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cess to God with freedom and confidence, yet they are exhorted to serve God with fear and rejoice with trembling, Psal. ii. 11. Justice and judgment are the estab

go before his face; so that while his people rejoice in his name all the day, they also see that he is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of them that are about him, Psal. lxxxix. 7, 14, 16.

that none can approach unto a holy God, 3. The grace of the gospel teaches us stand before him, or have acceptance with him, in any of our services but through a mediator, and the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel."

in the coming of the Messiah, and in the blessings of his kingdom, "the children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days." Hos.lishment of his throne, mercy and truth iii. 5. Not only his infinite greatness, justice and holiness, but his goodness affords us the strongest motives for reverence and godly fear; from this arises the deepest sense of our obligation to love and gratitude, and consequently of the guilt of sin and evil of rebellion. But this is not all. As the greatness of his goodness must necessarily aggravate the guilt of rebellion, so must it in proportion heighten its punishment. Injured and despised love and goodness will at last break forth in the fury of jealousy, and in the consuming fire of indignation to devour the adversary, Heb. x. 26-32, This the Scripture every where holds forth, and particularly the text, which exhorts us to hold fast grace that we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, from this consideration, that our God is a consuming fire. The Lord does not leave our compliance with the gospel merely to the generosity and gratitude of the human heart; for however noble these principles are, yet the hearts even of believers themselves are not al

ways under their vigorous influence. In short the human heart is not so generous and grateful in this imperfect state as many imagine, and he must be a stranger to his own heart that does not feel this. We need therefore to have our fears as well as hopes stimulated, and the grace of the gospel affords sufficient motives for both. An apprehension of danger and due concern for our own safety is therefore one ingredient in godly fear.

2. The gospel not only gives us the clearest view of the divine character, but also of our own. It opens up our meanness and lowness as creatures, and our guilt and pollution as sinners in the strongest point of view. It shews us that we are altogether hopeless and helpless in ourselves, dead in trespasses and sins, and unable to do any thing to please God, and that all our righteousnesses are as filthy and abominable rags in the sight of a holy God. The whole plan of divine grace shews this, which is all calculated to abase the creature and exalt God, Isa. ii. 10-18; to empty us of pride and selfrighteousness, and to lead us to glory only in the Lord, 1 Cor. 1. 27-31. This humility and self-abasement is another great ingredient in reverence and godly fear. And therefore we must hold the grace of the gospel whereby we may be delivered from pride and self-righteous ness in God's service. The parable of the Pharisee and the publican shews the difference of a presumptuous service, and the service recommended in the text, Luke xviii. 10-15. Rev. iii. 17. Though the subjects of Christ's kingdom have acVOL. III.

The length of this quotation, the whole of which appeared to us too important to admit of abridgment, prevents us from indulging our readers this month with Mr. M'Lean's illustration of some passages in this Epistle which are generally thought to be peculiarly difficult: such, for instance, as Heb. vi. 4-7. ch. vii. throughout. ch. ix. 15-17. ch. x. 29. and several others that have greatly perplexed the Commentators; but we must desist. Possibly on some future occasions we may revert to the volume, and gratify our readers with a few interesting extracts from it. In the mean time, however, we feel it a duty imperious upon us, to recommend the work in the most pressing manner, to universal attention; but more especially to the notice of those who are engaged in the ministry of the Gospel. If they would attain enlarged views of the economy of redemption, have their minds fortified against the soul-destroying errors of Socinianism, and become able ministers of the New Testament, we scarcely know a publication in our language, large or small, which is better calculated to effect these high ends, than this Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. We lament, indeed, to see the work so badly printed; but the second volume has been issued from the press since the author's decease, and therefore he is not answerable for its imperfections of this kind.

Sermons by the same author, with An Octavo Volume of posthumous some account of his Life, &c. has just made its appearance, and we may probably give some report of it in a future number.

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Religious and Literary Entelligence.

BAPTIST MISSION TO INDIA.

