be said, "As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men*." And the necessity of national as well as individual labours, of labours conducted on a consistent plan, and under a regular form of polity, becomes the more manifest, from the cessation of those powers, which might in the early ages of the Church, have rendered all adscititious aids unnecessary. It must be borne in mind, that the extraordinary causes no longer operate, which in the first promulgation of the Gospel, produced such wonderful effects. We can offer to the astonished sight of the Hindoo no miraculous power. That evidence is no more, by which Jesus and the Apostles wrought persuasion in their hearers. Those voices are now silent, which by instantaneously invigorating the palsied limb, and raising the dead to life, wrung even from hostile minds, the faithful confession, that no man could do such miracles except God were with him. "But where the agency of miracles has been withdrawn, the support of secondary causes has been accorded, The mighty of the earth are become the nursing Fathers +' of Christianity; and it is hard to believe that our own nation, to which such opportunities have been granted, is not bound to employ, to the best of her power and wisdom, those gigantic means, to the Glory of Him from whom she has received them. This obligation indeed, so plainly deducible both from reason and from Scripture, has been recognized by our Legislature itself, in its professed anxiety to enlighten and inform the subjects of our Eastern Empire. How, then, is this solemn pledge to be redeemed? It is not alone by the diffusion of science and the arts of life, that the abominations of the native faith will be abolished. In the refined Societies of ancient Italy and Greece, the grossest superstition dwelt in the midst of learning. The utmost attainments of Pagan Philosophy in the very principle of Religion, the formation of the World, are known to have been a mass of error. Their boasted wisdom was deficient and unprofitable in the one thing needful to man. The scheme of Redemption was foolishness to the arrogance of the Grecian Sage; and in a period of the utmost advancement of literature and science, it was pronounced by indisputable authority, that the World by wisdom knew not God .' "Henceforward, therefore, with discretion and with zeal, may England do the work of an Evangelist ' to this her distant Empire. May she make full proof of her ministry |,' in maintaining Christianity among those who profess it, and in disseminating its saving truth among sixty millions of Heathens! In pursuit of this latter object, persuasion is her only weapon. It is not by the sword, it is not by menaces, it is not by compulsion indirect or immediate, that this end is sought to be gained. Preach the Word ¶ was the only direction upon the subject ever issued from *Galat. vi. 10. Isaiah xlix. 23. Il Ibid. + 1 Cor. i. 21. ¶ 2 Tim. iv. 2. § 2 Tim. iv. 5. on high. Preach the Gospel to every Creature. Sound it, that' is to say, in the ears of men. Proclaim it as an herald throughout the World; it carries along with it its credentials, which will sooner or later gain it universal reception. The tidings of the Gospel were originally promulgated in pure and perfect love; joy and gladness were its only concomitants. It interfered with no civil or political establishments. It gave unto Cæsar the things that were Cæsar's, and unto God the things that were God's* ' This is the only course which Christianity can acknowledge, and thus may it ever work its way till the Cross of Christ is erected upon the ruins of Heathenism!" Wrightson's Sermon, p. 13. "True unquestionably is the saying, If a man desire to dedicate himself to the promotion of this object, he desireth a good work. He desireth that which is man's noblest employment, his most acceptable service. In the exercise, however, of the Episcopal Office in India, peculiar difficulties may be found. In the cause of extending the Gospel-a cause, in which unity of doctrine and combination of effort will be above all things essential, he may have to behold division of sentiment and contrariety of action. Instead of seeing the Gospel preached to the Heathen in simplicity of doctrine, he may behold it offered to them clogged with all the various interpretations which the love of disputation has induced. In this state of things, it will be his arduous task to promote identity of doctrine and harmony of instruction as far as possible among the various preachers of the Gospel. Much must be done for mutual conciliation, much for common interest. It will be his unceasing duty to animate the desponding labourer, to instil into his mind that active courage and that persevering fortitude, which alone can uphold his spirit, when instead of meeting with the countenance he may be called to endure the contumely of the world around him. -The Indian Prelate may have to witness how consistent it is with man's frailty to live in spiritual health, when every thing conduces to its preservation, in a land, like our own, where every remembrance of human duty is assisted, and to contract languor and disease in an atmosphere of moral contagion. "If, too, the Christian character will be more difficult to be maintained in the centre of Idolatrous worship, the ministerial function will be of more difficult exercise, and the superintendant of the work will have proportionate anxiety :-Within and without the pale he must be prepared to meet discouragements, under which one only consciousness can be his refuge the consciousness of acting in conformity with the injunctions of his Heavenly Master, of labouring for the fulfilment of the prophetic annunciation, that God's way may be known upon Earth, and His saving health among all nations + Without the most enduring belief of the future prevalence of the Gospel, it might be vain to enter upon this work, it would be impossible to pursue it with ardour. Such a measure Matt. xxii. 21. + Psalm lxvii. 