cality. They therefore customarily worship with the last, and sometimes, when the weather and other things permit, receive the Lord's supper with the first.

This practice seems to me deserving of great censure, and instant abolition. I do not say that it is condemned in the New Testament expressly. A thousand bad things are not. But if the Scriptures are silent upon it, as far as words are concerned-and if silent, they are as free from approving as condemning it—it requires but little intellect to see that the principles and spirit of the primitive churches are against it.

According to this custom, one man is a member of two churches at the same time. The very statement of such a thing is a sufficient exposure of it, and would be held so, if there were no feelings to interfere in the matter, but those of right. If of two churches, why not of twenty? Why not every man be a member of every church in the kingdom, or the world ?

According to this custom, the interests and affections of Christians are divided. There are two pastors, two bodies of saints, two sanctuaries, two sets of societies. It is impossible, in such a case, for there to be that united heart, that simplicity and concentration of love and labour, which are not only an advantage, but a duty.

According to this custom, the parties implicated are removed from the superintendence and oversight of the church of which they are full members. They may live for years miles distant from it, and meeting its ministers and members only once a month, or still less frequently, of course it is absurd to speak of their being watched over, or of their being able to watch over others.

According to this custom, the Lord's supper is the only occasion of their associating in worship with the members of their own church. Those Christians with whom they pray, and praise, and hear, sabbath-day and week-day, they leave, when the great symbol and service of fellowship and participation is

observed; and they go to observe it with those whose faces they see not, in whose solemnities they join not on other occasions.

I might add, that according to this custom, ministers are placed in a very delicate and awkward position. The pastors of such members are, to a great extent, deprived of the comfort and advantage that might be expected, and should be received from them. They cannot look upon such members as their own, and a feeling of regret or dissatisfaction will ever arise from the remembrance of them, rather than of joy and trust.

Of course these remarks apply, with additional force, to the practice of persons who go into a distant neighbourhood, where it is impossible for them to attend their former sanctuary, and who yet do not obtain their dismissions to churches with whom they worship.

The chief cause of this practice is doubtless to be found in the feelings of attachment that must be, more or less, sacrificed by its abandonment. People get to love their pastors, (by whom perhaps they have been converted,) their fellow-members, the very sanctuaries that have been the scenes of their most sacred exercises, and they do not like, which is natural enough, to dissociate themselves entirely from them all. Who can blame them for not liking? It would be a poor evidence of their Christian sensibility if they felt no pain in doing it. But religion requires many things we do not like, and the sacrifice of feeling upon this point is one of them. When will Christians learn that personal preferences and partialities should be allowed in no place where the order, purity, and efficiency of churches are concerned? How much religious selfishness there is yet to be destroyed !

The practice upon which I am remarking would soon cease if the ministers and deacons of our churches would discountenance it. Some of them, it is to be feared, favour it rather, persuading valuable members to retain

But would you improve the hour,
While as yet 'tis in your power?
Go, and seek the shady bower,

Nature's garden :

In her beauties share a part,
These allay affliction's smart,
These are scenes to melt the heart;
Others harden.

Consecrate to these the leisure
Given in time's narrow measure,
Than the painted halls of pleasure
Nobler far:
On the mountain take your station,
Try the calm of meditation,
By the lamp of contemplation,
Evening's star.

What though darkness may o'ertake you,
Cheerfulness shall not forsake you,
These are not the shades that shake you,
When you tremble:

Oft amid the blazing room,
Reigns the dark, the bosom gloom,
While the fears of woe to come

You dissemble.

Then, though nature's beauties fade,
And mortality's sad shade
Veil the airy scenes display'd

In life's dream :

Brighter glories shall arise Over yon ethereal skies, Bursting on immortal eyes

Lost in wonder:

E'en now, darting from afar,
Beam the splendours you shall share-
So divides the morning-star

Clouds asunder.

THE PERSIAN AND THE CHRISTIAN.

THE Persian devotee is seen,

When first the gleams of day serene

The midnight shadows chase:
Before the rising sun he bends,
Pleased with the light the morning lends
Creation's lovely face.

But when the west with glory glows,
And nature sinks to deep repose,

The Christian's thankful lay,
While round him evening glooms arise,
Ascends the temple of the skies,

With the last beams of day.

Of future hope and joy forlorn,
The Persian hails another morn,

The lengthening of life's thread;
But with the sun's expiring ray,
Flits the protracted term away,

That shields him from the dead.

