of original sin, justification by faith, and the necessity of spiritual regeneration, are classed together, whether they belong to the established church, the methodists, or the dissenters; whether they lived in this century or the last. In this mixed mass some individuals are discovered who have promulged very exceptionable opinions, or done very exceptionable things. These are selected as fair specimens of the opinions and conduct of the whole body, which, on this kind of evidence, is at once condemned as sharing in the guilt of the specified individuals. In this way the violence and the regicide principles of the Cromwellians, the antinomian dotages of Dr. Crisp, the irregularities and occasional enthusiasm of the founders of methodism, the disgusting coarsenesses of one living character, the wildnesses of another, and the buffooneries of a third, are all heaped on the heads of those whom, whether properly or not, it is the custom of the day to designate as evangelical clergymen. But is there any fairness in this? Is it not just as unfair as it would be to confound the whole of the opponents of this body together, as men marked with the same general character? How, for example, would the Bishops of London and Lincoln, Dr. Gaskin, Dr. Wordsworth, and many other active distributors of the Holy Scriptures, like to be confounded with Dr. Maltby in his hostility to the general circulation of these writings; or with Mr. Fellowes and the Barrister in their Socinian principles; merely because they happened to view certain subjects, such as the Bible Society and the evangelical clergy, in the same light? But is it more fair to make such men as Mr. Scott, or Mr. Basil Woodd, or Mr. Venn, or Mr. Cunningham, or Mr. Cooper, responsible for all that Dr. Crisp, or Mr. Whitfield, or Mr. Wesley, or Dr. Hawker, may have said or written? "As ye would, then, that men should do unto you, even so do ye unto them, for this is the law and the prophets." In general, Dr. Maltby is very perspicuous: his grand principle is intelligible enough; but there is one passage occurring (p. 49), of which we find it difficult to comprehend the drift. The passage we mean is that in which he tells us, that the Bible Society" was originally planned, not for the benefit of churchmen as such-not for the benefit of dissenters as such-but for the ultimate, and what practically would be the separate, interests of an heterogeneous sect, who belong to both or to neither; but who would gladly employ the agency of churchmen, and of dissenters too, in promoting their own favourite views,and disseminating their peculiar doctrines." What is this heterogeneous mixture? Is it a new name for Unitarians? No: they would prefer Cappe's Life of Christ. Does it consist of a class of Frenchified philosophers, who dis believe the Mosaic account of the Creation? No: they would not circulate the Book of Genesis. Is it composed of persons, who disbe lieve the doctrine of an ever-ruling Providence? They surely would re ject the writings of the Apostles, and the Prophets. Does it comprehend that non-descript race, which fancies death to be an eternal sleep? These men disbelieve the doctrine of the resurrection, and would therefore expunge from their Bibles the Epistle to the Corinthians, if it were of fensive on no other account, yet for its assertion of that doctrine. We have entered with some care upon the inquiry, but are utterly at a loss to discover this "heterogeneous mixture ;" and the early accounts of the Society, which have been long before the world, afford us no help in this intricate research. We wish that Dr. Maltby had throughout the whole of his publi cation maintained more decisively those claims to candour and fairness which we believe he might generally urge with justice. But what is the purport of the declaration, that he "by no means presumes to question the motives of the greater || part of those, who step forward to patronize the rising institution?" What reason has he to question the motives of the rest? We think also that Dr. Malthy would have consulted his reputation for candour and fairness, by extending some of his remarks to the opponents of the Bible Society, as well as to its defenders. We mean not to vindicate harshness, from whatever quarter it may proceed: but when Dr. Maltby next adverts to the subject of invective, we earnestly advise him to begin with those who first set the example; who gave currency to accusations, which nothing but extreme ignorance, united to extreme irritation, could induce any man to advance; and who stigmatised the friends of the Society, as if they were influenced by some of the worst motives which can operate upon the human mind. We will not pollute our pages by supplying him with specimens; but when he next fancies himself to be "assailed with acrimonious rebuke," we would request him to examine, whether these imaginary assailants are not in truth acting on the defensive; whether the darts, which are flung from the camp of those who are friendly to the "rising institution," are not partly in return for the poisoned arrows which have been shot against themselves. It is time that the weapons of hostility should be laid aside. No wish has ever been shewn by the advocates of the Bible Society to injure the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge; and it would have spared much pain to the friends of both, if the same spirit of forbearance and respect had been shewn by their opponents. But as these have in every instance been the aggressors, we cannot but rejoice that in every instance they have been defeated; and that they have unwittingly built up the cause, which it was their hearty intention to destroy. We would earnestly lift our "voice to both for peace and co-operation. In the ac Sixth Report of the Directors of the African Institution, read at the Annual General Meeting on the 25th March, 1812. To which are added, an Appendix and a List of Subscribers. London, Hatchard. 