neglect to repair the damage, and thus an author is made responsible for words and sentiments which he never put together. It may be very true that the alteration is, in some cases, an improvement; yet we should ourselves prefer bearing the disgrace of having written a bad line, to the chance of being praised for good lines which were none of ours: and, excepting where the doctrine is so objectionable as to annihilate all sympathy between ourselves and the writer, we much prefer that devotional compositions should be left as their authors left them. There is a peculiarity in every man's way of viewing religious subjects, and the substitution of even one word for another is in some cases sufficient to diminish greatly the value of the whole. Why should Cowper's beautiful introduction of the solitary Bird of Night, in the Hymn, "Far from the world, O Lord! I flee," be made to give place to such a line as this, "There, in high ecstacy, she pours," &c. ? And why, above all, is Mrs. Barbauld's exquisite poem, "Sweet is the scene when virtue dies!" to begin, "How bless'd the righteous when he dies!"? And, if the two succeeding stanzas must be omitted, what hand has had the temerity to substitute for them the following? "A holy quiet reigns around, But Mr. Lewis prefers the following reading: "Unite us to each other, Lord, A calm which life nor death destroys; Nothing disturbs that peace profound, Which his unfetter'd soul enjoys." We leave our earthly care and fear; An anonymous Hymn, in the Norwich "Come to the House of Prayer," Not many alterations are introduced in such of Mr. Johu Taylor's beautiful Hymns as are reprinted by Mr. Lewis. What there are, however, are no improvements. But we wish that a charming Hymn of Sir J. E. Smith's could have been allowed to escape as well. We allude to No. 420 of the Norwich Supplement. In Mr. Lewis's Selection the first and second stanzas are omitted; the two next, as the excellent author wrote them, stand thus: "Still may thy children, in thy word, Their common trust and refuge see; O bind us to each other, Lord, By one great tie, the love of Thee ! Here, at the portal of thy house, "No balm that earthly plants distil Can soothe the mourner's smart, No mortal hand, with lenient skill, Bind up the broken heart;" is thus given "No earthly balm can heal this ill Or soothe the mourner's smart, No mortal hand, with lenient skill, Can bind the broken heart." We leave our mortal hopes and fears; Accept our prayer, and bless our vows, And dry our penitential tears." We should be sorry Mr. Lewis should understand these observations as implying a strong, individual censure upon himself. He has only done what numbers beside think themselves fully authorized to do, for the attainment of what they cousider to be a good, and many have taken far greater liberties. Nevertheless, holding it to be a sacred maxim, that we should not "do evil that good may come," we object to all such trespasses upon the identity of an author's property, and think they ought to be discouraged to the utmost of our ability. The writer of a hymn, like the writer of any other poem, would mostly, we should suppose, prefer doing his work alone. If others think they can improve upon his ideas, let them, wherever it can be done, make the suggestion with frankness, and trust to its being received in a right spirit; but let them beware how they meddle with the long treasured memorials of the dead, for, in so doing, they run a great risk of gradually lowering the reputation of a writer who has no longer power to redeem his fame from the feebleness, perhaps absurdity, they have indirectly helped to connect with it. ! ART. V.-Evangelical Tracts No. I. We wish to call the attention of our readers to this series of Tracts. The following announcement of his plan we give in the Editor's own words, express ing our hope, that such encouragement will be afforded by the public, as will enable him to carry it fully into effect. "Those who have engaged in the benevolent work of visiting the sick and the poor,-who are accustomed to observe family worship in their houses-to supply their inmates with useful reading -to foster the religious sentiments of their dependants-and, generally, to improve the opportunities which their station gives them of promoting piety and goodness, will often have felt the want of suitable compositions. This want it is proposed to supply, in the series of Tracts of which this is the commencement. The pieces published will be simple in their language, affectionate in their spirit, and practical and devotional in their tenor; in other words, such as may be put into the hands of domestics, poor neighbours, and workmen, or such as are fitted to be read in the family circle, or such as may exhibit to Christians at large the essential truths of the gospel as they are held by those who believe that the Father alone is the true God. As the sole object which he has in view is to do good, the Editor will be determined in the choice of what he publishes by a regard to the usefulness, rather than the originality of the compositions which he may have at his disposal. But while the series will, for the greater part, con-sist of reprints, it will also comprise original pieces. In order to be enabled to carry into effect the design now commenced, the Editor respectfully and urgently solicits the aid of the friends of Christianity. By using the tracts for the purposes for which they are designed, by pointing out tracts or passages of works worthy of republication, and by furnishing original compositions fitted for the proposed objects, they may render him important aid. "Communications addressed to the Editor of Evangelical Tracts,' to the care of T. Forrest, Printer, Market