followed with effect in calling the attention of our great public and learned bodies to the subject. To all the rest, as that which alone can give strength to the most strenuous efforts, and which may prosper the weakest and most unobtrusive, we desire to add, with all seriousness, for the general admonition of Christians of every rank and denomination, the means of earnest prayer to God. In our closet and family devotions, in the public invitations from the pulpit to suitable objects of fervent supplication, let not that ancient and chosen race to whom pertained the adoption and the glory-whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ canté," be forgotten, or only coldly and formally noticed. Let us call them to mind not as they now are, but as they once were the Israel of God, riding in the high places of the earth, and eating the increase of the fields;" when the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him."-Let # remember with hope those gifts and callings of God which are without repentance:" and be encouraged to expect that He who once rode upon the heaven in Israel's help, and in his excellency on the sky," may yet again bend from his height, and place his everlasting arms" under his fallen servants; that he may "remember days of old, Moses and his people, and say, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock; where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him?...Doubtless he is still their Father, though Abraham be ignorant of them, and Israel ac Knowledge them not." Perhaps he only waits for the prayers and charities of those whom we must call, till now, selfish Christians, to taise these " poor from the dust and these needy from the dung. hill, and to set them once more among princes, even the princes of his people." Perhaps the prayers the and the exertions, thus humbly recommended, may be amongst those by which the Almighty will be moved to the fulfilment of his own gracious promise," I will bring thy seed from the East, and gather thee from the West: I will say to the North, Give up; and to the South, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” —Even so, Amen. Travels in South Africa, undertaken at the Request of the Mis sionary Society. By JOHN CAMPBELL, Minister of Kingsland Chapel. Second Edition. Lon's don: Black and Parry, 1815. pp. 400. Price 10s. 6d. THE Missionary Society, instituted in London in the year 1795, for the sole purpose of diffusing the Gospel in unenlightened lands, was early led to direct its attention to the establishment of a Mission in the southern part of the African Contiment. Of this Mission we have made frequent mention in the course of our labours. It was ori ginally undertaken by the Rev. Dr. Vanderkemp, accompanied by other pious men; and by their means various missionary stations have been formed among the Hottentots, Caffres, Boshesurans, and other native tribes who inhabit the regions to the Fast and North of the Cape of Good Hope. On the death of Dr. Vanderkemp, who superintended the South African Mission, the Directors of the Society judged it expedient to depute one of their own body, the pious author of the present work, to visit their settlements, with a view to ascer. tain their actual state, and to form such rules for their future conduct, as might be most conducive to the attainment of their great ob ject, the conversion of the hea. then ;" and, in connection with that object," the promotion of civiliza tion" among them. Our author those who truly believe the Goderived from the useful arts of civilized life, and afterwards to instil spel, which attended its first prointo his mind the Divine truths of mulgation. Gratitude for the the Christian religion." This state blessings of redemption, a lively ment, which the reviewer has prodread of forfeiting the bright in sense of their moral obligation, a bably adopted, without examination, on the authority of Mr. Barrow, is unfounded in fact, and stands fully contradicted in every account which the United Brethren Quarterly Review, No. XXVI, p. 309.xilivio lo noitomorqan todo. rience of eighteen hundred years. And if civilization, at least in its first stages, consists in making the voluptuary chaste, the sensual temperate, and the idle and turbulent industrious and peaceable members of society; we, for our parts, should be at a loss to imagine any means which would admit of the slightest comparison, in point of efficacy, with those which involve the fear and the love of God, the hope of heaven and the terrors of hell. But even if this reasoning should fail to satisfy the Quarterly Reviewer, yet facts cannot be altered by the feebleness of our argument. The facts, then, of the case, we repeat, are directly at variance with his statement; and we refer him, in proof of this assertion, to the authentic records of the Moravian Missions, from their commencement to the present hour. The following particulars of Mr. Campbell's visit to Gnadenthall, the largest of the two Moravian settlements, will doubtless gratify our readers. "Travelling forward among hills, till about eleven in the forenoon, we reached the lands belonging to the Moravian settlement." "Gnadenthal was full in view before us. Their large church was very conspicuous at a distance. The settlement lies at the end of a valley, closely surrounded, except