men' has no such power. The ministers of the Church have no such right for all the Bishops and Clergy together cannot alter any of the rites or ceremonies of the Church, or decree an article of any kind. This power resides in the King and Parliament. Every novice in ecclesiastical history knows that the primary separation of the Church of England from the Church of Rome, originated in circumstances far different from the resolution of the Clergy to detach themselves from the latter, and to form a purer community. It was produced by the restless passions of Henry the Eighth, inflamed by resentment against the papal see, which opposed obstacles to their gratification. On this occasion, in opposition to the Clergy, that monarch transferred the ecclesiastical supremacy from the Pope to himself; and, by an act of Parliament passed in his reign, obedience was demanded to 'whatsoever his Majesty shall enjoin in matters of religion.' It was the royal authority which separated the Church of England from the papal dominion, and the same authority changed the national religion, in Mary's reign, from protestantism to popery, and in Elizabeth's, from popery again to protestantism, when the Church was established on its present basis. The governors of the Church are the King and the Parliament of England, who have the power of decreeing rites and ceremonies, and authority in matters of faith.' The King appoints the Bishops of this Church, and many of her inferior ministers. Universities and Noblemen present whom they will to many benefices-these and other individuals introduce, to spiritual offices in the Church, persons generally unknown to the people, without their consent, and frequently in opposition to their wishes. Will Mr. Collinson assert that these things are according to the primitive model? will he prove to us that Jesus Christ has invested kings, and civil magistrates, and parliaments with spiritual authority? Does he deny the right of every individual to decide for himself in every religious particular, and of every Christian society to choose its own ministers?-let him then inform us who are

that the copies of the English version of the scriptures circulated by the Society, shall be without note or comment. May we be permitted to remark that, in some instances, the summary of contents prefixed to the chapters, is of the nature of a comment we have compared copies of the 12mo. editions of 1813, printed at London, Cambridge, and Oxford, and have noticed that the following sentence, prefixed to the 149th Psalm, is retained in the Oxford Bibles, but omitted in the London and Cambridge Bibles. The prophet exhorteth to praise God-for that power which he hath given to the Church to rule the consciences of men.' This distinction is singular and curious:

the persons to whom it belongs to examine and to judge for others in religious concerns, and to dictate to them what they shall believe and practise, and in what way they became possessed of such power. He must be fully sensible of his utter inability to satisfy our inquiries. What then becomes of his lofty assumptions? Is he at liberty to denounce every person as a schismatic who believing that Jesus Christ is the sole legislator in his own Church, alone possessed of authority in matters of faith, and that the New Testament contains the laws of bis kingdom, regulates his religious faith and practice by them? Are ignorance and bigotry, by associating political disaffection with religious principles, to be allowed the privilege of affixing a stigma on the character of men, who, by endeavouring to maintain a good conscience, aspire to the approbation of God?

Had the author founded the claims of the Church on the ground of utility, and placed this ecclesiastical institution in the order of expedients for the promotion of Christianity, his work would have challenged another mode of examination: but as he has taken a different method, representing the Church as a religious monopoly, denying to every other body of Christians, the right of exhibiting the common salvation, and to their ministers the character of true pastors; we have felt it to be our duty to expose such arrogance; and to assert the fundamental and inviolable principle of protestantism-' the sufficiency of the scriptures to guide man in religion, and the equal right of all to examine them. The Bible alone is the Religion of Protestants.'*

In the observations which a sense of public justice has impelled us to lay before them, we disclaim all hostility towards men whose opinions differ from our own. We esteem very highly in love every Christian minister who preaches Christ Jesus the Lord-who warns every man, and teaches every man, in all wisdom, seeking not his own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved: whether the parish-church, or the meeting

We are perfectly ready to learn from the example of the Fathers,' from their very mistakes, to be firm but not unbending; to make concessions upon doubtful and unimportant points; to be satisfied, if there cannot be perfect concord among Christians to have peace,' and should be truly happy in perceiving the recommendation of the author sanctioned by his taking the lead in the good work of conciliation. But when were exclusive monopolists in religion known to make concessions? these must be all on one side of the question. Men must surrender conscience for peace, or be branded as schismatics and rebels, subverters of social order, decency, and law. Ubi solitudines faciunt, pacem appellant.

house be the place in which he ministers. We are not so blind as not to perceive much that is blamable in the Churches of Dissenters, who, in many essential qualities, are not better than their fathers. We must particularly mark that flippancy which we have observed, in more instances than we could have wished, associated in young Dissenting Ministers with a very moderate share of acquirements. These admissions are not in the least inconsistent with any of our preceding remarks, which being adapted to the general assertions of the work before us, excluded all particular and minute specification. Persecution in every form and in every degree we perfectly abhor, reckoning it absolutely incompatible with our principles to injure, either in person or in property, the man whose religious sentiments differ from our own; to attempt to obscure his reputation; or to calumniate his principles. We acknowledge and respect, in every man, the rights of conscience. In every endeavour to correct the errors of such as may appear to us mistaken, we would proceed as in a labour of love; and for the support of our principles we employ no other means than sober argument and consistent example. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal.'

