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almost unprovided for, or supported by immense and extensive unions, so that the Bishop is left to the sad alternative of depriving the clergy of temporal, or the laity of spiritual food. The latter has in most instances been unavoidably resorted to, and the consequence has been in the districts thus deserted, a relapse into popery, or into a state of darkness almost as bad-In cases where these unions have been unnecessarily formed, or where they are no longer necessary, the wisdom of the rulers of our church will remove, and actually is removing the evil. But in many instances, particularly in the province of Connaught, the dissolution of unions in the degree necessary, if we would give to all the people the possibility of instruction, would not leave the Incumbent the actual means of subsistence.

There is, I have been informed, an union in the western extremity of Galway, consisting of sixteen parishes, forty miles in length, and twenty in breadth, the total revenue of which amounts to £100 a year. I write this on hearsay, and have not the opportunity of ascertaining the correctness of the statement; but even supposing it to be exaggerated, is it not worthy the attention of those interested in the spread of Gospel light to inquire whether this is the case, and whether it is a solitary instance ? The establishment of a sufficient number of curates, on a plan approved by the excellent Metropolitan of the province, in those distressed districts might be of incalculable benefitand their labours would, as far as we can judge, meet with less opposition from popery than in a place where religion is more profitable. The expence of maintaining a missionary appears from the last report of the Church Missionary Society, to average at £100 a year, for each individual employed. The salary of a large proportion of curates in Ireland is only £50 a year.

Men acquainted with the Irish language, of habits not so refined as to make them miserable in the situation, and yet sufficiently raised above those to whom they would be sent to command respect, might be found with hands and hearts prepared for the work; and the assistance of the Metropolitan and Bishops of the province to a well digested plan might I think, judging from their characters, be relied on. Would it not then be a project worthy of British and Christian benevolence to send the light of the Gospel through the organized ministry of our communion to these poor people? I know that an appeal to English benevolence could not be made in vain on any other subject. But the public mind has been so prepossessed with the idea of the wealth and indolence of the Irish clergy, that I fear it will hardly be induced to believe the report of their wants and usefulness. All I can say is, Come and see, or ask those unprejudiced persons who have seen.*

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It may be urgent that something should be done at home. Much has been done; enough to show how much remains to be done; how inadequate for the work are the means to be found on the spot. Enough light has been admitted to make the darkness visible; and if any thing were begun in England, it would, I am sure, meet with hearty co-operation in all parts of Ireland.

As I have alluded to the probable support of certain individuals, I feel it necessary to state, that I have never heard a hint of what are their wishes on the subject, but merely judge from the general tenor of their conduct: and also to state, lest you should think me influenced by local prejudices, that I am not a Connaughtman, nor have I any connexion with Connaught, though I acknowledge myself to be

AN IRISHMAN.

ERRORS RESPECTING CRANMER'S GREAT BIBLE, 1540.

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It is of this edition that Lewis has said, p. 136, 'the Apocrypha being omitted.' From the general reputation of that writer, there was no reason to think that, respecting a fact which concerned a fifth part of the whole volume, any mistake could have been made. On searching the volume, however, which belongs to Sion College Library, it was found that, though the Apocryphal Books were indeed omitted in their separate form,.... yet some of them were interspersed with the Canonical Scriptures. Next to Paralipomenon' the Books are in the following order, Esdras, Tobi, Judith, Esther, Job, Maccabees, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Sapience, Ecclesiasticus, Psalter, Esai, Jeremie, Baruch, &c....

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.... THIS CIRCUMSTANCE PROVES THAT, RESPECTING MATTERS OF

FACT, on which important results depend, AN AUTHOR SHOULD TRUST

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NO ONE'S EYES BUT HIS OWN. will remain too as a proof that Lewis had not read ALL the Books of which he has given such precise descriptions." (Plea, &c. p. 64.)

Now, Sir, what opinion must be formed of the accuracy and research of the writer of the above passage, when I inform your readers that Lewis (who had " not read" the book!) is right, and that the author of the Plea' (who has pretended to read it!) is wrong? Not one

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line of the Apocrypha exists in this volume, either " interspersed" or appended." Determined " ΤΟ TRUST NO ONE'S EYES BUT MY "OWN," I have carefully examined the book, as any of your readers may do, in Sion College Library, under the class-mark C.9.8. Whilst I cannot but admire the excellent intentions of the author of the

Plea,' I cannot too strongly condemn his pretensions to a research which he has never made, and his consequent misstatement respecting Cranmer's connivance at an interspersed Apocrypha. The mistake

has clearly arisen from the writer looking no further than the third or fourth leaf; where there occurs a Tabular View of the Scriptures, which he has erroneously conceived to be a catalogue of the contents of the volume. But even in this Table, some marks of distinction are observed, for we read" Esdras 3, which Booke is Apocryphus,' "Esdras 4, which Booke is also Apocryphus." I shall only add that the Plea' is so full of erroneous statements, false dates, and misprints, that it cannot be safely relied on in any one instance.

