like an adequate view of the character of the great German Reformer; but in vain have we looked for this till the work before us was put into our hands. Mr. D. has realised our most sanguine desires; he has gone into the very elements of Luther's history; he has traced the progress of his mind, from the first dawnings of truth which fell upon it, till it stood forth in the full blaze of Gospel light, a kind of luminary in the moral heavens.

Such is our estimate of Mr. D.'s labours, that we regard them as eminently fitted to confer a lasting benefit on the church of Christ. If the Protestant Papists of this country would but read and ponder this volume, it might prove an unspeakable blessing to them. Our apostolic-succession men, and the many-coloured sections of the professing church, which rank with them, would do well to examine the stern lessons of history which are here unfolded to their view. They may here learn that the elements of the great Romish apostacy are bound up in the specious pretensions which they are now affecting to give forth to the church as the truth of God. We warn the rising clergy against the insidious poison which the Oxford doctors are now mingling in the cup of life; and we call on the disciples of our common Lord to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free; and not again to be entangled with that yoke of bondage which, three hundred years ago, enchained all Europe in the fetters of moral captivity.

"The object," observes Mr. Howitt, "of this volume is to lay open to the public the most extensive and extraordinary system of crime which the world ever witnessed. It is a system which has been in full operation for more than three hundred years, and continues yet in unabating activity of evil. The apathy which has hitherto existed in England upon this subject has proceeded in a great measure from want of knowledge. National injustice towards particular tribes, or particular individuals, has excited the most lively feeling, and the most energetic exertions for its redress; but the whole wide field of unchristian operations in which this country, more than any other, is engaged, has never yet been laid in a clear and comprehensive view before the public mind. It is no part of the present volume to suggest particular plans

of remedy. The first business is to make known the nature and the extent of the evil; that once perceived, in this great country there will not want either heads to plan or hands to accomplish all that is due to the rights of others, or the honour and interest of England."

Such is Mr. Howitt's account of his own labours; and we can honestly assure our readers that there is no exaggeration in it. With vast diligence and research he has traced the history of European colonization, and has unfolded a tale of horror, which might well make those blush crimson who have been guilty of the cruelties and oppressions detailed. The motto of Mr. H.'s work is a bitter sarcasm upon those professedly Christian nations which have taken the lead in the vast system of colonization. "Have we not one Father? hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother?" Well may our author say, "It is high time that we looked a little into our pretences. It is high time we examined, on the evidence of facts, whether we are quite so refined, quite so civilised, quite so Christian, as we have assumed to be. It is high time that we look boldly into the real state of the question, and learn actually whether the mighty distance between our goodness and the moral depravity of other people really exists. WHETHER, IN FACT, WE ARE CHRISTIAN AT ALL. . . . . If ever," Mr. H. observes, "there was a quarter of the globe distinguished by its quarrels, its jealousies, its everlasting wars and bloodshed, it is Europe. Since these soi-disant Christian nations have arisen into any degree of strength, what single evidence of Christianity have they, as nations, exhibited? Eternal warfare?-is that Christianity! Yet that is the history of Christian Europe. The most subtle or absurd pretences to seize upon each other's possessions,-the contempt of all faith in treaties,-the basest po licy, the most scandalous profligacy of pub. lic morals, the most abominable international laws!—are they Christianity? And yet they are the history of Europe. Nations of men selling themselves to do murder, that ruthless kings might ravish each other's crowns-nations of men, standing with jealous eyes on the perpetual watch against each other, with arms in their hands, oaths in their mouths, and curses in their hearts;-are those Christians? Yet there is not a man acquainted with the history of Europe that will ever attempt to deny that that is the history of Europe. For what are all our international boundaries; our lines of demarcation; our frontier fortresses, and sentinels; our martello towers, and guard-ships; our walled and gated cities; our bastions and batteries;

and our jealous passports? These are all barefaced and glaring testimonies that our pretence of Christianity is a mere assumption; that after upwards of a thousand years of the boasted possession of Christianity, Europe has not yet learned to govern itself by its plainest precepts; and that her children have no claim to, or reliance in that spirit of love which casteth out fear.' It is very well to vaunt the title of Christian one to another; every nation knows in its own soul, it is a hollow pretence."

