Nelson, or some other celebrated officer, and seemed grievously disappointed when told they could only be baptized by simple Christian names. After this solemn mockery had been concluded, the whole assembly adjourned to a large school-room, to eat the coronation din ner; where the usual healths were drunk, and these poor creatures all intoxicated with rum; -a suitable conclusion to a farce as blasphemous and wicked as ever disgraced a Christian country."- pp. 22-25.

As we have no cause to question the accuracy of Mr. Dunn's narrative, let us review this extraordinary transaction.

The local authorities of an unimportant English settlement think it a matter of state or commercial policy, to gratify the wishes of a petty savage prince in their vicinity, by permitting him to observe the ceremonial of his coronation in their town. To conform this august rite to the legitimate practices of Europe, the Episcopal Church is selected as an appropriate place for its observance, and the resident clergyman is deemed the appropriate person to officiate in this royal travestie. To make the farce complete, an oath of allegiance to their new sovereign is thought necessary from the noble lieges of the Mosquito shore, and to qualify them for that solemn appeal to God; it is judged expedient to baptize them instanter, that they might be better fitted to appreciate its solemnity, and to realize its obligations!

Now, the reverend gentleman who officiated, for happily we do not know his name, must consent to be regarded either as displaying a degree of clerical subserviency to the colonial authorities, which amounts to a shameful desecration of holy things, or he must be classed with the Romish clergy of the neighbouring states, as a firm believer in the regenerating effects of baptism canoni

cally administered, and must suptouch of his orthodox fingers, pose, that by the talismanic the minds of these poor savages were enlightened and sanctified; surely if he were conscious of the beastly excess and savage orgies of the coronation banquet, he must have felt that his theory was but ill sustained by facts, and shame must have mantled his cheeks, that he had that day admitted within the pale of the church of Christ such untutored, licentious barbarians. This clergyman, it appears, is connected with the Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, before whose agents dissenting missionaries have been exhorted to retire, that the field may be occupied by those better acquainted with the human heart, and who will not attempt to force the dark and most dreary parts of puritan discipline upon a people just emerging from a state of barbarism! These rational views have been certainly well sustained in the present instance! God grant, that many such may not be found, or we shall be compelled to regard the operations of the agents of that Society amongst the heathen, as only second in mischief to those of the priestly associates of Cortes and Alvarado.

Though we have made several extracts, we have not exhausted the information which this volume affords on the ecclesiastical affairs of this lovely, but degraded and distracted country.

We have already exceeded our limits, and must therefore conclude, by cordially recommending this interesting and instructive volume to the notice of those who feel curious about the magnificent scenery, the revolutionary changes, and the moral and political advancement of the South American republics.

THE PREACHER'S MANUAL: a Course of Lectures on preaching, in which Claude's Principles, as laid down in "Letters and Conversations on

Preaching," are more fully developed, and illustrated by numerous Examples, with a View to assist the least educated Class of Preachers. By S. T. Surtevant. Vol. 1. London: R. Baynes. 12mo. 1828. 5s. 6d.We are sorry that there is a class of little, and still more so, that there is a class of least educated preachers, in Great Britain, and in the nineteenth century. That there should be a demand for preachers of this description,

because better cannot be found, or will not suit either the understandings, or the means of the taught is not creditable to the character of the country. We think there ought to be a sufficient supply of well educated preachers to meet the circumstances and the demands of our increasing, and we fear, gradually deteriorating population. It is, we apprehend, a vulgar error, that illiterate, uncultivated individuals can more easily accommodate themselves to the poor and the ignorant, than men of enlarged and cultivated intellect. The reverse we are convinced is the fact. The greatest talents are often required, and very frequently displayed in simplifying truth, and disentangling it from the innumerable errors with which it is frequently associated. Mr. Surtevant's book is, we think, a very good one of its kind; and provided it is necessary to make preaching easy to the meanest capacity, we do not know any thing

better, than this manual. Our opinion is, that it has been made sufficiently easy to persons of this description already, whose number we have no desire to increase, and therefore we should have been better pleased had Mr. Surtevant produced a work to raise the standard of qualification, instead of a volume, which, though very respectable, will, we fear, leave those for whom it is intended, "the least educated class of preachers," still destitute of the sub

stantial qualifications of the Christian minister.

