evinced the wisdom of his Master in selecting him to be the foundation of his church, and committing to him the keys of the kingdom. But these are not imitable virtues. As an example for Christians to follow-a model of personal excellence in a life of piety-little is said of him which is worth perusing. In the plain record, as we find it in the New Testament, a much more favorable and truly religious portrait is drawn of him. This is altogether the more safe record to consult, if we would obtain correct knowledge of the character of this apostle.

As to the others, our author does them marked injustice, to the dishonor of the apostolic character, and the disparagement of the Christian name. James he represents as a jealous bigot, fomenting the spirit of faction, and indulging in groundless suspicions and unmanly dissimulation respecting his superior. After Peter had spoken in the council at Jerusalem, and Paul and Barnabas had "recounted the extent and success of their labors," "James," says the writer, "the leader of the Mosaic faction, arose and expressed his own perfect acquiescence in the decision of Simon Peter, and proposed an arrangement for a dispensation in favor of the Gentile converts, perfectly satisfactory to all." And then, after noticing that Peter went from Jerusalem to Antioch, he adds: "But in a short time a company of persons came down from Jerusalem, sent particularly by James, no doubt with a reference to some special observations on the behavior of the chief apostle, to see how it accorded with the Jerusalem standard of demeanor toward those whom, by the Mosaic law, he must consider improper persons for the familiar intercouse of a Jew." Thus much respecting James. But Peter himself, in the same connection, is brought under a somewhat similar condemnation; though, from the peculiar partiality of the author for him above all the rest, he is exonerated from all blame. He proceeds: "Peter, probably, knowing that they [the persons above named] were disposed to notice his conduct critically on these matters of ceremonial punctilio, prudently determined to quiet these censors by avoiding all occasion for any collision with their prejudices. Before their arrival he had mingled freely with the Grecian and Syrian members of the Christian community, eating with them, and conforming to their customs as far as was convenient for unrestrained social intercourse. But he now withdrew himself from their society, and kept himself much more retired than when free VOL. I.-3

from critical observation." Here St. Paul is brought in also for a share in these critical observations and censorious animadversions. "The sharp-eyed Paul," continues our author, "on noticing the sudden change in Peter's habits, immediately attacked him with his characteristic boldness, charging him with unworthy dissimulation in thus accommodating his behavior to the whims of those sticklers for judicial strictness of manners. The common supposition has been that Peter was here wholly in the wrong, and Paul wholly in the right; a conclusion by no means justified by what is known of the facts, and of the characters of the persons concerned. Peter was a much older man than Paul, and much more disposed, by his cooler blood, to prudent and careful measures. There is no Scriptural authority to favor the opinion that Peter ever acknowledged he was wrong; for all that Paul says is, I rebuked him;' but he does not say what effect it had on one who was an older and a wiser man than his reprover, and quite as likely to be guided by the Spirit of truth; nor is it wise or just for presuming moderns to condemn Peter in this matter without a hearing. The decision which seems safest to the rational defender of Peter is, that he had good reasons for his own conduct, which he doubtless was not slow to give his youthful reprover; and his answer might, if recorded, have thrown much light on this controversy." But we will not dwell. The above is sufficient to show the feelings and motives by which the author represents the apostles to have been actuated in their intercourse with each other. In the same tone of ascribing to the influence of the human passions that conduct. which we have been accustomed to ascribe to a far more holy origin, he awards to Stephen the fate of a victim to his own indiscretion, rather than the crown of a martyr in the cause of Christ. Speaking of his murder, he says, it "was no doubt preconcerted among the chief men, who caused the formal preamble of a trial, with the design of provoking the mob, in some way, to this act; in which scheme they were too much favored by the fiery spirit of the martyr himself, who had not patience enough with their bigotry to conceal his abhorrence of it." Respecting the impressions such representations of the spirit and conduct of the apostles and primitive saints are calculated to produce, we leave the reader to judge. We are not disposed to bestow a single comment upon them. Sure

we are that they can never tend to advance the cause of deep and manly piety.

But we said that the work, with all its faults, is not without merit. The author has brought into his critical notes a great amount of historical information and philological disquisition, which cannot be found in any other single production. These impart a value to it. But its harmlessness will depend much upon its being read with discrimination of its contents, and caution about what to admit as truth, and what to set down to the score of fiction. L.

ART. III.-Christianity the Means of Civilization-shown in the evidence given before a Committee of the House of Commons, on Aborigines, by D. COATES, Esq., Rev. JOHN BEECHAM, and Rev. WILLIAM ELLIS, Secretaries of the Church Missionary Society, the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and London Missionary Society, &c. London: T. MASON, 1837: octavo-pp. 360.