This must be admitted to be a very awful description of European nations; but the truth of it is its most appalling feature. The work before us commences with the discovery of the New World, and in twelve successive chapters, the author lays open the history of Spanish and Portuguese colonization, from the period that the Pope affected to confer on these nations the gift of the heathen world. In the fourteen remaining chapters we have a full disclosure of the facts connected with the colonising efforts of Great Britain in India, America, South Africa, New Holland, and the Islands of the Pacific.

We sincerely trust that the disclosures of this volume, distressing as most of them are, will prove extensively beneficial to human nature. Nothing will fully rectify the abuses of the colonial system, but indiguant and reiterated exposure.

From the concluding chapter we give a specimen of the spirited manner in which Mr. Howitt writes. "The slave trade, which one of our hest informed philanthropists asserts, is going on at this moment to the amount of 170,000 negroes a-year, is indeed the dreadful climax of our crimes against humanity. It was not enough that the lands of all newly-discovered regions were seized on by fraud or violence; it was not enough that their rightful inhabitants were murdered or enslaved; that the odious vices of people, styling themselves the followers of the purest of beings, should be poured like a pestilence into these new countries. It was not enough that millions on millions of peaceful beings were exterminated by fire, by sword, by heavy burdens, by base violence, by deleterious mines and unaccustomed severities-by dogs, by man-hunters, and by grief and despairthere yet wanted one crowning crime to place the deeds of Europeans beyond all rivalry in the cause of evil,-and that unapproachable abomination was found in the slave-trade. They had seized on almost all other countries, but they could not seize on the torrid regions of Africa. They could not seize the land, but they could seize the people. They could not destroy them in their own sultry clime, fatal to the white men,

they therefore determined to immolate them on the graves of the already perished Americans. To shed blood upon blood; to pile bones upon bones, and curses upon curses. What an idea is that! the Europeans standing with the lash of slavery in their hands on the bones of exterminated millions in one hemisphere, watching with remorseless eyes their victims dragged from another hemisphere-tilling, not with their sweat, but with their hearts'-blood, the soil which is, in fact, the dust of murdered generations of victims. To think that, for three centuries, this work of despair and death has been going on-for three centuries! while Europe has been priding itself on the growth of knowledge, and the possession of the Christian faith; while mercy, and goodness, and brotherly love, have been preached from pulpits, and wafted towards heaven in prayers! That, from Africa to America, across the great Atlantic, the ships of outrage and agony have been passing over, freighted with human beings denied all human rights. The mysteries of God's endurance, and of European audacity and hypocrisy, are equally marvellous. Why, the very track across the deep seems to me blackened by this abominable traffic; there must be the dye of blood in the very ocean. might surely trace these monsters by the smell of death, from their kidnapping haunts to the very sugar-mills of the West, where canes and human flesh are ground together. The ghosts of murdered millions were enough, one thinks, to lead the way without chart or compass. The very bed of the ocean must be paved with bones! and the accursed trade is still going on! We are still strutting about in the borrowed plumes of Christianity, and daring to call God our Father, though we are become the tormentors of the human race from China to Peru, and from one pole to the other."

One

We earnestly recommend this volume to the notice of our readers, as a most masterly compendium of correct intelligence on all subjects connected with colonization, the slave-trade, and slavery.

MEMOIRS of the REV. WILLIAM STEADMAN, D.D., Pastor of the first Baptist Church, Bradford, Yorkshire; and Pre'sident of the Northern Baptist Education Society. By his Son, THOMAS STEADMAN. 12mo. pp. 483.

Ward and Co.

It would be difficult in any religious connexion to point to a more respectable individual than Dr. Steadman. Most influential in his own denomination, he was, at the same time, looked up to with sincere respect by his Christian brethren in the

Church of England, and among the Independents. He was a man of sterling worth, and of most respectable attainments in learning and theology.

