mak'haris, situated in the vicinity of this holy place, which I have concentrated to the holy Virgin, together with all the appurtenances, such as mills, mountains, waters. I have instituted a daily service before the principal altar, where mass is to be read for me. Those who shall come after me shall be obliged to observe this institution to the memory of my family, and they will be blest of God and all his saints. But those who shall oppose and wish to weaken this institution more or less, shall be cursed like Cain and Judas, and be condemned of God, if they take by force aught of the property of the church, and of the 318 holy fathers and all other saints." INDIA. society. The natives seem disposed to enter very generally into the cultivation of a root which they see is so productive with little trouble, and to the use of which none of their customs or prejudices offer any impediment. NEW SOUTH WALES. A tread-mill for grinding flour has lately been erected in Sydney by Government, which answers so well as an object of terror to criminals, and as a means of making their punishment a source of profitable labour, that others were about to be established on a more extensive scale. A quantity of New Zealand flax had also been imported, which the female convicts in the factory were taught to dress in the New Zealand manner by two natives of that country, after which it is spun and manufactured by the female convicts into various descriptions of cloth. Should this manufacture be properly encouraged and conducted, it may not only prove a profitable way of employing the female convicts, whose bad characters unfit them for family servants, but, by encouraging the New Zealanders to raise a commodity which they can barter for useful European articles, may, in the end, allure them from acts of murder and cannibalism to that of raising an article by which all their various wants may be supplied. LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. THEOLOGY. Morning Meditations, or a Series of Reflections, on various Passages of Scripture and Scriptural Poetry; by the Author of the Retrospect. 12mo. 4s. Nouveaux Cantiques Chrétiens pour les Assemblées des Enfans de Dieu; composés par César Malan, Ministre de Christ. 32mo. 2s. An Assize Sermon, preached at Winchester, Aug. 3, 1824; by the Rev. John Haygarth, Rector of Upham, Hants, and Chaplain to the High Sheriff. The Hebrew Bible, with points. 17. 1s. The Hebrew Bible, with English opposite. 1. 11s. 6d. The Greek Testament, Text of Mills, with the Readings of Griesbach. 8s. Do. with English opposite. 12s. The Bible, New Testament, and Common Prayer, in Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, and German. A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the Lord Bishop of Jamaica and of the Lord Bishop of Barbadoes; by A. M. Campbell, M. A. 2s. 4to. A Manual of Family Prayers. 1s. 6d. bound, or fine paper. 3s. The Substance of Two Discourses upon the Nature of Faith; by a Prelate of the last Century. 4to. 1s. 6d. Bibliotheca Biblica, a select List of Books on Sacred Literature; by William Orme. 1 vol. 8vo. 12s. Unitarianism, philosophically and theologically examined; by the Rev. A. Kohtinan. I vol. 12s. Sermons on the Fifty-first Psalm; by the Rev. J. Bull. 8vo. 10s. A Letter to the Author of an Inquiry into the Studies and Discipline in the two Universities preparatory to Holy Orders in the Established Church; by a Graduate of Oxford. Is. 6d. Christ's Victory and Triumph in Heaven and Earth over and after Death; by Giles Fletcher; with a Biographical Sketch of the Author; printed from the edition of 1610. 3s. MISCELLANEOUS. Zoological Researches in Java and the Neighbouring Islands; by T. Horsfield, M.D. 1 vol. royal 4to. 8. 8s. Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain; by John Bowring. I vol. post 8vo. 10s. 6d. Cicero de Republica; recovered treatise of Cicero. 8vo. 12s. View of the Literature of the South of Europe; by M. de Sismondi, translated with Notes, by Thomas Roscoe, Esq. 4 large vols. 8vo. 21. 16s. Heton's Pilgrimage of Jerusalem, from the German of F. Stranss. 2 vols. 8vo. 16s. Flora Domestica. I vol. 8vo. 12s. Report of the Committee of the Society, for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery, on June 25, 1824. 2s. The Life of the Rev. John Wesley, |