in one direction, with great mountains. At a distance, it has more the appearance of a garden than a town. As we passed the houses, we were gratified by the civilized appear ance of many of the Hottentots, although others were dressed in their loose sheepskins. They saluted us in a friendly manner, and the children seemed highly diverted to see us moving along, At length we arrived at the houses of the missionary brethren, where we were re ceived with much Christian affection. A more pleasant spot than that in which they dwell can hardly be imagined; and the consideration that all was a barren wilderness when they came there, added greatly to the pleasure we felt in view. ing it. "Not long after our arrival the bell rang for dinner, and we were conduct. ed to a large apartment where they all dine together. The table was plentifully supplied, but there was nothing saperfluous. Those who served were Hottentots, except one Caffre girl. They did every thing with as mach propriety and expedition as our best English servants could have done. Before and after dinner all joined in singing an appropriate hymn. "After dinner we took a circuit round the settlement, calling at several houses of the Hottentots, which were neat and cleau. Some of the houses had four apartments, which were whitened, and had some articles of furniture: but many other houses were as mean as these I afterwards saw at Bethelsdorp every house, however, had a 'good carden, stocked with fruit-trees, which are equally ornamental and useful, Their hedges were chiefly composed of the peach-tree, at that time full of fruit, which they dry in the sun for food in winter. I was surprised at the large ness of their trees, many of which appeared to me forty or fifty years old; but they assured me that all had been planted within eighteen years, except one which had been planted by their missionary, who had attempted a settlement there, seventy years ago, but was obliged by persecution to leave the place. They skewed me an aged woman who remembered him and they pointed out the grave of another female who died lately, and had been converted under that missionary. She kept a New Testament during the fifty years' ab sence of the missionaries, and this New Testament was the means of keeping her soul alive to God during half a century. She could not read, but she got another person to read it to her. O how missionaries! It was to her like life her soul rejoiced on the return of the from the dead," pp. 18, 19. After viewing the burying ground, we walked to the garden of the missio naries, which is extensive, well laid out and well watered. With peculiar sensations we sat down under the shade of that tree which was planted seventy years ago by the first missionary. The conversation naturally: furned to his labours to introduce the Gospel of Jesus to this wild region, and the regret with which he left it, and the mind naturally soared to the Heavenly Jerusalem, and his happiness in that contemplated region of bliss. *After tea we ascended one of the hills to obtain a complete view of the whole settlement, which is about a mile in length, and a quarter of a mile in breadth: the gardens being so numerous, the whole resembled a city in a wood. I viewed it as a garden of the Lord, a field which he had blessed. I conid not but reflect on the former ignorance and present knowledge of its inhabitants, and of Jehovah's dwelling graciously in many of its huts, far removed from the din of war, and the distractions of the busy world." pp. 19, 20... མ་ "At eight o'clock we repaired to their chapel, which will contain upwards of a thousand people, every part of which filled with Hottentots, many of whom had come from afar to conclude the year together. They sang well, and with becoming solemnity; and listened with attention to an address from one of the missionaries. This meeting was concluded about nine o'clock; aud on account of its being the last evening in the year, they assembled again at half past eleven. After singing, and re. ceiving an address from the senior mis sionary, the twelfth hour struck, when all feil down on their knees and joined in a solemn address to God. When they had sung an hymn, all retired to rest. Thus, during the meeting, one year concluded and another commenced. ! "The Moravian meetings for prayer and instruction are pretty frequent; but none that I have attended have been long, which shews wisdom in the mis sionaries, and their acquaintance with human nature." p. 21. This last remark does credit to our author's sagacity; and we re commend it to the candid consideration, not only of those who have to regulate the hours of public instruction, but of the speechifiers at all Bible and Missionary meetings throughout the kingdom. The Moravian Missions were greatly favoured both by Lord Caledon and Sir John Cradock, while they held the government of the Cape. These enlightened men were strongly impressed with the advantages attending such institutions, and they shewed an undeviating readiness to protect and enCourage them. We have under CHRIST. OBSERV, No. 168. stood, that a somewhat different policy has been pursued of late, probably under the influence of some of those misrepresentations to which the pious and devoted heralds of Christianity have, in every age, been exposed. We