1685, to convert the Lord of the White Elephant, and lay the foundations of a Gallic-Indian empire at Bankok,-which issued in a revolution and the expulsion of every European.

But as to the knowledge of primitive Christianity in these regions, we take the liberty of remarking, that the Quarterly Reviewer is not in possesion of sufficient information to enable him to say what traces may yet exist. Nor have we any historical data to shew what was the population, political state, and moral condition of these countries in the ages immediately succeeding the Christian era. Their geographical distance might indeed account for their being not so speedily or so generally evangelised. The Reviewer, however, would intimate that they presented other obstacles to the progress of Christianity, though, as to the nature of these obstacles, he is silent. We can tell him of a few. Immense tracts of pestiferous forest and impervious jungle, swamps annually converted into lakes, lofty and inaccessible ridges of barren granite rock, countries habitable only on the margins of the rivers,-present immense obstacles to the propagation of Christianity; and such is the general description of the Indo-Chinese countries. Add to this, that, of the older inhabitants of these regions, the pastoral tribes of Carayns, the mountain tribes of the interior, the Northern Siamese (T'hay Jhay), and the Laos, little or nothing is known ;-except, indeed, that some of them are not worshippers of Guadama, or believers in metempsychosis. These countries, moreover, have been from time immemorial the theatre - of invasions and exterminating wars, which have tended to deteriorate their moral condition; and there seems reason to believe, that both the Peguans, or Talliens, and the elder race of Siamese had attained, at one period, a higher degree of civilization than is exhibited by the modern possessors of those territories. Further, where Mohammedism did not extend its conquests, it still had a baleful effect by intercepting the light of Christianity. Thus, Captain Wilford remarks, that the decline of the Christian religion in India must be attributed, in a great measure, to the progress, equally rapid and astonishing, of Islamism, in Syria, Persia, Egypt and Arabia. The Christians in those countries, being in a state of distrac⚫tion, no longer sent pastors to India; as we are informed in a ⚫letter written in the seventh century, and still extant.** can sufficiently account, therefore, for the present religious condition of those countries, without having recourse to the

We

* See a curious and interesting essay on the Origin and Decline of the Christian Religion in India, in the tenth volume of Asiatic Researches. p. 27.

supposition, that Christianity has suffered a defeat there in former times from any powerful priesthood, or that any political or moral cause has hitherto barred the introduction and resisted the efficacy of Divine truth. The barrier of language, that which seemed the most imperiously to require a miraculous intervention similar to the Pentecostal effusion of the Spirit, is fast giving way. The Birman, which may be considered as the link between the monosyllabic and polysyllabic languages of Eastern Asia, is, to a certain extent, mastered. The Pali, the sacred language of the Budhic world, and the Portuguese, the medium of commercial intercourse, present extensive facilities for the diffusion of Christian and liberal knowledge. The prospect which is opening, might warrant hopes and feelings partaking of enthusiasm; but we check ourselves. With regard to the stupendous changes which are taking place among the kingdoms of the world,-they have a meaning and an end.

God is his own interpreter,
And he will make it plain.'

Art. II. Memoirs of Mr. John Chamberlain, late Missionary in India. By William Yates. 8vo. pp. 476. Price 10s. 6d. 1825. BIOGRAPHY must derive its main interest from one of two sources, the character of the individual, or the circumstances in which he may have been placed; and the most popular examples of this kind of composition have been those n which the latter were favourable to the development of the former. It is this combination of character and circumstance which gives piquancy to the memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini, Vielleville, de Retz, and others of the same hardy and original cast of mind and disposition. There is, however, a class of biographical writings which, partaking more or less of these general qualities, are of still greater importance in a moral, than in an intellectual view. Whatever superiority in point of adventitious attraction may belong to the romance of real life,' it must always yield, in all that is truly valuable, to those illustrations of high principle which will mark every adequate exhibition of religious character; and the biographies of Janeway, the Henrys, and other worthies of the Evangelical school are fraught with statements and lessons of a far deeper interest than any that can be furnished by the great, the learned, or the restless of the world. But there have also been men whose strong natural powers were under the guidance of Christian principle, and who were thrown upon times which gave full scope to their energy, and called forth the intense exercise

of their feelings, their judgement, and their conscience. Such men as Hutchinson, Knox, Melville, and Mornay Duplessis, were placed in situations which required the full exertion of minds not only richly endowed by nature, but habitually influenced by Divine grace; and the details of their career have supplied materials for works which claim the highest place among the treasures of biography.

There is yet another description of memoirs, which may not indeed possess all the qualities of the preceding, but must still be valuable and attractive, we had almost said, in the absence of them all. The disinterested labours, the voluntary hazards and privations, the severe tests of faith and fortitude to which the Missionary exposes himself, cannot, even when set before us in the homeliest dress, fail to excite our sympathy and admiration. No other circumstances can so fully display the essential difference that prevails between the natural and the renewed man, as those which occur in the intercourse between a Christian evangelist and his Pagan auditory. If the hostility of the human heart be more malignantly exhibited where gospel knowledge is made a barrier against its own reception, its ignorance even of its own miseries, is more vividly shewn in the quiet apathy of heathen neglect. The biographies of Brainerd and Martyn are of a mixed character, and derive much of their value from the high intellectual qualities of their subjects; but there are not a few of this class, which have been read with eagerness, and are often resumed with unsated pleasure, whose claims to our approbation rest almost exclusively on the peculiar interest that is given to them by the circumstances to which we have just referred.