Street, Manchester, will receive attention." ART. VI. The Gifts of the Spirit. A PAMPHLET of few pages, and bearing a siniple title, but which has produced no small stir in the North; the production of Mr. Erskine, the author of several treatises of a Calvinistic character. The main object of this tract is to argue the probability of the continuance of the miraculous operatious of the Spirit in the Christian Church. Our author is not satisfied with the reasous commonly assigned for the belief that they have ceased to exist; such as, that the purpose of them was merely to put God's seal and sanction upon the canon of scripture; and that, therefore, when that canon was completed, they ought to cease, as having answered their purpose; and 2ndly, that as they were in the primitive times enforced by the laying on of the hands of the apostles, they necessarily ceased with the cessation of the apostolic office, "I now see another use of the gifts, namely, for edifying the body of Christ, and demonstrating the oneness of the body on earth with the glorified Head in heaven."-P. 5. In proof of this view of the spiritual gifts he refers to the following passages: Rom. xii. 3-8; 1 Cor. xii, xiii, xiv. ; Eph. iv. 4-16. "If miracles were intended to have ceased, I cannot but wonder at the following statements, and others, being made so indefinitely-I mean so unlimitedly; referring to Matt. xvii. 19, 20; Mark xvi. 17, 18; Luke x. 19. The power is connected with faith, and not simply with the attestation of the truth. And that the gift of the Holy Ghost is not exclusively connected with the laying on of the hands of the apostles, appears from Paul himself receiving it by the laying on of the hauds of Ananias, Acts ix. 17; and from the falling of the Holy Ghost on the family of Cornelius, not by laying on of Peter's hands, 'but while he was yet speaking,' so that the cessation of the apostolic office does not necessarily imply the cessation of miracles." - P. 13. The application made of this doctrine is to certain pretensions to miraculous gifts, which, strange to say, have been recently made in the west of Scotland; and which Mr. Erskine, in whose pamphlet we see proofs of a sincere sense of religion, and considerable cultivation of mind, believes to be well founded. Some particular examples are given in the pamphlet which is next noticed. Mr. ERSKINE, the author of the preceding tract, has recently adopted, it seems, some modification of his religi. ous opinions, which has set the regular orthodox in array against him. This might be well enough. A great divergeuce from the truth has sometimes only to be continued to approximate to more rational and sober sentiments. Thus, however, it is alleged that miraculous evidence has in our days been afforded in favour of this peculiarity of theological doctrine. Two cases have been proposed as satisfactory instances of this divine interfer ence. "A young person of the name of Campbell, occasionally, in certain moments of inspiration, seizes the pen or pencil, and writes like lightning a number of unknown characters or figures, which have been affirmed by some persons to be Persian, by others Chinese, by others Japanese, and by some to be most probably one of the languages of the interior of Africa. But be they what they may, they are declared to be a writ ing of an unknown tongue, under the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit, and a proof that God is with his people of a truth." The second case is this: that evening a most wonderful answer to prayer; for that previously to the meeting being assembled, she had retired with a young friend, and prayed for an increase of faith and holy boldness, and that the shout of a king might be in the midst of them; 'and you see, Sir,' she continued, in the interpretation now given, what a wonderful testimony we have received.' 'This young person, it must be observed, however, was the sister of the man Macdonald who had received the gift; and whom, according to their own account, only a few days before, he had raised from a bed of sickness by an instant command to rise."P. 7. This case, taken with all its peculiar features, was so satisfactory to the two gentlemen, that they considered all the miracles of the New Testament to be not more satisfactory than this coiucidence of expression: they considered it to be a commanding miraculous testimony which ought to be implicitly received. "At a prayer-meeting in Port Glas- Mr. Craig has very successfully shewn the entire absence of all suitable evidence of miraculous interference in these cases. With reference to the writing of Miss Campbell, the declaration of Professor Lee, of Cambridge, to whom a fac-simile had been sent, is given in this pamphlet, that in his judgment it contains neither character nor language known in any region under the sun.' There is an important lesson which may be learned from such occurrences, which is very necessary for those who incline to fanaticism, and that is, concerning the use of reason in matters of religion. ART. VIII.