colony, to be instructed in reading, writing, and accounts, and also to be brought up in the Christian religion.

All these delightful prospects, however, were nearly destroyed by the hostile fleet of the French Convention, in September 1794. The French burnt all the public buildings, and the houses of the Europeans, after having plundered them of every thing valuable. Measures were taken by the directors to restore the colony, and to prevent all such calamities in future.

The Church Missionary Society commenced a Mission in 1804, by sending two German Missionaries to the Soosoo country and the Bullom shore, in the vicinity of Sierra Leone; and in 1806 they sent two more of these devoted men. Progressive advancement was made at Sierra Leone; and the Rev. Melville Horne, having returned from this colony, where he had been chaplain, preached for the Church Missionary Society the annual sermon in 1811; when, by his eloquent and faithful appeal, the directors were led to relinquish their former stations, and to determine on establishing a Mission at Sierra Leone.

Regent's Town, a part of which is represented in our engraving, is a principal station of the Society: it was commenced in 1813, when the negroes were in a most deplorable condition. In 1816, the assistant secretary of the Society, then on a visit to the Mission in Western Africa, found about 1100 liberated negroes collected at this spot. Many of them had only just been landed from slave ships, and were in a state of the most extreme wretchedness: but those who had been there for some time were improving, and the Governor had them employed in buildi. g a church, hoping soon to be favoured with a resident missionary. This desire of the governor was met in the appointment of Mr. W. Johnson, who had lately arrived for that field of labour.

The report of the Society states, "On looking narrowly into the actual condition of the people entrusted to his care, Mr. Johnson felt great discouragement. Natives of twenty-two different nations were here collected together, and were in a state of continual hostility. When clothing was given to them, they would sell it or throw it away. All the blessings of the marriage state and of female purity appeared to be quite unknown. In some huts, ten of them were crowded together; and in others, even fifteen and twenty: many of them were ghastly as skeletons; six or eight sometimes died in one day; and only sir infants were born during the year. Superstition, in various forms, tyrannized over their minds; many devil's houses sprung up; and all placed their security in wearing greegrees (or charms). Some would live in the woods; and others subsisted by thieving and plunder."

Mr. Johnson says, "Though I had heard much of the misery of the Heathen, I never could have imagined that they were so cruelly treated by slave dealers, as I found the poor creatures liberated from slave vessels had been." This devoted man gave himself to his arduous work, and soon saw the fruit of his toil. In 1820, the Report says, "A church had been building, which, when finished, contained 500. It was filled as soon as opened. It was then enlarged for 700; and was

again filled as soon as opened." One Sunday the Governor, seeing no room in the church, said, We must take one end of the church down, and make it as large again. This was done, and it now contains 1300 people; and, for two years, it has been crowded every Sunday three times a day."

Mr. Johnson, with Messrs. Flood and Palmer, was removed from his earthly scene of operations by a fatal disease, which visited the colony; at whieh period

the population amounted to about 17,000; and which was still increasing by the addition of negroes liberated from the slave ships. Three towns alone contained 5643 inhabitants, exclusive of the military. Schools have been established in the colony; in which were about 3000 scholars, including all ages, and both

sexes.

The Report of the Church Missionary Society for 1831, says of the West Africa Mission, "There were at the various settlements, according to the last Returns, 674 communicants; a number somewhat less than that of the preceding year." It adds concerning this difficult field of labour-"Taking all things into consideration-the ignorant state of the people when they arrive-the habits to which they were for many years addicted the frequent removals of those to whom they were accustomed as their spiritual pastors, either by death or by other providential circumstances -MUCH, VERY MUCH, has already been done in the colony, by the instrumentality of those frail men that have been employed in the work."

The Schools at this period contained 1351 boys, 778 girls, 231 youths and adults: total, 2360.

Besides this colony of Great Britain, it ought also to be remembered, that the American Colonization Society has founded the colony of Siberia, on the same coast; and that at several places along the western coast to the Cape of Good Hope, there are stations belonging to the Moravian, Wesleyan, Scottish, and London Missionary Societies; all of which are more or less the means of benefiting that deeply injured country with the increasing blessings of civilization and pure Christianity.

In our next Number we shall lay before our Readers some "Historical Notices of Negro Slavery," to which we claim their serious attention. It is high time for all who "profess and call themselves Christians" to bestir themselves on a question which involves the dearest interests of millions of the human race; and to lend their aid in removing from our beloved country a load of guilt, which must eventually bring down the vengeance of Him whose ears are ever open to the cry of the destitute and oppressed.

