for the defects of the style. We will only say, upon this subject, that we should have been too much taken up with his matter to feel disposed to criticise his composition, even had that composition been open to the censures of criticism, which it certainly is not.

As Christian observers, we must be permitted once more to allude to the pious feelings and devout practice manifested by these celebrated travellers. The volumes of Captain Franklin are interspersed with little facts and observations which strongly betoken the habitual influence of religious and Christian principles; and all these facts and remarks occur so naturally and so incidentally that they bear the strongest marks of genuine sincerity. Even under their greatest difficulties the Lord's-day appears to have been solemnized with all the pious reverence which their circumstances admitted. "The Sabbath," says Captain Franklin, "was always a day of rest with us : the woodmen were required to provide for the exigencies of that day on Saturday, and the party were dressed in their best attire. Divine Service was regularly performed; and the Canadians attended, and behaved with great decorum, although they were all Roman Catholics, and but little acquainted with the language in which the prayers were read. I regretted much that we had not a French Prayer-book; but the Lord's Prayer and Creed were always read to them in their own language." During that dreadful interval of suffering, which occurred during their last visit to Fort Enterprise, when their extreme debility, though doubtless calculated to excite the most serious reflections on another world, might, perhaps, almost have excused them from the labour of much audible reading, they never failed, after the arrival of Dr. Richardson and Hepburn, to read prayers, and a portion of the New Testament in the morning and the evening;, and "I may remark," adds Captain Franklin, "that these

duties always afforded us the greatest consolation, serving to re-animate our hope in the mercy of the Omnipotent, who alone could save and deliver us." We confess that, when we compare these traits of Christian piety and resignation with that lurking scepticism or cold insensibility to religious considerations which characterizes the narratives of too many travellers, they appear to our view like so many spots of verdure and fertility amidst a wide encircling desert. They shed a moral warmth and beauty over the scenery of the barren grounds. They increase our interest in all the adventures of the travellers; and, while in some respects they add to our sympathy with their sufferings, they leave no room for that painfulness of reflection which arises in a Christian mind, from the view of sufferings unsanctified and unimproved. We are not without hope that the example of this narrative may tend to give a more serious and religious tone to the volumes of future travellers; that it may teach them the benefit and importance of attending as much as possible to the observance of the Lord's day, and lead them to view mankind more in the character of moral, accountable, and immortal beings; beings, not created for the mere purpose of strutting and fretting their hour upon the short stage of the present life, but informed with spirits which are destined to be saved or lost for ever. It cannot be denied that, in travellers not previously fortified by sentiments of piety, and by the principles of true religion, a rambling curiosity, and an extensive observation of the varieties of the human species, have some tendency to confirm sceptical opinions, and to increase irreligious practice. Such travellers are too much absorbed in the endless amusing novelties and varieties of their progress, willingly to admit a train of serious and saddening reflections; for such is the train of reflection which an impartial survey of the

world, as it now exists, can hardly fail to produce in every pious and well ordered mind. They see much that, on a light and cursory observation wears the appearances of chance, caprice, and confusion. Amidst the moral blindness and depravity of pagan countries, they sometimes fancy that they witness a condition of low physical enjoyment, denied to nations of a higher intellectual and moral standard in the scale of society. They are apt to mistake the mere absence of civilization and refinement for the simplicity of innocence and virtue. They think they see nations tolerably happy, though destitute of the light of Revelation: and they too easily conclude that, even if it were desirable to impart to them that light, the obstacles and impediments to success are too many and too great to be surmounted. They gradually bring themselves to think, not only. that "priests of all religions are the same," but that all religions are pretty much alike, as it respects the future destinies and happiness of man; that sincerity is the only requisite; and that none but the atrociously wicked have any thing to fear. There is only one thing which can duly counteract the baneful influence of these erroneous views and maxims; and that is, a better acquaintance with the discoveries, and a firmer and more practical belief in the declarations, of the Bible, This will generate the habit of contemplating human nature by the light reflected on it from the mirror of the Divine word. It will teach men the propriety of submitting to be ignorant, wherever that light may prove insufficient for clearing up the difficulties that surround them. And, by enforcing a regular attention to religious duties, it will keep the mind in that posture of calm, serious, impartial observation, which will best prepare it both for the discovery, and for the communication, of important truth. Should the publication of Captain Franklin's NarraCHRIST. OBSERV. No. 267.

tive produce any of the good effects here anticipated, we feel assured that he will regard this alone as an ample remuneration for all the toils and sufferings he has been destined to encounter.