Having briefly adverted in our last two numbers to the interesting Report of the present state of this Mission, we now embrace the first opportunity of presenting our readers with some farther extracts from it.

SERAMPORE and CALCUTTA.-In consequence of political arrangements, the settlement of Serampore has reverted to the Danish government. This circumstance, however, has not affected the comfort or security of our brethren in the slightest degree.

It is known that brethren Lawson and Eustace Carey have been ordained copastors of the large and increasing church at Calcutta. They appear to have entered on their work with right views of its importance, and of the means suited to carry on their great design. To improve the minds of their younger members, they have instituted a select religious library; and to accustom them to deeds of Christian benevolence, they have formed a society for visiting and relieving the poor, to be called the Juvenile Charitable Institution, Several additions have been made to their number, both of Europeans and natives; and the same system of incessant labour, in publishing the word of life in various directions, principally by means of the brethren raised up in the country, appears to be continued.

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CUTWA The intelligence from hence is highly satisfactory. Mr. W. Carey has had several additions from the natives around him, and expected shortly to baptize a person of considerable eminence and respectability, who stood firm to his purpose of professing Christ, though hundreds of his countrymen had attempted to dissuade him from it. A brother who lately visited this station remarks, "Never was my faith in the mission raised so much as since I have been at Cutwa. All I see, and all I hear, tends to confirm me in the idea that Satan's kingdom in this country will soon be much diminished." The inhabitants of this populous and extensive district are eager to obtain Gospels and tracts; and from various quarters Mr. Carey has received pressing applications for the establishment of new schools. His efforts in this department have, however, been unavoidably restricted by a want of the necessary funds.

VANS-VARIYA,-At this village which is no great distance from Serampore, where a little company, formerly heathens, are united in the bonds of the gospel, we learn that the affectionate zeal of

Tarachund, their minister, appears to suffer no diminution. Some brethren who had lately paid him a visit reported, that he had almost every evening visitors of all casts, with whom he read and conversed on the things of the kingdom of God. It was vain, they said, to expect time for sleep, as almost all the night is spent in reading, singing, and religious conversation. This brother spends nearly all his salary in promoting the gospel, reserving scarcely any part for himself. He has composed a number of Bengalee hymns, which have been printed at Serampore, and which have excited considerable attention among the natives.

CHITTAGONG.-Very encouraging ac counts have been received of the progress of the gospel among the Mug nation, in the vicinity of Chittagong. Not less than fifty of these people appear to have made a profession of Christianity; and that under circumstances very painful and trying. Considerable persecution has been excited against them, but hitherto they have stood firm. One among them, named Khepoo, who had suffered much, being asked what he had gotten by becoming a Christian? replied by describing the great sufferings of Christ for him, and said that Christ would give him a hundred fold more than he had lost. Opposition, however seems to have created additional interest in the gospel. One of the head priests among this people had declared his belief in the scriptures, and that he would be guided by them. As one proof of his sincerity, he has cut down the sacred trees he formerly worshipped, and made seats of them for people to sit upon and hear the word of the living and true God.

DIGAH. We have great pleasure in stating that our brethren Moore and Rowe, who have long occupied the station at Digah, have been much encouraged of late by growing success. Various pleasing additions have been made to this little church from among the natives, but the word has been more peculiarly owned to the conversion of many of our own countrymen, chiefly in the army. One letter mentions twenty-four of these who had openly professed their love to Christ, and we learn that several others had subsequently followed their example. Among these have been some persons of high respectability, who have since shewn a most laudable zeal to establish schools, and further the work among the natives. Indeed, the spirit which pervades the letters of the European converts in general, is such as leads us to hope that, by

of W. Tolfrey, Esq. a gentleman who applied himself to the language with great success, and had made considerable progress in preparing a version of the New Testament in it, but whose labours, we regret to add, have been recently termi