IMMORALITY OF THE WEST INDIAN SLAVE

HOLDERS.

NEGRO SLAVERY, we rejoice to perceive, is engaging the virtuous part of the British community to utter loudly an expression of abhorrence of its enormous crimi nality. We cannot stain our pages with a detail of the existing abominations which defile the West Indian islands; nor even hint at them," except so far as is necessary to illustrate the divinely beneficial labours of the injured Christian missionaries.

Dr. Williamson, a medical gentleman, who resided some years in Jamaica, says, "The manner in which the Sabbath is spent will appear extraordinary, and very contradictory to the duties inculcated on that day. A great market is kept by the negroes, which is în truth also a market for the whites. The merchants attend at their stores and counting-houses. On that day prayers are read; and it would be gratifying to add, that the subject was attended to. With deep regret it has often fallen to iny lot to see the service of the church of England carelessly run through by the reverend members of its own community, and as indifferently attended to. It were perhaps well, in a comparative point of view, if that were all; for not only is the crime of inattention prevalent, but contempt for religion is openly avowed by a great proportion of the white population; and it is only shaken, in some

instances, by irreligious conduct on the part of the whites. Those negroes who have conformed to Christianity by getting baptized, are in general exemplary, and much improved in the principles of morality. The propriety of matrimony is seldom impressed upon their minds by the clergy, or any white person. Indeed, the latter themselves show the example of a libidinous course of life which can scarcely he justified among savages.”

Dr. Williamson's testimony is abundantly confirmed by the most respectable and unimpeachable witnesses: but for the information of our poorer readers, we particularly recommend the Anti-Slavery Reporter for 1831 and 1832. These cheap Tracts, drawn up with the greatest care and ability, by the most intelligent persons, detail atrocities, cruelties, and impurities, characterizing the white inhabitants of the West Indies, sufficient to rouse the indignation of every virtuous mind, against a system so utterly repugnant to every principle of Christianity, of righteousness, and of national policy.

Seduction is considered no crime in Jamaica by the people generally! We cannot refrain from giving one illustration of this: "An authentic statement of the baptism of illegitimate and legitimate free children in the different parishes in the island, in 1830, as taken from the registry in the bishop's office in Spanish Town (see p. 24). The account is confined to the free, there being no slave children that can be called legitimate! Legitimate, 380; Illegitimate, 958; Total, 1,338." Anti-Slavery Reporter, Feb. 1832.

In such a state of society, can any one be surprised at the treatment the Missionaries have recently received in Jamaica? This system of West Indian Slavery must necessarily be a curse to our country; and its final extinction ought to be effected immediately, and the most enlarged opportunities possible afforded to Christian Missionaries, to make known to the injured and oppressed the unsearchable riches of Christ for their salvation, as the means of averting the just displeasure of Almighty God!

A CHRISTIAN SURVEY OF THE WORLD AS INFLUENCED BY GREAT BRITAIN.

LET us look at the actual possessions of Great Britain. In territorial extent, the British empire, inferior only to that of Russia, is almost three times as vast as that of imperial Rome. The area of the Roman empire is estimated by Gibbon at 1,600,000 square miles. That of the British is supposed to be 4,457,000 miles. Russia covers a thinly-peopled surface of nearly 6,000,000. Next, let us compare the population of the ancient and modern empires. That of ancient Rome is probably under-rated at 120,000,000, it may have amounted to 150,000,000, or 170,000,000. Among the existing empires, China, with its (supposed) 175,000,000, takes the lead. And which is second? Great Britain. In less than a hundred years, the population included in the British islands and its dependencies, has, by the great expansion of our Indian empire, risen from 13,000,000, to upwards of 150,000,000, or more than a sixth portion of the human race. If to this we add the empire of the American republic, which has grown up within the last half century from the British colonies, and by which the English language, laws, and religion, are being diffused over the Western world, we shall have an area of 6,500,000 square miles, under the dominant influence of one nation- a nation originally confined to a small island in the German Ocean-with an aggregate population of not less than 165,000,000 of

-

souls! So mighty and rapid a change has no parallel in history!

A hundred years ago, the inhabitants of all the countries subject to Christian governments throughout the world, probably did not exceed 200,000,000; and of these, the far greater part were subject to the powers acknowledging the supremacy of the Pope. The Mohammedan powers of Turkey, Persia, and India, still ranked among the most potent arbiters of the destinies of the human race. India, and, with the insignificant exception of a few maritime settlements, all Asia, were under Mohammedan or Pagan sway. All the religious missions in existence (the Danish mission in Southern India excepted) were in connection with the Romish church, and supported by Popish states. The Inquisition had its colonial tribunals at Goa, and Mexico, and Bogota. The only religion that was not disseminating itself, was the Protestant faith. Mark the revolution which the last thirty years has effected: how striking the contrast!