We alluded, in our last Number (p. 111), to the missionary efforts already commenced, at Captain Franklin's instance, in favour of the native tribes whom he visited. Believing, as we do, their conversion to be possible and practicable, we conceive that no doubt can exist, in the mind of any serious professor of Christianity, as to the duty of using our best endeavours for promoting this glorious end. We are, however, told by a recent author, the Abbé Dubois, that, whatever may be the case in our northern regions, there is at least one country on the face of the earth where all such attempts are absolutely hopeless. The experiment, he says, has been made in India during the last three hundred years, but without the least success: Christianity, at the present moment, instead of keeping up its numbers there, is, according to his account, fast declining, and must ultimately come to nought. Of the 1,200,000 nominal Christians, whom he admits as existing among the natives of the Eastern world, he is doubtful whether one single individual be a sincere convert, adorning his profession by a suitable life. And, in entertaining such doubts, he is perfectly consistent; for who does not see that only a single example of a true convert would go far towards demolishing his hypothesis? Bibles, it seems, are of no use, because they cannot be understood. The present translations are of no use, because they are conducted with such ignorance of the native languages as to expose the Scriptures to ridicule and contempt. The Abbé himself has been resident thirty-two years in Hindostan; during which time his zealous and persevering efforts have only been able to collect a congre

2 A

gation of three or four hundred nominal converts, from the lowest of the people. All this, it must be confessed, would form a very sad and discouraging picture, did we see reason to rely with confidence on the author's judgment, and on the wisdom of his past proceedings. We are not now attempting to confute his mistatements; though, were it the proper place, we pledge our selves that we could do it from authentic sources of information. But, when a writer deals continually in round, conjectural numbers; when he speaks alternately in a tone of certainty and hesitation upon the same subject; when, at one time, he informs us that the native Hindoo Christians are, upon the whole, better than the pagan inhabitants; and, at another time, that all those of his flock, who continue Christians, are worse than the renegades who have again apostatised to Paganism; when, at one moment, he represents the people of India as lying under an everlasting anathema, and in a state of downright reprobation; and, at another, enters upon a laboured vindication of their moral characters; when he tells us, that, should a revolution take place in the religion of this accursed and devoted soil, it will rather be in support of theoretical as well as practical Atheism, than in favour of Christianity: when he acknowledges that the command of our Saviour to preach the Gospel to every creature, is to be understood with that universal application which the words evidently imply, and yet scruples not to insinu ate that there may be countries of immense population, with respect to which that command is, in the strictest sense, a dead and ineffectual letter;—when a writer heaps upon us, within the compass of 200 short pages, all this mass of paradox and inconsistency, we must confess that we cannot but entertain the strongest doubts of his competency for the bold task which he has undertaken to perform. And such a writer is the Abbé Dubois. He

may have been a resident missionary in the East for more than thirty years. He may have been exceedingly zealous in his way. Some of the few facts which he relates may wear a very unfavourable aspect. But we must have much fuller and more satisfactory information, before we can regard the conversion of the Hindoos, or indeed of any other people, as, hopeless and impracticable. We cannot take the Abbé's word for so sweeping a conclusion. We are sure, too, that in whatever else he may have acted rightly, there is at least one particular in which he has acted wrong; namely, in his endeavours to accommodate Christianity to the habits, customs, and prejudices of the Hindoos. We should have thought that the condemnation of such conduct by the Church of Rome, and the result of the experiment, in the case of Xavier and the Jesuit missionaries, would have deterred him from following their example in this respect. This is an artifice which, when detected, has always recoiled upon the practisers of it, and tended, first to produce a large body of hypocritical professors, and then to ruin the cause which it was the design of the missionaries to promote and propagate. When St. Paul became all things to all men, it was assuredly not in any such meaning, or to any such extent. But we must remember, that we are not now writing a review of the Abbé's work. We think, however, that the internal evidence of his book is, of itself, quite sufficient to prevent any judicious and reflecting reader from depending on him, as a competent, much less an unerring, guide. Ardently do we hope that the poor Indians of North America will be found more open to conviction than their more civilized brethren in the East. We are the advocates of no rash, hasty, angry, or impolitic proceedings, with regard to missions. But we feel more and more strongly, every day, the duty of missionary exertions, conducted

with requisite prudence, and in a right spirit. Whenever the great work shall prosper, it will prosper, through a Divine influence cooperating with human agency; but no human wisdom or policy, without that influence, will ever be the means of bringing a single individual to true conversion of heart. At the same time, since God works by the instrumentality of his rational creatures, we cannot doubt but that, if Christians had better performed their duty towards the heathen world, in the way both of instruction and of good example, a very different result would now have been the consequence; and we should not, at this moment, have had to mourn over so vast portion of the habitable globe immured in all the darkness of pagan ignorance, and in all the pollutions of idolatry.

1. A Dissertation on the Sabbath, in which the Nature of the Institution, and the Obligations to its Observance, are stated and illustrated. By the Rev. JOHN MACBETH, A. M. Glasgow. 1823. Price 5s. 2. A Treatise on the Sabbath, or Illustrations of the Origin, Obligation, Change, Proper Observance, and Spiritual Advantages of that Holy Day. By the Rev. JOHN GLEN. Edinburgh. 1822. Price 5s.