- The Season of Autumn, The Livingness of the Departed. THESE Sermons are both characterized, the first in an eminent degree, by those beauties of thought and style, of sentiment and imagery, which our readers know Mr. Johus to possess. We regret in both an occasional remoteness of allusion, the introduction of which is more allowable in a poem than in a sermon; and an occasional attempt at the coinage of expressive words, which is not expedient in either. But these are foibles on which we are not disposed to dwell in a writer who lays hold upon our sympathies as Mr. Johus does. And there are, moreover, in harmony with that pervading tone of piety and goodness which is the vitality of a sermon, other qualities of a higher value than those which we have just specified. There is a courage and a pathos in these discourses which we feel to be creditable to the head and heart of the writer. He excels in the delicate, soothing, and useful management of the appropriate topics of a funeral sermon; it is by such hands "that the stones of all our human graves may be piled into a tower whose top shall reach unto heaven" (vide 2nd Sermon, p. 22); and while his character of Mr. Madge, the late patriarch of the Crediton congregation, is a touching portrait of one who 'being dead yet speaketh' by the remembrance of an old age of piety and worth, that of Mr. Hazlitt is the production of a poetical, a patriotic, and a Christian spirit; it is the manly discharge of a debt of justice and gratitude to the memory of one who was out of grace with the world and the church; it is marked by justice, discrimination, and feeling; it is "beautiful and brave." We regret that we cannot make room for some passages which we had purposed to extract. GENERAL LITERATURE. ART IX.- The Present State of Aus tralia; a Description of the Country, its Advantages and Prospects with reference to Emigration, and a particular Account of the Manners, Customs, and Condition of its Aboriginal Inhabitants. By Robert Dawson, Esq., late Chief Agent to the Australian Agricultural Company. THE next thing to the personal enjoy ment of the cloudless skies and sunny prospects of a southern climate, is to read of them in such a book as this of Mr. Dawson's, where, without being convicts, we may enjoy in fancy all the charms of that paradise of evil-doers, New South Wales. The author's pursuits led him repeatedly into the wildest paths of this unfrequented region. The whole country presents the appearance of a vast forest, occasionally broken into glades and vistas of great beauty. "The hills are every where clothed with wood to their summits, with eternal verdure beneath them, in their natural state, unaccompanied by brush or underwood, so that we are often reminded of gentlemen's pleasure grounds seen from a distance."-" I could discern, to a considerable distance, the bendings of the stream, which was marked by a fringe of casurino and mimosa plants. The sun was just receding behind the western ranges, which on that side bounded this comparatively extensive plain. The beautiful effect of its departing rays, as reflected from the opposite hills and broken ranges in the distance, formed a magnificent picture. The stillness of the scene was only interrupted by the chirping of grasshoppers, and the grazing of the horses upon the luxuriant herbage at a short distance from the tent."-Pp. 52, 190. Alone, with the exception of a few attendants, he met the native savages, of whom we have heard so formidable a description; and here we have, perhaps, the most interesting portion of the work, an impartial and picturesque account of the aborigines of the country: "The natives are a mild and harmless race of savages; and when any mischief has been done by them, the cause has generally arisen, I believe, in bad treatment by their white neighbours. They have usually been treated in distant parts of the colony as if they had been dogs, and shot by convict servants, at a distance from society, for the most trifling causes. The natives complained to me frequently that 'white pellow' shot their relations and friends, and shewed me many orphans whose parents had fallen by the hands of white men near this spot. They pointed out one white man, who they said had killed ten; and the wretch did not deny it, but said he would kill them whenever he could.""Their painted bodies, white teeth, shock heads of hair; their wild and savage appearance, with the reflection of the fire in a dark night, would have formed a terrific spectacle to any person coming suddenly and unexpectedly upon them. They are, however, one of the best-natured people in the world, and would never hurt a white man if treated with civility and kindness." Pp. 57, 68. Most of this gentleman's attention appears to have been given to the observation of the capabilities of the climate and soil of the colony for rearing sheep for the production of wool; and the result, in his opinion, is, that the fleeces of New South Wales might, under good management, compete with the finest productions of Europe. ART. XI-The First Lesson Book for A SPELLING-BOOK on the Hamiltonian system! "With double translation"? Not exactly, but pure Hamiltonian, "How so"? You learn to spell by learning to read, and you are strongly advised to learn to read before you learu your letters. A b, ab, and eb, eb, are gone to the shades, and there is to be no such thing as a column of hard words left in the land. It is certain that spell ing is a great mystery. Very few people can spell but the printers; and there is no reason to suppose that every embryo printer has had a double portion of hard words before he was breeched. Then at young ladies' schools in the "do it." last generation, how many columns of MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE. SIR, trinitarians. To the Editor. Inquiry respecting Continental Anti- and again, "the remains of this unfortunate community are at this day (1777) dispersed through different countries, particularly in the kingdoms of Prussia, the electorate of Brandenburgh, and the United Provinces, where they lie more or less concealed, and hold their religious assemblies in a clandestine manner." In "Poland" also, Dr. Toulmiu asserts, that Socinian churches were in IN Dr. Toulmin's Life of Socinus, pp. 275, 276, I learn that "the posterity" of many of the Socinians who were bawished from Poland, "still subsist" in "Silesia, Brandenburgh, and Prussia;" |