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way, till all the people agree with the preacher. He gives no offence, and he does no good!

save

"But St. Paul united and blended love and zeal. He must win souls; but he will labour to do this by all possible lawful contrivances. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means some. Zeal, alone, may degenerate into ferociousness and brutality; and love, alone, into fastidiousness and delicacy: but the Apostle combined both qualities; and, more perfectly than other men, realized the union of the fortiter in re with the suaviter in modo."

In another part of the work, Mr. Cecil observes; "It is a foolish project to avoid giving offence; but it is our duty to avoid giving unnecessary offence. It is necessary offence, if it is given by the truth: but it is unnecessary, if our own spirit occasion it." "Our system of preaching must meet mankind: they must find it possible to live in the bustle of the world, and yet serve God: after being worried and harassed with its concerns, let them hear cheering truths concern. ing Christ's love, and care, and pity, which will operate like an enchantment in dispelling the cares of life, and calming the anxious perturbations of conscience. Bring forward privileges and enforce duties, in their proper places and proportions. Let there be no extremes yet I am arrived at this conviction ;-Men who lean toward the extreme of evangelical privilege in their ministry, do much more to the conversion of their hearers, than they do, who lean toward the extreme of requirement. And my own experience confirms my observation. I feel myself repelled, if any thing chills, loads, or urges me. This is my nature, and I see it to be very much the nature of other men. But let me hear, Return again to me, saith the Lord-I am melted and subdued."

Such are the sentiments of two divines, to which I shall subjoin

the testimony of a layman-the poet Cowper. "No man," says he, "was ever scolded out of his sins. The heart, corrupt as it is, and because it is so, grows angry if it be not treated with some management and good manners, and scolds again. A surly mastiff will bear, perhaps, to be stroked, though he will growl even under that operation; but if you touch him roughly, he will bite. There is no grace that the spirit of self can counterfeit with more success than a religious zeal. A man thinks he is fighting for Christ, and he is fighting for his own notions. He thinks that he is skilfully searching the hearts of others, when he is only gratifying the malignity of his own; and charitably supposes his hearers destitute of all grace, that he may shine the more in his own eyes by comparison. When he has performed this noble task, he wonders that they are not converted: he has given it them soundly; and if they do not tremble, and confess that God is in him of a truth, he gives them up as reprobate, incorrigible, and lost for ever.' But a man that loves me, if he sees me in an error, will pity me, and endeavour calmly to convince me of it, and persuade me to forsake it. If he has great and good news to tell me, he will not do it angrily, and in much heat and discomposure of spirit. It is not, therefore, easy to conceive on what ground a minister can justify a conduct which only proves that he does not understand his errand. The absurdity of it would certainly strike him, if he were not himself deluded."

These extracts I submit to the most serious consideration of all whom they may concern: and I trust that with some they may have their due weight and influence in producing a conciliatory strain of preaching, accompanied by a conciliatory manner; a mildness and forbearance entirely consistent with the strictest fidelity. A just picture of what a clergyman ought to

be in addressing his congregation is incidentally drawn by the poet just quoted, in the person of one "for years deserving honour, but for wisdom more."

"With a smile,

Gentle, and affable, and full of grace,
As fearful of offending whom he wish'd
Much to persuade, he plied his ear with

truths,

Not harshly thunder'd forth, or rudely press'd,

But, like his purpose, gracious, kind,

and sweet."

TASK, b. vi.

I add no other comment than an earnest exhortation to every minister of the Gospel of Peace; "Go, and do thou likewise."

CLEMENS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer,

IF you think the two following extracts, on the subject of sending the Gospel to the heathen, will either interest or benefit the readers of your publication, they are at your service. The former is taken from a sermon of Dr. Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, and the latter from Mr. Baxter's "Life and Times."

S.

"And he (Jesus Christ) came in a purpose (as we do piously believe) to manifest himself in the Christian religion to all the nations of the world; and therefore lætentur insulæ, says David, the Lord reigneth, let the islands rejoice; the islands which, by reason of their situation, provision, and trading, have most means of conveying Christ Jesus over the world. He hath carried us up to heaven, and set us at the right hand of God, and shall not we endeavour to carry Him to those nations who have not yet heard of His name? Shall we still brag that we have brought our clothes, and our hatchets, and our knives, and bread, to this and this value and estimation, amongst those poor ignorant souls, and shall we never glory that we have brought the naine and religion of Christ Jesus in esti

mation amongst them? Shall we
stay till other nations have planted
a false Christ among them? and
then either continue in our sloth,
or take more pains in rooting out a
false Christ than would have plant-
ed the true? Christ is come into
the world: we will do little, if we
will not ferry Him over, and pro-
pagate His name, as well as our
own, to other nations.”—Sermon
1618, from 1 Tim. i. 15.
preached at Whitehall, April 19,