their means, great good will be effected; that, in blessing them, the Lord hath designed to make them blessings. Of this, the following extracts from a letter written by an officer in the army will be deemed a pleasing specimen: "It lately appeared to me a duty I had long neg-nated by his death. It should appear, lected, to try to acquire a knowledge of however, that at present the Portuguese the Hindee. The souls of my servants is the most useful language in Columbo; also appeared to me to be calling on me in which onr brethren preach alternately for the performance of my duty as a at the Grand Pass, and have had the most master. I have been enabled to make encouraging evidences that they have not these exercises of my mind a matter of preached in vain. Here also they have daily prayer; and in my present letter I established a school, in which upwards of purpose informing you of the commence- fifty children are instructed both in Enment of my labours among the heathen.glish, and in the Cingalese. "It is proLet me, in the first instance, intreat your prayers that I my go forth in the strength of the Lord; and that his glory and the love of souls may be my only motives. This morning, for the first time, I spoke of soul concerns to a poor invalid Sipahee: he talked a great deal of the number of his books, &c. I asked him if all put together would teach him how his sins could be pardoned, and God remain a just Judge? After a little time he acknowledged they would not. When I was going away, he said, 'Surely, Sir, if you know the way in which sin may be pardoned, you will not go away, and leave me in ignorance.' I told him I would not, (if spared) but would endeavour to point him to the true way. I spoke to one of my servants, and read the sixteenth of Matthew to him; he understood every verse plainly, so that I hope soon to commence more openly. This man was very attentive, and when I talked about sin, he acknowledged his ways that they were not good, on which I shewed him how sin could be pardoned and God be just and true. My pundit, poor man, thinks himself without sin; and when I spoke of a Saviour, he told me he would be useful to them that had been sinners. Another old Sipahee with whom I conversed, says, he is sure he has sinned against God; that he knows not the way to obtain pardon; nor could his religion shew him the way.

COLUMBO.-At Columbo, in the island of Ceylon, many circumstances conspire to encourage the hope that the Lord is about to arise and prosper the work of his servants. Several persons have been added to the little church there; among others, a Boodhist priest has renounced his idolatries, and been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Mr. and Mrs. Griffiths, who were sent to this station in December last, have safely arrived; and Mr. Siers, who has long aided brother Chater in preaching, has been solemnly ordained to the work of the ministry, and appears to engage in it with all his heart. Mr. Chater has also made some progress in translating the book of Psalms into the Cingalese. In this undertaking he derived much assistance from the friendship and advice

bable," say the missionaries, in a recent, and yet unpublished communication, "by this attention to the rising generation we may, under a divine blessing, do more effectual good than in any other way; and we are unwilling to close our letter without just noticing that such is the need of missionaries in this island, that, till they are raised up on the spot, we scarcely expect to see any thing like a suitable supply. Between Columbo and Point de Galle, a distance of less than eighty miles (to say nothing of the newly acquired territories) there are no less than five places that ought each of them to be occupied by two active missionaries. We have mentioned the still destitute state of the island, lest, as so many missionaries have been sent here, you should be induced to think we are over supplied." It is pleasing to subjoin, in connection with this statement, that a spirit of mutual harmony prevails between our brethren and the missionaries from other societies stationed at Columbo, which has led them in several instances to unite in their exertions to make known the word of life in the surrounding villages.

AMBOYNA.-The station at Amboyna, the most remote of all that have been planted in the eastern world, has not been left without tokens for good from the great Lord of the harvest. A gentleman of respectability in that island has seen the importance and necessity of salvation, not only for himself, but for others also. Under these impressions, he gave up his temporal prospects, and sailed for Bengal, to connect himself with the brethren there, and labour with them in the work of the mission. Subsequent advices from Calcutta mention that he had arrived there, and been added to the church at Serampore. Mr. Jabez Carey has been appointed to a seat in the college of jus tice, which, without materially infringing on his time, enlarges his means of usefulness. Considerable numbers of the Malay New Testament, have been advantageously distributed, and other publications are preparing for circulation among them. The schools continue to occupy a large share of Mr. Carey's attention. In returning from a late tour, undertaken for

the purpose of inspecting those established in the surrounding islands, he was in imminent danger of shipwreck, but that Being, whom the winds and waves obey. was pleased to preserve him. May it be to persevere in following the example of his beloved father; and, like him, to spend many years of usefulness in the church of God below.