In the state of primæval innocence, it was the exalted happiness of man to hold communion with his Maker, and to worship him with devout and admiring adoration. After the fall he lost, in a great measure, the knowledge of God, and contracted both a dislike and a moral incapacity for communion with him. The Divine revelation, which has graciously disclosed to us how we may be restored to the perfection of our nature, and the happiness of the heavenly world, has enjoined us to dedicate a stated portion of our

time to the public worship of God. Our dedication to God is indeed a spiritual service; an act of the mind: but the sentiments of love and veneration, of trust and submission, which we feel towards him, must be expressed by suitable outward signs; such as prayer and praise, and the reading of the Scriptures; and the day of sacred rest is particularly given us for the cultivation of these devout exercises. It is therefore of high importance to our present comfort, as well as to our eternal welfare, that our belief in the sanctity and moral obligation of the Christian Sabbath should be established upon a sure foundation. We wish we could say that there was as little scepticism as cause for scepticism on this subject; but whether owing to a wish to reconcile the conscience to laxity of practice, or to a love of paradox and quibble, or to both these combined, there certainly are to be found persons who affect to doubt whether the sacred observance of one day in seven is really binding upon Christians, as a moral obligation, or is more than a mere matter of expediency. Our late revered friends and correspondents, Mr. William Hey and Mr. ThomasScott, addressed to us some valuable papers on this subject, which our readers will find, the former in our first volume, pp. 351, 417, 489, and 559; the latter, in our volume for 1817, p. 345. To these we confidently refer all who entertain any latent doubts on the point. They contain, in our view, the best concise summary of the argument to be found in the language; and little needs be added to it, in order to embrace the whole controversy, except an expansion of the heads of the discussion. This will be found in the two treatises now be

fore us; either of which will convey to the reader all that is neces sary for a full vindication of the sacred institution which has been so rudely assailed by some of its opponents, and so feebly and unsa

tisfactorily defended by Paley and others of its avowed friends. It is not, to our minds, a pleasing omen for modern Scotland, that two treatises expressly on this subject should be considered as necessary, in addition to the volumes already to be found in our theological libraries, and the innumerable dissertations in sermons, bodies of divinity, and other publications. Our two authors probably knew nothing of each other's intention or performance, yet both concur in attesting that they had found amply painful cause for drawing up their remarks. We would, however, still trust that whatever may be the report from the Edinburgh or the Glasgow press, in the more retired and less populous parts of the country, the day of sacred rest still wears all its revered Scottish solemnity; while, even in the crowded haunts of manufacture and commerce, it still bears an appearance of external sanctity, which, though it may be removed from the strict model of ancient discipline, is yet much more decent than the grosser desecrations of too many of our English towns and cities.

Those of our readers who are acquainted with the works of Heylin, Dr. Owen, Wright, and various other authors who have written on the subject under consideration, either professedly in distinct publications, or incidentally in the course of their pulpit discourses and treatises on divinity, will not expect from Mr. Glen or Mr. Macbeth much original matter; for on a subject so trite, there is little scope for any modern writer, except to furbish anew the trusty weapons of his predecessors. Mr. Macbeth, in his preface, modestly declines all claim to originality; and, indeed, the remarkable coincidence between his own treatise, and that of Mr. Glen, shews how greatly each has availed himself of the information to be obtained from common sources. Neither work, however, is the less calculated on this account to be

useful within the sphere of its circulation; and we cheerfully recommend either, or both, to those who are seeking for information upon the subject, without attempting the delicate task of too nicely balancing their separate merits.

The syllabus of contents of Mr. Glen's treatise will shew the general nature of the argument for the Christian Sabbath. He, in his first chapter, proves its original institution from the words of Moses, Gen. ii. 3 : from a few remote allusions to it in sacred and profane history; from the eminent piety of the patriarchs; from the manner in which its approach was intimated at the giving of the manna in the desert, and in which the mention of it was afterwards introduced in the Fourth Commandment; and, lastly, from the words of the Apostle to the Hebrews,. chap. iv. 3, 4. In his second chapter, he argues its moral and perpetual obligation, from its appointment at the close of the creation; from the manner in which the Fourth Commandment was given, the situation which it holds in the Decalogue, and the duty which it imposed on the stranger in the Jewish state; from the Old-Testament prophecies concerning the observance of it in New-Testament times; and from the declarations of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the language of the Apostle James. Chapter iii. states the reasons and evidence for the change of the Sabbath from the last to the first day of the week as follows:-Reasons for the Change. of the Sabbath: (1.) On the first day of the week our blessed Lord rose from the dead, and evinced the accomplishment of our redemption. (2.) As the day which completed the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt was fixed on as their Sabbath, so the day which evinced our deliverance from worse than Egyptian bondage should, on the same principle, be kept as a memorial of that event. (3.) As every part of the instituted worship of God, under the New-Testament economy, has