on the present mode of conducting our Home Mission-I have specified what I conceive ought to be the object of our Mission, that is, the agency requisite, under God, for accomplishing this object; how this agency is to be obtained, and what are the motives urging us to immediate and simultaneous exertions.

Should this letter meet with acceptance, you will hear from me again, next month. I remain, dear Sir, yours truly, WILLIAM B. KIRKPATRICK.

Dublin, March 12, 1836.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

A Historical and Statistical Account of New South Wales, both as a Penal Settlement, and as a British Colony. By JOHN DUNMORE LANG, D.D., Senior Minister of the Scots Church, and Principal of the Australian College, Sydney, New South Wales. 2 vols. don: COCHRANE & M'CRONE. 1834.

Lon

We have read this work with great satisfaction and advantage, It recommends itself to the general reader, as a work of great ability, giving the most satisfactory account which we have hitherto met of a new, distinct, and rising colony. In it, the first settlement of New South Wales, the proceedings of successive governors, the character of the soil and climate, the condition of the aboriginal and convict population, together with the advantages enjoyed by free emigrants, are all presented to our view in a succession of graphic sketches, felicitously touched by the hand of a master, so as to form one of the most amusing and instructive books we have read for many years. Mr. D. Lang has given a very favourable character of the free emigrants from the North of Ireland, whom he represents as well qualified to better their condition, by directing their enterprise to that distant colony. We are persuaded we are consulting the interests of many of our readers, by directing their attention to this work. But, while we could rejoice that many should share the pleasure we have enjoyed, in surveying the advantages of that fertile and salubrious country, soon destined to teem with a numerous population, and to be the seat of a mighty empire, we feel it necessary to confine our attention to the two chapters which he has devoted to religion and education. The state of religion, as might be expected among a population mostly composed of convicts, was very low. A regiment raised for New South Wales, and whose officers were strangely permitted to engage in the sale of ardent spirits, contributed to the still farther degradation of the unhappy population. The clergy employed by the State, are, generally, men who had obtained ordination for foreign parts, and though devoted to gain, gave little time to the illumination or reformation of the people. The state of morals may be guessed from the fact, that the direct duties on spirits amounted, in 1834, to £80,000; while the local government obtained, also, £5,425 for licences. But the book must be read, before any person can conceive the degradation and crime produced by these arrangements. Soon after the planting of the colony, several respectable Scotch families went there, as free emigrants,

and were the first religious denomination who erected a temple to Jehovah, in that foreign land, where they regularly met on the Sabbath, a pious layman acting gratuitously as a catechist, and presiding in their religious services. The Church of Scotland viewed this state of things with apathy, during more than twenty years; and neglected her exiled children. This indifference is lashed with deserved severity, by Dr. Lang, and traced to patronage, that fruitful source of mischief to the Church of Scotland. Circumstances, which are not fully explained, induced Dr. Lang, contrary to the advice of his friends in the Church, to burst the trammels which held more than a thousand licentiates in a state of indolence, in Scotland, and he appeared in New South Wales, in May, 1823, breathing the spirit of the olden time," a man of the mould and mettle of Knox, Melville, and Renwick. By his efforts, a Scots Church was speedily organized at Sydney. Before this time, the Episcopalian clergy had been profusely endowed, priests were provided, at the expense of Government, for Roman Catholics, and liberal aid granted for the education of the adherents of the Church of Rome. Sir Thomas Brisbane, the Governor, a Scot and Presbyterian, at first countenanced his countrymen ; but, when a memorial was presented, craving a trifling aid, he yielded to a certain influence, refused them aid, and, adding insult to injury, stated, in his reply, that "it would be time enough for the Presbyterians to ask assistance, when they showed they could conduct themselves as well as the Roman Catholics ;" and this, while the latter were nearly all convicts, and the former free emigrants from Scotland! The spirit of the Scotch laity sunk before the insolence of the Governor ; but Dr. Lang nobly vindicated bis Church and nation, in a reply to the Governor. The latter had said that "Toleration was the glory of the Church of England." In reference to which, Dr. Lang replied, "that Scotsmen were not reduced to the necessity of seeking toleration as a boon from the Church of England; their civil and religious privileges were won for them by the swords of their fathers." This offended the Governor, who withdrew his subscription. On the affair being known to Earl Bathurst, he ordered Sir Thomas Brisbane to advance one-third of the estimated cost of the Scotch Church, £300, to be paid annually to the minister, "Regretting that his Excellency had put to their probation members of the Church of Scotland, in the colony, the Established Church of one of the most enlightened and virtuous portions of the empire." Though Dr. Lang and justice thus triumphed; his trials did not end. In 1824, he visited England, and, during his absence, by the exertions of Archdeacon Scott, (a man, who, though not educated for the ministry, enjoyed £2,000 per annum, and much influence,) an attempt was made to class Presbyterian ministers with "rogues and vagabonds," and to deprive them of the rights of celebrating marriages and baptisms, according to the form of the Church of Scotland. Over this project Dr. Lang also triumphed, by steady and persevering exertions, which we have not room to detail. By, the labours of Dr. Lang, three other Presbyterian ministers were brought over from Scotland, and placed in various parts of the colony; and one other was sent to the Presbyterians of Launceston, a rising town in Van Dieman's Land, where obstacles, similar to those encountered by Dr. Lang, had to be surmounted, before they were permitted to enjoy, without molestation, their inalienable rights. At a still later period, he made arrangements for taking, from Scotland, three other ministers, who will only be partially able to supply the spiritual wants of

