One collects clearly that the rate of wages is fearfully low almost everywhere-that the number of beggars is intolerably large, many labourers begging for part of the year, and many married people and widows till their families are off their hands, but not longer-that the poor generally have a dread of a poorhouse, and that the farmers have a still greater dread of a poor rate. But much beyond this one does not gather, as one part of the book contradicts another, or rather shows that what is quite true in one district is quite as false in another. Nothing can be more wearisome or awkward than the arrangement of the work. The bias of the Commissioners is very amusing. They inquire most carefully whether protestant charities, collected at church, are distributed without regard to the religion of the poor; and they have admitted a scandalous party paper by Dr. M'Hale.

Faith: a Poem. By Benjamin Luckock, Minister of the English Churches of St. John and St. Paul, St. Croix. London: Hamilton, Adams and Co. 1835. 12mo.

THIS poem is written, as far as versification goes, on the model of the "Pleasures of Hope," and contains a great many spirited passages in that style, the admirers of which will read it with pleasure. The last four cantos, in which there is more of historical,-i. e., of allusions to illustrious instances of Faith,—are superior to the two first, in which there is more of an argumentative nature, a task which requires firstrate powers to handle well. The following lines will give some idea of the poem. The writer is speaking of a child taken from him by death:

:

An earthly being, and a child of time-
Thy soul untarnished by a conscious crime,

I lov'd thee here-in raptures call'd thee mine,
With hopes most fleeting, when they brightest shine.
My ardent wishes watch'd the buds of thought,
And deem'd them richly for the future fraught:
With prescient heart I hail'd each coming stage,
Which should unfold thy being's daily page;
And chided time, whose tardy course can show
All that we wish, yet almost fear to know.
Yes, hope had pictur'd much upon my heart,
And more than all it pictur'd now thou art.
For all which clogg'd the slowly opening mind
Is shaken off, and cast afar behind;
And sister-seraphs bear thee far away,

To feed thy spirit at the fount of day.

The Prophetical Character and Inspiration of the Apocalypse considered. By G. Pearson, B.D., Christian Advocate in the University of Cambridge. Cambridge: Parker. 1835.

THIS is a large and handsome volume, in which the present worthy Christian Advocate has presented to the public a view of the subject matter of the apocalypse, founded chiefly on the principles of Dean Woodhouse and Vitringa. Mr. Pearson has prefixed a chapter on the authenticity of the apocalypse, and, after going through the book,

adds two chapters on its prophetical character and inspiration. Where principles have been so long before the public, it would be a mere waste of time to enter on an examination of them. It will be sufficient to say, that they who can adopt the views of Vitringa and Woodhouse will find Mr. Pearson's a very useful volume, and will join in the opinion that it is highly creditable to his zeal and industry.

Historical Conversations for Young Persons, on Malta and Poland. By Mrs. Markham. London: Murray. 1836.

THIS volume is in the same style as Mrs. Markham's former works, is quite as good, and the subjects are perhaps even more interesting. Mrs. Markham is perhaps a shade or two more liberal than the Reviewer, especially as to Poland, but always moderate and full of good feelings.

Digest of the Seven Church Building Acts. By George Bramwell, Esq. London: Rivingtons. 1836. 8vo.

THIS publication will supersede all others on this important subject, as it contains every enactment on the matter now in force, alphabetically arranged, with convenient references, by an eminent professional man, who is entitled to the best thanks of all interested in the subject.

Christianity, a Poem, in Three Books, by the late William Burt, Esq., with a Memoir of his Life. By his Nephew, Major Burt. London: Cochrane and Co. 1836.

No one can look at this poem, and the long and laborious notes to it, without respect for the author, and for the right feelings which led him to devote so much time and thought to the consideration of the greatest of all subjects. It would be going too far to say that he was a poet, but he seems to have been what was better, a very sincere Christian and amiable man.

A short Defence of the Doctrines, Discipline, Revenue, and Clergy of the Church of England. By the Rev. S. Wix, A.M. London: Wix. 1836. 8vo, pp. 73.

ALL who know Mr. Wix will have anticipated exactly what they will find here,-a sound, sober, and sensible view of the whole matter in question, based on high principle, and expressed with feelings of sincere and fervent piety.

