Page images
PDF
EPUB

cal works exist, conducted on evangelical principles, and with learning, wisdom, and ability. Besides the Bergedorf Messenger,* there are the Repository of Clerical Correspondence, by the Rev. C. P. H. Brandt, pastor of Windsbach, in Bavaria, begun about seven years ago, and published weekly; the Mission Paper of Calw, Wurtembergh, once a fortnight; the Lutheran Church Journal, by Dr. Hengstenberg, begun July 4, 1827, and published twice a week, at Berlin; the Literary Indicator of Christianity and Theological Science, by Dr. Tholuck of Halle, every five days, begun with the present year: and there are others, which we know only by seeing them occasionally cited or referred to. At the same time, the periodical literature on the side of the Neologists, Anti-supranaturalists, or Rationalists, is extensive and powerful.

We propose occasionally, as opportunity may be afforded, to translate brief articles from all the works abovementioned. The following is from the Bergedorf Messenger for Jan. 21st, 1832.

"Professor E. F. Hopfner, of Leipzig, has published a dissertation to show that the opposition to the gospel in our days is far greater than it was at the time of the Reformaton.

"He supports this thesis on the following grounds.

I. That Luther found in the minds of men generally, a belief in the Scriptures as the Word of God; a foundation on which he could stand and enjoy firm footing; but this is now wanting.

"2. That Luther had, indeed, many and gross errors to contend against; but not a so-called Polite Christianity, [or Religion.] "3. That Luther had, indeed, many and mighty enemies to encounter; but not the poison of circulating libraries, newspapers, and periodical writings of all sorts.

"Is the Professor mistaken? Read his books, and weigh his arguments-intelligent, perspicuous, attractive, brief, and conclusive." J. P. S.

The Niger-Some singular circumstances are connected with the two great rivers of Africa, the Nile and the Niger. The sources of the Nile were for centu

ries a geographical mystery, till Bruce discovered them in the last century; and the outlet of the Niger, has been discovered in the last year, by the brothers Richard and John Lander. On the Nile, civilization was carried to a great extent, in a remote antiquity. The wealth and the knowledge of the world was confined to its banks, but it was reserved for a traveller in the eighteenth century to stand by its fountains. The Niger runs through fer

[ocr errors]

Bergedorf is a village or small town, near Hamburgh.

Ch. Adv.-VOL. X.

tile and populous countries: it is the great highway of perhaps a thousand independent states; large cities lie upon its banks; the caravans from the Barbary states approach it; yet two years ago, the very course in which it run, eastward or westward, was a secret. Park followed it, "flowing majestically to the eastward," but the Landers traced its lower part after it had made its turn to the west, to the gulf of Benin, where, by numerous channels, it enters into the Atlantic Ocean.

Until this discovery, some supposed the Niger to be no other than the main branch of the Nile, and others believed that its waters were lost in the sands of a desert, or evaporated from the surface of a wide lake. The ancients did little in the way of discovery. Their only expeditions of discovery were their military campaigns. Few single travellers endured hardships, and braved death in various forms, to gra tify a restless curiosity, or bring back tidings of an "undiscovered country." The moderns, however, have left little to be discovered, and when the great problem of the north-west passage shall be solved, there will be no ground for any expeditions but those of conquest. The English not only discover, but colonize. A crowded population at home leads them to draw much of their wealth from distant settlements. They occupy, in every continent, but in Africa the least. The discovery, however, of the outlet of the Niger, will soon be made to advance the wealth of Great Britain. Western Africa is well placed for her commerce, and the establishment of trading posts up the Niger, will enable her to supply the interior of Africa with the goods that now come in the tedious way of caravans from the Barbary cities. The supply of useful and fanciful articles will lead to increased industry in Africa, for exchanges. The most valuable products will be ivory and gold; but cotton and other commodities, manufactured or consumed in Great Britain, may be raised to any extent when they can be sold. The commerce in slaves will

be destroyed, and the petty wars, for kidnapping, will cease.

The Landers describe the Niger as offering great variety of scenery. In some places mountains rise abruptly from the banks; in others a fertile country is well cultivated, and towards the sea, the land is so flat, that it is often overflowed.

