is peculiarly pleasing to Christians here. God is evidently demolishing the walls of Satan's kingdom, and building up his The church is coming up out of the wilderness, leaning on her beloved."pp. 30, 31. own. From the pleasure with which Mr. P., in this letter, seems to contemplate the probability of some proceeding from the literary seminary from.hich he wrote, as missionaries to the heathen, it is evident how deep an interest, even at that time, he took in the great scheme of missionary enterprise. Long antecedent to this, however, a desire to be personally engaged in the work had taken possession of his mind, and he had exclaimed "Become a missionary! Oh, blessed thought! May I indulge it! Labour, toil, suffer, die for souls. Oh! the honour is too great! 'tis an angel's trust ;here I pause and wonder."-p. 28. And here he continued to pause for a considerable time, revolving in his mind the question of duty, laying his case before the Lord, and soliciting the advice and counsel of his friends; nor was it until he had nearly finished his theological studies at Andover, that he came to the final resolution of devoting himself to the cause of the heathen in the service of the gospel. But having once made up his mind upon the subject, he ceased to have either hesitation in going forward, or even a transient inclination to look back. In his journal, under the date Aug. 26, 1817, he thus writes: "In the view of the approaching solemnities of my ordination as a missionary to the heathen, I desire this day to humble myself before God, and plead for the influences of the Holy Spirit. In this dedication Christ must have all. examination of the subject of missions, The after years of serious and painful enquiry, has terminated in a tranquil conviction of duty. Weak and unworthy as I am, this is my consolation, that the Lord will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. This is all my hope. As a father pitieth his children, ، so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.' Before setting sail for Palestine, to which quarter of the world he and his friend Fisk had been ap pointed, Mr. P. spent some time as a missionary, and subsequently as an agent for the missionary board, in his own country. During that time his labours were most abundant, and his success great; but he felt that there were numbers at home who could do the same work fully as efficiently as he, and he longed to enter upon that sphere of labour to which he had dedicated his life. Accordingly, on the 3d of November, 1819, he and Mr. Fisk sailed from Boston for Asia Minor, and landed at Smyrna in January, 1820. After residing in this city for some time, and visiting the site of some of the seven Asiatic churches, he set sail for Jerusalem, leaving Mr. Fisk lication of tracts, and to supply the at Smyrna to superintend the pubagents with Bibles. The following excerpts from his journal during this period may not be uninteresting to our readers. While at Jerusalem he went to witness one of the great ceremonies of the Greek Church; what follows is a description of what took place: "Every apartment of the church was crowded with Turks, Jews, Christians, and with people from every nation under heaven. These assembled to witness the supposed miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit, under the similitude of fire. It is estimated that at least 5000 people were present. The governor of the city, and Turks of rank were there. A very convenient place was allotted me, to observe distinctly every ceremony. About twelve o'clock we witnessed scenes of a very extraordinary nature, and highly derogatory to the Christian profession. A body of Arab Christians, natives of Palestine, were admitted to perform their part in the duties of the holy week. They began by running round the holy sepulchre with all the frantic airs of madmen, clapping their hands- throwing their caps into the air-cuffing each other's ears-leaping half-naked upon the shoulders of their companions-hallooing, or rather shrieking to the utmost extent of their voices. This was the exhibition to five thousand people, who were in expectation of soon witnessing the descent of the holy fire. "About one o'clock the Turks entered the small apartment of the holy tomb, extinguished the lamps, closed the doors, and set a watch. I was determined to enter myself the holy sepulchre, with the Russian Consul, to see from what direction the fire proceeded. But they replied, The Turks will not give permission to strangers to enter.' Shortly after the principal Greek priest entered the holy sepulchre, attended by the Armenian patriarch, and also by the Syrian patriarch. The Greek priest, however, entered the sacred apartment unattend ed. Every eye was fixed as the time approached. As we stood waiting, suddenly there darted from the sepulchre a flaming torch, which was carried almost instantaneously to a distant part of the assembly. I stood among the first to receive the fire, and to prove that, as to its power of burning, it contained no extraordinary qualities. The zeal of the pilgrims to get a part of the fire before the superior qualities departed (as they say it burns like other fire in a few minutes) endangered the lives of many. Several were well nigh crushed to death. Some lighted candles, others tow, with a view to preserve a part of its influence. Some held their faces in the blaze, saying, 'It does not burn.' Others said,' Now, Lord, I believe, forgive my former unbelief. After this the pilgrims retired, abundantly satisfied with what they had seen and heard.”