The memoirs before us are a pleasing record of the personal character and public labours of an individual, who exerted a beneficial influence on society for the space of half a century. Dr. S.'s son has performed a most acceptable service to the religious public, in preparing this judicious record of the life and labours of his late venerable parent. Many of the details are highly edifying and instructive; and none of them are more valuable than those which relate to the modes by which the subject of this memoir conducted his studies to a most successful issue. If our brethren in the ministry would all imitate Dr. Steadman in his industrious application to biblical studies, our churches would very speedily reap the benefit of their mental culture. Few men have sustained a loftier reputation for wisdom, piety, Christian zeal, and urbanity, than the president of the Northern Baptist Educational Society. He was a lover of all good men, and being dead he yet speaketh.

SACRED LYRICS for YOUTH; with Pictorial Illustrations. Composed and selected to promote early Piety, and to cherish domestic harmony and devotion. By GEORGE POCOCK. 12mo. pp. 138.

Sherwood and Co.

This is a volume well entitled to the notice of young people, from the age of ten to fifteen. Many of the poetical compositions are possessed of real merit, and all are of excellent moral and religious tendency. The ornamental engravings are eight in number; and though produced from stone are exceedingly beautiful; they are indeed the most perfect of their kind we have yet

seen.

The BIOGRAPHICAL TREASURY; consisting of Memoirs, Sketches, or Brief Notices of the Lives of eminent Persons, of all ages and nations, from the earliest periods of history to the present time; forming a new and complete Dictionary of Universal Biography. The whole surrounded with precepts and maxims, original and selected. By SAMUEL MAUNDER, author of the "Treasury of Knowledge and Library Reference;" to which this volume is designed as a companion. Very thick 12mo.

Longman and Co.

We know not a single volume in our

VOL. XVI.

language containing such a mass of information as the Biographical Dictionary. Though the type is small, it is nevertheless very clear and readable; and, with few exceptions, the notices appear to be very accurate. As a book of general reference, this volume will be found extremely serviceable to persons possessing but small libraries. The moral maxims, which adorn the margin of the work, contain more than three thousand admirable sentiments, original and selected, upon almost every topic connected with human conduct and happi

ness.

FAMILIAR SKETCHES of the late WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, ESQ. By JOSEPH JOHN GURNEY. 24mo. pp. 46.

William Ball, Aldine Chambers.

This sketch is highly characteristic both of Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Gurney. Those who want to know Mr. W.'s real views in reference to enlightened and evangelical Dissenters must consult this little volume; it discloses more on this subject than the larger work by his sons. It is altogether a very interesting account of one of the most distinguished Christian statesmen that ever graced the British Senate.

The SUFFICIENCY of the GRACE of CHRIST: A Sermon, preached at St. Thomas'ssquare, Hackney, Nov. 26, 1837. By HENRY FORSTER BURDER, D.D. Published at the request of many of his hearers. 12mo. pp. 22.

SUBMISSION to GOD: A Sermon, preached at St. Thomas's-square, Hackney, Oct. 22, 1837. By HENRY FORSTER BURDER, D.D. pp. 12.

Thomas Ward and Co.

We have to apologise to the author, and to our readers in general, for our long neglect of these valuable and most edifying discourses. The subjects on which they treat are deeply interesting to Christians at large, and the manner in which they are handled is remarkably clear, scriptural, and affectionate. The first one, on "The Sufficiency of Grace," will doubtless prove a balm to many a perplexed spirit. It is founded on the words of Christ to his servant Paul," My grace is sufficient for thee;" and it unfolds the circumstances under which this Divine assurance was given; and sets forth the comprehensiveness of the gracious promise it contains. Under the first head, the author shows, that the assurance was given after Paul had been favoured with the most signal manifestations of the Divine favour,-that it was

2 M

given under the pressure of a discouraging trial, and that it was given in answer to earnest and repeated prayer. He then proceeds to prove, that the grace of Christ is sufficient for the grant of pardon to the greatest sinners,-for the renewal and progressive sanctification of the soul,-for the performance of every duty, however arduous, and for the endurance of the severest Under the last of these particulars, trials.

the author thus writes :

"You have only to look into the chapter which precedes that before us, for a most affecting record of the afflictions of the apostle. They comprised imprisonments, scourgings, stoning, shipwrecks, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness. Yet, no sooner had he received the promise of the text, than he was prepared to say, 'I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.'