the Presbyterian population, who have arrived, or grown up in that important colony. Dr. Lang had to visit England a second time, before any countenance could be procured from Government to the Presbyterian settlers, at Hanlen River, and Bathurst, where their numbers were grossly misrepresented, by tricks which he fully details. Lord Goderich, however, on his arrival in England, attended to his request.

The most splendid and important of Dr. Lang's achievements was the establishment of the Australian College, at Sydney. Though Government gave the Episcopal clergy one-seventh of the whole Island, or Continent, to support them, and their system of education, and, in the meantime, £22,000 per annum, from the public purse, the Lieutenants of the Navy, and others admitted to the sacred office, paid little attention to the people, who generally remained destitute both of religious instruction and education. We have seen how Dr. Lang introduced, by persevering efforts, ministers of the Scotch Church; and must now glance at his still more vigorous exertions in the cause of education. After being thwarted again and again in the colony, he crossed the Pacific a third time, and submitted a plan for the establishment of the Australian College, to Lord Goderich. The Government advanced £3,500, on condition that an equal sum should be raised in the colony. With this sum, Dr. Lang chartered a vessel, and took out three ministers of the Church of Scotland, as Professors, together with free emigrant mechanics, who were to repay their passage by erecting the College. It was commenced in October, 1831, and classes opened in the following November. But, here Dr. Lang's trials did not cease. His opponents decried and obstructed the undertaking; and his countrymen, finding that the existing powers scowled on it, gradually withdrew their support, and the noble project must have failed, had not Dr. Lang made an extraordinary sacrifice ;-but, by selling all his property, he was enabled to fulfil his engagements with Government. His countrymen once more rallied, and the undertaking was completed. In this Seminary, the children of the Missionaries, in the isles which join the Pacific, and the native youth of Australia, will obtain a good education; and, probably, the heralds of the cross, destined to illuminate Australia, and even to pass the walls of China itself, may yet obtain there the knowledge calculated to qualify them for their labours. It is quite cheering to observe the efforts of such a man rising superior to every obstacle, setting before the licentiates of his own Church a brilliant example, and diffusing Christianity in a land so destitute of its benign influence.

We consider Dr. Lang a benefactor and an ornament to his native and to his adopted country; and heartily pray, that he may be long spared to preside over the Seminary, and to water the infant Church which he has had the honour to plant. We trust that many licentiates of the Scottish Church will imitate his example; and that the Church of Scotland will follow, with kind attention, her numerous children, who, like the Jews, are dispersed over most nations of the earth, We trust, too, that into this field the Synod of Ulster will yet send labourers; since it appears, from this book, that several of her members have done honour to their profession, in that foreign colony. The necessity of this will appear the more obvious, when we observe the rapid advances of Popery there, and the decided preference given by Government to the adherents of that system. Several facts are disclosed, very worthy of the attention of the Directors of the great Missionary Societies. On the whole, we wish our readers to read this book, and to have often on their hearts, at a throne of grace, those devoted men who have so generously sacrificed their comforts, and seem ready, like Paul, to be bound, or even to die for the name of Jesus. B.

A Treatise on the Prevention and Cure of Pulmonary Consumption. By ROBERT LITTLE, M. D., of Belfast. LONGMAN & Co., London. p.p. 160. 1836.

Ir may be thought out of our province to notice a work professedly treating of a medical question; but the high estimation in which we hold the author, forbids us to neglect congratulating him on his present appearance before the public. As a literary composition, we can say for his work, that it is the production of a scholar. As a medical treatise, we have to say that we lent it to a Physician, at his own request, who is well qualified to judge of its merits, and he returned it, accompanied by the following note: "I have read, with attention, Dr. Little's treatise on the prevention and cure of Pulmonary Consumption, and am of opinion, that it is well entitled to the perusal of the Medical Practitioner, and calculated to set aside many of the fanciful opinions which have been, from time to time, advanced on that most important and interesting subject. Dr. Little is entitled to the thanks of the profession, for thus presenting to them, in a concise and agreeable form, the results of his experience." To us, as deeply interested in the cause of religion, it is a subject of much congra. tulation, to see such men as Dr. Little growing into extensive practice in Belfast. He is one of those physicians, who remembers that his patient has a soul to be saved, as well as a body to be cured. On more occasions than one, he has not been afraid or ashamed to appear as the advocate of true religion. And, we can truly say to those families, into which he has been called professionally, he is such a man as ought to be introduced to the society and intimacy of a Christian household.