—pp. 206–208. Thus is it that the most solemn mysteries of our faith are materialized and burlesqued, and men's minds blinded and abused, even on the very spot where these mysteries were first published, and their real verity first experienced! What Christian is not ready to utter the cry," How long, O Lord, how long?" On leaving Jerusalem, Mr. Parsons thus writes: "Before leaving the city, I must say, that in many respects my time has passed pleasantly since my arrival at the holy city. My health, I think, was never bet ness. ter for three months in succession. If I had been better furnished with Bibles and tracts, I might, by the Divine blessing, have greatly extended my usefulAs it respects gaining and imparting information, this is, indeed, the centre of the world. The station must not be relinquished. The door is already open. Difficulties must be expected; but the good resulting from a mission established here will be an infinite reward. "May 3.-Early this morning visited the bishops, and took my leave of them. They said, We wish to see you again in this city. Left the city at six o'clock, by the Jaffa gate. As I ascended the hill west of the city, I turned to take another view of the dearest spot on earth. The words of David were fresh in my mind, If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation.'”. pp. 211, 212. This earnest desire to be permitted to revisit the land which he so much esteemed, was not destined to be gratified. A few months only had intervened after the penning of the above sentences, when it pleased the Allwise Dispenser of events to call this faithful and laborious servant to the better Canaan, and to that enduring habitation whose builder and maker is God. The circumstances attending his decease, which took place at Alexandria on the morning of the 10th of Feb. 1822, in the 30th year of his age, are given in a most interesting letter from his colleague, Mr. Fisk, addressed to Mr. Morton, the author of these memoirs. We could willingly have transferred this letter entire to our pages, but we have already exceeded the limits to which we originally intended to confine ourselves. We the less regret this, however, as we are confident, that, from the extracts we have given, our readers will not require a repetition of our recommendation to peruse the volume for them selves. Appended to the Memoir are two sermons by Mr. Parsons, one upon Revivals in Religion, and the other on Missions, which afford very pleasing specimens of his power of illustrating and enforcing divine truth; and extracts from his Farewell Address before leaving America, replete with the finest feeling and the noblest zeal. We shall probably, with the editor's permission, transfer, at some future period, a few of his paragraphs to our own pages in the confident assurance that they will be nothing impoverished thereby. Remarks on some Passages in the "Literary Recollections" of the Rev. Richard Warner, F.A.S. Rector of Great Chalfield, Wilts. In a Letter to a Friend. 8vo. pp. 22. London: R. Hunter, WHEN some gossipping chronicler chooses to give to the public, as ́veritable history, a long account of some supernatural occurrence, in which he professes "his own solemn belief," and justifies his credulity by a minute detail of plausible circumstances, that makes even doubters to pause, and which the superstitious regard to be "Confirmation strong, As proof of holy writ," there is little doubt but such a story will go down to the next generation as most authentic, and be cited as unquestionable evidence in support of a doctrine which, after all, may be itself very questionable. That individual, therefore, deserves the thanks of all intelligent and upright minds, who stops such a narrative in its course down the stream of time, and exposes to the observers of the present age, its falsehood, which, if not corrected, will become a proof in support of the superstitious creed with the coming generation. Such a task has been well performed by the venerable author of the pamphlet before us, which will be regarded by all lovers of goblin tales as one of the most provokingly cool and complete falsifications of a very good ghost story that was ever performed. The case is this: the Rev. Richard Warner, F.A.S. Rector of Great Chalfield, and a cordial hater of all enthusiastical feeling and fanatical excitement in religion, has yet enough of sympathy with the weak and the ignorant to believe the following narrative, which he has "introduced, by way of episode," into the second volume of his Literary Recollections." "My sincere respect for the memory of the Rev. Joseph Townsend, would, were I to follow its impulse, lead me into a length of remark upon his character and