"My soul is much more afflicted with the thoughts of the miserin desire of their conversion than able world, and more drawn out heretofore: I was wont to look but little further than England in my prayers, as not considering the state of the rest of the world; or if I

prayed for the conversion of the Jews, that was almost all. But now, as I better understand the case of the world, and the method of the Lord's Prayer, so there is nothing in the world that lyeth so heavy upon my heart as the thought of the miserable nations of the earth. It is the most astonishing part of all God's providence to me, that He so far forsaketh almost all the world, and confineth his special favour to so few; that so small a part of the world hath the profession of Christianity, in comparison of Heathens, Mahometans, and other infidels; and that among professed Christians there are so few that are saved from gross delusions, and have but any competent knowledge; and that among those there are so few that are seriously religious, and truly set their hearts on heaven. I cannot be affected so much with the calamities of my own relations, or the land of my nativity, as with the case of the Heathen, Mahometan, and ignorant nations of the earth. No part of my prayers is so deeply serious, as that for the conversion of the infidel and ungodly world, that God's name may be sanctified, and His kingdom come, and His will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Nor was I ever before so sensible what a

plague the division of languages was, which hindereth our speaking to them for their conversion; nor what a great sin tyranny is, which keepeth out the Gospel from most of the nations of the world."--Life and Times, book i. part I. sec. 23. He adds a remark highly to the credit of his candour and right feel ing, and which shews how forcibly real piety and zeal for the salvation of men tend to overcome those sectarian feelings and prejudices which divide the visible church of of Christ, and which were never stronger than at the period in which Baxter lived. "Could we but go," he remarks, 66 among Tartarians, Turks, and Heathens, and speak their language, I should be but little troubled for the silencing of eighteen hundred ministers at once in England; nor for the rest that were cast out here, and in Scotland and Ireland; there being no employment in the world so desirable, in my eyes, as to labour for the winning of such miserable souls; which maketh me greatly honour Mr. John Elliot, the Apostle of the Indians in New England, and whoever else have laboured in such work."

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

I WAS much pleased with the suggestion of a correspondent in your last Number, on the propriety of benefiting remote and uncivilized countries, by introducing useful animals and vegetables suited to their climate. Something has already been done in this way by Christian Missionaries, ancient and modern, yet, perhaps, more might often be effected without entrenching on their higher and more immediate duties, and also without any great sacrifice of expense or labour. Your correspondent may not, however, be aware of the frequent difficulties attending the process of naturalizing either animals or vegetables in a new climate. With regard to the latter, the modern

discoveries in chemistry, and the experiments which have been successfully made for forcing germination, have relieved a great part of the obstacle. It is not, I conclude, consistent with the object of your work to dilate much upon such subjects; but perhaps you would indulge me with a spare column for a short extract from Professor Willdenow's Botany, which may not be uninteresting to the general reader, and may convey some useful information to those whom it concerns. And let it not be forgotten, that he who made the world, and gave his Son to redeem it, is not inattentive to the lowest animal wants of his creatures; that he clotheth the lily, and feedeth the young raven, and has afforded an abundant supply of all that is necessary for the physical comfort of the human race; making even the very briars and thorns which followed the primæval transgression to become a benefit, by creating a salutary exercise and employment for a large portion of mankind, and thus preventing the indolence, lassitude, and vice which might have followed a state of uninterrupted ease and nauseating superfluity.

"It has long been known that every plant affects its own particular soil, and that on this account seeds do not germinate in all kinds of soil; at least they soon decay in a disadvantageous one. Various trials have been made to make seeds germinate in various matters, different from the usual earths. Sukkow made plants grow in pounded fluate of lime and barytes. Bonnet made plants grow in saw-dust, slips of paper, cotton, and even an old book. That cress (lepidium sativum) germinates upon a piece of woollen cloth, is a wellknown fact. M. Humboldt's experiments to make seeds germinatè in metallic oxyds, especially the red oxyd of lead, red massicot, &c. are more instructive. In powder of coal and sulphur, seeds germinated likewise very well. He found

that oxygen proved an extreme stimulus to plants, and that without it they never can be brought to germinate. On this account ger mination went on quickly in metallic oxyds, especially in minium. In oil, on the contrary, carbon, bydrogen, in the filings of lead, iron, and copper, as well as in powdered molybdene and in alkalis, no one seed germinated. It soon occorred to him, that with oxygen as a stimulant, be might forcibly make seeds germinate faster; and he actually found, that at the temperature of 20 deg. Reaum. all seeds vegetated most rapidly when steeped in oxymuriatic acid. One instance alone will suffice. The seeds of lepidium sativum germinated after six or seven hours, when put into oxymuriatic acid; whereas, when lying in common water, they require from 36 to 38 hours. In a letter, dated Feb. 1801, he writes to me, that in Vienna they derived much benefit from the discovery of this fact, and that seeds, 20 or 30 years old, brought from the Bahama Islands, Madagascar, &c. which constantly refused to germinate, very readily in this way vegetated and produced plants which grew up quite successfully. As every gardener cannot obtain the oxymuriatic acid, M. Humboldt proposes a very easy method to procure it without difficulty. He took a cubic inch of water, a tea spoonful of common muriatic acid, two tea-spoonfuls of oxyd of manganese; mixed them, and placed the seeds in them. The whole was then allowed to digest with a heat of 18-30 Reaum. In this the seeds germinated excellently; but it is necessary to take the seeds out as soon as the corkle appears. That the seeds are not injured by the acid, is proved by the many plants which have been treated in this way, under the inspection of Mr. Jacquin, and in which vegetation went on extremely well.