Slow depopulation and internal decay, or foreign conquest and the dismemberment of empire, have been reducing the strength, and contracting the dominion, of almost every Mohammedan and every Romish power throughout the world. The only states that have materially extended their limits, and added to their strength, are, Great Britain, the American Republic, and Russia. These three powers, one of which had no political existence, and the other two could number between them only about 28,000,000 of subjects, have now under their political sway not less than 228,000,000! If the subjects of Russia are for the most part sunk in barbarism and superstition, they are at least withdrawn from the hopeless bondage of the Romish yoke. But, besides this, the other Protestant powers of Europe, instead of about 20,000,000, have now upwards of 42,000,000 of subjects; so that, added to those which acknowledge the sceptre of Great Britain, they greatly outnumber those of all the Roman Catholic states. The latter comprised a population of about 135,000,000, including France; but France is no longer to be numbered with the kingdoms of the Popedom. Throwing it into the opposite scale, the comparison will stand thus:

Roman Catholic States of Europe
Ditto of America

78,500,000 23,500,000

Although this table will give no correct idea of the comparative prevalence of true or false religion, it speaks volumes as to the decline of the Papal supreimacy, the most formidable obstacle to the spread of the Gospel. Of the 80,000,000 under the European Romish states, more than one half are under the dominion of Austria, emphatically characterised as the last crutch of the Papacy, the grand barrier of human improvement, the enemy of the best hopes of man. kind.

The total number of those who profess the Romish faith, we have no correct means of estimating. The late M. Malte Brun, the French geographer, supposed them to amount to not more than 116,000,000, which seems much too low; since, although there are many Protestants, Greek Christians, and Jews, within the dominions of the Romish powers, the number of

Roman Catholics in the British, Prussian, and other non-Romish states, is very considerable. The Greek Christians he estimates at 70,000,000; the Protestants, at 42,000,000; the Jews at 5,000,000, the Moslems, at 110,000,000; the fleathen at 310,000,000. These numbers are but a very rough approximation, to the fact; and the total falls very short of the actual population of the globe. The lowest calculation (that of Balbi) estimates the aggregate population at nearly Of these, about 390,000,000 are now 750,000,000. subject to Christian government; about 80,000,000 to Mohammedan rulers; and about 280,000,000 to the Pagan powers. The Christian governments, to whom have been consigued almost the whole of what the Mohammedan and Pagan powers have lost, are either Protestant or Greek.

Nor is this all. Although the Romish religion maintains for the present the ascendancy in the new states of South America, they are for ever alienated from the Papal power. Their separation from Spain and Portugal has not only shorn those monarchies of all their glory, but has deprived them of the means of recovering their former rank among the states of Europe. Owing, too, to this impoverishment, and the fall of Popery in France, all the Romish missions in India, Persia, Syria, Egypt, and Africa, are upon the point of extinction, or at least in a state of utter inefficiency and decay. Everywhere an open field has been prepared for the exertions of British Christians !

The sudden reappearance of the primitive zeal for evangelizing the world, tends to fill the mind with the brightest expectations. "The languages of the East have been mastered; and those which had never before been the medium of a ray of religious truth, have been forced to speak in the words of God. Two independent versions of the Scriptures in Chinese, by Protestant missionaries, have excited the astonishment and admiration of the literati of Europe. In the instances of the Berber, the Amharic, and the Peruvian, the means by which versions of the New Testament in these languages have been obtained, are almost as extraordinary as the facts themselves. Now, unless we were to look for a second bestowment of the miraculous gift of speaking foreign tongues, it might seem but fitting, and even necessary, that the preparation of this philological apparatus, the translation of the Scriptures into these various dialects, which is but a removal of national obstacles in the way of spiritual triumphs, should precede the rich effusion of the Pentecostal spirit."

PIOUS INGENUITY TO SECURE THE POSSESSION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

A few years ago an Irishman, who had been brought by the Spirit and grace of God to see the value of the Holy Scriptures, actually copied with his own hand, in the hall of a nobleman, the whole New Testament, for his own use; which being done, the devoted servant of Christ was presented with a splendid Bible, in exchange for his own manuscript, which, we believe, is possessed by the British and Foreign Bible Society.