attainments, incompatible with close this biographical sketch with the the nature of my work: I will therefore communication of a very singular fact, related to me, in the first instance, by him; but which has since been confirmed by a voucher scarcely to be resisted, -an indisputably true report, of Dr. Alsop's viva voce declaration on his dying bed. "Lord William Petty was the third son of the old Marquis of Lansdowne, and brother of the present highly gifted Lord of Bowood. He had attained the age of seven or eight years; as remarkable for the precocity of his understanding, as he was unfortunate in the delicate state of his constitutional health. The Marquis, called to London by his Parliamentary duties, had left the child at Bowood, for the winter, with Mr. Jervis his tutor, and suitable domestics. The late Dr. Priestley also, the Marquis's librarian, made one of the party. On an ill-omened day, beautiful and brilliant, but intensely cold, the gamekeeper, in compliance with Lord William's request, took the lad before him on horseback. His Lordship rode with his waistcoat open, and chest exposed, and an inflammation on the lungs was the immediate consequence of this incaution. "On the first appearance of indisposition, Mr. Alsop of Calne, the family apothecary (himself much attached to the child), was summoned to attend his Lordship. His treatment promised a favourable result; and after a few days he left him in the forenoon, apparently out of danger. Towards evening, however, the symptoms becoming decidedly worse, the family were alarmed; and Mr. Jervis thought it right to call for Mr. Alsop's immediate assistance. It was night before this gentleman reached Bowood; but an unclouded moon showed every object in unequivocal distinctness. Mr. Alsop had passed through the Lodge gate, and was proceeding to the house, when to his utter astonishment, he saw Lord William coming towards him, in all the buoyancy of childhood, restored, apparently, to health and vigour. I am delighted, my dear Lord,' he exclaimed, to see you; but, for Heaven's sake, go immediately within doors; it is death to you to be here at this time of night.' The child made no reply; but, turning round, was quickly out of sight. Mr. Alsop, unspeakably surprised, hurried to the house. Here, all was distress and confusion; for Lord William had expired a few minutes before he reached the portico "The sad event being, with all speed, announced to the Marquis of Lansdowne, in London, orders were soon received at Bowood for the interment of the corpse, and the arrangement of the funeral procession. The former was directed to take place at High Wickham, in the vault which contained the remains of Lord William's mother: the latter was appointed to halt at two specified places, during the two nights on which it would be on the road. Mr. Jervis and Dr. Priestley attended the body. On the first day of the melancholy journey, the latter gentleman, who had hitherto said little on the subject of the appearance to Mr. Alsop, suddenly addressed his companion, with considerable emotion, in nearly these words. 'There are some very singular circumstances connected with this event, Mr. Jervis; and a most remarkable coincidence, between a dream of the late Lord William, and our present mournful engagement. A few weeks ago, as I was passing by his room door one morning, he called me to his bedside. 'Doctor,' said he, what is your christian name?' 'Surely,' said I, you know it is Joseph.' 'Well then,' replied he, in a lively manner, if you are a Joseph, yon can interpret a dream for me, which I had last night. I dreamed, Doctor, that I set out upon a long journey; that I stopped the first night at Hungerford; whither I went without touching the ground; that I flew from thence to SaltHill, where I remained the next night; and arrived at High Wickham, on the third day: where my dear mamma, beautiful as an angel, stretched out her arms, and caught me within them.' Now, continued the Doctor, these are precisely the places where the dear child's corpse will remain on this and the sncceeding night before we reach his mother's vault, which is finally to receive it.' "I make no further remark on this singular narrative, than to assure the reader of my own solemn belief of the truth of all its particulars." Now most auspiciously for the cause of historical Jervis, the tutor, yet lives, and truth, Mr. having had his attention called by a friend to this passage, he has most properly exposed the character of the story, which appears, in his hand, as our readers will perceive by the following extract, to be one of the most complete specimens of story-making that ever came under the observation of the public. "It is not a little remarkable that this strange story, having no foundation but the slender and fallacious grounds of vague fancy and report, should have been brought forward, though in this ' questionable shape,' under the sanction of a writer of acknowledged intelligence and taste; who gravely assures us of his own solemn belief of the truth of all its particulars.' "Mr. Warner states his account as, related to him in the first instance by the