It is to us matter of sincere congratulation, that the times which are passing over us, are marked by more correct notions of religious liberty than those which prevailed in former periods; that statesmen, profiting by the instructive page of history, have learned the lessons of a better policy, and hold over the subject, whatever be the complexion of his religious sentiments, the shield of protection ;-and that, in the more congenial spirit with which Christians of various denominations regard each other, prophecy is receiving its accomplishment-'Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. We contemplate, with admiration and delight, the excellent institutions of our times, in which, without compromise of principle, all good men of every Church can combine their efforts for the diffusion of the religion of Christ, in comparison with which, every party interest and every name is as chaff. We should ever remember, that in all true Christians, there is an identity, which, in the present imperfect state, is perfectly consistent with great external diversity; circumstances of the latter kind should never be allowed to assume such importance as to produce alienation of heart in any of Christ's disciples. But this is the necessary tendency of exclusive monopolies in religion. The design of the Gospel, we should never suffer ourselves to forget, is to conduct men to a world of order; and to unite, in one great and permanent bond of love, the real followers of Christ.

Art. III. Voyage round the World, in the Years 1803, 4, 5, and 6, by Order of His Imperial Majesty Alexander the First, on Board the Ships Nadeshda and Neva, under the command of Captain A. Y. Von Krusenstern, of the Imperial Navy. Translated from the Original German, by Richard Belgrave Hoppner, Esq. 4to. pp. about 750. Two Coloured Prints, and a Chart of the Northwest Part of the Pacific Ocean. Price 21. 12s. 6d. Murray, 1813. Voyages and Travels in various Parts of the World, during the Years 1803, 4, 5, 6, and 7. By G H. Von Langsdorff, Aulic Counsellor to His Majesty the Emperor of Russia, Consul-General at the Brazils, Knight of the Order of St. Anne, and Member of various Academies and learned Societies. 4to. pp. 370. Fourteen Engrav ings. Price 21. 12s. 6d. Colburn, 1813.

THESE are the first two of perhaps half a dozen quarto volumes which our greedy literature will soon have acquired from the late Russian adventure round the world. A translation of a second volume of Langsdorff is already before the public; several months back there was an announcement of a translation, just ready to appear, of an account of the voyage by Captain Lisianskoy, who commanded the Neva; Dr. Tilesius, one of the philosophers of the expedition, intends publishing some sketches of natural history, which also ought to have a fair chance among us; and it would be most unreasonable to expect that M. de Resanoff, the chief of the embassy to Japan, should deem his important share of the expedition competently celebrated, till his own account of its progress and conclusion shall have been added,— especially as these first narratives will have conveyed no very flattering notion of his conduct or sufficiency.

The present state of the public feeling with respect to Russia, will undoubtedly insure our booksellers against loss in bringing into our language the whole product of the German or Russian presses relating to this voyage. The interest, however, which the people of this country will take in the story, will not be wholly such as we are accustomed to feel in contemplating the exertions of a mighty power. It will be that kind of sentiment and that kind of gratification with which we behold a great power in such a posture that we can mingle condescension with our respect. Viewing this enormous state as operating, in one direction of its agency, with a matured, preponderating, and almost irresistible strength, we shall be pleased at seeing its force and exertions in another grand department feeble and infantine compared to our own. An object viewed with a sentiment of rivalry-and all human greatness is so viewed-we do not like to be constrained to admire, if we may so express it, VOL. XI. 3 P

all round. Even if our rivalry and compelled admiration are free from hostility, it is nevertheless the greatest luxury to see something in the object which we may look down upon with the dignified benevolence of conscious superiority. The pre-eminent naval rank held by our own nation, is the distinction on the strength of which it can maintain its proud self-complacency in beholding the prodigious magnitude, and now evinced military efficiency, of Russia, as combined with its hitherto comparatively puny proportion of naval capacity and enterprise. With us, expeditions into remote seas are things of quite ordinary undertaking, and even circumnavigations have been so frequent, that an additional one, unless attended by some most unusual occurrences, would excite no remarkable degree of national interest,no interest strong enough to augment the pride excited by the fact, that it was this country that sent out the greatest adventurer and explorer on the ocean since Columbus. We shall therefore have the gratification of a feeling slightly tending towards ridicule, and slightly towards compassion, in beholding that appearance of extraordinary effort, importance, and exultation, attending an enterprise in which a vast empire has demonstrated its ability to send two ships (built however in Engiand) round the whole world.

If this were an impression which the statesmen, seamen, and authors of Russia would have desired not to make on the people of the more advanced states of Europe, it would have been well to have sent forth fewer quartos on the subject of this voyage. They might have learnt the average allotment of bulk in the relation of such voyages, within the last twenty years, in even the extravagant style of publication in England and France. It had been politic to avoid every thing tending to betray, before the nations of old adventurers and voyage-readers, the excessive effect of novelty; and every thing looking like a rather wondering self-congratulation that the persons hazarded in such an enterprise should have returned to relate its fortunes.

But perhaps Russia is incapable of apprehending that any thing done by so gigantic a state can bear a character of diminutiveness. If the idea of her huge magnitude, associated with every thing she does, should not be enough to preclude all impressions of littleness, there is another idea of which she may be willing to take the benefit, an idea which may well contribute to present all her operations to view with a portentous enlargement; it is the idea of what small beginnings, in an important department of exertion and power, may grow to, or lead to, in the case of a state possessing such resources, and which, in its progress thus far, has exhibited so striking a power and ratio of selfaugmentation. An ambitious imitation of the more southern states in the multiplication of quartos, is not the only thing