Around the entrance of the grave,
Ten thousand thousand horrors wave,
And float before his eyes:
He sees the shadows of the tomb,
And shudders at the dismal gloom,
Nor hopes again to rise.

But at the close of every day
The Christian's sorrows steal away,

And leave him less to come;
With joy he sees the sunbeam fly,
And only asks with it to die,
And gain a better home!

crucified; now we confidently appeal to the religious world at large whether any one of them holds opinions, which might be thus announced by him to his congregation :

"Moreover, I appear before this great throng to announce the fact, that Christ died, as he specifically tells us, for his sheep; but notwithstanding this specific declaration, he really means that he died for the goats also; yea, and though he would not indeed pray for the world, yet be assured he died and made atonement, the far greater deed, for every individual who ever lived in the world, for wicked Cain, who slew his righteous, believing brother, Abel; and for Judas too, who cruelly and perfidiously betrayed his Lord and Master, and, being a son of perdition, went to his own place." There is a great deal of the same sort, which we need not quote. As the author disclaims logic, and holds that powers of reasoning are dangerous enemies of the cross of Christ, we must regard with lenity the following miserable attempt to construct an argument :

46

Might not the auditors of such a preacher say, If these persons, for whom Christ died, ultimately perish, it must be concluded, either that Christ did not will to save them, and then how could his love be so great, so infinite towards the souls of men, as you say it is? or, if the souls for whom Jesus died, perish at last, it must be from a want of power in Christ, and efficacy in his blood to save; and then how can it be said of him, that he is certainly what he is, mighty to save?"

The imputations which are more than insinuated in the last extract we shall make from this pamphlet may, for aught we know, be worthy of the author: we should, however, be very sorry to put them forth as our own against men whom we sincerely believe, are not only holy brethren and partakers of the heavenly calling, but full as zealous and as anxious to win souls to Christ, as the "minister of High-street Chapel, Exeter," and the author of a work " on primitive preaching," which we have never seen.

"But it must be evident to all, that it is much easier for men of letters and of leisure to display their natural powers and eloquent ratiocinations in regard to the atonement of Christ, than it would be thus untiringly to devote their energies to varied, affectionate, zealous, and persevering manifestations of the cross of Jesus, in the regular routine of pulpit and private instruction and labour."

Contrasts are sometimes useful; we place this Tract for the Times beside Dr. Wardlaw's admirable Lectures; and we recommend our readers to do the same.

JAMAICA: its past and present state. By JAMES M. PHILLIPPO, of Spanish Town, Jamaica; twenty years a Baptist Missionary in the Island. 12mo, pp. 504. Snow, London.

We are not aware of the existence of any work on Jamaica, written on Christian principles, upon so comprehensive a plan, as the one which we now introduce to our readers. As the production of a Christian missionary, it has special claims upon the religious community of this country, inasmuch as every part of it is made to bear upon the solemn duty of vigorously prosecuting the work of evangelization so auspiciously begun. From the author's residence for twenty years in the island of Jamaica, no less than from his observant habits of mind, he has had favourable opportunities for doing justice to his theme. So far as the volume is historical, we regard it as very creditable to the talent and industry of the author, and would take this opportunity of assuring the public, that there is scarcely anything pertaining to the past or present state of the island of Jamaica they would wish to know, which is not here embodied in a clear and instructive manner. In other respects, the volume may be regarded as a desideratum in our missionary literature at the present important juncture, when the inestimable blessings of freedom have been extended to the coloured tribes in our West Indian possessions, and when the gospel is beginning to take deep root where the yoke of slavery had been so degrading and oppressive.

Our author begins his work by a rapid sketch of Christianity, considered in its adaptation to the state of the world, its designs and effects, the coming glory of the church, the instrumentality to be employed, the former neglect of the church, subsequent activity, first missionary society, diffi. culties and discouragements, future and increasing success. We have, then, an account of the island of Jamaica, its civil history and geographical situation, its discovery, settlement by the Spaniards, conquest by the British, and subsequent history. The physical aspects of the island are next considered, its scenery, mountains, rivers, springs, cascades, and harbours. After which we have ample information as to its vegetable and animal productions, which prove its resources to be vast beyond what is generally known. Then follows an account of its territorial divisions, into counties, parishes, towns, villages, and houses; its appearance and interior arrangement; roads, geology, mineralogy, soil, climate, seasons, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Under the head population, we have the last census of the different parishes, with a succinct view of its stock, land cultivated, agriculture, horti.

culture, improvements, implements, machinery, present defective state of husbandry, and thoughts on immigration. The nature of the local government is fully detailed-its council, house of assembly, courts of law, laws, public offices, and ecclesiastical establishments, naval and military ditto, taxes, and revenue. Its commerce, too, is touched upon, with its shipping, imports and exports, monetary system, coins, amount of property, and aggregate value thereof.

