tion was made, the latter came in for the larger share. Of this his correspondence furnishes the most abundant proof. It would seem, indeed, that the vehemence of his opposition to any person and party was precisely in the ratio of their approximation to his own views, if in one given point, they dissented from him. Nor was this spirit displayed towards those who had no connexion with him; it appears always to have been more or less at work, as it regards the church or churches with which he held fellowship. If, for instance, any one could not enter into his view of 1 Cor. v. 11. and on the excommunication of a member, though a near relative, abstain from all civil intercourse with him, he was forthwith himself to become the subject of discipline; and if the church did not faithfully carry the discipline into effect, all connexion with it was to be dissolved.

But it is time to say a word or two respecting the volumes which have occasioned the above statements relative to the author of their contents. As may be supposed, they are fully charged with the peculiar notions of Mr. W. which are only modifications of those broached by Robert Sandeman; excepting the opinion to which he appears to have attached more than ordinary importance-the absolute non-improvement of the heart in believers. Were it not for the extreme precision of his language in reference to every subject which he takes up, one would be tempted to imagine that all he means is that corrupt nature in so far as it still remains in the people of God, is as radically evil, and must ever be so, as it was before their conversion; but his principle is incontestibly this, that it is subject to no gracious influence-the new man and the old maintaining unchanged, as it respects the strength and virulence of the latter, the exact posture in which they were placed to each other at the moment of regeneration. In what does this differ from Hawker's views of sanctification?

There are, at the same time, some clear and pointed refutations of false views of the gospel contained in many of the essays and letters. Take for example the following review of one of the publications of Mr. Evans, of John Street.

"The first of Mr. Evans's pieces to which I allude is 'On the Lamb of God,' designed for general circulation, and professedly exhibiting the gospel. Now I candidly own, that I do not think the gospel put forward in that tract is that which the apostles preached, and still preach to all nations. I have it not now at hand; but I distinctly recollect that the leading tenor of it is this—' Reader, you may perhaps be an elect sinner, and, if so, I have good news for you. Christ has died for you, &c.' It never was thus the apostles addressed their fellowsinners. They delivered their testimony concerning Jesus as glad tidingsto sinners, proclaiming peace made by Him - without any doubtful for perhaps to make the minds of their hearers question whether it was of joyful import to them. When I say that Mr. Evans appears what is called a high Calvinist, do not suppose that I am an advocate for that insidious and absurd attempt to hold the doctrines of election, predestination to eternal life, &c., in a modified or qualified manner. Every believer of the gospel must be decided in his mind on

The Rev. Andrew Fuller having, when in Dublin, called upon Mr. Walker, was asked, at the table of Alderman Hutton, what he thought of Mr. Walker, when, after one of his ominous pauses, he replied,

""Tis Athen's owl, and not Mount Zion's dove,

The bird of learning, not the bird of love.”

those doctrines in the most unqualified sense. They are interwoven in the very tissue of that gospel of salvation which he believes. But indeed a man may be a high Calvinist, and yet unacquainted with the genuine gospel, and the hope which it imparts. The kind of gospel that seems put forth in that pamphlet, would be very apt to lead a man who received it, to say: I am an elect sinner, and therefore Chris: died for me, and has taken away my sins, and I shall assuredly be saved eternally;' and while he would say in this what is true of every believer, and while he might, according to his views, be most fond of his doctrine of atonement and salvation by grace alone, he would avow a confidence resting on a foundation quite aside from the revealed testimony of God,-that contains no declaration about his being an elect sinner, no declaration about him individually, distinct from every other sinner in the world. Many, I am persuaded, have been quite sure of their being elect sinners, who were not, and who manifested that they were not, by stumbling at the simple gospel. That gospel is the decided and immutable truth of God, whether men believe it or not, and the hope of the gospel hangs upon its naked truth, and therefore on a foundation which cannot be moved. It exhibits from heaven to the sinner, as such, all that the chief of sinners needs for emboldening him to draw nigh to the holiest, crying, Abba, Father—the perfect work of righteousness, which God has accepted for the justification of the ungodly-the propitiation for sin, which has taken it away, and made peace for the rebellious. Never, I hope, shall I be afraid of commending the all-sufficiency of that propitiation to a fellow-sinner, through my doubtfulness whether he is among the number of the elect. I have no doubt that it is sufficient for him and for any sinner upon earth-sufficient to fill him with all hope and joy in believing the divine declaration respecting it, and sufficient to support the hopes which it inspires ;-while I am very sure that none will believe that declaration but those who have been ordained to eternal life. Those who see not enough in that divine declaration to warrant their hope towards God, are anxious to find something in their hearers to complete its joyfulness by enabling them to testify that they are among the number of those for whom Christ died; and perverting the Scripture language of a ransom and price paid for the redemption of the elect, they strain it to a representation, as if Christ must have suffered more, had one more sinner been given to him-as if the atonement he has made, though sufficient indeed for what he undertook to effect by it, were insufficient to afford hope to any others than a certain number of sinners. But the sinner who disbelieves the gospel, rejects the counsel of God against himself, and perishes in his sin, not for any insufficiency in the propitiation which God has exhibited in his word. The faith of many a high Calvinist is nothing but a hardy confidence that he is among the elect for whom Christ died; but the faith of the gospel is the belief of that which is revealed from heaven in the word of God."