"Some of you, dear brethren, are no strangers to affliction. Pain and weakness and long-continued sickness have been allotted to some. Cares, which harass the mind, have oppressed the spirits of others. Bereavements, which rend and lacerate the heart, have been appointed to not a few. We sympathise this day with fathers and mothers-tender mothers, who have been called to surrender a beloved son or a beloved daughter, in whom their affections greatly delighted. We sympathise with others, who are shedding the bitterest of all tears over the loss of the endeared and devoted companion of life, and friend of the heart! What can we say to such sufferers? Nothing of our own which can be available; but we will echo what the FRIEND of the soul has said -what He who is the resurrection and the life' has said; My grace is sufficient for thee May he speak it to the inmost soul! May he verify his own assurance to an extent surpassing all previous experience and all present expectation! If afflictions abound, may the consolations of the grace of Christ still more abound. May he speak these cheering words to each of us in our last hour! Then shall we indeed know the value of the text. Then shall we be able to say to the glory of his grace,'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.' 'My flesh and my heart are failing, but thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.' Into thy hands I commend my spirit,' for thou hast redeemed me, and thou art fulfilling thine own words of love and truth,—' My grace is sufficient for thee.'"

God,' is written with the same Christian pathos; and as both are published at the small sum of sevenpence, we cannot but anticipate a large sale for them.

STRICTURES on a LIFE of WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, by the Rev. W. WILBERFORCE, and the Rev. S. WILBERFORCE.' By THOMAS CLARKSON, M.A.

We were deeply concerned, in reading the very interesting Life of Mr. Wilberforce, to find that his sons deemed it important to the reputation of their father, to augment his honour, as a distinguished leader of the Abolitionists of the Slavetrade, by derogating from the well-earned fame of Mr. Clarkson. We had never been accustomed to regard them as rival philanthropists, but as fellow-labourers of the highest order of disinterestedness in the cause of humanity; each doing his utmost, and perhaps more than any other man could or would have done, in his own peculiar department. It was therefore with great surprise and regret that we read in the Life of Mr. Wilberforce the following passage, (vol. i. p. 141,) which refers to Mr. Clarkson's History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade :

"It is necessary to declare at once, and with a very painful distinctness, that it conveys an entirely erroneous idea of the Abolition struggle. Without imputing to Mr. Clarkson any intentional unfairness, it may safely be affirmed, that his exaggerated estimate of his own services has led him unawares into numberless misstatements.”

We do not wonder that Mr. Clarkson should express himself as he does in the commencement of his Strictures.

"I did not expect," he says, "in the seventy-ninth year of my age, to be called upon to defend the correctness of any part of my History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade,' published thirty years ago, against any one, and least of all against two of the sons of my late revered friend Mr. Wilberforce. The charges made against me resolve themselves substantially into this one, that I have claimed for myself an honour due to Mr. Wilberforce alone, in suggesting or executing the measures which led to the abolition of the slave trade. Now to this I have first to answer, that I have never claimed any such honour any where in my history."

Mr. Clarkson proceeds to give a clear and succinct statement of the circumstances connected with his first interview and subsequent intercourse with Mr. Wilberforce, and of the part which each took, both in the earlier and later stages of their great and successful enterprise. He shows, con

vincingly, that not only their mutual friends, but also that Mr. Wilberforce himself ascribed to him priority, in point of time, in the field of labour.

At the great Anti-Slavery Meeting, May 15, 1830, Mr. Wilberforce, on taking the chair, expressly said, in a spirit which did him the highest honour:-"I could have been called to this chair by no person more dear to me than by my valued friend and fellow-labourer, (for I wish to be known by no other name in this great cause.) When I again meet my esteemed friend, Mr. Clarkson, in this cause, I cannot but look back to those happy days, when we began our labours together, or rather when we worked together, for he began before me."