AN ESSAY ON

THE CHRISTIAN line of Ministerial Studies and PasMINISTRY, including a general Outtoral Duties. for the Use of Young Preachers. By J. Edmondson, A M. London: Mason, City Road. 1828. 12mo. 5s. 6d.-This is a work of a

higher order, and intended for a higher class of preachers than the former. Its author has been in the ministry more than forty years, and has enjoyed some special advantages in liteleyan Methodist body; and we are rary pursuits. glad he is of the same opinion which we have expressed in the preceding article. He thinks 66 the candidates for the work in this enlightened age and nation, need some farther help than that which has been afforded to

He is in the Wes

nion, that the Conference ought to their predecessors." He is of opitheir ministers. We are glad to see have an academy for the education of respectable a person as Mr. Edmondson, this subject brought forward by so and hope the body to which he belongs, aud for which we have great respect, will pay due attention to the proposal. If they do not, the progress of knowledge and society will, ere Methodist body long, leave the

stranded on a shore, and exposed to all the perils of shipwreck.—Mr. Edmondson's Essay contains, on the subject on which it treats, much useful information, well expressed, and in narrow compass While it is especially adapted to the younger preachers of his own community, it may be perused with profit, by young ministers of the best education, and placed in the most advantageous circumstances. We do not agree with the author in every sentiment or opinion which he expresses; but we very cordially recommend the work as

whole.

a

ON COMPLETENESS OF MINISTERIAL QUALIFICATION. By John Howard Hinton, A. M. London: Holdsworth and Ball. 12mo. 1829 2s.

-This is a different kind of work from both the former. It was originally a sermon ; but now appears rather in the form of an essay. The title, we apprehend, will not suggest to readers in general one important point in the discussion to which the author justly attaches much import, that is, "the manner in which the testimony of God is represented to mankind." Mr. Hinton here refers to certain higher Calvinistic ideas, respecting election and moral inability, which he conceives, and we think most justly, to haye a most injurious influence on preaching to sinners. His views on these topics he brought forward some time ago at greater length in a small work on Theology," which he published. The present treatise on Ministerial Qualification, does its author great credit, and we beg most warmly to commend it to the attention of our readers.

66

THE TESTIMONY OF SCRIPTURE to the Obligations and the Efficacy of Prayer, more especially of Prayer for the Gift of the Holy Spirit. By Gilbert Wardlaw, Minister of the Gospel, Edinburgh.

PARTING ADVICE TO A YOUTH, on leaving his Sunday School. 18mo. A FAREWELL PRESENT TO A FEMALE SCHOLAR, on going to Service. 18mo. Published by the Sunday School Union.-These neat little volumes are admirably suited to the purpose for which they were prepared. Each of them has appropriate excellencies; both comprehend much valuable counsel in a small compass; the language is plain without being gross; pointed maxims and striking anecdotes are intermixed; and a glow of Christian affection animates every page. The Sunday School, which does not furnish itself with these useful publications, to bestow as farewell tokens of goodwill, may be justly charged with neglecting one of the most obvious means of usefulness. Most earnestly do we recommend them to all who have the direction and management of these important institutions.

THE CHRONOLOGICAL GUIDE; Part I. Comprehending the Chronology of the World from its Commence

ment to the Destruction of the Western Empire of Rome, A.D. 496. With a Chart, and a Series of Questions London: Baker and Fletcher. 12mo and 4to. 7s 6d. 1828.-This work, which is designed chiefly for the use of schools and young persons, is very respectably executed, and, as far as we have observed, it is accurate in its facts and dates, which is the best commendation that could be given to any production of this na

ture.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

land, occasioned by the petition presented by his Lordship, from the General Body of Dissenting Minssters of London, for the Relief of the Roman Catholics, with Strictures on a Petition of an opposite Nature from some Dissenting Ministers ; and other remarks occasioned by recent circumWill be published on the 2d of April. By a Member of the General Body.

A Letter to the Right Honourable Lord Hol

stances.

"The Christian Student," by the Rev. E. Bickersteth, will shortly be published.

The Memoirs of Oberlin, Pastor of Waldbach, in the Ban de la Roche, will appear on the 1st of May, with Portraits, interesting Views of Waldbach, &c.

Mr. Leifchild has in the press, A Christian An tidote to unreasonable Fears at the present Crisis; in Reply to the Second Speech of the Rev. W.

Thorp, against Catholic Emancipation.

The Protestant's Companion, being a choice Collection of Preservatives against Popery, in Prose and Verse. 12mo.