THERE is a singular and very interesting publication by Mr. Collins of Glasgow, a collected edition of Dr. Chalmer's works, in which that great man, instead of allowing them simply to be reprinted, has begun to recast some of them. The first volume contains a treatise on Natural Theology on the basis of the Bridgewater Treatise, but full three-fourths of which is new matter. Few persons have courage or

strength of mind to go through such labour, fewer still have acquired the fame which enables them, by such a collection, thus to present a last and finished and maturer picture of their minds to the world.

MR. HOLDSWORTH is bringing out a second edition of Mr. Simeon's Hora Homileticæ, or Discourses digested into a Series, so as to form a Commentary on the Old and New Testament, in twenty-one volumes. The first volume has appeared, and is very well and handsomely printed.

DR. BLOOMFIELD has brought out a second edition of his Greek Testament, in which, with his usual zeal and industry, he has introduced large additions and improvements. As there is likely to be a call for a third edition very soon, he would be glad, as he states, of corrections, &c., directed to Messrs. Rivingtons, his publishers.*

MISCELLANEA.

VOLUNTARY SYSTEM.

[THE EDITOR earnestly hopes that it will not be supposed, that, in printing passages like the following, there is any wish to continue an attack on dissenters. The sole object is, at a time when it is wished to carry the voluntary system much farther, to show, by the evidence of those who have seen its operations, its fearful evils.]

"Almost every form of petty tyranny has been practised in what are called dissenting churches; the very entrance into the society is a bowing the head beneath a yoke; and the majority of those who are already members impose a summary of faith and practice to which every one who seeks to attach himself to them must conform; aye, and often promise to it his continued conformity, his determination to walk therein as long as he shall live. Then the mutual tyranny that is exercised under the pretence of church discipline, continually bringing a man under examination and censure for the most trifling concerns, and for concerns in which no one has a right to interfere with any other, which has obtained in all denominations where this church discipline has been established been issuing its fulminations at the cut of a coat, there at the colour of a ribbon; and so descending to minute particulars in the exercise of this grinding authority, that some present could tell of a church in this metropolis where a man has been lectured till the tears rolled down his cheeks on the sinfulness of taking two spoonfuls of sugar with one plate of gooseberry tart. And while this mutual tyranny has been exercised over each other, the minister offers a mark for the vexatious power of all to exercise upon, in a large proportion of dissenting congregations. There is no positive or negative, in the whole round of human actions, for which his ministerial or personal conduct may not be, and has not been, called to account-and that, such is the nature of a power connected with boundless diversity of taste and opinion, in the most opposite ways, so that the impossibility of even a peaceful submission to it was no little aggravation of its vexatiousness. For a sermon too long, or too short,-too oratorical or too dry; and for particulars, the enumeration of which would be as absurd as it is disgusting, are individuals of this class, especially in small congregations in the country, kept in a continual worry, from which the only place of rest is the grave, to which they at length are borne. There is much interesting matter on this subject in

Some notices, too late for this department, will be found in the last page.

a work called the Autobiography of a Dissenting Minister;' a work which has been most vigorously cried down, as the writer predicted it would be, because it was known, not to be false, but to be true; the very truth of it— the searching truth of it-being that which excited against it the animosity of parties who endeavoured with all their might to stamp it with opprobrium. I believe the descriptions of that book not only to be substantially correct, but to be very much below what might have been depicted with more extensive observation than the writer seems to have possessed.

he

"And what is the foundation of the power which is exercised by the select bodies calling themselves "churches," or by the larger bodies termed congregations? There is, I think, little proportion between the ground of it and the extent of it. A man pays his few shillings a year, or a pound perhaps, for his own personal accommodation, having for this, what of course he regards, as pays for it, good, religious, and moral instruction, from year's end to year's end. To even opulent dissenters the minister seldom costs more, or so much, as his shoeblack; and yet not only does he obtain the instruction which is thus paid for, but, according to the custom of dissenting congregations, there arises out of this transaction an extraordinary, and not very justly derived, authority;-in consequence of this very small purchase-money, already repaid by the instruction, these people become at once the disposers of a building, which was not raised by their subscriptions, and of endowments which are not the accumulation of their funds. They exercise a right of appointment; they exercise a power of dismission; they exercise a paramount control, and that with no responsibility whatever. They may plunge the place into debt by expenditure upon it to any amount whatever, and then quietly take themselves off, leaving others to extricate themselves from the embarrassment as best they may. This seems to me an exercise of power altogether without any basis in reason. I am not apologizing for anything which can be called priestcraft. I see no occasion-I think it is a great evil-that there should be a class of men so broadly marked out as the priest has ever been marked out from his fellow-creatures: but I say that if congregations are to be regarded simply as voluntary societies, constituted by such payments, they exercise a most unwarrantable extent of power in consequence of their payments; or that if-and this is a more rational view of the case-or that if chapels and pulpits are to be regarded as public trusts for the keeping up moral and religious instruction, by giving to qualified persons an opportunity of explaining their views to the community at large, this is one of the most cambrous, one of the most inefficient, and one of the most troublesome modes by which such trusts can be carried into execution; and I say, that, with every responsibility which the most determined friend of responsibility can demand-and among such I class myself-with every responsibility on the part of the teacher, there might be many other modes adopted for facilitating a wholesome influence on public opinion and on the public character, which should be liable to no such exception. Mental independence may be asserted anywhere; and in large towns, where the secession of individuals is comparatively unimportant, the dissenting minister may probably be in fault if it is forfeited. The power which puts him under the temptation is not the less pernicious to its possessors. They sometimes meet their appropriate punishment in the reaction upon their own minds of that which they have broken down and degraded.”—Finsbury Lectures, No. III., by W. I. Fox.