Various tribes are found in the course of it; some kind, timid, and hospitable; others ferocious and warlike. Numberless large towns and villages were passed by the travellers, and various nations, hardly known to each other, and speaking no common language. The general disposition of the people was gentle and indolent, and the females often shed tears over the

3 A

sufferings of the travellers. The religion is that kind of idolatry which is called Fetishism, though Mohammedanism is gradually encroaching on it. The Landers had the usual share of the hardships of African travellers, and more than the usual

share of dangers. There were several times when it seemed that life, and all trace of the travellers must inevitably be lost, and the reader is for a moment surprised, that they survive to relate the story. Boston Courier.

Keligious Intelligence.

In our last number we inserted an acccount of the opening of the 28th anniversary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Within a few days we have received a copy of THE REPORT made at that meeting. The statement of the facts and circumstances relative to the distribution and circulation of the Bible in France, is full of interest. It stands foremost in the Report; the introduction to which also alludes to facts which the friends of the Bible cause in this country may be glad to know. We take the Report as it stands, and give as much this month as our space will permit-more hereafter

In rendering up the trust confided to them at the last Annual Meeting, your Committee are thankful, that while they are under the necessity of adverting to a few things of a painful character that have occurred, in the course of their proceedings, they have, at the same time, innumerable reasons for feeling and expressing the most lively gratitude to Him whom, in administering the affairs of the Society, it has been, they trust, their humble but sincere desire to serve. It cannot but be painful to them to state that the decision of the last Annual Meeting to adopt the views contained in the Report, by which the Society was left in its constitution such as it had been from the beginning, did not afford satisfaction to several friends of the Society, who have in consequence requested that the whole subject may be reconsidered.

Το

all such applications your Committee have felt it a solemn duty

to reply, that they did not deem it competent to them to re-agitate the matter, but that it was their duty to administer the affairs of the Society according to the laws, as they received them, and to deliver the Society up, as they now do, into the hands of the subscribers, without alteration.

It cannot but be painful to them to report that their conduct in this particular has occasioned some to withdraw from the Society altogether, and that a breach has thus been made, and division, to a certain extent, has spread. Nothing do they more unfeignedly desire than the repairing of this breach, and that the past being buried in oblivion, unity may again prevail among all those who have heretofore so harmoniously carried on, in connexion with the Society, the work of distributing the Scriptures.

From the views adopted in the last Annual Report your Committee have seen no reason to depart; though in making such a statement they desire to exercise that moderation which becomes all who are conscious of their own liability to err, and who know how to respect differences of judgment that may unhappily exist. If, on any occasion, in maintaining these views, they have spoken or acted in a manner inconsistent with the profession they have just made, they can only express their regret for having unintentionally wounded the feelings of any of the friends of the Society.

Your Committee cannot omit to acknowledge their gratitude to Him who maketh men to be of one

mind in a house, that among themselves a unanimity of feeling has prevailed, and that their proceedings through the year have been conducted in a spirit of love.

They cannot pass over all allusion to the valuable support they have derived from the concurrence of sentiment which has been expressed on the part of so many of the Committees of the Auxiliary and Branch Societies and Associations. Several of the communications which they have received have been the result of proceedings at public meetings, while in other cases the subject has been discussed in special committees, convened for the purpose, and attended more numerously than usual.

Your Committee would also express their gratitude for having been enabled to adhere to the example and practice of all preceding Committees, in abstaining from entering, as a Committee, into controversy. They have, on the other hand, to record with thankfulness, that a greater number of friends have voluntarily, and on their own responsibility, defended the Society, than ever appeared on any former occasion.

A debt of gratitude is also due to those friends of the Society, whether the authors themselves, or others, by whose private contributions the expense has been borne of the publications to which allusion has thus been made,-an expense, your Committee have been informed, exceeding £1000.