"It is the oxygen of the atmosphere which stimulates the seeds

to germinate; and this explains at once the experiment of Mr. Achard, why plants vegetate faster in very compressed air, than in air

in its common state.

"Besides oxygen, ammonia fa-:* vours the germination of seeds: hence, they germinate almost immediately, when placed in manure. In fluids which contain no oxygen, seeds will not germinate. Thus, they never germinate in oil, which consists of hydrogen and carbon."

To this I may add, that Professor Pohl, at Dresden, caused to germinate in oxygenated muriatic acid, the seed of a new kind of Euphorbia, taken from a collec-. tion of dried plants, 120 years old. Jacquin and Vander Schott, at Vienna, threw into this acid all the old seeds which had been kept 20 or 30 years at the Botanic Gar den, every previous attempt to produce vegetation in which had been fruitless, and their latent germinating powers were for the most part stimulated with success; even the hardest seeds yielded to the agency of this acid.

RUSTICUS.

QUERIES RESPECTING THE GYP-
SIES, AND THE ABORIGINES
OF NEWFOUNDLAND.

ACORRESPONDENT inquires, whe-
ther any measures have been adopt-
ed for instructing the Gypsies and
reclaiming them from their wan-
dering habits, in consequence of
the papers which appeared on the
subject in the Christian Observer
for 1815; and, if not, whether any
thing could yet be done for that
purpose.

Another correspondent is anxious to know what measures have been taken, either by government or inviduals, to instruct and Christianize the aboriginal inhabitants of Newfoundland, whose case was strongly noticed by Mr. Reeves, the judge of the island, in his evidence be fore a Committee of the House of Commons in 1793.

REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

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1. ACharge delivered at the Primary
Visitation of HERBERT Lord
Bishop of PETERBOROUGH,
in July 1820. 1820. pp. 38.
2. Remarks upon the Eighty-seven
Questions proposed by the Bi-
shop of Peterborough to Can-
didates for holy Orders, and
to those in Orders who apply
for a License to a Curacy. By
the Rev. JOSEPH WILSON,
A. M. 1820.
pp. 69.
3. A Refutation of the Remarks of
the Rev. Joseph Wilson, with a
brief Comment on the lead-
ing Tenets of the Calvinistic
Methodists. By a LAYMAN.
1820. pp. 59.

4. A Refutation of the Objections
advanced by the Rev. Joseph Wil-
son against the Bishop of Peter-
borough's Questions. 1820.
pp. 37.

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5. The Legality of the Questions
proposed by the Bishop of
Peterborough to Candidates
for holy Orders, considered as
usurping the Place of an esta-
blished Test. pp. 29.
6. A Reply to a Pamphlet entitled
"The Legality of the Ques-
tions, &c.' By a LAYMAN.
pp. 20.

1820.

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7. The Curates' Appeal to the E-
quity and Christian Principles
of the British Legislature, on
the Arbitrary Nature of the
Laws as they are now fre.
quently enforced against them.
1819. Pp. 177.

8. Hard Measure, or Cruel Laws
in Liberal Times, illustrated
in the Sufferings endured, and
the pecuniary Loss sustained
by the Rev. G. Bugg, A. B., in
three Dismissals from his Cu-
racies. Written by HIMSELF.
1820. pp. 46.
9. The Christian and Civic Eco-
nomy of Large Towns. By
THOMAS CHALMERS, D. D.

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THE Bishop of Peterborough is well known to the public from his various writings, and particularly for his zealous efforts to point out "the consequences of neglecting to give the prayer-book with the Bible." It was his lordship's deliberate opinion, that the Scriptures require a safeguard against the delusions of false interpretations ;" and "what better safeguard," he adds, guard," he adds, "can we offer than the Book of Common Prayer, which contains the doctrines of the Bible, according to its true exposition?" Unhappily, however, for his lordship's argument, the "Methodists," and "Calvinists," and "Evangelicals," had the effrontery to claim the Prayer-book for their own, as much as the Bible; and not a few, both of our clergy and best informed laity, thought they discovered the unmitigated hypothesis respecting original sin and justification exclusively by faith, with other obnoxious tenets, lurk ing in the very formularies which were to be a safeguard against such perversions. The Thirty-nine Articles, in particular, as being the embodied creed of the church, were frequently appealed to with confidence by many who differed widely in their opinions from the Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. What then was to be done? Nothing more easy only prepare a "safeguard" to the Articles, and if necessary a second safeguard to the first, and so on as the exigencies of the case may require the project will then be accomplished. Such a "safeguard" we have in the "eighty-seven questious" which have given rise to the

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