This extract, besides furnishing the reader with Mr. Walker's views of the gospel, affords a pretty accurate notion of his general style, and the manner in which he treats any subject he may happen to take up. We could furnish many passages of great interest, especially from his review on Belsham's work on the Epistles, which contains a masterly exposure of the total incapacity of that author for the task he had undertaken; his review of Bristed's Anglican and Anglo-American Churches; Dr. Jones's Greek and English Lexicon, &c.; but our limits forbid enlargement. We only add, that in no work with which we are acquainted, are to be found, within the same compass, more admirable specimens of critical ability, than are exhibited in pp. 54-142 of vol. ii. under the head of" Remarks corrective of occasional mistranslations in the English versions of the Scriptures," &c. These remarks evince a mind thoroughly imbued with classical learning, and refined to no ordinary degree by a longcontinued study of the ancients.

China Opened: or a Display of the Topography, History, Customs, Manners, Arts, &c., &c., of the Chinese Empire. By the Rev. Charles Gutzlaff. Revised by the Rev. Andrew Reed, D. D., 2 vols. post 8vo. London: Smith and Elder.

THE publication of Mr. Guztlaff's book affords us an opportunity of recalling the attention of our readers to the subject of China and its evangelization.

The religious history of China merits the attention of the philosopher and the Christian. Ample materials for its illustration may be found in the character, influence, and fortunes of the various systems of religion which had been or still are embraced by the Chinese. Sabianism was the original idolatry of the empire. Confucianism has for ages silenced the fears and mocked the hopes of millions; and still with its strange compound of idolatry and philosophy, politics and morals, exerts a boundless influence over the minds of nyriads. Taouism, a pretended improvement on Confucianism, mingling mysticism, philosophy and morality in inexplicable confusion, is embraced by multitudes of the more educated sons of Han. Buddhism is an exotic plant which, introduced under royal auspices many ages since, has thriven prodigiously, and is scattering its destructive seeds through every part of the celestial territories.

Nestorianism was introduced in the seventh century, but is now extinct. Mohammedanism was introduced at an early period by the Arabs, and is viewed with a more favourable eye than some other of the exotic religions; though not extensively prevalent, it seems to have obtained an abode in China. Judaism propagated by some wandering fugitives from Jerusalem, or some travelling Jew merchants, in their peregrinations through all the countries of the earth, has been long known to exist among the Chinese; but is, at present, scarcely visible. Popery, through the persevering and invincible efforts of the Jesuits and other priests of the Romish faith, forced its way into China in the sixteenth century. It had the prospect, at one time, of becoming the popular religion of the empire; but the disputes and intrigues of the priests alarmed the government, and edicts were used for its extermination. It is still proscribed, and its professors persecuted in various ways; and is thought to be on the decline, though it numbers more than 200,000 adherents, who are under the ecclesiastical direction and instruction of six bishops and two coadjutors, twenty-three missionaries, and eighty native agents. The expense of the Catholic missions is more than £40,000 per annum, and is defrayed by European liberality!!! Priests are still surrepticiously introduced within the walls: and find their way to the interior.

Lamaism, the religion of the Tartars, is followed by many of the members and retainers of the imperial household. The Russians have an establishment at Peking, in which the worship and service of the Greek Church are duly observed, and by some few thousands embraced.

But where is Protestantism? in other words, true vital Christianity to be found within the dominions of the "son of heaven?" Protestants

roused from their long and death-like slumbers, have been exerting themselves for the spiritual welfare of the Chinese during the last thirty years, but what is the result of their exertions? What the number of their converts?