trust, however, that an effectual remedy has ere now been applied to this evil; and that on the return of Mr. Latrobe, who has recently quitted this country, in order to visit the Missions of the Brethren at the Cape of Good Hope, we shall have to announce that the cloud, which for a time may have darkened their prospects, has been entirely dissipated. Ai Cape Town, Mohamedanism, as we learn from Mr. Campbell, is much on the increase. The free Mohamedans are strenuous in their efforts to inake proselytes among the slaves; and their success has been greatly aided by the inattention shewn by Christian masters to the instruction of that unfortauate class of men. Indeed, we have no doubt that masters who are not actuated by Christian principles, would, for the most part, be better pleased that their slaves should embrace the Mohamedan than the Christian faith. To minds corrupted prevails in our colonies, a despotism by the domestic despotism which exercised over persons whose very colour forms a marked distinction between them and their masters, there is something very revolting in the idea of their being the common recipients of a faith which levels all distinctions of cast' and colour, and is capable of communi cating to the wretched dependant a moral elevation, and a cheering hope, which may well render his lot an object even of envy. this, we incline to think, is partly the solution of that resistance which has been made by West Indian planters to the religious instruction of their slaves, and of those penal laws by which they have endea voured to chain them down, though 50 And we trust in vain, in their present at a station about five miles from state of moral darkness and degras Stellenbosh, in the same charitable dation.. work. In the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, however, considerable efforts have been made of late, particularly by Sir John Cradock, aided by the zeal of the colonial chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Jones, to diffuse the bless ings of Christian instruction not only among the slaves but among all classes of the colonial popula tion; and a society has been formed under their auspices, embracing this as one of its principal objects. A free school, as we learn from Mr. Campbell, had already been formed at the Cape, on the British plan of education, which contained 150 young persons. About 200 were taught according to the same system, in the military schools at the barracks. Commissioner Shields had likewise distinguished himself in this field of benevolence. A school of twenty Negroes, liberated from a captured slave ship, supported entirely by this gentleman, was visited by Mr. Campbell. "Several of the Negroes read the New Testament tolerably well, and repeated questions from Watts's Catechism: on the Lord's day they were well dressed, and attended church." This meritorious conduct, on the part of the higher classes, appears to have been seconded by a strong religious feeling which had, at that time, been excited in the mass of the population, by the oc'currence of two tremendous earth quakes, and the destructive ravages of the small pox. "These awful events had led many to their Bibles, and to their knees."May their salutary influence be permanent! One of the missionary institutions which Mr. Campbell came to visit, was situated at Stellenbosh. He found the Missionary, Mr. Bakker, diligently and successfully employed in the instruction chiefly of slaves. His meeting-house was attended by about 180 persons of this description, mostly females. Another Missionary, Mr. Messer, was employed On the 13th of February, 1813, Mr. Campbell commenced his jour ney to Bethelsdorp, and the other more distant missionary settlements in South Africa. His travelling equipage consisted of two waggons, one drawn by twelve, the other by fourteen oxen, four male and two female attendants. One of the drivers named Cupido, a converted Hottentot, appears to have been signally serviceable, not only in his more immediate vocation, but in conducting the devotions of the party, and whenever an opportu nity offered, in preaching the Gospel to his countrymen. In the way to Bethelsdorp, Mr. Campbell turned aside to visit Mr. Siedenfaden's missionary station at Zurebrak, He found him among a kraal of Hottentots, where he had built a house, and cultivated a considerable portion of land. The meeting for public worship was atteuded by about fifty Hottentots, and the school by twenty-two. On the 3d of March he reached Drosdy George, a settlement formed by Lord Caledon, and which is represented as a rising place. Here it was determined to station Mr. Pacalt, one of the Missionaries, with a view to the spiritual benefit of the settlement, and of the Hottentots inhabiting its vicinity. It was not till the 20th of March that our traveller reached Algoa Bay, where Bethelsdorp, the prin cipal settlement of the Society in South Africa, is situated. This place appears to, have been injudiciously selected. The soil is so barren as to be incapable of culture, and the settlers, have been under the necessity of seeking lands that are at some distance from the village, on, which to rear provisions and to pasture their cattle. Much of the admitted meanness and wretchedness of the place have doubtless arisen from this cause; but much also from the |