How much to be regretted it is, that the sons of this venerated philanthropist should have thought it necessary to disturb the mind of their father's friend in the evening of his life, when labouring under the infirmities of age; and thus to interrupt the joy of his heart, at the very time when he was reaping the reward of his toils in the abolition, in many of the West India Islands, of slavery itself.

Our regret and surprise are still further increased in reading the correspondence, which Mr. Clarkson gives at length, between himself and Mr. Robert Wilberforce, previously to the publication of the Life. We should have thought that Mr. Clarkson's letters would completely have removed from the minds of Mr. Wilberforce's sons the unfavourable impressions they had received, and would have rendered it impossible for them to have impugned either the accuracy of his statements, or the spirit in which they were written.

The impartial reader will scarcely fail to sympathise deeply with Mr. Clarkson, in reading the testimonies and reminiscences contained in letters from some of his coadjutors in the great struggle. He has inserted, with great propriety and great effect, letters from Lord Brougham, Archdeacon Corbett, Mr. William Smith, and Mr. Richard Phillips. The last of these, one of the Society of Friends, and one of the earliest of his coadjutors, writes the following words :

"It does appear to me that ample justice has been done to William Wilberforce,

in various parts of thy history, as a leader in this great concern."

To the Strictures there is appended a Supplement, written with great acuteness by Mr. H. C. Robinson, containing very able "Remarks on the Edinburgh Review of Mr. Wilberforce's Life."

WORKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED

1. The Poetical Works of Robert Southey, collected by himself. In Ten Volumes. Vols. VI.. VII., VIII., IX., and X. 18mo. Longman.

2. A Practical Exposition of the Lord's Prayer. By the Right Rev. EZEKIEL HOPKINS, D.D., successively Bishop of Raphoe and Derry. 18mo, pp. 232. Religious Tract Society.

3. Memoirs of the Life of Mrs. Hannah More. By WILLIAM ROBERTS, Esq. A new edition, abridged. 18mo, pp. 472. Seeley.

4. A Manual of the Evidences of Christianity. Chiefly intended for Young Persons. By JAMES STEELE, author of "The Philosophy of the Evidences of Christianity." 18mo, pp. 101. Whittaker. 5. Seven Hundred and Fifty Hymns; Private, Family, and Social; collected from various Authors, for the use of Christians, in their different relations, circumstances, and states of mind. By JOSIAH PRATT, B.D., Vicar of St. Stephen's, Coleman-street, London. 18mo, Seeley. This is a very excellent collection of hymns, displaying great liberality on the part of a clergyman of the Church of England, as a large proportion of them are the composition of Dissenters.

6. The Doctrine of the Deluge; vindicating the Scripture account from the doubts which have recently been cast upon it by geological speculations. By the Rev. L. VERNON HARCOURT. In 2 vols. 8vo. Longman and Co.

7. The Imagery of Foreign Travel; or, Descriptive Extracts from Scenes and Impressions in Egypt, India, &c. &c. &c. Selected and published by the Author. 8vo. Longman and Co.

8. Bible Thoughts. Extracted from Caryl. 32mo. Ball.

9. A Selection of Hymns. Especially designed for British Seamen. By the Rev. ROBERT FERGU SON. Royal 32mo. T. Ward and Co.

10. Christian Theology. By JOHN FLETCHER, late Vicar of Madeley. Selected and systematically arranged. With a Life of the Author. By SAMUEL DUNN. 12mo. Mason, City-road.

11. China Opened; or, a Display of the Topography, History, Customs, Manners, Arts, Manufactures, Commerce, Literature, Religion, Jurisprudence, &c., of the Chinese Empire. By the Rev. CHARLES GUTZLAFF. Revised by the Rev. Andrew REED, D.D. 2 vols. 12mo. Smith and Elder.

THE REV. R. S. M‘ALL, LL.D. THE melancholy task now devolves upon us of announcing the early death of this great and good man. The affecting event

took place on Friday, July the 27th, at about half-past two o'clock, A.M., at the house of J. K. Heron, Esq., Swinton Park, near Manchester, in the 46th year of his