CONFORMING DISSENTERS.

In one solitary point this journal agrees with the "Patriot" and "Christian Advocate," though not exactly on their grounds. They are exceedingly angry at the number of dissenting ministers (the "Christian Advocate" talks of

twenty) who have conformed to the church, and are saying all sorts of bitter things against them, with that gentleness and Christian feeling which so honourably distinguish these two journals. But if it is true that any church works have been making a boast of these conversions, the "Patriot" and "Christian Advocate" are not at all wrong in reprobating such boasting. To all respectable converts (although some of them may feel it their bounden duty to bear witness to the truth, and may do great service to the cause of truth, by so doing) nothing can be more painful than under such circumstances to be held forward for admiration. By God's mercy, they have been rescued from error, and, except where duty calls on him to speak, beyond all doubt the Christian who has been so rescued, in remembrance of his former errors would far prefer silence and retirement, as most adapted for strengthening and confirming his new views. For us, we must always joyfully hail those who will embrace the truth, and rejoice that it flourishes and abounds; but can we, for a moment, think that the truth requires such confirmation, or derives any strength from it? This perpetual referring to opponents, and valuing ourselves on the admissions which they make, or the impressions made on them, is one of the common but dangerous errors of the day. A corrupt church, like the Roman, which too often is ready to effect its object by any means, may boast of the conversion of a man of rank, like Mr. Spenser; but, in the eye of reason, does Mr. Spenser's change of opinion bring any strength to his new friends, or take any from his old? Is not the same thing generally true?

THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE.

A SPECIMEN OF CHRISTIAN LANGUAGE AND FEELING TOWARDS THE CHURCH.

THE Irish church resembles that class of philosophers who, since they must die, care not how soon. But she is as reckless of the lives of others as of her own; is as murderous as she is suicidal. In short, she is the spiritual Lacenaire. She has reduced human slaughter to a trade; she gets her livelihood by shedding blood. Truly has she been called the bloody church of Ireland.

But that the system allows of such hellish deeds, and indeed cannot be maintained without them, is reason enough why the execrations of all good men should be heaped upon it. Humanity, to say nothing of religion, loudly demands the instant, the total annihilation of such a mass of blood-cemented wickedness. Nor will she demand in vain. The unanimous voice of three indignant nations will soon insist upon the extirpation of the monster. Heaven's hottest thunderbolts and reddest wrath are in reserve for the most pestilential pile of practical hypocrisy that ever mocked the righteousness of the Eternal. If the Jewish temple was reduced to total ruin, razed to the foundation, for being turned into a mart of commerce, a hall of swindlers, a "den of thieves," what doom may we not anticipate for a church that, besides all these, has become a human slaughterhouse?

Nor shall the church of England, as she calls herself, escape. True, she does not take men's lives, she only incarcerates their persons. But has she not disowned divine prerogatives? Has she not committed treason against Christ? She has; and Mr. Crybbace, whom the "Times" cannot put down, awards her no more than is due to traitors, when he proposes that she be beheaded.

The "Patriot" has found an authority very congenial to his tastes in feeling and style, the Rev. Peter Hall, who, in reference to a paragraph expressly abstaining from any comment on a pamphlet by a Mr. Baker, who had left the church, on the express ground that its weakness was such that one could only comment on it in terms which would be painful to employ, says, in his polished and Christian way, that Mr. Baker was "literally hunted like a beast,” in the " British Magazine.”