Elements of Natural History, or an Introduction to Systematic Zoology, chiefly according to the Classification of Linnæus; with Illustrations of every order. By John Howard Hinton, A.M. will be published in a few days.

The Rev. John Whitridge, Author of the "Scripture Diary," &c. is preparing for publication, "The Bibliographical and Literary History of the Bible investigated in the order of Chronology, and chiefly according to its own Evidence and Testimony.

The Rev. J. H. Hinton, of Reading, is preparing for publication a Treatise on the Nature and Necessity of the Influence of the Holy Spirit.

"To the Irreligions"-a Tract, by J. H. Hinton, A.M. 2d. for distribution, will be published in a few days.

The First Part of Mr. Jones's Course of Lectures on the Apocalypse will appear on the first of May. Mr. Isaac Mann has in the press, "Memorials of Christian Friendship."

In the press, The History of the Huguenots,

during the Sixteenth Century, by W. S. Browning,

Esq. in 2 volumes 8vo.

Mr. David Wire is collecting materials for a History of Whitefield and his Cotemporaries ; and respectfully solicits the Possessors of Docnments or Letters relative to the same, to communicate them to him, at 30, St. Swithin's Lane, City. All materials so entrusted to him, shall be carefully preserved and faithfully returned.

"The Natural History" of Enthusiasm will ap pear in a few days.

A New Edition of the Pastor's Sketch-Book with additional Narratives, will be published in a few days.

66

LETTERS FROM ITALY.

Scite of Herculaneum-the Vineyards-the Madona's Powers of Healing-the Death of the Pope-Election of a Successor. I am living now on the scite of the ancient city of Herculaneum, and from the roof of my house, I see the mountain rising above my head, whose terrible vomitings were the cause of the city's destruction. It is a glorious sight, this same mountain, and forms a contrast to the amenity of the vineyards below, which is touching beyond measure. Í know nothing equal to the beauty of the vineyards in this part of Italy. They are as rude as the earliest ages, and remind you of the simplicity of Eve's employment, described by Milton in Paradise. The vine here is literally taught to wed the elm," the poplar, and all the trees of the forest. The more mercantile and polished French have lowered down the plants to insignificance. A French vineyard has not as much interest about it, as a cabbage garden; but in this semi-barbarous country, art is hardly visible-all seems left to the wild magnificence of nature. Sometimes the vine creeps along the ground, and at others, climbs to the top of the highest trees, requiring that man should be gifted almost with the powers of the monkey, to reach and cull the luscious fruit. And the people are as wild as the vegetation. Their entire faith in their goddess Madona, is the only thing that humanizes them. My friend and companion was ill a short time since, and went to Naples to consult Dr. A fine old woman in a neighbouring cottage, told me, with the greatest simplicity, that his consulting a physician was no use. "He should go to the Madonna del Carmine, she would cnre him." "I have brought up a large family," she said, "and not one of us ever took a dose of physic." "We go to the Madonna, if it pleases her to cure us, she does, if not, we die." This faith is so firm, that nothing is capable of shaking it. They have their different saints, who, like the London physicians, are fine men for certain disorders; one cures their eyes, one sets their limbs, another preserves them from drowning; but the Madonna del Carmine and the Madonna del Arco, do business by the gross-they cure every thing. The Catholics are, I believe, the only idolators, who repre

sent their Deity under the form of a beautiful woman, with an infant in her arms. I have sometimes thought, that the gentleness of the people of this country is partly attributable to the perpetual contemplation of so lovely an object. But I believe the climate does much, for the animals are as gentle as the people.

You will have heard of the death of the Pope. It has taken place at the only moment when his death could be regretted, as the following epigram very neatly says,

Tre dispiacerci faceste Padre Santo!
Accittare il Papato; Vivere tanto;
Poi, moire in carnivale per essere pianto.
Three evils you visited upon us, Oh Holy
Father!

Accepting the Popedom; living so long in it;

Then dying in the carnival, to make even your death a misfortune.

You will see the point of this, which is one amongst many of the Roman Pasquinades. The late Pope's first surprising act was accepting the Popedom, for which every body thought him unfit. His second was living much longer than his former dissolute life had led any one to expect; and his last, dying (as it is above observed) just at the only moment in the year when it could be regretted, in as much as his death puts a stop to the Carnival, and robs the people of all their pleasures.

The Romans have long been famous for these Pasquinades, and there is no place in which the Pope, and all the machinery of Papacy, are treated with so much contempt as in infidel Rome.

