became each of them missionaries: one told his brother, another his mother and sister, like the primitive disciples, "We have found the Saviour." Thus the information reached to the extremities of the connexion; for the whole body or sect are connected by intermarriages. In 1838, the leading men in ten villages, including with their families probably 400 or 500 souls, embraced openly the doctrine of Christ; and, after some months' further instruction, were baptised: these began from that time to celebrate Christian worship among themselves, and keep holy the Lord's day. À keener curiosity was thus excited among the connected family or tribe, and more rigid persecution followed. But the flame was so far from being extinguished, that it burned only the brighter, and spread with more rapidity whole neighbourhoods came over to the Christian fold, and prayed for instruction in the new religion. Mr. Deerr did what he could, but said little to any one. In the present winter, 1839, a devastating inundation plunged the whole agricultural population in a moment into the most profound distress. Christianity, feeble as it was, produced its immediate fruit. Help was afforded. Mr. Deerr stripped himself even of the little fund indispensable for his own necessities and those of his own children, to administer to the sufferers. The Christian villagers went about in boats over the deluged fields, to see how their brethren did. The neighbours said, "There, see how these Christians love one another! For us, poor fellows, no one cares. a truth, there is the true religion among these people." Your lordship will here again recognise the scenes of primitive Christianity. Of This was the occasion of Mr. Deerr sending down the catechist to me at Christmas. The distress was so great, he was unable to relieve it; and the number of inquirers after Christianity, and of candidates for baptism, was still more overwhelming and exciting. The archdeacon Dealtry cheerfully went and supplied my lack of service. He took with him the Rev. Krishna Mohana Banerjea, whom I ordained in June, 1837; and he found there the Rev. J. J. Weitbrecht and the Rev. T. Sandys, of Burdwan and Mirzapore, who had been attracted by the tidings, and came, without concert, to give what aid they could to such a work at such a moment. were most affecting. They evidently shewed an acquaintance generally with the lost estate and sinful nature of man; with the incarnation and holy life of our Lord Jesus Christ; with his atonement; with the doctrines of justification and sanctification, in their substantial import; and with the necessity and duty of following his example. Jesus Christ was the beginning and end of their religion. Prayer to him was the test of discipleship. The moment any one fell down and called on the name of the Lord Jesus (the society will recognise again the apostolic faith), he was gathered into their number. They appeared, in short, so far as could be judged, under the influence of the grace of God. They had learned the ten commandments, the Lord's prayer, and the creed, together with Dr. Watts's first catechism. They knew that the Son of God appeared in human form, and died to save them; that there is salvation in him, and in no other; that to believe in him is the way to obtain this salvation; that nothing can be done without the Holy Spirit's influence; that there will be a resurrection of the dead, a final judgment-day, a reward for the righteous, and punishments for the wicked. appeared further, so far as could be ascertained, that they were willing to forsake all for Christ, and endure whatever persecutions might come upon them; nor could the archdeacon and our friends discover that they were influenced by temporal motives, except so far as godliness, having the promise of this life, inseparably brings them with it. The inundation may have given an impulse to some, and time will shew further to what extent this has gone; but the greater part had professed to be inquirers after Christianity, and numbers of them had been baptised, in 1837 and 1838, a year or two before the inundation occurred. It The result was, that the archdeacon said to the rev. missionaries, "Can any forbid water, that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Ghost, in his sanctifying influences, as well as we?" And, upon their unanimous opinion, holy baptism was administered according to the forms of our Church; first to the 160 then assembled, and then, at three other villages, after like examinations, to about 380 or 400 more. These, together with the little companies which had been received into the Church in 1837 and 1838 may amount, including children, to nearly 1000. About 1500 or 2000 more lay so far distant, that it was impossible to visit them at that time. Messrs. Sandys, Weitbrecht, and Mohana Banerjea, however, went to several villages, and found the same eagerness for instruction, but far less attainments in Christian knowledge: they were inquirers only. Those than a year-under the instructions of Mr. Deerr and his native catechists and assistants. The rest are in earlier stages. The Cabinet. The archdeacon informed himself, before he proceeded to the villages, of the origin and history of the sect from which