Rev. Joseph Townsend, rector of Pewsey, in Wiltshire.' The writer of these remarks was well acquainted with Mr. Townsend, and highly esteemed him as a man of great worth and respectability, of various and extensive information, particularly on subjects of natural science and philosophy. But those who knew him best, and respected him most, will allow, that the ardour and enthusiasm of his nature predisposed him to entertain some visionary and romantic notions of supernatural appearances. Mr. Townsend was, on various occasions, a visitor at Bowood; but the present writer has no recollection of his having been there about the period when these extraordinary occurrences are said to have taken place; he therefore must also have received them as matter of hearsay and doubtful report. Be this as it may, it is now too late to institute an inquiry. This worthy man has long been gone to that land of darkness and oblivion, whence none return, and whither all must go.' "The author has faultered even on the threshold of his details, by mis-stating the address, designation, age, and disorder of the young nobleman who forms the immediate subject of his narrative, whom he styles Lord William Petty, third son of the Marquis of Lansdowne.' The Earl of Shelburne, afterwards created Marquis of Lansdowne, had, by his first marriage, with Lady Sophia Carieret, daughter of Lord Viscount Granville, only two sons, viz.: John Henry, Lord Viscount Fitzmaurice, and the Honourable William Granville Petty. His Lord ship's third son was the offspring of his second marriage, with Lady Louisa Fitzpatrick, daughter of the Earl of Upper Ossory, the present Marquis, now a distinguished member of His Majesty's Government, who succeeded to the title on the demise of his brother John Henry, the late Marquis. their preceptor, to conduct and maintain. "After all, these are circumstances of trivial importance, further than as they may be considered strong indications of the very slight evidence upon which the whole story has been received. "The reader will be no less surprised, when he is informed, that the particulars of a conversation which is said to have passed on the road, (not to Wickham, but to High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire,) are as idle tales,' wholly without foundation. The fact is, that neither Dr. Priestley nor Mr. Jervis attended the funeral; the former continued with his family, and the latter remained with his surviving pupil at Bowood, now severed from his brother by the hand of death,- one taken and the other left;' while the remains of the much lamented deceased were conveyed to Wycombe, and deposited near those of his excellent mother, in the family vault. "The subject of that supposed conversation is equally remote from truth no communication of the nature alluded to was ever made to Mr. J. on this or any other occasion; and such was the free and friendly intercourse subsisting between these two gentlemen, that had such a circumstance occurred to either, it would have been unreservedly imparted to the other. It is stated in the account, that as Dr. Priestley was passing the chamber door of the young and interesting sufferer, he was called into his room, and cheerfully accosted by him.' To this it may suffice to observe, that Dr. Priestley had no apartments in the mansion at Bowood, nor was he ever accustomed to sleep there; but resided in a house at Calne. It may also be confidently asserted, that Dr. Priestley never saw Mr. Petty during his short and fatal illness. In justice to this truly enlightened and upright man, let me add, that his cheerful temper, his calm philosophic tone of mind, would not easily be mis-. led by the weakness of credulity, or the delusions of a morbid and distempered imagination. "The Honourable William Granville Petty finished his short career of life not in the eighth, but in the tenth year of his age, when the dawn of reason held out the early promise of a bright intellectual day, and disclosed a splendid prospect of blooming virtues, and the fondest hopes. It is next said, this young gentleman rode before the gamekeeper, with his waistcoat open and chest exposed; and "There is yet another instance in this that inflammation of the lungs was the remarkable case, where the testimony of immediate consequence.' In this there a medical man is brought forward as is a material deviation from the fact. irresistible evidence. It is stated that The complaint which terminated so fa- Mr. Alsop's treatment promised a fatally, was inflammation-not of the lungs, vourable result; and after a few days but of the bowels of the other circum- he left his patient, in the forenoon, apstances in that account, it will be a suffi-parently out of danger. Towards evencient refutation to add, that such occurrences were wholly incompatible with the plan of personal and domestic discipline which, as well as the studies of his pupils, it was the province of Mr. Jervis, N. S. NO. 92. ing, however, the symptoms becoming decidedly worse, the family were alarmed; and Mr. Jervis thought it right to call for Mr. Alsop's immediate assistance; and, on this his last visit,' a re3T |