Intrigue is now at its height to make a new Pope, and the worldly bustle that is occasioned by the election of a man who is to fur le vici di Gesu Cristo upon earth, exhibits the blasphemy of the whole matter much more forcibly than any written exposition of it. How long will the world continue to be cheated by this wretched mixture of knavery and buffoonery!

You probably know the mode of electing the Papa, or Pope, as we oddly enough call him. All the Cardinals keep open house for eight days, in which they mature their political schemes; they are then marched in a body to the Vatican, and shut up in a suite of rooms,

guarded by troops, and prevented from all communication with the City. One name is put up every day, and he who gets two thirds of the votes, is elected. Austria, France, and Spain have each a veto, and may stop the election of an individual obnoxious to their interests. Till a decision is come to, they are not let out of their prison, and every bit of bread they eat is cut in pieces by the President, to see that it contains no letter or sign. Thus these holy men, who assume to themselves the right of guiding the spiritual concerns of all mankind, are obliged to be watched with more strictness than thieves and pickpockets

In the last election, these immaculate beings were shut up in conclave twentysix days, and could any one tell out the secrets of the prison-house, I have no doubt we should hear of quarrels and heart-rendings, more terrible by far than are witnessed by the walls of any ordinary place of criminal confinement.

REVIVAL OF RELIGION IN WALES.

Extract of a Letter from the Rev. D. Peter, Theological Tutor of the Academy at Carmarthen, to the Rev. Caleb Morris,

London.

My Dear Sir,--It affords me the greatest pleasure, that I have it in my power to communicate to you, for the information of our religious friends in England, and other parts of the world, a brief account of the progress of the Redeemer's kingdom in the Principality of Wales, and especially of the unusual revivals with which many of the Welsh churches have been favoured of late.

Few, perhaps, beyond the confines of the Principality are aware of the progress which the Gospel has made among all denominations of Christians in this part of Great Britain for the last fifty years. We have experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in some degree at various times, and we must say that the hand of the Lord is still stretched out in the salvation of many amongst us.

The number of ministers and chapels in the Principality is now double what it was half a century back; and the number of professing Christians of all denominations has increased more than threefold during that period. Indeed I could name some churches among the Independents that have increased eight, ten, and twelve-fold in the number of members within the last thirty-five years. For you well know that some years back, it was not an unusual thing for many of our churches to receive ten, twenty, or thirty members to communion at a time, and that for several successive months.

Fourteen years ago, when I was publishing my History of Religion in Wales, I found, from authentic documents, that there were then in the Principality 255 Independent Churches; 126 Baptist Churches; 343 Calvinistic Methodist Societies, and 205 Wesleyan Methodist Societies. The number of churches and societies at present is much greater.

Having given you some account of the state of religion in Wales, I now proceed to give you a particular account of the rise and progress of the great revival with which we have been blessed in South Wales for the last fifteen months. For some months previous to the revival, the greatest attention was paid to Sunday-schools throughout the country; religious meetings were more than usually numerous; the style of preaching more pointedly impressive; church discipline better attended to, and a greater degree of brotherly love prevailed in the churches.

To inform you of what I myself have witnessed, will be sufficient to show how the people are generally affected at those religious meetings where the revivals prevail. . . . . I have seen, on these occasions, some with bended knees, folded hands, and uplifted eyes, engaged in earnest prayer; others prostrated on the ground, agonizing under a sense of guilt; others praising God for the salvation of the Gospel..... Much, perhaps, of what we see and hear at those religions meetings where the revivals prevail, may be the effect of enshusiasm; yet when we consider the moral change that is so visible in the temper and conduct of those who were before notoriously wicked, and the religious awe which pervades all ranks in the towns, villages, and neighbourhoods where the revivals appear, we are compelled to acknowledge that the hand of the Lord is present, and that these revivals in South Wales are the effect of the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit.

The present revival in South Wales commenced among the Calvinistic Methodists at the village of Caio, in the county of Carmarthen, about the latter end of the year 1827, and was for some time confined to that religious body. Their meetings were blessed with an unusual degree of religious feeling; and on one occasion, a few individuals were so much affected that they cried out for mercy. They were joined by some religious characters, who were then convinced that their piety had been at too low an ebb, and thus the feeling became general in the neighbourhood. The most remarkable conversion, before the revival became general at that place, was that of a young man of the most abandoned cha