We are informed that letters have been received from the missionaries within a very few days past, which communicate the pleasing intelligence of the continued life and health of all the missionaries (to the middle of February last) but that Messrs. Lawson and Carey had found it necessary to enforce scriptural discipline on several of the members of the church of Calcutta, who were walking disorderly, and that fears were entertained lest the leaven be not yet wholly purged out. Though this intelligence be, in one view, painful, it is only what may always be expected where, as in the case of this at Calcutta, a church increases rapidly, and a proper attention to discipline and order is regarded.

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Mr. Pinkerton has recently communicated from Warsaw the following authentic intelligence respecting the lamentable dearth of the scriptures in Poland. The extract is highly interesting and important, both in a literary and religious point of view.

"There have appeared, at different times, five translations of the Bible in the Polish language. The first is called the Old Cracow Bible, and was printed in this city in 1561. Many passages of this translation being taken from the Bohemian Protestant Bible, it never received the sanction of the Pope. However, it went through two other editions, in 1575 and 1577, both printed in Cracow. A copy of this version is now very rarely to be met with, even in the best libraries of the nation. The second version, which appeared in 1563, is called the Radzivil Bible. It has never gone through more than one edition. Prince Radzivil, at whose expense this translation was made and printed, was a Protestant: but he dying soon after its publication, his son, a Catholic, carefully bought up the edition, and burnt it! The third version, by Simeon Budney, is called the Socinian Bible. This translation went through two editions; the first in 1570, and the last in 1572; both printed at Nieswiez, in Lithuania. Of this version, it is said that only three copies exist, in distinguished libraries. The fourth translation into Polish is the Danzig Bible. This version was made and printed by the reformed church in Danzig, and has passed through

seven editions; viz. Danzig 1632, Am sterdam 1667, Halle 1726, Koenigsberg 1768, Koenigsberg 1799, and Berlin 1810. The first edition was, for the most part, burnt by Wonzek, Archbishop of Gnezin; and the Jesuits have always exerted themselves to buy up and destroy such copies of the other five editions as comé in their way; so that it is concluded that of the six editions of the Protestant Bible, printed between 1632, and 1779, at least 3000 copies have been thus wilfully de stroyed. The whole six editions, probably, did not amount to more than 7000 copies; so that if the copies which have been worn out by length of time were added to those which have been destroyed, it would be found, that (with the excep tion of the seventh edition, printed in Berlin, at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and consisting of 8000 copies,) the existing number of Bibles, among the 250,000 Protestants who speak the Polish language, must be very small. But, alas! how much smaller still is the number of copies which exist among the Catholics of Poland will appear from the following facts. The only au thorized version of the holy scriptures, in Polish, is that which was translated by Jacob Wuiek, approved by Pope Clement VIII. and first published in this city in 1599. The translation is considered, by competent judges, to be among the best European versions made from the Vul gate; and the language, though in some degree antiquated,is yet pure and classical.

"Such care, however, has been taken to keep even this authorized version of the holy scriptures from coming into the hands of the people, that it never was reprinted in Poland, and has undergone only two other editions out of the country

viz. at Breslau in 1740, and 1771. Now, the whole amount of copies in these three editions of the authorized Polish Bible, is supposed not to have exceeded 3000. Thus there have been printed only about 3000 Bibles in the space of 217 years, for upwards of 10,000,000 of Catholics, who speak the Polish language. Hence it is, that a copy is not to be obtained for money: and that you may search a hundred thousand families Galicia and Poland, and scarcely find one Bible."

Extract of a Letter from Halifax,
Nova Scotia.

