Memoir of the Rev. William Cross, Wesleyan Missionary to the Friendly and Feejee Islands. With a short Notice of the early History of the Missions. By the Rev. John Hunt, Missionary to Feejee. 12mo. pp. vii, 167. John Mason. The subject of this truly interesting and valuable Memoir commenced his Missionary labours in 1827, in the Friendly Islands, where he was an honoured instrument in the hands of the great Head of the church in promoting the success of the Gospel among that benighted and truly pagan population. In 1835, in company with another, he undertook the arduous task of commencing a Wesleyan Mission in Feejee. Among the barbarous natives he preached the truth as it is in Jesus with great fidelity and zeal, and happily with much effect. The perils by sea and by land to which he was exposed, associated with numerous domestic and personal afflictions, gradually undermined a constitution naturally adapted to labour and fatigue, until his removal to a more congenial clime was considered indispensably requisite for the restoration of his health. So strong, however, was his conviction of the necessities of the Mission, and so unwilling was he to reduce the little band of faithful Ministers who were labouring in that extensive field, that he remained, at what he judged to be the post of duty, until a fatal dysentery closed his work and his life. The volume before us is edited with great fidelity by a friend and colleague of the deceased; it abounds in facts, which are faithfully related, and compiled chiefly from the journal of Mr. Cross. We most cordially recommend the work to our readers, as a valuable addition to Missionary literature; as a most suitable volume for our chapel and school libraries; as a pleasingly-instructive book to be read by the youth of our churches, and to be received as a companion in the closet of the pious and devoted friend of

Christian Missions; and also as a salutary and profitable vade mecum to the Missionary student, who is looking forward to the time when he will enter upon similar responsibilities and duties.

The Boatman's Daughter: a Narrative for the Learned and Unlearned. By Alfred Barrett. 18mo. pp. iv, 180. Mason. A very useful and edifying account, the events of which are said to have taken place more than twenty years ago; numerous causes having conspired to keep the rough notes of the narrative latent in the hands of the original possessor until recently, when it appeared to the Editor, that the lessons they suggested were admirably adapted to the present time, and might appeal, not only to the profane and poor, but to the polite and professedly religious. entirely coincide in the opinion of Mr. Barrett; and moreover think, that in acting according to that view of the manuscripts, he has furnished the religious world with a volume which will not fail to be extensively read and properly appreciated: it abounds in evangelical sentiments, beautifully elucidated, and faithfully, seasonably, and effectually applied.

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Notes, Analogical and Expository, on the Book of Revelation. By J. Arnet Storey. 12mo. pp. iv, 169. Ward and Co. From the date of the preface, we find that Mr. Storey lives at Liskeard; and from several expressions in the Notes, that he is a Dissenting Minister, advocating fully what is termed "the voluntary principle." Wherever the text refers to doctrinal and practical subjects, the writer is shown by his expositions to be orthodox, evangelical, and devout; occasionally expressing himself, as was to be expected, in language which a Wesleyan would not have employed; but these occasions are "few and far between." He adopts the views of those expositors who take the seven Asiatic churches as representing the various states

of the visible church from its commencement to the final consummation,-a principle that we have never been able ourselves to adopt. Whether he has succeeded in clearing away the obscurity from the apocalyptic prophecies, is a question we do not attempt to decide. His Notes embody much valuable historical information, proving him to have been himself a careful student of history; but, after reading the volume, we acknowledge that we seem to find ourselves where we stood before. Perhaps others may be more successful. At all events, the general doctrine and spirit of the work are such, that its perusal can scarcely be injurious to any one.

A Plea for the Outcasts of Israel. By Philo-Roma. 18mo. pp. x, 48. Aylott and Jones. In the opinion of the author, the wandering Gipsies who are scattered over various parts of Great Britain and Ireland, are "the outcasts of Israel," for whose spiritual welfare this tract has been written. We certainly do not see eye to eye " with the writer; but we admire the zeal and affection which is displayed in behalf of a race, which is beginning to excite greater attention from the religious public. The first national act of mercy towards them has passed, the Committee of Council on Education having granted £100 towards the erection of " an asylum and school for Gipsy children." May this work of faith and love be successful!