Less than the preceding remarks your Committee could not offer, with reference to the events that have occurred, familiar to all.— They would now only further intimate that the openings for the diffusion of the Scriptures have been usually numerous and interesting; and that with the exception of legacies which have fallen in, there has been an increase in the funds of the Society. Well may they,

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

The accounts of Professor Kieffer are regularly audited, and your Committee feel called upon publickly to express their obligations to those gentlemen who kindly undertake the office become now so laborious. His issues of books are likewise regularly verified every quarter, though an exception has occurred in the last. The cause of the exception will be seen in the following letter:

"These accounts ought to have been examined and certified by the auditors, and the warehouse ought also to have been inspected by them; but in the present melancholy state of this city, I could not summon up courage to request the auditors to spend three or four hours in the warehouse, which is exceedingly cold and damp, and that too at a moment when the cholera, and even death itself. I would taking the least cold is enough to bring on therefore hope that the Committee will be disposed to excuse me for having omitted for this once to adhere to the general cus

tom.

"The number of books distributed dur

ing that quarter has amounted to 60,879 copies, being 10,000 more than in the preceding quarter; and the total of books issued between the 1st April, 1831, and the 31st March, 1832, is 176,139 copies of Bibles and Testaments.

"Let us hope that the Lord may vouch

safe his heavenly blessing to this extensive circulation of his holy word, and move the hearts of many sinners, so that they may be converted, and cry out for mercy under the terrible visitations now sent upon them. He alone is our refuge, our hope, and our consolation. The cholera makes cruel ravages in my neighbourhood. The porter of my house is dead, and one of the servants is sick."

The allusion made by your Agent to that visitation which has fallen so heavily on the city of Paris, may well awaken various emotions. What ought not to be the gratitude of our own favoured country, so gently dealt with? What ought not to be the gratitude for the favour enjoyed of putting into circulation so large a body of copies of the Scriptures previous to so fearful a visitation?

Many of the above copies have been distributed in Paris itself, through the exertions of the friends who compose your Corresponding Committee in that city, and to whom a renewed expression of gratitude is due on the present occasion. One of them writes:

"The Bible sales in the streets of Paris go on at a remarkable rate. It is quite an occupation, independently of our usual engagements, to supply these colporteurs, as far as our share is concerned. Every day we have reports of a curious and interesting nature: as our men go up the streets, the people call from their shops, and are quite glad to be able to purchase their volumes.

*

#

They find young men anxious to possess the Scriptures; they assure me that they scarcely ever pass a corner of a street without placing one or more with the porters who are stationed there. If they are not all rich enough to purchase a twofranc Bible, they agree to lend one to each other till they can spare a sous to have one of their own."

The members of the Corresponding Committee have themselves received from the depôt and issued 20,659 copies in different parts of France, as well as aided Professor Kieffer with their advice in his large distributions.

The schools in numerous directions have required large supplies, which your Committee have not hesitated to afford, under a full conviction that they could not at present be obtained from any other

source. Of some of these schools

your agent writes:

has

"I have been informed by M. D—, teacher at N, that the rector of the academy of M was also willing to introduce the reading of the New Testament into all the schools within the superintendence of his academy. M. D requested to be furnished with a list of all these schools, and the number of pupils attending them. In the course of the week also I received the intelligence that the prefect of the department of L'Ointended to establish 150 schools for mu tual instruction in his department; and that he also was inclined to introduce the reading of the New Testament into them."

(To be continued.)

View of Publick Affairs.

EUROPE.

The latest European dates are from France, (Rochelle) of the 1st of July.-Paris papers of the 27th, and Bordeaux of the 29th, of June, have been received. From Britain, the most recent dates are from London of the 27th, and from Liverpool of the 28th, of June, both inclusive.

BRITAIN. The royal assent was given to the Reform Bill, on the 7th of June, and since that time the British Parliament has been busily occupied on several important subjects. In the House of Lords, at the date of the last accounts, a Bill to abolish the punishment of death in cases of forgery, and some other felonies, was undergoing a warm discussion. The Chancellor, Lord Brougham, was in favour of the measure, and Lord Tenterden, the present Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and Lord Eldon, were against it. In the House of Commons, the state of the Bank of England was under consideration. It appears that complaints against this great national establishment had been made by the country and private banks. A secret committee had been appointed; the governor of the Bank had been heard on one side, and the country bankers were about to be heard on the other. It was expected that a report would be made before the termination of the existing session of Parliament, which was not far