I am happy to say, that notwithstanding the establishment of a school on the plan of Dr. Bell, that Institution has had little or no effect in reducing our number of scholars, although they profess to teach for half the money; on the contrary, our walls are ready to burst in consequence of the great influx of scholars; and I applied the other day to the Committee, to adopt ways and means for increasing

the building to double the size, but as they appear to have no funds, I doubt much whether I shall be able to succeed, as the pressure of the times is beginning to be felt here, as well as in England, and in other parts. The Society on Dr. Bell's plan are allowed the salary for a master, from the Parent Institution in England, but this is not the case with us, as my salary, and that of the mistress comes out of the annual income of the Donations and Subscriptions. Dr. Bell's, or the National School, now contains about 130 boys, so that between the two schools, I trust much good will be done. I have had several hints from the friends connected with the British and Foreign School Soeiety, that they would willingly grant pecuniary aid were it in their power, but having read in their Report how earnestly they are engaged in propagating the system in various parts of the world, I have been deterred from making an official application to them for relief, even in times of my most peculiar distress. I believe that had we not received the £200 from the House of Assembly, at its last sitting, the School must necessarily have fallen through.

I will thank you to mention to Mr. Allen, that the slate pencils sent by the late Mr. Fox, are all expended, and that they are a very expensive article here. I think you mentioned that he was one of the Secretaries, may I beg my Christian love to him, and mention that I trust the Lord is opening a way for me among the Indians. I hope the Society to which he belongs, will be able to select a proper person to succeed me in the Acadian School, if such a measure should become necessary. I have, however, the pleasure to say, that some of the head boys understand the new system perfectly, but as none of them exceed 12 or 13 years of age, they are consequently too young to take charge of schools. And I am sorry to say that the majority of teachers on the old plan, are either too indolent, or too prejudiced, to be useful in the new; indeed, as I before remarked in one of my reports, my having recommended Some of the old teachers to the country, when they attempted to introduce the new system, unfortunately brought it into disrepute for a time, so that I have come to a determination, to recommend none but those who will qualify themselves for such a task, and who shall prove themselves worthy of encouragement.

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and give them cloathing to shelter them from the inclemency of the ensuing winter. The Romish priest is much alarmed at our success, doing what he can to undermine our efforts, and has threatened the poor creatures with excommunication, &c. But God is making him an instrument in promoting his glory, as all his schemes tend only to disgust the Indians against him.

Perhaps you may be informed of the opposition made in the House of Assembly to our application in March for pecuniary aid, and a road to the Indian Settlement-yet our benevolent governor sent a special message to the House, for the necessary supply, which he readily obtained; viz. £250, for the purchase of seed, potatoes, &c. for the whole of the Indians throughout the province,-£50 of which his lordship has directed to be laid out for our settlement, exclusive of £50 for making a road. And in the distribution particular caution is taken not to allow the priests to interfere with us, while certain sums are allotted for their distribution among other Indians."

This benevolent gentleman, who is ever aiming at the advancement of Christian knowledge, mentions also a circumstance which will be viewed with deep concern by every pious humble Christian.

"That the pews in the Methodist meeting are sold, to the almost total exclusion of the poor, and also the exclusion of the poor blacks, from the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, with the whites." We cannot think that such conduct will be countenanced by the Society of Methodists at home, and feel convinced they will use their endeavours as soon as it is pointed out to them, to remove an evil so much opposed to their general regard to the poor, and to the spirit of genuine Christianity.

ORDINATION.

On Tuesday last, (August 26th.) Mr. George Prichard was invested with the pastoral office, over the Baptist church in Keppel Street, in this city, formerly Mr. Martin's charge. The last mentioned minister, though still in life, has been now upwards of three years incapacitated for the discharge of the functions of the ministerial office; and during this long interval the church has been destitute of a pastor! Mr. Martin had laboured among them in the word and doctrine forty and three years, and though not peculiarly gifted for the station, the great Head of the church had signally blessed his ministry, so that the church at the time of his resignation, consisted, if we are rightly informed, of more than 300 members, of whom only one individual now survives, who belonged to it, when he first took the oversight. Happily, "after eating the bread of adversity, and drink

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