1812. Price 2s. 8vo. pp. 183. In our review of the preceding Report of this excellent Institution (vol. for 1811, p. 428), we entered so largely into the discussion of some important questions connected with the progress of its grand design of amelicrating the condition of the African race, that we shall have little more to do on the present occasion, than to make our readers acquainted with the main facts which have been brought to light by the publication now before us. The first fact which meets us, is one of the most melancholy description. The Slave Trade, under the protection of the Portuguese and Spanish flags, is said to have revived to a most enormous extent; and it is calculated, on data which have the appearance of being correct, that in the year 1810, no less than from seventy to eighty thousand Africans were carried from the coast of Africa into a state of bondage on the American continent. The actors in this tragedy, it is true, are many of them the subjects of Great Britain and America, and neither Spaniards nor Portuguese; but then it is the flag of Portugal, or of Spain, which screens them from detection and punishment, and which frustrates the benevolent intentions of our legisla ture, and the vigilance of our cruizers. Now, when it is considered that Spain and Portugal exist only by our support; that but for us no flag of theirs could have waved for any purpose, much less for one so nefarious as this; is it not too much to be endured, that they shall persist in nullifying our most solemn enactments, and in spreading misery and desolation, where it is one of the first wishes of this country to diffuse peace and happiness? But it may be said, we have no right to interfere with the conduct of friendly states. No right! What, when we are cheerfully sacrificing for them our best blood and treasure, have we no right to require that they shall not injure other friendly states, in whose prosperity we are interested; nay, that they shall not use the life and strength, which we impart to them, in forcing those states to drain to the dregs the cup of wretchedness? If some imaginary principle of international law, some ingenious comment of Puffendorff or Vattel, should be adduced to prove the illegality of such interference, as it respects Spain and Portugal; we would ask, are there then no reclamations in favour of Africa? Is Africa beyond the pale of the international code? After having, for centuries, subjected her to every wrong which civilized Europe could inflict, shall we, now that we are alive to our flagrant injustice, deny to her any community in our rights? We hesitate not to say, and we trust the sentiment will become general, that if the alliance with Portugal and Spain must be bought at the price of connivance at this enormity, their hostility is less to be dreaded than their alliance. But we return from this discussion, into which we have been surprised, to the Report on our table. and had it not been for the island of Bissao, at the mouth of the Rio Grande, the only Portuguese settlement in the whole of this district extending from Senegal to Cape Palmas, they would probably have succeeded in delivering it entirely from the ravages of the Slave Trade. In the late treaty of amity with the Prince Regent of Portugal, which commences the work of abolishing the Portuguese slave trade, a right is retained of continuing it from places subject to the crown of Portugal. Bissao, therefore, furnished a kind of privileged spot to the traffickers in human misery, where they could collect their cargoes, and whence they could dispatch them for the opposite continent, without danger. The effect of this guilty distinction was such as might be expected. An intelligent naval officer, Capt. Bones, who visited Bissao in 1811, and sailed a considerable way up the Rio Grande, at the mouth of which Bissao is situated, describes, in feeling terms, the devastation which had taken place along the banks of that river. He states, that the country on both sides was quite unpeopled, in consequence of the increased activity which the peculiar circumstances of Bissao had given to the Slave Trade in that vicinity. It is a very mortifying consideration, that the attempts which, for the last five years, the Directors have been making to obtain the cession of this paltry possession, expressly with a view to prevent the cruel use to which it has now been applied, should, hitherto have been unsuc cessful. Negotiation has succeeded negotiation, and Bissao is still a Portuguese settlement, the grand slave-mart of the Windward Coast. In consequence of the representa tions of the Directors, an addition was made, about the close of the last year, to the naval force on the Afri can coast; and the whole was placed under the command of Commodore the Hon. F. P. Irby, a most intelli gent and active officer, who had zealously entered into the views of the best friends of Africa. Much has been done, as we understand, by his squadron, in discouraging the Slave Trade on all parts of the coast; but as the history of his exertions does not fall within the scope of the present Report, we shall content ourselves with saying, that it is rumoured that numerous captures of slave ships have been made by his squadron, and that all that have been taken have been condemned. The act of 1811, making a participation in the Slave Trade felonious, we have no doubt, must have had a powerful effect in deterring British subjects from embarking either their persons or their capital in the Slave Trade, and must thus have operated largely in the way of prevention. We have learnt, that several convictions under this act have taken place at Sierra Leone, since the date of the Report we are now considering; which are said to have produced a more sensible impression on the slave traders generally, than all