distant. Having settled the business of a Reform in Parliament, so far as England was concerned, the arrangements in regard to Scotland and Ireland were under consideration, and considerable difficulties were found to attend the making out of the details. Mr. O'Connel warmly contended for some points which the ministry were unwilling to concede. In anticipation of a new election, shortly to take place, for members of Parliament, agreeably to the principles and provisions of the Reform Bill, measures were taking with great zeal by the opposing parties, and candidates for seats in Parliament were offering themselves. A spirit of bitter hostility against the Lords who had opposed Reform, was still cherished by the populace; and the Duke of Wellington was assailed by a mob, as he was riding along the streets of London, on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, and insulted by hisses and groans, and pelted with mud. The police at length interfered, and escorted him to his residence at Apsley house. What a bubble is popular applause! and how soon are all services forgotten, when the wishes of the multitude are opposed! Sir Walter Scott had returned from Italy, whither he had gone for the recovery of his health, from the effects of a paralytick attack. He had received but little benefit by travelling, and the fatigue induced by haste in his way back, was supposed to have caused a fresh stroke of the palsy, under which he was languishing in London, and not expected to live many days, nor perhaps hours.

The occurrence of the most interest to the British publick, announced by the last advices, is an insult offered to the king, by a disappointed ex-pensioner; supposed to be insane by many, and whose act was certainly that either of a madman or a desperado. It took place at the Ascot races, on which the king, with the most of his royal household, were in attendance. An article in a London paper of the 21st of June, says" It will be seen that both Houses of Parliament agreed last night, unanimously, on an address to the king, on occasion of a brutal outrage offered to his Majesty's sacred person, at Ascot. If the whole nation could speak its feelings through such a channel, the address would contain one unmixed expression of disgust and horror." The same ardent language is held in a Liverpool paper. We must therefore afford space for the story, though rather long. It is as follows:

"ATTACK UPON THE KING.-We lament that we are under the necessity of noticing an atrocious outrage committed on the person of his Majesty, at Ascot Heath races, by a ruffian, who, instead of expressing any feeling of regret actually gloried in it. Immediately on the termination of the first race, his Majesty, who was at the window of the Royal Stand, was observed to start; on inquiry it turned out that a stone had been thrown, which had struck his Majesty's hat, fortunately without doing any injury; the stone struck our venerable sovereign on the forehead, just above the rim of the hat, which was fortunately on his head at the time. The sound was so loud, that the moment the stone reached its destination, it was distinctly heard throughout the room. The King was either stunned, or so much astonished at the moment, as to fall back two or three paces, and exclaimed My! I am hit! At this instant the same ruffian threw another stone, which struck the wood work of the window, and fell to the ground. Lord Frederick Fitzclarence was close to his Royal Parent, and, taking him by the hand, led him to a chair, inquiring with the utmost agitation, if he were injured? The Queen, Lady Errrol, and all in the room, were equally alarmed and horror-struck. Happily, his Majesty soon relieved their anxiety, and taking off his hat, and placing his hand on the spot where the blow had fallen, declared with a smile that he was unhurt! Providentially, his Majesty's hat preserved him from consequences which might otherwise have been most serious. The first moment of surprise and alarm being over, his Majesty received the affectionate congratulations of the Queen, and those by whom he was surrounded, while the Countess of Errol, (his daughter) burst into an agony of tears, and could with difficulty be persuaded that there was no further danger to be apprehended.

"While this painful scene was exhibited on the Royal Stand, the attention of the populace was directed to what was going on beneath. The ruffian had scarcely thrown the stones (which was the work of a moment) when he was seized by a gentleman, who afterwards proved to be Captain Smith, of the Royal Navy, a resident at Windsor, and by another gentleman named Turner, who had been a witness to the transaction. The Bow street officers, who were on the spot, rushed to their assistance, and Taunton and Gardiner conducted the now passive prisoner to the Magistrate's room under the Stand, contiguous to that of the King, where he was detained in proper custody till the subsequent examination. In little more than three minutes after the occurrence, the King rose from his chair and presented himself at the window. The moment it was seen that his Majesty was unhurt, a simultaneous shout of joy burst from all quarters, which was repeated when the Queen and Lord Fitzclarence presented themselves at the window. Three distinct cheers were then given with such enthusiasm, that the feelings of the populace could not be mistaken; there was a heartiness and sincerity in their expression, which left no doubt of the horror and indignation with which they viewed the dastardly attack."

« PreviousContinue »