Messrs. Bennet and Tyerman when visiting China, could not see or hear of one true convert to the christian faith. Perhaps they looked with Elijah's eyes. A late report of the London Missionary Society exults in numbering ten converts, and states that each convert is a missionary. Mr. Medhurst speaks somewhat encouragingly as to the result of thirty years' labours, and doubts not that many will be found to have received the truth, although at present unknown. Recent intelligence from Malacca announces that some twenty or thirty Chinese are associated in christian fellowship and this after thirty years of faith and hope, of prayer and exertion!! The nation is still estranged from God. Atheism and Pantheism are the religion and the curse of the people. They are without God, "and yet worship gods many and lords many." Sceptical and credulous, they have easily become idolators and infidels. The emperor is their chief priest and their visible deity. Confucius is the popular and tutelar saint of the empire. Buddha is their divinity for a dying hour. A state religion is repudiated, yet superstitious and idolatrous ceremonies form part of the duties of the throne, of the court, and of the magistracy. "Filial piety" is the ground-work of their state polity; the perfection of their virtue; the exclusive cause of all imaginable happiness, both present and future. Excluded and excluding themselves from the light, the hope, and the peace of the gospel, they have an anxiety and fear; and expire bewildered with some vain imaginings respecting annihilation, metempsychosis, Elysian or Tartarian doom.

We rejoice in what the Protestant mission has done for China, but are appalled at what remains to be done. The college and the school, the Bible and the primer, the missionary and the catechist, have been put in requisition for the moral and religious improvement of the Chinese; but the results are not, at present, answerable to the hopes and the wishes of the christian church. The finger of prophecy points to the "land of Sinem," as sending forth her numerous sons to celebrate Sabbaths, and to swell the ranks of the Redeemer; but in moments of despondency we are ready to exclaim, "when shall it once be?" The obstacles to success are numerous but not insuperable. The providence of God appears to be removing some of them out of the way, and facilitating the introduction and the progress of the gospel. The natural course of events is bringing the Chinese into more frequent contact with the "Barbarians," by whose aid China is to be enlightened and blessed. The population of the empire already exceeds its means of subsistence; and in a few years, according to the ordinary ratio of increase, its industrions, plodding, and half-starved subjects must, in despite of the laws against emigration, spread themselves over adjacent countries to obtain support. The amount of its present population is still undetermined. Good authority states it to be 360,000,000, while, Mr. Davis, perhaps the most competent judge on this subject in

Europe, thinks that number to be extremely problematical. We confess ourselves to be rather sceptical on the point; at least, if disposed to admit that the present number may be 360,000,000 we must altogether demur to the census given forty years ago to Sir George Staunton, and which both Mr. Gutzlaff and Mr. Medhurst seem to concur in thinking to have been accurate. If the population was then 330,000,000, what must it be now, when according to respectable authority it is stated, that during the last century the population doubled itself every twenty years?

In that ratio, and there appears according to Mr. Gutzlaff, to be no cause for a decreasing ratio, since that period, the number must be estimated at 1000 millions!! But this is incredible! Some mistake must have been made, either in the census or in the estimated ratio of increase. The checks to population are probably more numerous in China, than in many other countries. The female population is disproportionably and unusually small in comparison with that of males, being only as one to ten. This is accounted for partly through the general neglect of the female offspring by Chinese mothers, it being considered a great misfortune, if not disgrace, to have a female infant; and partly by female infanticide, which Mr. Gutzlaff affirms from actual observation, to be extensively prevalent.

This check is, however, controlled by the fact that the females who survive and marry, generally enter the connubial state at an earlier period than in Europe; have more numerous families, and continue child-bearing longer than European ladies.

In despite of all the checks on population which prudence, necessity, or Moloch may impose, and which famine and inundations, pestilence or war, imperial despotism and magisterial tyranny may impose on the Chinese, they are still rapidly increasing, and are impelled by necessity, which has no law, to migrate into other countries for labour and subsistence. Already thousands are located in Siam and Assam and Birmah, and in numerous islands in the Indian Archipelago, where the means of grace are being supplied; and as years roll along, the tide of emigration will flow into the territories of British India; and thus will the sons of Han be brought more directly within the reach, and hearing, and power of the gospel. The progress of the British army through Hindostan, has removed many an obstacle to the progress of Christianity in the East. Death on his pale horse has been followed by him who on his white horse is going forth "conquering and to conquer." The success of Britain will be her ruin, unless every province as it yields to her prowess or her influence shall be occupied with the soldiers of the Cross. As a nation, we owe an enormous debt of justice to the millions who people the territories of British India-a debt which we are alas! too loath to pay. The efforts for the conversion of the natives have been neither commensurate with their necessities, nor our obligations.

It was a pungent query put by our missionary brother, Campbell, in his celebrated speech at Exeter Hall," May not our unsuccessfulness (comparatively speaking) in China, be the consequence of our unfaithfulness to India?" Let, then, the means of salvation be mul

N. S. VOL. III.

H