The true End of Education, and the Means adapted to it: in a Series of familiar Letters to a Lady entering on the Duties of her Profession as a Private Governess. By Margaret Thornley. Foolscap 8vo. pp. 342. Edinburgh, T. Clark; London, Hamiltons, Simpkins. We have read these Letters with great pleasure. They refer to those particular branches of the general subject, Education, to which a person in the situation of the one to whom the Letters are addressed, would necessarily have her attention practically directed, and contain observations as to the best methods of proceeding. On a question in itself so wide, and on which so much diversity of opinion exists, it will not be expected that we should exactly agree on every point with the writer. Still, we think that no one preparing for the important and responsible situation mentioned in the title-page, can read these pages without very great advantage. The mother, likewise, intending to educate her own daughters, will receive much benefit from them. The refer

ences to theology and religion are very decided, and yet not at all sectarian. Who the writer is, and to what section of the church she belongs, we do not know. We thought we met with an expression or two which seemed to indicate a Congregational tendency; but this is mere conjecture. Her remarks, in this part of the volume, may be characterized as evangelically orthodox, devotional, and, without the slightest tincture of asperity, very decidedly Protestant. After saying thus much, it is scarcely necessary to add, that we cordially recommend the work to all to whom such subjects are likely to be interesting and useful.

Christian Proprieties; or, an Address to Christians on Things decent and proper in connexion with their religious Duties. By an Observer. 12mo. pp.

12. Gladding. This useful tract directs attention to several important and useful topics; such as, the conduct which ought to be regarded before going

to

God's house; early attendance; deportment when there; staying till the conclusion of the service; on leaving the house of God; after service; family worship, its character; grace at meals, &c. We hope that this word of exhortation will be duly appreciated: it is written in a plain and affectionate style, consists of simple and practical hints, and is well calculated to correct that careless deportment which we have had frequently to deplore in many who bear the Christian name and character.

The Evangelical Alliance: its Origin and Development. Containing Personal Notices of its Distinguished Friends in Europe and America. By J. W. Massie, D. D., M. R. I. A., Author of "Continental India," &c. Royal 12mo. pp. xii, 466. John Snow.

-Very many friends of Christian union, who have been deeply interested in the movements of the "Evangelical Alliance," and have only heard occasionally of its actual proceedings by those who were privileged to witness them, or who have only seen detached accounts in various periodical documents, and even they who have witnessed some of these proceedings, will be grateful to Dr. Massie for affording them, with a consecutively historical view of the whole, one that they may go over as a whole, calmly regarding each step, and then, after combining them, judging of the entire and final result. The Evangelical Alliance, as a body, is of too great magnitude, and of too important character, especially now, on its first establishment, to

be at all committed to the opinions and statements of unofficial individuals, even though those individuals be most decidedly its friends. We speak of this vo lume, therefore, guardedly; and we are fully convinced that we shall best please Dr. Massie by doing so. It is his own book; and if, inadvertently, any incorrect statement, either of fact or opinion, should be found in it, or should something be omitted which ought to have been inserted, not the Alliance, but himself, must bear the blame. Nor must our own commendation be taken otherwise. It is possible there may be a something in a volume of so many pages, inconsistent with the objects and character of the Alliance which, in perusing it, we have not perceived, and which, had we noticed it, we should have pointed out. For ourselves, the perusal of the volume has given us no ordinary satisfaction. We soon found that we had a work before us which we could not just look over, in order to such a view as would justify us in pronouncing an honest opinion. Merely editorial duty was almost forgotten in personal pleasure. However rapidly we might be able to travel, we felt that we could not stop till we had performed the whole journey. If others are as pleased with it as we are, it will have a speedy and wide circulation. We think it can scarcely fail of promoting the glorious object of this noble, this truly Christian, (and what can we say higher or stronger?) undertaking. May the God of love and peace afford it his prospering blessing! If there be dense, dark, lowering clouds in the sky above us, here is a large break in them, through which the full splendour of heavenly sun-light streams down. Again, speaking for ourselves, we say that we have long desired to see such a movement; and, in witnessing it, we cannot help believing that we see a branch of the salvation of God. We trust that "the Giver of peace and unity " will be to the Alliance a defender and a guide, and cause his own glory to be promoted by the labours of his servants. Our readers will easily perceive that we desire heartily to recommend Dr. Massie's work.

Sermons preached in the Tabernacle and Tottenham-Court Chapel, London, by John Campbell, D. D., and Rev. Joseph W. Richardson. Foolscap 8vo. pp. 170. John Snow.-This volume contains ten sermons, preached as part of a longer course, in the places, and by the Ministers, mentioned in the titlepage. The subjects are, the chief ra

mifications of self; self-examination, deception, approval, condemnation, denial, indulgence, distrust, confidence, preservation, and destruction. On more important subjects ministerial labour could not well be employed.

A Discourse on the Necessity of providing an enlightened Education for the Christian Ministry; with some Observations on the comparative Merits of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and other Places of Collegiate Instruction. By Edmund Kell, M. A. 8vo. pp. 30. Simpkins.-A discourse by an Unitarian Minister, belonging to the old General Baptists.

The Translation: or, the Changing of the Living Saints, and their Deliverance from the Judgments which are coming on the Earth. By the Rev. John Hooper, Vicar of Albury. 8vo. pp. 56.