the chief body of inquirers and Christians sprung. It appears that they have been about sixty years settled on the banks of the Jelingha. They called themselves "Kurta Bhoja," "worship-baptised were catechumens-most of them for more pers of the Creator." They had some connexion with the sect of the Durbeshas, or Dervishes, supposed to abound in Persia. They had a firm notion of one Supreme Being; they rejected, with abhorrence, all idolatry; they held very slightly, if at all, by caste; they considered the test of proselytism, not eating, but uniting in prayer to the one true God. They thought also that the Deity was to appear, or had appeared, in human form. The persecution which they endured seemed to argue the importance which they attached to their creed, and their sincerity in following it. Mr. Deerr thinks it will be found that some early Christian missionary had visited them, the tradition of whose instructions had come down to the present generation. More light will be cast on their history, doubtless, by further inquiry. To the grace of God only must we ascribe the faith which receives Christianity aright, as is evident from the bitterness of Islamism, with all its fine theory of the unity of the Divine Being. On reaching the first field of labour, the archdeacon, assisted by his brethren, proceeded to examine the candidates for baptism-about 160 were placed in rows at the village of Anunda Bas. Their replies CONTEMPLATION OF GOD.-The contemplation of a Being who is everlasting, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, ought likewise to produce in our minds thoughts the most solemn and awful; particularly when we consider how immeasurably he is exalted above us, that he fashioned us in the womb, and that in him we live, and move, and have our being; that nothing we do, or say, or think, is hid from his searching knowledge; that not only is every action of our lives open unto him, but every motive from whence that action originated. What humility, what lowliness of mind, what submission to all his decrees and the dispensations of his providence, what resignation, and what contentment, should possess us, who are in his almighty hands as the brittle vessel of clay in the hands of the potter who fashioned it! How cautious ought we to be in asking any thing of the Lord, lest we ask amiss! how circumspect ought we to be in our conduct, even in our most secret retirement and in the utmost darkness of night, which though the eye of man cannot penetrate, yet in the sight of God we stand revealed as plainly and visibly as in the full blaze of the noon-day sun, and surrounded by numerous witnesses! Did we thus contemplate the Deity, we should always be desirous of pleasing, and fearful of offending him; we should strive to serve him with all our hearts, and souls, and minds, and worship him with the utmost fervency of spirit, and the most ardent devotion. These holy affections must continually fill our souls; for if they do not, it is impossible that we can assume them on the Lord's day-can put them on as we would a garment to wear at church, and then put them off for a season: they must constantly dwell within us; they must be the spirit which inhabits our bodies, which St. Paul calls the temples of God. If this be the case with us—if we are thus spiritually minded, the Lord's day will be unto us a joyous festival: we shall delight to meet with our brethren in the house of God; we shall feel our bosoms glow with fervour when we hear them joining with us in prayer, lauding and magnifying the Holy One of Israel.-Rev. D. Aitchison, Glasgow. RETIREMENT.-But the most important work, after all, is, in retirement, and with all earnestness, to pray for the blessing of God. He, he only, giveth the increase. O, let us honour his Spirit, by looking for that aid, as the only efficient improver of all we hear, the only guide, sanctifier, and comforter of our souls. No regulations, however excellent, without the blessed Spirit's holy and heavenly grace, will do us any good. Satan does not fly from human words and resolutions. He is eager to take away the precious seed. Let us go to our closets then, let us kneel before God, let us earnestly, and with uplifted hands, and all ardour of desire, spread the sermon which we have heard, and our insufficiency to obey, before Him whose grace is sufficient. He will give grace to help in time of need. As the minister should go from his knees to the house of God, and return thither, so the people will find rich spiritual blessings from a similar course. It is the office of the Holy Spirit to bring to our remembrance the things which we have heard (John xiv. 23). Let the substance of the sermon be turned into prayer and intercession, and we shall receive the life-giving of the Holy Spirit, making it the power of God to our salvation.-Rev. E. Bickersteth. CHRIST'S INTERCESSION.