2. of Faith will be required as can remove the mountains of Idolatry and Superstition, and view beyond their trackless range the Paradise of Evangelical Culture:-Such a full assurance of Hope as can anticipate with ever-increasing joy the period, when her Wilderness shall be like Eden, and her Desert like the Garden of the Lord, when the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. t' The Almighty who knoweth our frame, has mercifully provided that the labours and anxieties of the Christian Minister shall have their appropriate reward, their more than adequate compensation. He has promised unto all, who faithfully execute its duties, under the pressure of great and trying privation, an extraordinary recompence in the Kingdom of Heaven. While others visit the East for purposes of temporal gain, it is the glory of the Minister of the Gospel, to go thither free from all sordid calculations. Instead of seeking in those regions the perishable treasures of Earth, he goes to impart that Knowledge, of which the merchandize is better than the merchandize of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. ‡' "Such were the views and such the labours of Bishop Middleton. His be the reward of those who have left their all in this world at the call of Heaven! His be the blessed salutation • Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord §. Much indeed could we have wished that, full of years and of honour, he had been permitted to return to his native land: that here he might have gone down to the grave, comforted with the remembrance of having added many sheep to the fold, into which our Lord's flock shall in the end be gathered. Yet even upon earth, his recompence was not wanting: He found it in the honest admiration which his singleness of heart-his entire devotion to the cause of Christianity did not fail to procure. He found it in the gradual success of his preparatory labours-in the removal of difficulties and the decline of prejudices, which in the outset obstructed his way, and threatened to paralyse his exertions. His indeed was not the joy of harvest; nor was it granted to him to see the stalk rise and the ear swell. The seed which he sowed must of necessity germinate slowly and unseen-future labourers must water where he has so judiciously planted. "May the prayers of the Christian world go up as a memorial before God, for the increasing prosperity of the Indian Church! May they cause a blessing to descend upon the head of Him, who is now separate from his brethren, upon this Apostolical servicesanctifying unto him every sacrifice of kindred and of home, in furtherance of the everlasting Gospel.-May he approve himself a faithful steward of the Divine Mysteries, and be found a vessel unto honour, meet for the Master's use ||. In a vigilant superintendence of the Christian Family in the East may he ensure by • Isaiah li. 3. + Isaiah xi. 9. Proverbs iii. 14. § Matt. xxv. 21. 2 Tim. ii. 21. the wisdom of his regulations, the fervency of his admonitions and the eminent piety of his life, that all who name the name of Christ may depart from iniquity;-And may he accelerate the arrival of that period, when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, 'and the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ *. In the dedication of every faculty of his soul to this greatest of causes, may he experience the never failing consolation, that his labour is not in vain in the Lord, and when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, may he receive the Crown of Glory that fadeth not away. Amen!" Wrightson's Sermon, p. 19. In these prayers and good wishes it is hardly necessary us to say that we cordially join. Bishop Heber has devoted himself to the best of all causes. His course, smoothed as it has been by the talents to which he has paid so just a tribute, is still neither a short or a plain one-yet we trust that he may be enabled to travel along it in safety-and return at last to close his life among those by whom he is so highly and deservedly esteemed. for ART. IV. The Island; or, Christian and his Comrades. By the Right Hon. Lord Byron. Second Edition. 8vo. 94 pp. John Hunt. 1823. THIS is in all its parts a Poem so truly delectable, that in our haste to expatiate on its merits we shall omit one or two minor preliminary considerations, which otherwise might have delayed us in the outset. We shall not, therefore, stop to ask why the title page bears the impress John Hunt rather than John Murray? nor why the second edition is published before the first? Whatever else there may be in the Poem characteristic of Lord Byron, there is assuredly much less that is offensive to decency and good feeling than may be found in many of his other productions to which Mr. Murray has not scrupled to affix his obstetric name; and as for those works which this good-natured and complying Sosia has smuggled into circulation with his own blushes concealed under the masque of the Printer, the present is quite une autre chose ; a matter which might not be generally accredited when it is seen to proceed from the same press which gives birth to The Liberal. But this is no concern of ours. If one Publisher is tired of paying, and the Peer chooses to try if another shop will pay better, the quarrel is all their own. *Rev. xi. 15. Every body knows the History of the mutiny on board the Bounty, in the South Seas, in the year 1789, and the subsequent discovery of the descendants of the mutineers, which is related in Mariner's Account of the Tonga Islands. These two stories Lord Byron has joined together and put into couplets, which for the most part (although as we shall shew hereafter there are exceptions even on these points) scan on the fingers and jingle in the close. The appendages which his own imagination has furnished, are the usual proportion of curled lips, and bitter smiles, &c. &c. &c. certain moral reflections, and a long love story. In going through this argument we shall endeavour to adopt that course which in all cases we hold to be most consistent with critical justice; and we shall leave the noble Lord's poetical claims to be decided by a standard from which no appeal can lie; namely, that of his own words. It is no fault of our's if, like Sir Nathaniel's lines, the Island is found to be only numbers ratify'd; but for the elegancy, facility, and golden cadence of poesie-caret." It was the morning watch, and "the vessel lay her course" while the stars set, the dolphins swam high, the wind "fluttered with a freshening flight," and the sun would have risen if a deed had not been to be done before he got up. Captain Bligh was fast asleep, though there were good reasons why he should have been awake. "The worst was over, and the rest seemed sure, And wilder hands would hold the vessel's sheet." The third of these lines puzzled us a little at first reading; and we were inclined to class it among those which the learned in re' Metricâ term Hypercatalectic: a second and third perusal, however, convinced us that there was no necessity for adopting this license; and the reader therefore is earnestly requested to pay attention to the elision, which a little practice will perhaps render very far from unmusical to his ear. The penultimate word should be pronounced bunwilling not by unwilling. The crew of the Bounty it seems had taken a fancy to summer women" and many other things in "The earth whose mine was on its face, unsold The glowing sun and produce all its gold." These doubtless were very tempting allurements, though we are not quite certain what they were; accordingly the VOL. XX. JULY, 1823. C |