My romantic notions were soon crushed; our landing gave no pleasure to these secluded Englishmen: they gave us no welcome; but, as our boats approached the shore, they walked away to their own dwellings, closed their gates and doors after them, and gazed at us through their windows; and during three days that we passed in a hut quite near them, they never exchanged one word with any of the party. Thus foiled in our hopes of spending a social day with our compatriots, after our dinner was over, we sent materials for making a bowl of punch up the hill to the chiefs, and spent the remainder of the day surrounded by generous savages, who were delighted with our company, and who did every thing in their power to make us comfortable. In the course of the afternoon, two of the mission came up to preach; but the savages were so angry with them for not shewing more kindness to their own countrymen, that none would listen to them.' pp. 169-171.

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The Roman Catholic Missionaries, Mr. Earle assures us, 'adopt quite a different line of conduct.' Hence their wonderful success, while these Protestants are unable to make a single proselyte! And so great is their malignity, that they have done all that in them lay, to injure the reputation of the whaler in 'the estimation of the natives.' p. 167. The whaler is your true civilizer. There is nothing so effectual in driving out one sin, Mr. Earle thinks, as introducing another; and infanticide he represents as having ceased, wherever an intercourse has taken place between the natives and the crews of European vessels, that renders it the interest of the savages to suffer their female children to live. (p. 213.) In his opinion, this decided benefit' resulting from the most degrading profligacy, 'far more than counterbalances the evil against which there has been raised so 'loud an outcry. A few pages after bearing this testimony to the 'universal and unnatural custom of infanticide' as prevailing among these unsophisticated children of nature, Mr. Earle describes them as excessively fond of their children'; moreover, unlike other savage tribes, the wife is often treated as an equal ' and companion'; and, in fact, when not engaged in war, the New 'Zealander is quite a domestic, cheerful, harmless character.' p. 257.

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So much for Mr. Earle's statements and opinions, which we should really not have deemed it worth while to bring into full view, were it not that such flimsy documents as this Narrative, are sometimes gravely referred to as authorities for the charges brought against the missionaries by South Sea traders, and reechoed by Quarterly Reviewers. The publication of this volume will not render the missionaries less cautious whom they receive under their roofs.

After all, we cannot help feeling sincere pity for our poor countryman, and a strong interest in his future adventures. We hope the time may come when he will be able to conquer his dis

VOL. VIII.-N.S.

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like of missionaries, and better comprehend the abstruse points. ' of the Gospel,' from which he, not unnaturally, thinks, ‘a savage 'can receive but little benefit.'-The most interesting part of the volume, is the journal of the Author's forced residence at Tristan d'Acunha; and his account of the Governor' of the little community, the Robinson Crusoe of the island, is so curious a piece of biography, that we cannot withhold it from our readers.

many,

Our governor, Glass, who is the original founder and first settler of this little society, was born in Roxburgh. In the course of many long conversations I had with him, seated in his chimney corner, I learned that, in early life, he had been a gentleman's servant in his native town; and that he had an old aunt settled there, an eminent snuff and tobacco vender; but whether she claimed descent from, or affinity with, the celebrated lady of the same name and occupation whom Sir Walter Scott mentions in "The Heart of Mid Lothian," as being so great a favourite of the then Duke of Argyle, I could not discover. Indeed, he did not seem to know much about his ancestors,— an uncommon thing even with the lowest of his countrymen. Having (while still quite a youth) been crossed in love, he enlisted in the Artillery Drivers; that corps suiting him best, from his well understanding the management of horses, and being an excellent rider. He related many amusing stories of his first and only campaign in Gerwhich was an unsuccessful one. His favourite theme was his various adventures at the Cape. He gave me the whole history of his promotion from a private to a corporal; for he rose to that rank. I was always pleased with his descriptions; for there was such an air of truth and candour in them as convinced me of his probity and honour; as well as the high terms in which he always spoke of his officers, and of the service in which he had for so many years been engaged. He was of a happy disposition; for he seemed to forget all the disagreeables of his profession, and only remembered the comforts and pleasures he experienced during the whole time he was a soldier ; and he always spoke in enthusiastic raptures of the government, which had so comfortably provided for old veterans. Glass considered himself particularly fortunate in his military career, by having been generally employed by an officer as his servant; and being an excellent shot, a good horseman, and withal an honest, good-humoured fellow, was nearly the whole of his time with his master on some hunting expedition.