From these interesting topics, our author passes to a consideration of the inhabitants of the island: and 1st, its white inhabitants, their origin, settlement, trades, and professions, domestic habits, dress, social dispositions and affections, manners and customs, education, morals, religion, and general improvement. 2ndly, its people of colour and free blacks; their former condition, causes of difference of complexion and circumstances, political state, proscription from society of white inhabitants, low state of morals, removal of disabilities, rapid advancement in civilization and social improvement, and their present condition.

Under the head Political Condition of the Black Population, we have a painful but truthful account of the origin of the slavetrade, its atrocities, the first slaves brought to Jamaica, and by whom, the dreadful nature of the results of slavery as it existed in Jamaica.

After this dark picture, we are led on historically to the abolition of the slave-trade, and are reminded of the labours of the African institution, its efforts to ameliorate the condition of the slave, conduct of the Jamaica Assembly, insurrections of 1832-33, its real causes, destruction of mission property, wanton sacrifice of negro life by the whites, imprisonment and trial of missionaries, their triumphant acquittal. The apprenticeship system is fully dissected, and is shown to be impolitic, unjust, cruel, and inefficient. Total emancipation is shown to be right, from its happy fruits. The manner of its celebration, the conduct of the emancipated, the establishment of new villages, the restoration of harmony and peace, and the general prosperity now obtaining, are all adduced as proofs of the excellency of the measure of total abolition.

The sketch of the social state of the blacks under slavery is a very affecting one; and proves that no system of intellectual, social, or moral improvement could prosper under the baneful influence of West Indian bondage. But the contrast drawn, by the author, between the former and the present social condition of the black population is in itself sufficient to demonstrate the curse of slavery, and the blessing of freedom. The same argument applied to the moral condition of

VOL. XXI,

the coloured race in bondage and in freedom is equally convincing.

All these points are well handled by the author, upon broad principles, which must commend themselves to the mere philanthropist and politician, as well as to the Christian, who looks at man as an immortal and accountable being, destined for eternity. The remaining four chapters, viz., xv., xvi., xvii., and xviii., are devoted to a careful examination of the religious state of the island of Jamaica. Here an awful picture is drawn of the religious state of the island during the first century of British occupation, the superstition and idolatry of the blacks, the sad effects of a corrupted Christianity and ignorant teachers, the desecration of the sabbath, scarcity of places of worship, small numbers attending the means of grace, the wrong notions of the clergy expressed to Parliament on the subject of the conversion of slaves, the machinations of infidel philosophers.

In this state of things, the missionaries arrive in the island; first, the Moravians, in 1754; then the Wesleyans, in 1789; and then the Baptists, in 1813. They meet with no little opposition at first, but at last were favoured with tokens of the Divine blessing; and have lived to see a vast moral and religious change. By the accession of other labourers in the field, the aspect of things is now highly encouraging. "There are now, ," observes Mr. Phillippo, "as nearly as can be calculated, upwards of fifty regular churches and chapels of ease, about eleven Moravian chapels, two large chapels of the church of Scotland, twelve in connexion with the Scottish Missionary Society, eleven belonging to the London Missionary Society, four or five in connexion with American Congregationalists, eight or nine with native Baptists, seven or eight with the Church Missionary Society, upwards of fifty with the Wesleyans, seven or eight with the Wesleyan Association, and about sixty with the Baptist Missionary Society; making a total of two hundred and twenty-six regular places of worship."

Our author's more minute details of the state of religion in Jamaica are mainly restricted, as might be expected, to his own denomination; though we have nothing to complain of in his mode of referring to other bodies. He modestly contends for the general truth of those representations which had been made of the great success of the Baptist labours in the West Indian field, and presents a generally favourable view of the working of the leader and ticket system, about which so much has been said of late years in this country. We are not yet converted to it, after all that he has said on the subject, and we should be very unwilling, 2 z