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P. S. The author of the 'Plea' has made a mistake of a precisely opposite description, with regard to the first printed English Bible, viz. Coverdale's 1535. Misled by the table of contents, (the only part of the book which he could have examined!) he asserts, (p. 59,) that Coverdale omitted" the Song of the three Children" in the Apocrypha. Had he turned to the back of the title, he might have read Coverdale's own declaration, that, because of those be weak and scrupulous," he "had not left it out; though clearly inclined to do so. In short, this apocryphal

66

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piece appears at folio 56.

REVIEW OF BOOKS.

Proceedings of the Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East. Twenty-fifth Year 1824-1825. Seeley.

A Sermon preached before the incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, together with the Report of the Society for the year 1824. Pp. 202. and *132. The Report of the Directors to the Thirty-first General Meeting of the London Missionary Society. Pp. 176 and cx.

Hints on Missions. By James Douglas, Esq. Cadell.

A Letter to the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, on the lawfulness, expediency, conduct and expectation of Missions. By Edward Thomas Vaughan, M.A. Baldwin. Pp. 21.

THE establishment of Missions on an extensive scale is a most striking characteristic of the present period. Little of this nature had, comparatively speaking, been attempted until near the close of the last century, when the Baptist, the London, and the Church Mission

ary Societies were successively

formed, and were not only themselves actually engaged in the work of evangelizing the Heathen, but became instrumental in the formation of many important institutions, as the Bible, Tract, Jews, Hibernian, and other Societies, and also revived the dormant zeal and added fresh fuel to the languishing fire of some older and valuable Institutions, which appeared almost to have sunk into decay.

The progress of these Societies must necessarily be regarded with a high degree of satisfaction by every lively Christian, and the official reports of their proceedings will be contemplated with an interest proportioned to the success which attends their path, and to the zeal

JAN. 1826

and love which occupy the reader's breast. He will rejoice in their prosperity, mourn over their trials, cover with the mantle of charity their defects, and pray that the ministers and stewards of Christ's mysteries, may so prepare and make ready his way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at the Saviour's be found an acceptable people in second coming, the Heathen may his sight.

The proceedings of the Church Missionary Society, contain a sermon by the Rev. John Bird Sumner, M.A. (of which an abstract will be found in our Volume for 1825, p. 225) the Twenty-fifth Report of the Committee, their instructions to the Missionaries proceeding to Sierra Leone, with an address by the Rev. Thomas Webster, delivered October 1824, and the addresses of the Rev. E. Bickersteth, the Secretary, and the Rev. J. N. Pearson the Principal, at the opening of the Missionary College at Islington, January 31, 1825.

The Report after stating, that the gross income of the Society during the year, had exceeded FORTY-FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS, and adverting to the opening of the College, proceeds to notice in their order the Nine Missions of the Society. These notices contain many striking facts and interesting anecdotes. The removal however of so many Missionaries by the hand of death from the West African Mission, and the diminution of the Christian congregations, owing to the want of Teachers, must necessarily excite very painful feelings. The Committee have indeed completed an arrangement with Government, by which the Society engages to supply an adequate number of Christian Teachers for the instruction of the Colony of Sierra Leone, but we apprehend this arrangement will

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Society must be spoken of in less favourable terms. The Mediterranean Mission appears almost entirely at a stand. As a Bible Society station, it may be regarded with interest, but the obstacles and impediments to Missionary exertions in that quarter, are so great that we cannot but regret that valuable agents and supplies should be diverted from more important fields, to such an unprofitable soil.