The

W. E. Painter.-A strongly millenarian, and, to us, at all events, a misty and obscure, discourse. One or two of its principles will, we think, be sufficient to illustrate its general character. kingdom of grace, as distinguished from that of glory, is that state into which men enter by baptism. The chief precursors of Christ's coming, which shall take place in the same generation that witnessed the precursors, and be followed by awful judgments on the nations of the earth, were given in the French Revolution. From these judgments the living saints shall be delivered by translation into heaven, substantially after the manner in which Enoch and Elijah were translated; and this translation shall take place before Christ's advent. All this, according to Mr. Hooper, is to take place in the present generation.

Orissa : its Geography, Statistics, History, Religion, and Antiquities. By Andrew Stirling, Esq., late Secretary to the Bengal Government. To which is added, A History of the General Baptist Mission, established in the Province. By James Peggs, late Missionary at Cuttack, Orissa, &c. 8vo. pp. viii, 416. John Snow. This is a very valuable contribution to modern Missionary literature; and when we add that the implied promise of the title-page is faithfully and amply fulfilled, it will be seen that the general reader will find muchvery much-information, as interesting as useful. With these notices the stamplaw allows of no statements as to prices; but we may say, that in a note from the author accompanying the volume on our table, he informs us that he offers it to Ministers, and Sabbath-school Teachers and scholars, at two-thirds of the pub

lishing price. He asks, "Is not this cheap " We unhesitatingly answer, "Yes." Indeed the volume itself, as books are now published, is anything but dear. To the Missionary and Sabbath-school libraries, it will be an important acquisition; nor less so for purposes of domestic perusal. We heartily recommend the volume. We need scarcely say that the General Baptists, with whom Mr. Peggs is connected, are strictly orthodox and evangelical.

Discourses by the late Rev. James Peddie, D. D., Minister of the United Associate Congregation of Bristo-street, Edinburgh. With a Memoir of his Life, by his Son, the Rev. William Peddie. With a Portrait. 8vo. pp. xii, 486. Edinburgh, W. Oliphant; London, Hamiltons. This volume is altogether a good specimen of one of the veterans of the school in Scotland-of course, we speak subordinately-to which he belonged: we had almost said, a fine, old-fashioned, Scottish Calvinist Minister, in whose manner there would be something even of the still older school. A good man, a sound Divine, and a solid, acceptable, and useful Minister. seem,-after reading the Memoir and Sermons, when looking at the portrait, as if we had known the man himself. The Discourses are clear and weighty. If not so polished as these modern days are supposed to require, it is because they are weighty. They are quite granitic. Their subjects are what will be expected by the reader, who has first seen in the Memoir what were nearly the last words of the venerable Preacher, (he died in his eighty-seventh year, having been a Minister nearly sixtythree,) "I die, I die, I die, in the faith of an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ."

We

Three Parts. By J. B. Marsden, M.A., Vicar of Great Missenden, Bucks. 12mo. pp. 235. Hamiltons ; Hatchards. An excellent defence of those evangelical principles on which the church rests; and a calm, but demonstrative, condemnation of Tractarianism, or Anglican Popery. A few observations are suggested by Mr. Marsden's position as a conscientious Clergyman, to which we should demur; but even these have nothing tending to intolerance about them. Mr. Marsden seems as if he had taken as his motto, "Speaking the truth in love;" and even

should he have, in one or two minor points, mistaken the former, he never ceases to maintain the latter.

Discourses, Doctrinal and Practical. By the late Rev. James Jeffrey, Greenock. With a Memoir of his Life. 8vo. pp. lxvi, 338. Oliphant, Edinburgh ; Hamilton, London.—Mr. Jeffrey was a devoted and able Minister of "the Relief Denomination," whom it pleased Divine Providence to remove from his labours by pulmonary consumption, in the latter end of the year 1845. As he was born in 1805, he had arrived at the very prime of intellectual vigour. The Memoir is brief, but interesting: the Sermons were not prepared by their author for the press; they, therefore, appear under all the disadvantages connected with a strictly posthumous publication. There are seventeen Discourses. From their impressive, persuasive eloquence we make no drawback; and very little from their doctrinal correctness, and that little only as a matter of course, and speaking according to our own views, which, of course likewise, Mr. Jeffrey would have regarded as in some respects erroneous. He was a Calvinist, and, as a faithful and conscientious Preacher, Calvinistic doctrines and phrases will occur in these records of his ministerial services. But of what is distinctive there is very little. The substance of his preaching was that Gospel in which he and ourselves would be at one. Judging from these specimens, his preaching must have been both attractive and powerful, calculated to promote the conversion of the sinner, and the edification of the believer. With all our comparatively subordinate differences, we are glad to bear testimony to the general worth of the volume.