-Christ intercedes with justice. But the intercession is the throwing down his cross on the crystal floor of heaven, and thus proffering his atonement to satisfy demand. Oh, it is not the intercession of burning tears, nor of half-choked utterance, nor of thrilling speech. It is the intercession of a broken body and of gushing blood; of death, of passion, of obedience. It is the intercession of a giant leaping into the gap, and filling it with his colossal stature, and covering, as with a rampart of flesh, the defenceless camp of the outcasts! So that not by the touching words and gestures of supplication, but by the resistless deeds and victories of Calvary, the Captain of our salvation intercedes; pleading, not as a petitioner who would move compassion, but rather as a conqueror who would claim his trophies. Rev. H. Melvill. - Poetry. MARY AT THE SEPULCHRE. "Jesus saith unto her, Mary !"-John, xx. 16. BY MISS M. A. S. BARBER. (For the Church of England Magazine.) "MARY!" her heart leapt up, to hear The voice whose tones bespoke Him near Him at whose feet, with rev'rence deep, Not ours, along the crowded street, And as thou once didst deign to say THE MYRTLE. DARK-GREEN, and gemm'd with flowers of snow, Seem'd, in my contemplative mood, The delicate small foliage bruised. Escaped from all their secret cells; Quick life, I cried, is thine, fair tree; In thee a soul of fragrance dwells,— In wealth with meekness and with fear, Then should affliction's chastening rod Outbreathed like incense would depart. others. He will soon admit the extreme difficulty, not to say impossibility of succeeding in the attempt; and I am persuaded he will arise with a firm conviction, that the epistles of the New Testament are really what they profess to be, letters written by the first propagators of Christianity, as circumstances required, on business connected either directly or indirectly with the mission itself.-Rev. W. J. Kidd. he BISHOP KEN. CIRCUMSTANTIALITY OF THE BIBLE. - Circuinstantiality of narrative is a striking proof of honesty in a writer; because it shews that he not only possesses a perfect knowledge of his subject, but that he fears neither investigation nor scrutiny; and surely, if ever there was a book circumstantial in its narrative, that book is the Bible. Whether true or false as to the asserted foundation of the facts recorded, every one must admit the detailed minuteness with which the facts themselves are related. Whole chapters are filled with genealogies—a subject at all times dry and uninteresting to the general reader, and which, therefore, would have been omitted, unless truth and necessity had dictated the propriety of their insertion. Again, the 12th chapter of the book of Exodus, the 2d of the first book of Kings, and the nine last chapters of Ezekiel, contain, I had almost said a tedious particularity, certainly a desultory account, of the furniture of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and of the literal and prophetic temple at Jerusalem, the insertion of which can only be accounted for on the supposition that the writers honestly recorded what they saw, and did, and heard. So, likewise, when a miracle is announced, there is no ambiguity of language-no concealment of truth, not even where the asserted exercise of supernatural power failed to produce conviction upon the minds of those who are said to have witnessed it. When a miracle is recorded, the town and person are named, and also the effect produced; as an illustration of which, I refer you to John, ix., which furnishes a most remarkable proof of honesty in the writer. Moreover, upon no other principle than that of historical honesty can we account for the detailed circumstantiality of the Jews' location in Canaan; of the trial, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and especially of St. Paul's voyage to Rome (Acts, xxvii.), which must have been written by one who took part in the proceedings. The same remark as to circumstantial detail refers to the epistles. They purport to be either answers to letters received by the writers, or letters written upon the direct or indirect business of the mission. Now the very obscurity of many passages in these letters, arising as it does from our ignorance of some of the causes which led to them, affords the best possible proof of their genuineness and authenticity I mean that they were neither forgeries nor fictions; for it is scarcely possible to forge such documents as these. Let any one make the trial. Let him sit down and try to forge a letter of this kind; a letter, containing many indirect allusions to matters of fact well known to the parties addressed, but to no SPANISH SLAVERY.-In a letter which I received from Captain Wauchope, of date 13th August, 1838, he says, "In February, 1836, I was informed by Commander Puget, that the Spanish slaver Argus, three months before this date, was chased by the Charybdis, Lieutenant Mercer; that during the chase ninety-seven slaves had been thrown overboard, and that a Spanish captain he had captured declared he would never hesitate to throw the slaves overboard, to prevent being taken." Captain Wauchope in the same letter informs me, that on the 18th September, 1836, the Thalia captured the Portuguese brig Felix, 590 slaves on board. "After capture," says, "I went on board, and such a scene of horror it is not easy to describe; the long-boat on the booms, and the deck aft, were crowded with little children, sickly, poor, little unhappy things, some of them rather pretty, and some much marked and tattooed-much pains must have been