We pass over the Society's West Indian and North American Mission, and just glance at the Australasia or New Zealand Mission. The

necessarily be modified in consequence of the inability of the Society to procure or maintain the Ministers who will be required. Considering indeed the claims which press upon the Society from every quarter, this contract with Government is a measure of somewhat doubtful expediency. If the Church Missionary Society are at the labour and expence of preparing suitable persons as chaplains to the Colony, which after all is scarcely a Missionary object, Government ought surely to provide them with outfit and allow them adequate support. The Christian Institution at Lei-New Zealand Missionaries have cester Mountain, we regret to observe, is reduced to only eight scholars. This is a most painful circumstance. The hope of evangelizing Africa must rest under God on the labours of native Missionaries. European constitutions are not equal for any length of time to the arduous duties of the public ministry in those burning climes ; and we therefore most earnestly hope that immediate measures may be taken for the collecting together, and instructing, either at Leicester Mountain, the Isles de Los, or elsewhere, a number of the most hopeful youths from all the different schools of the Mission, with the specific object of qualifying them for schoolmasters, catechists, and ministers to their countrymen: an Institution of this nature will appear to many a very minor object, to us we confess, it is a point of prime importance.

The Indian and Ceylon Missions, are proceeding with considerable success. The schools are prosperous, and the novel experiment of female education in India, bids fair to produce the most extensive benefits. Several natives are actively and usefully employed as Christian teachers, and the prospects in general throughout India, are, with comparatively few exceptions, of the most encouraging nature.

The remaining Missions of the

still great difficulties to contend with, but they appear to be gaining ground. Many native children are under instruction, and these we may confidently expect will, in due season, learn to testify to their parents and relations of a Saviour's love; and God will doubtless accompany the testimony with his blessing. We humbly hope that when the New Zealand Missionaries shall have laboured as long in that Island as their brethren in Otaheite, &c. encouraging and animating testimonies of the Divine Blessing may be recorded, similar to those which are contained in the present Report of the London Missionary Society.

This Society appears to be proceeding with considerable success in the great work of evangelizing the heathen. The first part of their Report is occupied with the proceedings of a deputation, who have been some time employed in visiting the Society's Missions in the South Sea Islands; and who, on one occasion, as recorded in our last volume, p. 316, narrowly escaped with their lives. Their statements must compel every careful observer to exclaim, What hath God wrought! And the blessed effects resulting from Missionary exertions in the Islands of the Pacific afford a fresh demonstration that Christianity is the friend of man-is the

best instrument of civilization-and conduces more to the prosperity of individuals and nations, than all the reasonings or reveries of political economists. The gross and the licentious indeed may lament that Otaheite no longer offers to them the opportunity of gratifying every corrupt affection, as it once did; but the friend of humanity must rejoice in the moral change which has been produced, and the consequent effects on the health, the comfort, the increase, and, in short, on the temporal prosperity of the Islanders; while the believer in Jesus will look beyond the present state, and not only rejoice that godliness hath promise of the life that now is, but an assurance of an inconceivably glorious and blessed inheritance in the life to come.

The gross income of the London Missionary Society, for the last year, amounted to £40,719, inclusive of £4,257 received for special objects, one of which is a fund for the widows and orphans of deceased Missionaries, and to which the Society has contributed £1,000. We are not able to collect the number of labourers employed, but it appears that about 14,000 children and 3,000 adults are under instruction in the schools of the several Missions. We cannot but hope that many of these persons may themselves be qualified to go forth as preachers of the gospel into surrounding districts; and that the Parent Society may thus be enabled to employ their funds in the opening of new Missions and the breaking up of fresh ground.

The gross income of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, appears to have amounted, in the last year, to £32,016, including Parliamentary grants to the amount of £20,000, but exclusive of the rents of estates, &c. appropriated to particular

purposes.

The following Table exhibits a general view of the Missionaries,

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In addition to these Ministers, Schoolmasters, &c. the Society supports at Bishop's College, Calcutta, three Professors, six Students, eleven European Missionaries, and six Native Preachers, at the expense of £4,900.

It is obvious that the number of Scholars here returned bears a very small proportion to the Schoolmasters engaged by the Society. The first impression on the mind, doubtless, is that the returns are very defective; and this we believe to be the case. But, at the same time, we wish to call the Society's attention to an assertion which has been made, and which we shall be most happy to be enabled to contradict, that many of the Schoolmasters of the Society do not teach any Scholars; and that those Scholars who are taught are not in general the children of the poor, but of persons able to pay for their instruction, and that thus the Society's bounty is grossly abused.

We repeat it, we shall be most happy to contradict such assertions; but it is proper that the Society should know that these things are said: if true, the abuses ought to be corrected; if false, it is important that they should be contradicted. We know that they have been the means of diverting into other sources funds which would otherwise have been placed at the Society's disposal.

Thus, for instance, when the Newfoundland School Society was

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