During the persecution of the Nonconformists, in the reign of James II, one of those zealous confessors copied out the whole Bible in short-hund, for his own use, fearing the re-establishment of Popery and the suppression of the Holy Scriptures!

Mr. Harris, a London tradesman, whose sight decayed, procured the whole New Testament, except the Book of Revelations, and also the Book of Psalms, to be written with white ink on black paper, in letters an inch long, that he might enjoy the consolations of the gospel of Christ.—See our first volume, page 219.

NOTIONS OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS, RESPECTING DEATH AND A SEPARATE STATE. THEY say, that, at the death of a chief, his soul goes to the Treaingha at the North Cape; and sometimes comes to speak to the relations left behind, in their dreams. They ask the spirit if he has seen all their departed friends, and how it fares with them: he says "I have seen them, and they are all well." The spirits dispute and fight, plant kumeras (sweet potatoes), have abundance of provisions, &c. in the other world. When a chief dies, he becomes an atua: his relations lament over the corpse, and pray that he will make clear and straight the road, and provide a place for them. The atua comes up the ladder to the top of the Treaingha, at times; and sits, and looks toward the place where he died, to know if his relations have performed the customary ceremonies: if these have been neglected, the atua is angry. Six or seven months after the death of a chief, the body is taken up by his friends, and dressed in clean mats, his hair combed, and his head anointed with oil, and dressed up with white feathers, when they lament over it: the body is moved several times, from one place to another: at last it is put into a cave, never more to be moved; and then all their crying and ceremonies are over.

"That a man who lives in sin should be wretched is no wonder; from the same principle as God is the centre of happiness, so it is no marvel that a man who is travelling from God should find the opposite of happiness."

ON PRAYER.

PRAYER is the soul's sincere desire,
Utter'd or unexpress'd;

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.
Prayer is the burthen of a sigh,
The falling of a tear,
The upward glancing of an eye
When none but God is near.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;

Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach
The Majesty on high.

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
The Christian's native air,
His watchword in the hour of death,
He enters Heaven with prayer.
Prayer is the contrite sinner's yoice
Returning from his ways;
While angels in their song rejoice,

And say "Behold, he prays."
In prayer on earth the saints are one,
In word, in deed, in mind,
When with the Father and the Son
Sweet fellowship they find.
Nor prayer is made on earth alone:
The Holy Spirit pleads;
And Jesus, on th' eternal throne,
For sinners intercedes.

O, Thou, by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way,
The path of prayer thyself hast trod;
Lord, teach us how to pray!

J. MONTGOMERY.

Letters to a Mother, upon Education.

LETTER XII.. On Industry.

Dear Madam, THE importance to a child of industrious habits no person can doubt. Industry is the source of eminence in any pursuit; of personal and domestic comfort, and is closely connected with the principles of morality. The idle are rarely virtuous in any one particular: the habitually industrious seldom grossly immoral. The importance of attention to this subject in reference to your child is augmented by the fact, that although something like a natural turn to industry now and then meets us among mankind, yet that in the vast majority of the human race there is a native inherent and powerful disinclination to labour, whether with the body or with the mind. "Idleness," says Dr. Johnson, "is the bane of human nature" It is also plain, that by far the greatest proportion of mankind have been so imperfectly imbued with habits of industry, that they seldom do more in their several pursuits than they are obliged to do, and that, in consequence, they fail of that degree of excellence and of usefulness which might reasonably be expected from them. How many persons there are who exert themselves sufficiently to keep want from the door, and having reluctantly performed this proportion of labour, at once seek the more attractive pursuits of dissipation, or the relief of perfect indolence! In reference to the subject of religion, the effects of indolence are still more evident and pernicious. Of all the varied characters of mankind, this is one of the most hopeless. What can be expected, where the mental effort even to learn the truths of religion is detested, and the diligence in duties which it demands is still nore intolerable. There are of course different degrees of indolence in different characters; but in whatever proportion it may exist, it is attended with these and a variety of other evil results. It is important therefore to the temporal and everlasting welfare of your child, that he should be a sincerely industrious man. But he is chiefly dependent upon you for the acquisition of this quality. Like every other good habit, the foundation of it must be laid very early,

