planet affords. For this my reason evidently lays on all sides the foundation. Instead, however, of making me as happy as possible, it makes me as miserable as possible, if death is annihilation, for it gives me a foreknowledge of death which incessantly torments and renders me more wretched than any brute animal is capable of being. For this foreknowledge, if I am to enjoy the least happiness, I must be compensated, and nothing can compensate me for it but the foreknowledge, on the other hand, that I shall continue to exist in death. It is true that I possess far too many faculties and powers, and am the most incongruously constituted of all beings, if this brief life is my whole destination. Very few of my higher faculties attain a considerable degree of cultivation; faculties, of which I am not even aware, lie dormant within me, and the more I exercise any of the powers of my mind the stronger it becomes. Here are unbounded, inexhaustible stores for me; what else can they be but intrinsic capabilities of my nature for everlasting duration? And if in the material world nothing is, strictly speaking, lost, how is it possible that these should be lost? It is true that I know no greater happiness than to perfect myself more and more by means of these faculties, and to advance in wisdom and virtue. It is the voice of my nature which cries, onward, and onward still! Here I give to my instinct of perfection precisely that direction which is most consonant with my higher nature and my moral being. Shall then every thing else be in the most beautiful harmony, my faculties and powers adapted to immortality, and my instinct to cultivate them apply for ever, and shall the main point be wanting? Shall immortality itself be denied me? For what purpose, then, would be these faculties, these powers? For what purpose would be this instinct? Either man is destined to be the most incongruous, the most contradictory of beings, or he must continue to exist in death.

It is true, that the mere sense of duty is not capable of keeping me virtuous in all the circumstances of life. If it shall be capable of doing this, if the continual regard to my moral nature shall cause me to act under all circumstances in a strictly moral and virtuous manner, my moral nature must first acquire its true diguity by an everlasting existence. Nothing but the hope of a future life supports me in my most arduous duties; and if I am called to perfect virtue, I must also be called to immortality. What

good deed is there in which I am not strengthened by immortality? The belief in it is the highest incitement to virtue; I must therefore hold it fast.

It is true that there must be justice in the moral world, and that at present it is not perfectly administered. Let me strive as I will to justify fate, still there are imperfections and deficiencies, great imperfections and deficiencies, in its present government. Owing to circumstances and the present connexion of things, indeed, it cannot be otherwise; but this ought not to affect the everlasting laws of moral beings, the everlasting laws of justice, which rewards and punishes. Unfortunates without number die crying for justice, and it must be afforded them some time or other.

It is true that man is the final end of the whole terrestrial world. What higher end can be conceived than He, the sole species of being, which not only discovers order and beauty in the works of nature, but actually imitates that order and beauty, and by selecting and combining the beauties scattered throughout natare, that is to say by art, frequently surpasses his model? If, then, man is the final end of the terrestrial world, he must continue to exist, even though he had to suffer a thousand deaths; for the final end of a world must absolutely be something imperishable, something everlasting, or a whole world would exist for no ultimate purpose, for nothing: and if the final ends of other worlds were in the same predicament, the whole universe and the whole scheme of existence of all things would be a mere juggle. Compressed into this narrow compass, the arguments of reason in behalf of a future existence for man, possess a force that is irresistibly convincing. In brief, if there is no future state for man, death is annihilation for him; and he who has consolation for every thing else, has not then the slightest comfort for the severest of all his afflictions; his natural longing after immortality is then a cruel mockery; his reason, which teaches him the knowledge of death, is then the most grievous of punishments; his stupendous faculties and powers are then the most senseless waste; he is then a fool to cultivate and apply them to any other purpose than sensual; every incitement to the noblest actions is then done away with; there is then no perfect administration of justice in the moral world, and the earth and every thing then exist for no ultimate end or purpose whatever. But if death is not an

nihilation for man, he has then for his greatest affliction the greatest consolation; his noblest instinct, like all his other instincts, is then gratified; reason is then the best gift that could be conferred on him; all his faculties and powers are then a masterpiece of harmony; he is then wise if he diligently cultivates and applies them; he has then the strongest inducement to remain virtuous under all the circumstances of life; the most perfect administration of jus

tice in the moral world is then to be hoped for; the constitution of the earth is then the most sublime that can be imagined; in short, there is then every where consistency, whereas otherwise there would be every where contradiction; consistency between the faculties and instincts of man-consistency in all the arrangements made around him for his benefit-consistency in the whole terrestrial world itself-every where consistency the most complete and the most admirable.

He that can appreciate, can hardly, we think, withstand the force of these considerations. To our own minds they are not all equally valid. In some we discern hints rather than proofs. But as different minds are variously affected by evidence, we wish those who doubt to read the book; we shall be glad if any come to the conclusion of the author, and incalculably more, if they frame their lives, as he did, in unison with their convictions.