Sermons on the Christian Warfare and Titles of Christ. By M. MACKAY, L.L.D., Minister of Dunoon and Kilmun. W. WHYTE & Co., Edinburgh. p.p. 650. 1836.

Ar first sight, the title of this volume may seem to announce two very distinct subjects, and the reader is at some difficulty to apprehend how they have been brought into such close connexion. A perusal of the discourses, however, is sufficient to convince him, that they have been most happily united and treated, in their connexion with each other. The Christian Warfare is illustrated, in thirteen sermons, on Eph. vi, 14,-18; and the Titles of Christ are explained from Is. ix. 6, in a similar number. And these topics are naturally connected by the ideas, that the believer maintains his warfare, under the command of Christ as the Captain of salvation, and that he maintains it successfully only by means of a just apprehension of the character of that great being, under whose banner he contends. All the discourses are sound in doctrine, weighty in sentiment, practical in their bearing, and spiritual and experimental in their conceptions. The peculiarity of the volume is the faithfulness with which the truth is set home on the conscience and life of the hearer. The preacher obviously feels that he is treating with men upon the most momentous of all concerns, and the hearer must have felt himself in the hands of a faithful ambassador of Christ, who would not let him go without listening to his message, and embracing the blessings which he was commissioned to proclaim. We have only to regret, that the sermons are written in the style, which has of late, unhappily we think, prevailed to some extent in Scotland, in which the divisions of the subject are not formally announced, but rather studiously concealed. With a very refined and intellectual audience, this method may succeed; but it is altogether unsuited to the great body of hearers. We would never think of addressing

them, after this manner, on any other subject. It is required, by the weakness and dulness of the human mind, that the subject of its study shall be presented in the way of analysis; and although we cannot approve a multitude of divisions, yet the plan of a discourse should ever be clearly stated, and distinctly apprehended, or it will fail to convey so large a share of information, or produce so deep an impression, as when the mind can, with ease, follow the train of thought, and fall in with the arguments and expostulations of the preacher. To a mind like that of the author before us, for it is obviously of a high character, this may seem unnecessary, but it is not so to the multitude. It is truly delightful to see such men raised up in the Church of Scotland; and, since that Establishment is proverbially the Church of the poor, we wish to see its ministrations adapted especially to the poor, while they are useful to all. Let such men as the author be her ministers, and no weapon that is formed against her shall prosper. And, let all her ministers act like him, elevating their character, by the laborious duties of the pastor's office, as well as by the able and faithful labours of the pulpit, and she shall speedily be a praise throughout the whole land. At this moment, there is no ministry in Scotland to be compared to her's, and, in the controversy for her maintenance into which she has of late been dragged, she stands out, to the eye of the stranger, distinguished above her enemy, by the strength of her arguments, and the moral and religious elevation of her character.

The Unity of the New Testament Church. A Sermon ; preached at the Installation of the Rev. JoSIAS WILSON, Belfast. By the Rev. JOHN DILL, A.M., Carnmoney. Published by request. W. M'COMB. Belfast. p.p. 38. 1836.

THE passage upon which this admirable discourse is founded, is taken from Acts iv. 32. "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul." After an introduction, containing a brief sketch of the prominent features in the primitive Church, it is proposed to shew that the primitive believers were of one heart and of one soul. I. In their "mutual faith" towards the Lord Jesus Christ. In the illustration of this topic the following powerful passage occurs :

66

"Now, if the Lord Jesus Christ were thus the centre of the Church's unity, surely the Church's faith in her Head was one faith.'

Christi. anity was not, then, a common name for the most discordant principles. Those days of primitive simplicity, light, and love, did not behold one party in his professing Church openly impugning the Redeemer's essential Godhead, and degrading him from his sovereignity, as over all, God blessed for ever,' into the humble condition of an angel prostrate before the eternal throne. And another party degrading him lower still, even into a creature of yesterday, the child of sin and death; impiously humbling to the dust Him by whom were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, who is before all things, and by whom all things consist.' Those days of primitive simplicity, light, and love, did not behold the self-styled rational Christian' boldly denying his atoning sacrifice, that sole foundation of the sinner's pardon, and peace, and holiness, and hope. Nor did they behold the baptized infidel pouring his unsparing ridicule on that renewing, comforting, sealing work, which he accomplishes by his Spirit in the hearts of his people. No! On this hallowed morning of the Church's espousals, there was no division among her members, for they were 'all one in Christ.' 'One body,' says