As a convincing proof of Glass's integrity, and his noble qualities as an honest and faithful servant, he once gave me the account of the death of his master, whom he had served for many years; and shewed me a letter he had written a few hours before he died, giving his servant such an excellent character as any man might be proud of receiving; and, at the same time, bequeathing him the whole of his property. Poor Glass was much affected when he gave me these particulars. was in consequence of the general good character he bore at the Cape, that he was chosen to accompany the expedition sent from thence to Tristan d'Acunha; where he, with fifty Hottentots, formed part of

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the garrison. Glass always spoke in high terms of the corps of Hottentots he served with, as men peculiarly adapted for artillery drivers, from their firm and perfect seat on horseback, their fearless (helterskelter) sort of character; since they would, he said, dash with their horses and guns over roads and precipices that would make a white man tremble to look at; added to which, he highly praised their invariable good humour, but stated the great, indeed almost only, drawback to their merit to be, their proneness to drunkenness, which no punishments nor disgrace could eradicate.

Another proof of Glass's good sense was manifested in his wishing to remain here, when the garrison abandoned the island. "Why, you know, sir (said he to me), what could I possibly do, when I reached my own country, after being disbanded? I have no trade, and am now too old to learn one. I have a young wife, and a chance of a numerous family; what could I do better for them than remain?" So he requested and obtained his discharge; and the few articles which the officers did not consider worth taking back again to the Cape, were given him: but the greatest treasure he obtained was a bull, a cow, and a few sheep, which stocked his farm; and with his economy, and the care he bestows upon them, I have no doubt he will eventually become the possessor of extensive flocks and herds.' pp. 304-309.

Taylor's story is scarcely less curious; but we cannot afford room for it. The volume contains a few plates, which are not uninteresting, although they do not shew to any great advantage our Draughtsman's pencil.

Art. VI. The Consistency of the whole Scheme of Revelation with Itself and with Human Reason. By Philip Nicholas Shuttleworth, D.D., Warden of New College, Oxford, and Rector of Foxley, Wilts. f.cap 8vo. pp. xvi. 370. Price 6s. (Theological Library, No. 2.) London, 1832.

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ALL partial evil universal good." This sentiment has rarely been more strikingly illustrated, than in the history of the Atheistical and Deistical controversies. The attacks which have from time to time been made on the sublime mysteries of Revelation, (though doubtless attended with most fatal consequences to many,) have been the chief means of provoking the champions of truth to exert all their prowess in its defence. The consequence is, that every point of the long frontier of argument which the Christian evidences present, has been most diligently fortified, and such a mass of proof collected as may safely defy all the future assaults of infidelity. And who shall say that such results have not been cheaply purchased, notwithstanding the temporary evils attending this fierce controversy? The task is done; and it is obvious, that no lapse of years, no change of circumstances can rob us of the benefits of this great achievement. A series of works destined to live through all time has been pro