taken by their miserable parents to ornament and beautify them. The women lay between decks aft, much crowded, and perfectly naked; they were not barred down, the hatchway, a small one, being off; but the place for the men was too horrible; the wretches chained two and two, gasping and striving to get at the bars of the hatchway, and such a steam and stench as to make it intolerable even to look down. It requires much caution at first, in allowing them to go on deck, as it is a common practice for them to jump overboard to get quit of their misery. The slavedeck was not more than three feet six in height, and the human beings stowed, or rather crushed as close as possible; many appeared very sickly. There was no way of getting into the slave-room but by the hatchway. I was told, when they were all on deck to be counted, that it was impossible for any of our people to go into the slave-room for a single minute, so intolerable was the stench. The colour of these poor creatures was of a dark squalid yellow, so different from the fine glossy black of our liberated Africans and Kroomen. I was shewn a man much bit and bruised; it was done in a struggle at the gratings of their hatchways for a mouthful of fresh air." Captain Wilson, R.N., in a letter dated 9th January, 1839, says: "I have overhauled many slave-ships, and freely confess that it is impossible to exaggerate the horrors they exhibit; they are all very much alike, the greater or less misery depending, usually, upon the size of the vessel, and the time they might have been embarked, as every day brings becility, and death."-T. F. Buxton, Esq. with it a fearful increase of disease, desperation, im BELLARMINE.-Cardinal Bellarmine, one of the most learned and upright of his order, whom Pope Sextus V. condemned for not going far enough in the assertion of papal power, attempts to prove, from a comparison of Acts x. 13, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat," with John xxi. 16, that the duty of the pope, as the successor of Peter, is to put heretics to death.-Nichols, Help to the Reading of the Bible. London: Published by JAMES BURNS, 17 Portman Street, Portman Square; W. EDWARDS, 12 Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country. PRINTED BY ROBSON, LEVEY, AND FRANKLYN, 46 ST. MARTIN'S LANE. WORLDLY CAREFULNESS INCOMPATIBLE I. 66 THERE is something inexpressibly sweet and delightful in the character of the advanced and spiritually minded Christian-one who has obtained on earth a foretaste of the joys of heaven, by sitting loose to the affairs of this lower world, and surrendering his affections unto God-one who "goes on his way rejoicing," whatsoever difficulties and discouragements he has, in a temporal point of view, to surmount; who is "troubled on every side, yet not distressed; who is perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed." To see the man of God struggling against a sea of troubles," and raising his head, calm and unruffled, above the raging storms of life, is to behold one of the grandest and most glorious triumphs of Gospel-grace over the world, the flesh, and the devil,-exhibiting a lovely picture of that happy temper and disposition which the apostle so repeatedly and earnestly impresses on the Philippians, as suitable to the condition of those who have embraced, with thankfulness and love, the glad tidings of salvation, and the free offer of pardon and mercy; "Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice." Numbers there are who can passively endure trials and afflictions; but very few are there who have attained so happy a frame of mind as to "rejoice and be exceeding glad" when "bonds and afflictions await them;" few, very few, have so "put off the old man with VOL. VII.-NO. CLXXXV. PRICE 1d. his deeds," as to "rejoice inasmuch as they are partakers of Christ's sufferings," notwithstanding they have this blessed assurance, that "if they suffer with him, they shall be also glorified together." Though this disposition is rare, and very difficult of attainment, it is nevertheless the fruit of that faith-that living, justifying faith without which the fallen child of Adam cannot hope to be reconciled to God, nor admitted hereafter to the endless joys of Christ's glorious kingdom. The course of the Christian must be always progressivehe must grow daily in grace; for every moment of his earthly existence, which glides imperceptibly away, brings him nearer to that awful day, when he "must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that he may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." There is no resting or halting-place midway, at which he can with safety repose, or dispense for awhile with watchfulness and vigilance: he must proceed, step by step, from one degree of holiness to another in regular succession-" first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear"-until, in God's good time, when he is ripe for glory, he shall be removed from this terrestrial world, to the mansions of eternity, "where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." The faithful believer, who has " a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better," will never rest satisfied with any progress he may have made in his spiritual