The habit of early rising, to which I adverted in a former Letter, has an intimate connection with it. As soon as possible, it seems to me advisable that an infant should have also daily assigned to him little employments, suited both in duration and in difficulty to his immature powers, which he should be expected punctually to fulfil. As soon as he discovers taste, or a sense of distinction between different employments, so as to prefer one to another, let his employments correspond to his inclinations as much as possible, provided they be useful and proper. Yet whatever may be the object of his attention, let it be your invariable rule to expect him to persevere till it is performed. If you uniformly adopt this rule, if you never from the first allow him to taste the fatal pleasure of leaving one pursuit unfinished and sauntering to another, he will never even desire it. In inculcating habits of perseverance, or any other good habits, let your rule be unalterable. Let it be your law, and calmly and perseveringly expect it to be obeyed as a matter of course. Accordingly, avoid all kinds of inducements and persuasions with him to do his duty. Nothing can be more pernicious than the habit of inducing a child to do what promotes his welfare by entreaties, expostulations, promises, and rewards. There is something in our nature which is peculiarly averse to compliance under such circum. stances. An intelligent child hates to be coaxed or wheedled into his duty: he would infinitely prefer to be driven to it. Both the one and the other mode may be

avoided by adherence to the preceding directions. In a word, never pay a child by any means whatever for doing what is right. Be exceedingly sparing even of praise. A thirst for applause is thereby created, and this leads to vanity and all its evils and miseries. Let his reward be the quietude and the domestic peace consequent upon order, duty, and regularity. Let him grow up in the exhibition of every duty as silently as the flower expands in your garden. As he advances, let the employments you assign to him be suited to his understanding. Always let them be intelligent. Allow no kind of toys. Increase and cultivate his acquaintance with the qualities of the external world, and with the names of things. As soon as may be, give him tools. Let him have a piece of ground to cultivate. Should he exhibit a taste for drawing, let it be gratified to the utmost, and especially in drawing from nature.

With regard to literature, although I hope to offer you some observations upon it in future Letters, it is now needful to say, that no child ought ever, if possible, even to see a letter till he is seven years old. When his seventh birth-day is turned, then teach him the alphabet at one lesson, which you will readily do by keeping his attention to it for three or four hours. This was the method of the mother of the celebrated Wesleys. This was the time she chose for commencing the literary part of education. Her sentiments on this subject were precisely those of the celebrated tutor of Alexander the Great. In the life of that hero, lately published in the Family Library, you will find it stated, that Aristotle forbade attention to letters till after the first seven years, considering that those years were best employed in the establishment of perfect health and strength of body and mind, and the knowledge of the objects of the senses, To me the rule appears invaluable. Be content then that other children should be able to say their catechism and repeat hymns at three years old, which they cannot understand. Do not be moved from your rule by the popularity of some little prodigy, who is brought into the room to recite, or who can tell you all the names of the kings of England. All this is like hothouse fruit, out of season, and never palatable or useful. Be you content to wait for the slow growth of real excellence. The unhappy children to whom I allude are peculiarly liable to early death, or ill health all their lives. Not unfrequently do they turn out incurably stupid. The undiscerning lament over them, and make the sagacious observation, that those children were too clever to live in this world, or wisely moralize upon the illusory nature of earthly things. But to these results the parents themselves have unconsciously conduced. Moral habits and health, and amusements connected with them, are the only appropriate objects of attention during the first seven years of a child's life. I am, dear Madam, &c.

CLERICUS.

WISE COUNSEL FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT.-Banish all inalignant and revengeful thoughts: a spirit of revenge is the very spirit of the devil; than which, nothing makes a man more like him, and nothing can be more opposite to the temper which Christianity was designed to promote. If your revenge be not satisfied, it will give you torment now; if it be, it will give you greater hereafter. Noue is a greater self-tormentor than a malicious and revengeful man, who turns the poison of his own temper in upon himself.-Mason on Self-Knowledge.

HUMAN ACCOUNTABILITY.- Every individual should bear in mind, that he is sent into this world to act a part in it and although one may have a more splendid, and another a more obscure part assigned him, yet the actor of cach is equally, is awfully accountable.—Mrs. H. More.

SCARCELY any passage of the Holy Scriptures has been more strangely mistaken than this. Distressing in a high degree, have been the exercises of mind experienced by Christians, in the hour of temptation, in reading this verse: as if it required, on the part of believers, a willingness to endure eternal misery in a state of separation from Christ, for the sake of others.