The Obligations of the World to the Bible: a Series of Lectures to Young Men. By Gardiner Spring, D.D., of New-York. 12mo. (Sewed,) pp. 320. Collins.-As valuable a contribution to cheap (and far from unhandsome) literature as Mr. Collins has ever given us. In fourteen Lectures, and four Essays, Dr. Spring shows how greatly we are indebted to the word of God, not only for its revelation of essential and saving truth, but because of its influence on subordinate, but yet extremely important, subjects, such as literature, legislature, and moral science, social institutions, civil liberty. We should be glad to think that the book were well read.

Pulpit Studies: or, Aids to Preaching and Meditation. By John Styles,

D.D. Second Series. 12mo. pp. 232. Wards. Thirty-nine in all. As to suggestion and arrangement, generally good, though somewhat too high for those who take such methods of learning their A B C; while those who have gone further ought not to need them. In sentiment they are evangelical, and what perhaps may be termed mildly Calvinistic.

Hidden Works of Darkness: or, the Doings of the Jesuits. By W. Osburn. 18mo. pp. 214. Protestant Association.

A more important work than this small volume, crowded with suggestive matter, has not latterly issued from the press. Some statements of "Jesuitdoings" on the Continent are given; but the principal, and, at the present day, the most valuable, portion relates to their Anglican proceedings. The author shows that, from the middle of the reign of Elizabeth, a party of concealed and dispensed Jesuits has existed in England. Some of them took their place among the Puritans, and endea voured in every way to widen the breach between them and the Church. But the greater number became Churchmen, and by their own direct acts, and their communications with the Anti-Reformation Clergymen and others, sought to strengthen and advance the Papalizing tendency in the Establishment.

That

tendency, from the days of Elizabeth, and especially in the case of Laud, whom Mr. Osburn exhibits in his true colours, giving one of the most faithful portraits of him ever drawn, is distinctly traced, and Jesuit influence clearly shown. References and authorities are so furnished, that the studious reader may not only verify what he reads, but fill up, for himself, the brief sketch to which the author was confined by the size of the volume. We are so impressed by a conviction of its value at the present juncture, that we cannot help wishing that the author had published it on his own account. Most unhappily, Romanism is favoured in this country by many, because of the political aid which they receive from the body of Romanist members of Parliament from Ireland; and they are opposed to the Protestant Association, because, in asserting the value of Protestantism to even the civil advantages of the country, it says what is of course offensive to their friends. What is the cause of truth to sceptics, hating the Sabbath, hating all evangelism, and deprecating every reference to the word of God, in comparison with the support which is afforded them by Romanists ? No man, who loves what has been called

the "Methodism of religion," and knows its inestimable worth to individuals and societies, can read this volume without feeling that we live in times when the temporal and spiritual interests of the country are endangered by the subtile advances of the tyranny of the Roman Bishop, so that all who love God and man are deeply concerned in a revival of true, evangelically-Protestant zeal,zeal not political, but religious. We wish Mr. Osburn's book to be extensively circulated. To all who read it with conscientious impartiality, it must do good. Of course we are not agreed with the writer in all his subordinate points; but, taken as a whole, we even earnestly recommend it.

Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Fry; including a History of her Labours in promoting the Reformation of female Prisoners, and the Improvement of British Seamen. By the Rev. Thomas Timpson. 12mo. pp. 348. Aylott and Jones. We scarcely need tell our readers that this is not shall we say?— THE Memoir of Mrs. Fry. Of such a woman the Life will, of course, be published, with all necessary fulness, by her own family in due time. During her active life, Mr. Timpson had many opportunities of seeing and knowing her, as acting under her direction, or being associated with her, in carrying out her plans of Christian mercy. From his own acquaintance with her, therefore, this sketch is published,-this outlineprofile of character. Many, who will not have access to any larger work, will be glad to have this shorter account; and the rather so, as it appears to afford us as correct a likeness as the size of the canvass would allow. We cannot account for all the effects of the law of association; but, recollecting the approaching meeting of Parliament, and the subjects which our Senators will have to consider, we could not help thinking that, on some of the most important, they would, with less loss of time, and more certainty of correctness, come to a decision, if they would learn from Mrs. Fry the only, but the certainly effectual, method of reforming the criminal, and raising them from the squalid wretchedness into which real ignorance and crime for the most part plunge them.

Addresses to the Aged. By Stephen Tyng, D.D., Rector of St. George's Church, New-York. 24mo. pp. 101. Religious Tract Society.-Five Addresses, scripturally and powerfully adapted to prepare the aged for their so nearly and rapidly approaching change.