duced, in which we may see every device of sophistry and untiring slander which the wily advocates of infidelity could employ exposed, and in which their refutation is recorded for ever. But more than this: not only has this assault already led to the construction of bulwarks which no enemy can force or scale; but we see them, each year, towering to a still greater height, and presenting a more imposing aspect. The unbeliever, on the contrary, is limited, from the very nature of the case, to the same mode of assault and the same futile weapons. A moment's consideration will shew that we do not speak without reason, when we affirm, that infidelity has already exhausted every mode of attack and played off its whole stock of miserable stratagems; and that it has not even a plausible conjecture on which to build another tolerable hypothesis. The reason of it is this. Christianity, upon the supposition of its falsehood, is given to the infidel as a curious problem, as a most singular phenomenon, which he is required to explain. Now there are but three or four theories at most, which have even a primâ facie appearance of plausibility to sustain them; all which may be shewn to lead to difficulties and contradictions as inextricable and absurd as though the imagination had been allowed its full swing of paradox, and had constructed its theories without any regard even to plausibility. Thus, as the infidel has to spin all his cobweb theories out of his own spider-store, and as these are ruthlessly demolished as soon as they are spun, that time must soon arrive, when even his ingenuity must be exhausted. It is pitiable to see how he will traverse heaven and earth for one poor argument. Now he may be seen scouring illimitable space, just to shew that the grandeur and vastness of the material universe, give the lie to that system of revelation which attaches such disproportionate importance to a world so insignificant as ours: anon he descends from the clouds, and, diving into the bowels of the earth, engages to prove from certain antediluvian antiquities, that that false modern Moses is out in his chronology. Then, if any doubts still lurk in your mind, after such demonstration, he will carry you off to the musty archives of China and Hindostan, and shew you the records of the perfect civilization of those nations millions of years before the Flood. And then you will see him (such is his intense hatred of Christianity) manifesting a credulity which leaves your sober faith infinite leagues behind it; a credulity which gulps down the most apocryphal documents, whole mountain-loads of palpable fiction; and why? For the mere purpose of rejecting facts which are supported by every species of argument that can commend itself to the attention of a reasonable being. Truly, that cannot be said of these far-fetched and laboured hypotheses of infidelity, which is the chief glory of revelation,—“ The word is nigh thee."

But, while these outrageous hypotheses evidently shew that the ingenuity of scepticism is almost exhausted, the field of the Christian evidences, on the other hand, is daily enlarging. The creative faculty is not called into action here; we are not to construct theories; we are only called to study the magnificent one constructed to our hands. Our duty consists in working that mine of unfathomable treasures which Divine Wisdom has opened to us; a range for investigation and discovery as exhaustless and as ample as that which nature opens to the experimental philosopher. We have only to apply our faculties to this subject, and we must daily arrive at new facts, and consequently new proofs. The controversy as to the truth of Christianity, stands, in this respect, upon the same footing with that relating to the being of a God. In the latter case, only two or three hypotheses other than the true one, can be constructed, bearing even the semblance of plausibility; while the arguments the theist may employ are cumulative and perfectly inexhaustible; every new fact which implies design, being an additional proof of the being of a God. It is just thus with the infinitely varied field of the Christian evidences. That of historical testimony is indeed more nearly exhausted than any other; but the subject of prophecy has been only partially investigated, while the shaft has but just been opened into the internal evidences; (we use the words here in their widest application;) yet from which such an immense mass of treasure has been already drawn. Independently of all which, Christianity has made provision, in the scrolls of prophecy, for a vast accumulation of new evidence. Upon their dark pages, every age will throw a stronger light, and gradually enable us to decipher the mystic characters which lock up, at present, the inscrutable purposes of Deity. Such are the relative positions occupied by Christianity and her assailants: she must increase, but they must decrease. She will be continually strengthening and enlarging her defences, till her hopeless opponents (like kindred hosts after a similar discomfiture in an equally unholy cause) shall look up in despair to the immeasurable height of the "crystal battlements," and feel that nothing but malice is left them.

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At the Reformation, when the Bible was first dragged from the dusty nooks and corners into which profane falsehood had thrown it," men were too much occupied with the great, the overwhelming verities which the Reformers proclaimed as absolute novelties -for they were such to that age, though drawn from the sacred page-to inquire much into the foundations of their faith. It was not till near the middle of the seventeenth century, when metaphysical science began to be so ardently pursued, that this great controversy commenced. And verily, it began at the beginning;' for the daring philosophers who pursued speculative science, he