the captures that had been made by our cruisers. It is expected, also, that some recent transactions will furnish the means of arraigning and punishing, as felons, some persons of consideration in this country, who appear to have been concerned in them. The murderous cruelties exercised by Mr. Huggins, of Nevis, and Mr. Hodge, of Tortola, towards their slaves, together with the triumphant impunity of the former, and the merited execution of the latter, were detailed with sufficient particularity in our Review of the Fifth Report. We are happy to perceive that the Directors have directed much of their attention to the abuses existing in our West-Indian colonies; and they state their belief, that the call for a reform in the administration of these colonies is strongly felt, not only by the public, but by many persons connected with those islands, who can no longer shut their eyes to the consequences of the system which has been established there. One great result which has already proceeded from collateral benefits likely to arise We detailed, in the review to which we have so often alluded, the case of John Wise, who had been most unjustly reduced to slavery in the island of St. Vincents. The persevering exertions of Mr. Hugh Perry Keane, of which it is impossible to speak too highly, we are Cunningham, p. 45:) and, " with what shew of reason can it be maintained, or even intimated, that the Epistles relate wholly, or chiefly, or in any large measure, to controversies peculiar to the times and places in which they were written?" (ibid. p. 45.) There is yet another position connected with this part of the subject, which is not unworthy of no tice. "There are," says Dr. Maltby, "no doubt, parts in the Epistles, wholly practical, and of great general use; but, perhaps, none differing in substance, either from the moral maxims of the Proverbs, or from the lessons so beautifully and energetically delivered by our Saviour himself." p. 11. The remarks of Mr. Cunningham upon this passage, appear to us particularly happy. preciation of the Gospels to say, that, alone, they less perfectly exhibit the scheme of Christianity; to affirm of a part, that it does not accomplish the object of the whole.” pp. 46-48. After exposing the fallacy of the main position, Mr. Cunningham concludes by adverting to three points of minor importance, though, as he justly conceives, involving material errors. "In the first place, then, it is. no small error, I conceive, that one of the works Dr. Maltby proposes to substitute for the entire copy of the Scriptures, is a volume judi ciously selected from Cappe's Life of Christ ;? or, in other words, from a Life of Christ written by a known Socinian. Now, of course it would be practicable for a disingenuous reasoner so to avail himself of the term 'ju diciously selected,' as to acquit himself of all intention to introduce the Gospels to the world with a Socinian commentary; but Dr. Maltby would shrink from any such evasion; because he is conscious that no ‘selection,' however judicious, can render a Sociuian work strictly orthodox.' pp. 49, 50. "Not to dwell upon the inaccurate assumption of equality between the practical lessons of the Gospels and the Proverbs, is it the fact that the Epistles did not enlarge the code of practical instruction presented to us by Christ himself? If even the word 'practical' be confined to morality (which possibly the author designs), many moral duties are distinctly treated in the Epistles alone; as, for instance, the duties of husbands and wives, of fathers and children, of masters and servants, of citizens and subjects, of the members of a church and their spiritual governors. And if the import of the word be extended, as it ought, to every branch of active duty, the Epistles may be considered as making still larger additions to our practical lessons; for what may be called the practical part of religion, is taught chiefly in the Epistles. Nor is this fuller developement of duties in the writings of the first followers of Christ, any disparagement of the Gospels. It was in religion as it is in nature; the sun did not reach its meridian at once, but adapted itself to the eye of the spectators. The Gospels, and the Gospels alone, probably were suited to the actual exigencies of the moment; and our Lord himself intimated, that in happier periods a fuller revelation would be granted: 'I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now: When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide yon into all truth: he shall teach you all things :'ral and more comprehensive?" p. 53. "A second point, in which Dr. Maltby appears to me no less fundamentally to err, is in his wish, for what I conceive to mean an extensive change in the Liturgy and Articles of the Church of England. “As to the Liturgy, if there be any expressions which offend the conscience of the wisely scrupulous, or even the taste of the justly refined, and these could be changed without risk to the whole, I should concur with Dr. Maltby in desiring the correction.” p. 51. ⚫ he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.' Such being the fact, it is no de "But, then, we should remember, both that there is a degree of refinement which is fastidiousness, and that much of the ancient scrupulosity about modes and expres. sions in religion is laid in the grave with the puritans. Almost every change of the 'Liturgy, therefore, may be resisted upon these two grounds-that we shall never please the over-nice, and that the devout are mostly pleased already." p.51. In the revision' demanded by the au ther for the Articles' of the church, I have the misfortune to differ as radically from him." p. 52. "In fact, is there any solid ground for objection to our Articles? Can it be hoped that any will be framed at once as scripta "The third and last error, which I she venture to notice, in the work of Dr. Maltby, |