THE appearance of this volume, the paramount importance of its theme, the nature of the evidence it contains, the authentic facts with which it abounds, and the benevolent motives of the publication, all combine to add lustre to the British crown, and stamp the present era with new claims to be regarded as the golden age of improvement. Here we have the proof, that the government of the mightiest nation on the face of the earth have been diligently investigating the character, condition, and prospects of the native aborigines in distant and foreign lands, not for purposes of commerce or conquest, but with the benevolent and avowed design of protecting, improving, and elevating them, by introducing the arts of civilized life, and the yet higher blessings of our holy religion. In the volume before us the novel and interesting developments of this investigation are presented, so far as derived from the examination of those witnesses who are directly associated with foreign missionary efforts among the tribes of heathenism. It will be found to imbody a series of facts derived from the proceedings of modern Protestant missions, calculated to evince their beneficent influence in promoting the temporal well being of man, as well as in imparting to him the inestimably greater blessing of eternal life, through faith in the merits of a crucified Redeemer.

The select committee was appointed by the House of Commons in 1835, and consisted of fifteen members; T. F. Buxton, the well known philanthropist, being placed at its head as chairman. The object of their appointment is thus stated in the resolution of the house: :

"To consider what measures ought to be adopted with regard to the native inhabitants of countries where British settlements are made, and to the neighboring tribes, in order to secure to them the due observance of justice and the protection of their rights; to promote the spread of civilization among them, and to lead them to the peaceful and voluntary reception of the Christian religion."

There can be little doubt that the cruel wrongs and intolerable sufferings of the poor aborigines, though often inflicted by British subjects, in their intercourse with these foreign savages and barbarians, had never reached the ear of the British parliament but for the missionaries who have visited them in their distant homes, and since become their representatives to plead their cause before their own government at home. Hence we are not surprised to learn that among the witnesses officially summoned before this committee by their chairman, were the esteemed secretaries of those noble institutions which do honor to the British empire, and to the Christian name, of which that nation has never ceased to be proud-we mean the Church, the Wesleyan, and the London Missionary Societies. By this course the committee have shown the estimate they place upon the testimony of Christian missionaries on the subjects referred to them, rightly judging that their opportunities bring them more directly into contact with the native mind of the aborigines than any other persons; and, by consequence, that they have greater facilities for acquiring a knowledge of their characters, their wishes, and their wants.

The three gentlemen, whose testimony chiefly makes up the volume before us, are those named on the title page, viz.,

Dandeson Coates, Esq., secretary of the Church Missionary Society; Rev. John Beecham, secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society; and Rev. William Ellis, secretary of the London Missionary Society.

The principal topics upon which they were examined were the following:

1st. Acts of cruelty and oppression committed by Europeans

on the natives, and encroachment on their territories, or diminution

of their population.

2d. Measures recommended for the protection of the natives, and their moral and social improvement.

3d. Whether the experience of the several societies led to the belief that it would be advisable to begin with civilization in order to introduce Christianity, or with Christianity, in order to lead to civilization.

On the first of these topics each of the gentlemen testified to facts and circumstances which had transpired in the foreign missions connected with their several societies, and placed in the hands of the committee documentary evidence of great importance to the government, in the prosecution of their work of benevolence contemplated in this investigation.

The second and third questions, embracing as they do the gist of the whole inquiry, and involving the great practical question as to the means of civilization, and the order in which the agencies are to be employed in rescuing savage man from the barbarism, superstitions, and miseries of heathenism, will be found amply discussed, and, as we think, definitely settled in this examination. The tendency and efficacy of Christianity to civilize mankind, and to promote their social well being, is a topic upon which each of the secretaries was patiently and critically examined by the committee; and the identity of the facts presented by each, as developed in the history of their missions, as well as the concurrence of views entertained by the witnesses, was truly remarkable, especially when we are assured that there was no sort of concert between them antecedent to the delivery of their evidence. This striking coincidence, therefore, must be regarded as substantiating the all-important fact, that there is no means so effectual, under the divine blessing, to benefit man for the life that now is, as well as for that which is to come, as "the glorious gospel of the blessed God."

The inquiries of the committee extend to Southern Africa, Newfoundland, New South Wales, Van Dieman's Land, New Zealand, the South Sea Islands, and Upper and Lower Canada. The examination of the witnesses was conducted with due formality, every question and answer being written down at length, and all the documents included in the printed Report. Some idea of the extent of the inquiry, and the patient attention it received, may be formed