Another work we would send our readers to, Jevons's "Systematic Morality," not doubting that though their faith in a hereafter may not be augmented, they will read in both an interesting comment on the fundamental truth of the Christian system.

ART. III.-Oriental Customs applied to the Illustration of the Sacred Scriptures. By S. Burder, A. M.

THIS volume is selected from the larger work in four volumes by the same author, with additions from more recent publications, constituting about onefifth of the whole. The author "has deviated from his former plan, in which the articles were arranged according to the order of the books of the Bible, without regard to the subjects on which they treat. They are now disposed in chapters, and referred to particular heads of illustration, preserving in each the order of the Sacred Writings." This alteration we regard as a great improve

ment. Many of the new articles possess considerable interest. We particularly recommend this book to our youthful readers, aud those to whom the price or size of the original work may be inconvenient. It affords abundance of enter tainment and instruction, independently of its subservience to the clear understanding of many parts of Holy Writ.

ART. IV.-The Application of the Principle of the Chorus to the Book of Psalms. By the Rev. W. K. Burroughs. Dublin. 1830.

THE above title excites expectations which the book sorely disappoints. The author either knows nothing about the Principle of the Chorus, or cares nothing about its application, for his distribution of the Psalms is altogether arbitrary and capricious, and the real object seems to be the introduction of a commentary, of which the fidelity, as an exposition, is on a par with the truth and charity of its sentiments.

For instance: on Psalm iv. 6, we are told, "The expression finely paints the lost labour of seeking his favour through our own devices, Who will shew us any good?' Thus terminate the various systems of idolatry, the penances and inflictions of corrupt Christian churches, the scepticism of the Infidel, the deism of the Arian, Socinian, and Unitarian; they launch the soul into the broad ocean of eternity, a frail bark, to abide the storms of Almighty wrath, without even one star to gild the horizon with hope; no beacou near to shew a friendly port, and no anchor except man's own imperfect and sinful righteousness." (Pp. 30, 31.) And again, Ps. xxiv. 16, "The semichorus requests a more full description of this king of glory, of whom alone, of all the descendants of Adam, this exalted character is given. The chorus responds, that he is the well-beloved of the Father, the second person of the everblessed Trinity, manifest in the flesh; the Jehovah who is to destroy the power of death and lead captivity itself captive. The questions and answers are again repeated; but the concluding answer is more emphatic as to the essential divinity of Christ."

ART. V.-The Church, the Whole Church, and Nothing but the Church. London: E. Wilson. 1831.

MR. EFFINGHAM WILSON deserves well of his country. He keeps shop by the Royal Exchange, and publishes good

is the war of intellect;-it will not, at first, be very boisterous in its operations; but, if protracted by your obstinacy, it will overtake you in appalling and destructive thunder.

"Sapientibus satis! Valete!!"
Pp. 39-41.

GENERAL LITERATURE. ART. VI.-Five Years of Youth; or, Sense and Sentiment. By Harriet Martineau. London: Darton and Harvey. 1831.

We owe some explanation to our readers and the author for not having yet noticed Miss Harriet Martineau's appeal to Roman Catholics on behalf of Unitarianism, entitled "The Universal Faith of the Christian Church, deduced from the Sacred Records." We were about to review it when the somewhat startling fact transpired of her having carried off the other premiums offered by the Association Committee for tracts addressed to the Mahometans and the Jews.

We shall not now stop to inquire, how it happened that our ministers would not or could not prevent the honour of championing the cause of pure Christianity against the whole theological world from devolving on a young lady.

However that may be, she has won the honour, and well deserves to wear it. We intend to wait, if the time employed in bringing out the other prize essays be not too long for our patience, until all three are before the public, that we may be able at once to observe the different lights in which the same great truths are placed, in order to gain the attention of minds so differently pre occupied as those of the classes to which these tracts are severally addressed.

There must be considerable versatility in the talent which can move in such different directions, with a fair prospect of success in all: and meanwhile, to strengthen this impression of her versatility, of which other proofs had been previously given, Miss Martineau diversifies her colloquies with muftis, priests, and rabbins, by calling the young around her to listen to a tale of youth, its pleasures and its griefs, its trials, failures, triumphs-and that judgment of Providence by which in this life, internally, if not externally, it receives according to its desert.

We confess we like Miss Martineau's

productions in the higher walks both of truth and fiction, and would rather have read more Essays on the Education of the Human Race, or more Traditions of Palestine, than the work now before us. Those for whom it is intended will, probably, be of a different opinion; and it may be a great blessing to them that they

are.