No one surely will now suppose that it is presumptuous to make an objection to the English translation: for in reality, the improper rendering of the Greek has been the occasion of its painful misapprehension. Though not marked as such, the sentence is evidently parenthetical; which is a peculiarity in the style of the apostle Paul, and of which we have many instances in this epistle to the Romans. See chap. i, 2-13; ii, 13-15; iii, 5—8; v, 13—17; vii, 1; ix, 11. The words, "For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ," are not by any means essential to the apostle's argument in that very interesting connection; but were added, in a parenthesis, to encourage the Jews in seeking mercy after his example. (See 1 Tim. i, 12-16.) Laying aside for a moment the difficult clause, the argument of Paul will be seen in all its beauty and simplicity; while the dignity and sublimity of the sentiments, which the passage contains, perfectly accord with the most enlarged measure of Christian knowledge and charity.

Omitting that fearful clause, the section will stand thus" I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh; who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." Rom. ix, 1-5. Here we behold unity, beauty, and a connected train of ideas, altogether worthy of an apostle of Christ.

That which appears to be the genuine sense of this passage, we have never seen exhibited in so striking a point of view as it is given by the judicious Dr. Dwight. In his admirable discourse on resignation, he introduces this text, as alleged by some, to prove that willingness to suffer perdition is a part of Christian resignation.Having considered and answered the objection arising from Exod. xxxii, 31, 32, the Doctor says, "The other passage is Rom. ix, 1-3; 'I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Here it is supposed, that St. Paul declares himself desirous-or, at least, capable of being desirous—to suffer final perdition for the sake of rescuing his brethren, the Israelites, from their ruinous condition. But I apprehend the apostle says no such thing;-for,

"In the first place, the declaration in the Greek is not I could wish, but I wished: not you, the optative mood; but noxon, in the indicative. The apostle, therefore declares a fact which had taken place, not the state of his mind at the time present, nor a fact which might take place at that or any future time. I do not deny that the indicative is sometimes used for the optative, or, as it ought to be here understood, in the potential sense, to denote what could have been done, instead of

what has been done. But no case of the kind is to be presumed, nor is such a meaning to be admitted, unless the general construction of a passage renders the admission necessary.

"Secondly, the admission of it here ruins the meaning of the passage altogether. It is introduced in this manner. 'I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost.' Now what is the assertion, to gain credit to which these three declarations, two of them attended with all the solemnity of an oath, were made? It is found in the following verse; I have great heaviness, and continual sorrow of heart.' Can it be imagined that St. Paul would think it necessary or proper to preface this assertion in so solemn a manner? Was it a matter even of surprise, that a person afflicted and persecuted as he was, should be the subject of such sorrow? Could the apostle need the aid of a triple declaration and a double oath, to make this assertion believed? And if these were not necessary, can he be supposed to have used them for such a purpose, or for any purpose whatever?

As this cannot have been the Apostle's meaning of this passage; so, happily, that meaning is sufficiently obvious. St. Paul, it is well known, was considered by the Jews as their bitter enemy; hating their temple, worship, and nation; and as conspiring with the Gentiles to subvert all those which they esteemed their best interests. This prejudice of theirs against him was an immense evil: for it not only obstructed powerfully, and often fatally, the success of his evangelical labours among the Gentiles; but in almost all instances prevented the Jews from receiving the gospel. This evil the Apostle felt in all its force; as he teaches us on many occasions, by endeavouring earnestly to clear himself from the imputation. The present is one of those instances: and the meaning of the passage is rendered perfectly clear and highly important, when it is considered in this manner, and the propriety of the solemn preface with which it commences is fully evinced. The words rendered, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ,' ought to be included, as they plainly were intended to be, in a parenthesis. The passage truly translated in this manner, will run thus:-I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost; that I have great heaviness, and continual sor. row in my heart (for I also wished myself separated from Christ), for my brethren, my kinsinen according to the flesh. That the Apostle had really this sorrow and heaviness for his nation, he knew would be doubted by some, and disbelieved by others. He, therefore, naturally and properly appeals to God for the reality of his love to them, and for the truth of the declaration in which it is asserted. To show his sympathy with them in their ruined state, he reminds them that he was once the subject of the same violent unbelief and alienation from Christ; and that then he earnestly chose to be what he here calls anathema, justly rendered in the margin, separated from Christ, just as they now chose it. A person once in this condition, would naturally be believed to feel deeply the concerns of such as were now in the same condition; and would therefore allege this consideration with the utmost force and propriety."-Dwight's Theology, vol. iii.

The Rev. Mr. Toplady's criticism is in accordance with Dr. Dwight; and being short, we present it to our readers. "This seemingly difficult text is rendered perfectly easy and clear,-first, by inclosing part of it in a parenthesis; and, secondly, by attending to the tense of the verb nyoun, mistakenly translated, I could

wish.

"I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in