The general outline of Mr. Chamberlain's life must be too familiar to a large portion of our readers, to need repetition here; and the leading particulars of his exertions among the Hindoos have become so extensively known through the usual channels of missionary information, that we feel it inexpedient to devote a lengthened article to the consideration of the present volume. We have, however, read it with satisfaction, as a gratifying record of a life spent in promoting the best interests of mankind. We were especially struck with the details of Mr. C.'s home missionary exertions in the streets and lanes' of Bristol.

Yesterday I was much exercised about going into the city to preach to the poor people, as we were most of us at home unem. ployed. It was deeply impressed upon my mind that it was our duty to do something; accordingly I made known my feelings to some of my brethren; but none heartily closed in with the proposal, so that I was left to go alone. Went out of the house, not knowing whether I should go Broadmead, or into the city, to see where the poor peo

ple were, and what their condition was. (rod interposed. I met with a friend, who asked me why I was at home doing nothing, while souls were perishing for lack of knowledge. Having informed him of my thoughts, he proposed to go with me; we went, and found the people ready to hear the word of God, and in some measure expecting us found a good man, into whose house we entered; at his door, I stood and sung, prayed and preached. The people were very attentive; a good number heard. I returned with sweet satisfaction, admiring divine Providence, and rejoicing in God, and felt very sorry when I reflected how many opportunities I had lost. A few more may remain. O that God would stir me up to improve them! For what do I live? Is not my work to seek out them that are lost? Can I be idle while so much work remains! Shall my fellow sinners rush into hell by thousands every day, and I rest in ease uncon cerned? Shall not their groans and complicated miseries move my compassion?' pp. 59, 60.

On another occasion, Mr. C. writes:

Returned from my excursion in the city: preached to some very miserable objects: poor souls, how lamentable is their situation, how deplorable their condition! May they believe on the Lord Jesus, and have everlasting life; then in a few days or years their sorrow will be ended, their shame will be done away, they will be made honourable through the Saviour, and will be for ever happy. Wonderful are the ways of Divine Providence! Yesterday my mind was impressed with the necessity of going further into the city. Accordingly my friends, Pritchard, Saunders, and myself, went, between one and two in the afternoon, into some obscure parts of the city near the glass-houses: there we found some of the most miserable objects; we conversed with some, whom we found extremely ignorant, destitute of the word of God, and unable to read. We inquired whether they had any preaching among them; they said, No. We asked them, if there were preaching, whether they would hear; they readily answered, Yes, it was what they wished: they should be very glad to hear. A convenient place was at hand; convenient inasmuch as it afforded some shelter from the cold wind: it was a small square, called Anville Square, about the size of a large chapel, having houses full of inhabitants on three sides; so that the people had no need to come out, as, by only opening their windows, they could all hear. In these houses there are hundreds of inhabitants living in wretchedness, covered with rags and filth; some most pitiable objects, branded with infamy by their impious conduct and the effects of abominable sin. If it be fine weather next Lord's day, I intend to preach the whole day in one part of the city or another. Last evening went to a place where a considerable number had met for prayer, and preached there about forty minutes: had a very comfortable opportunity. They every where entreated us to come again: like the Macedonians, their cry was, 'Come over and help us.' May the call be obeyed; may souls be converted; may the gospel come to them, not in word only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance.' pp. 60, 61.

Mr. Chamberlain appears to have been a strong-minded, persevering, and conscientious man. His heart was in his work, nor did he desist from its active prosecution, until his career was arrested by death. The following illustration of one most important part of his character, is worth extracting.

'One of the first things that he seriously studied, after he became experimentally acquainted with the truth, was the value of time; and having estimated its shortness by contrasting it with an eternal duration, and its importance by considering the consequences which its improvement or misimprovement would involve through a never-end. ing existence, he was anxious to improve every moment to some useful purpose. When employed in manual labour, he was not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;" and when advanced to a higher calling, he was indefatigable in storing his mind with sound and useful knowledge. He commonly rose very early in the morning, and was never satisfied unless every day witnessed some considerable progress in his work. After reviewing a day in which he suspected himself to have been remiss in his duties, he thus exclaims : "O diligence, whither art thou fled, and why didst thou depart? Return and stay with me, 'and aid me in all I do! The day will soon arrive when my Lord will come, and he will expect to find thee here! O Lord, pardon my negligence, and help me to give all diligence to add to my faith, courage, and to courage, every other Christian virtue !" The rule which he established, to render to himself every evening a faithful account of what he had been doing in the day, tended very much to increase a spirit of activity. The man who resolves to be so conscientious in the improvement of his time, as to write down at the close of every day how it has been spent, will soon find plenty to do, either in furnishing materials for the evening, or in stilling the clamours of a guilty conscience, for he has been obliged to insert in his diary the memorable saying, "Diem perdidi." It was remarked of Melancthon, that when he made an engagement, he was so scrupulous about his time, as to require not only the day and hour, but even the minute of his attendance to be fixed. The manner of Mr. C.'s life, a great part of which was spent in travelling from one place to another, did not permit him to be so exact: his constant concern was rather, while he endeavoured to assign to every hour its appropriate duty, as far as circumstances would admit, to see that no one passed away without something being done for the honour of Christ and the good of souls. His constant maxim was, "Work and live:" he found by experience, that the felicity of the soul consisted in its being fully employed in promoting the glory of God; and therefore "Whatsoever his hand found him to do, he did it with his might."'

If we were disposed to find fault with any thing in Mr. Yates's performance of his task, it would be with the extremely unnecessary parade of Latin and Greek quotations in the notes.