We will not analyze the story, that its effect may not be diminished upon them, nor have we space for extracts. We

shall briefly enumerate what we regard as its excellencies and its imperfections. The book is full of incidents, some relating to childhood, others to advanced life; some playful, and others touching; some homely, and others extraordinary; but almost all bearing the stamp of nature and of reality; exciting a lively interest, fixing themselves in the memory, and promising to bear good fruit in the character and the conduct. The characters in the story are generally well drawn, and supported throughout with great propriety and consistency. The style both of the narrative and the dialogue is more easy and flowing than any other of Miss Martineau's productions with which this can be brought into comparison; some of them have exhibited a deficiency in this quality, which, in the present instance, she seems completely to have overcome. The picture of intellectual and moral retribution which forms the catastrophe of the tale, is impressively delineated. The imperfections we take to be, that some of the anecdotes are not sufficiently inwrought into the very substance of the story, do not seem to be vitally connected with the characters and the narrative, are imbedded in it, but not amalgamated with it : that the moral failure of the younger sister is not analyzed nor accounted for with sufficient distinctness and that the author seems wholly to have relied on mere delineation for moral effect, without interweaving sufficiently those practical directions which should guide her youthful readers in the arduous task of self-correction and self-government.

Miss Martineau must pay the tax on her attainments and performances, of having even her lighter productions more strictly scrutinized than they would have been had they come from an undistinguished pen. Notwithstanding these qualifications of our praise, we have no doubt that the object stated in her preface will be fully answered, and that "not only motherless daughters may be interested by a narrative which comes

home to their feelings; but that some who have mothers may be roused to such reflection, to such comparison of their own situation and character with those of others, as may be of no little benefit to their affectious."

ART. VII. Journal of Voyages and Travels by the Rev. D. Tyerman and G. Bennet, Esq., deputed from the London Missionary Society to visit their various Stations in the South-Sea Islands, China, India, &c., between the Years 1821 and 1829. Compiled from Original Documents, by James Montgomery. 2 Vols. 8vo.

THIS publication has disappointed us, both as a book of travels, and as a report of missions. In the one point of view, it is less interesting, and in the other less complete and distinct, than we had anticipated. The first failure is probably owing to the want of the requisite qualifications in the travellers. They do not seem to have been men of much acquirement, taste, or general observation, nor was it needful for the purposes of the London Missionary Society that they should be. Missionary inspection was their vocation, the thing whereto they were sent. But a full, true, and particular account of the results of that inspection; of the actual and tangible effects produced; of the cost of wealth and lives by which they have been produced; and of the machinery now kept at work by an expenditure of forty thousand pounds per annum-this we had reckoned upon. The detail of Missionary Statistics is probably reserved for the Cabinet of the Directory. Its production would, we suspect, startle some of the contributors, and not greatly aid the getting-up of Excitement Meetings.

The best portion of these volumes is that which relates to the South-Sea Islands. But even this is in every respect inferior to what we have already had from their companion in that region, Mr. Ellis, in his Polynesian Researches. An impartial account of the present state of society in Otaheite and its dependencies is much needed. The statements which reach us from time to time are very conflicting. The Missionary Deputation saw every thing coleur de rose; others tell a very different tale, and present a very modified view of the good which has been accomplished, and of the progress which is making. Great stress is laid by the Missionaries, as might be expect

ed, on acts of devotion and the sabbatical observance of the Lord's-day-we should rather say of the Saturday; for the first Missionaries, by a slip in their reckoning, canonized the wrong day, and not thinking it expedient to publish their blunder to the natives, they have upheld their own credit at the expense of what they deem a divine command. The most interesting passage in these volumes, and that which gives the most favourable impression of the mental and moral condition of the natives, is the following debate on the question whether murder should be punished by death or by baThis Parliament is composed of the nishment, by the Parliament of Otaheite. chieftains, and of delegates from the several districts of the kingdom. They constitute but one House.

"On the question being proposed, Hitoti, the principal chief of Papeete stood up, and, bowing to the president and the persons around him, said, 'No doubt this is a good law,'-the proposed punishment was exile for life to a desolate island, but a thought has been growing in my heart for several days, and when you have heard my little speech you will understand what it is. The laws of England, from which country we have received so much good of every kind-must not they be good? And do not the laws of England punish murderers by death? Now, my thought is, that as England does so, it would be well for us to do so. That is my thought.' Perfect silence followed;-and it may be observed here that, during the whole eight days' meeting of this parliament, in no instance were two speakers on their legs at the same time; there was not an angry word uttered by one against another; nor did any assume the possession of more knowledge than the rest. In fact, none controverted the opinion of a preceding speaker, or even remarked upon it, without some respectful commendations of what appeared praise-worthy in it, while, for reasons which he modestly but manfully assigned, he deemed another sentiment better. After looking round to see whether any body were already up before him, Utami, the principal chief of Buanaauia, rose and thus addressed the president: "The chief of Papeete bas said well, that we have received a great many good things from the kind Christian people of England. Indeed, what have we not received from Beretaue? Did they not send us (area) the gospel?-But does not Hitoti's speech go too far? If we take the laws of England for our guide,