concerns, however great; he will ardently long to be "conformed to the image of Christ," and to regain the likeness of his (London: Robson, Levey, and Franklyn, 46 St. Martin's Lane.] P Maker, in which man was originally created. As the weary traveller longs to arrive at the end of his perilous journey; the way worn pilgrim to finish his toilsome pilgrimage; the persecuted outcast to gain some place of refuge; and they that run in a race to reach the goal, that they may receive the reward; so does the spiritually minded Christian, rejoicing in tribulation and distress, long to enter the haven of salvation for "a crown of glory," the prize of his "high calling;" and finally to become perfect, even (if it were possible) as his Father, which is in heaven, is perfect. It is this which is so inexpressibly lovely and delightful to behold; it is this seeking of the kingdom of heaven with all the heart and with all the soul, and "rejoicing to be counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ," which is so beautiful and glorious a sight: "Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, Rejoice." And has not the Christian in every thing cause to rejoice? In this transitory world he may be in misery and wretchedness; nay, like the blessed Saviour, he may not have where to lay his head yet what of that? he is hastening to another and a better world,—a world of everlasting happiness and joy, where God himself is the glory, and the Lamb is the light thereof. Rejoice, then, I would say, my brethren; "for all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." But how, it may be asked, is this heavenly temper to be attained? How can frail and sinful man so triumph over the weakness and infirmity of the flesh as to "rejoice in the Lord alway," and to "count it all joy when he falls into divers temptations?" I answer in the words of the Saviour, "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." It is not, then, of man, but of God; it is the free and unmerited gift of our divine and heavenly Master; and is attainable only by faith, by stedfast, lively, unwavering faith, in his meritorious cross and passion, together with constant, unhesitating, and cheerful obedience to the apostolic injunction delivered to the Philippians: "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God" (Philip. iv. 6). "Be careful for nothing," is an injunction which, if observed in the true spirit of Christianity, will enable us to realise that happy dis position and heavenly frame of mind, of which I have just been speaking; and thus, by the blessing of God, shall we "rejoice in the Lord alway." But it is necessary to premise, that there is a lawful, as well as an unlawful, carefulness; the one a duty, as regards the soul; the other a sin, as regards the body. The carefulness, however, meant by St. Paul, and which we are commanded to avoid, is an over-anxious and distracting carefulness in regard to our temporal affairs; that carefulness which draws us off from, or renders us indifferent and inattentive to, our religious duties, and the welfare of our precious souls, "the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches," which "choke the word sown in our hearts, and it becometh unfruitful." Against this sinful care the apostle warns the Philippians, as being opposed to the cause of Christ, and the growth of grace in the heart. The religion of Jesus will not be satisfied with a part only, it must have the whole, of the heart,-the first-fruits, as it were, of our thoughts and affections. Nor shall any be losers, even in a temporal point of view, by thus devoting their thoughts and affections to their heavenly Master, and trusting in his providence for a daily supply of every thing that is necessary for the support and nourishment of their bodies; for when our Saviour directs us to "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness," he immediately subjoins this gracious promise for our encouragement, and the exercise of our faith, "and all these things"- viz. every thing needful, comprehended in these two words "food and raiment"- "shall be added unto you." MYTHOLOGY.-THE SCLAVONIC. BY THE REV. HENRY CHRISTMAS, F.S.A. I. Introduction. Of the chief Gods of the Sclavi. THE mythology of the north divides itself into two great branches, the Sclavonic and the Scandinavian,-the one prevailing in the east, the other in the west. The Sclavi were of Tartarian origin; and the superstitions still extant among the hordes of that people bear traces of the system which obtained credit with their ancestors. Procopius remarks that the Sclavonic nations adored one God, but had no idea of providence. This statement is sufficiently refuted by the fact mentioned by the same author, that they deprecated the wrath of the Deity by sacrifices, and prayed to him for the recovery of the sick. Tradition has, however, done more in preserving a knowledge of the Sclavonic religion than history; and though it seems impossible to speak with much certainty as to their theogony and cosmogony, there is yet sufficient information remaining about their idols, and the mode in which they were worshipped. The chief of the gods was called Peroun or Perkoun, a name which in the ancient Sclavonic |