of the proceedings of Mr. Chamberlain, one of the Baptist Missionaries, during a great fair at Hurdwar in the neighbourhood of Sirdhana. The writer observes, "During the greater part of this fair, which lasted nearly three weeks, a Baptist Missionary (Mr. Chamberlain) in the service of her highness the Begum Sumron, attended; and, from an Hindoostanee Translation of the Scriptures, read daily a considerable portion. His knowledge of the language was that of an accomplished native; his delivery impressive; and his whole manner partook much of milduess and benignity. In fine, he was such as all, who undertake the arduous and painful duties of a Missionary, should be. No phrase, no language, which could in any way injure the sacred service he was employed in, escaped his lips, Having finished his allotted portion, on every part of which he commented and explained, he recited a short prayer, and concluded the evening by bestowing his blessing on all assembled. "At first, as may be expected, his auditors were few; a pretty convincing proof, when 60,000 were collected, that it was not through mere curiosity that they subsequently increased. For the first four or five days, he was not surrounded by more than as many Hindoos: in ten days (for I regularly attended) his congregation had increased to as many thousands. From this time, until the conclusion of the fair, they varied; but never, on a rude guess, I should fancy, fell below eight thousand. They sat around, and listened with an attention which would have reflected credit on a Christian audience. On the Missionary retiring, they every evening cheered him home, with May the Padre (or Priest) live for ever!" "Such was the reception of a Missionary at Hurdwar, the Loretto of the Hindoos, at a time when five lacks of people were computed to have been assembled, and whither Brahmins, from far and near, had considered it their duty to repair. What was not the least singular, many of these Brahmins formed part of his congregation. They paid the greatest deference to all that fell from him; and when in doubt, requested an explanation. Their attendance was regular; and many whose countenances were marked, were even the first in assembling. "Thus, instead of exciting a tumult, as was at first apprehended, by attempting conversion at one of the chief sources of idolatry, Mr. Chamberlain, by his prudence and moderation, com manded attention; and, I have little doubt, ere the conclusion of the fair, effected his pùrpose, by converting to Christianity men of some character and reputation." We have received the 30thNumber of the Periodical Accounts of the Baptist Missions, to which we shall take an early opportunity of attending. VIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. THE only foreign occurrences which claim to be distinctly noticed in our view of public affairs for the present - month, are—the election of Mr. Munro, formerly the American Envoy at this court, to the Presidency of the United States, by a large majority of votes; and the restoration of prince Talleyrand to the favour of Louis XVIII. He has resumed his office of grand chamberlain at the Thuilleries, where his attendance bad for some time been dispensed with. Among the foreign occurrences of the month, may also perhaps be classed the intelligence which has been received from China, but which has not yet been presented to the public in an authentic shape, and may therefore be liable to some doubt. It states, that the mission of Lord Amherst had failed in accomplishing its object, and that he was on his return to Canton, without having succeeded in obtaining an interview with the Emperor, who would not admit him into his presence unless he consented to the customary prostrations. At the same time, some differences are said to have arisen between Captain Maxwell, of his Majesty's ship Alceste, and the Chinese authorities at Canton, which had produced acts of violence on both sides. Apprehensions appear to be entertained that an interruption of our intercourse with China may be the effect of this transaction. We trust that the next arrival from that quarter will dissipate these fears. the scanty measure in which French wine, which forms, as is well known, the common beverage of Frenchmen, is stated to have been dealt out to him and his attendants. It would seem right to allow them an abundant supplý of that article, instead of limiting them to six bottles a day. Another point to which it may be proper briefly to advert, is the discus sion which has arisen respecting the treatment of Bonaparte at St. Helena. A person belonging to his suite, of the name of Santini, has arrived in England, and has published a Memorial which had been addressed by General Montholon to Sir Hudson Lowe, the go vernor, accompanied by some farther statements of his own. The obvious purpose of this publication is to excite an interest in this country in favour of Bonaparte; and it is sufficiently evident, that in the pursuit of this object effect alone is studied, and not truth. The situation of Bonaparte is necessarily a situ ation of restraint. He is a prisoner, and a prisoner under very peculiar cireumstances. In such circumstances it requires but the exercise of a very moderate portion of ingenuity to invest his fate with interest, and to call forth feelings of commiseration in his favour. By keeping ont of view the enormities which may have condemned an individual to the gloom of a dungeon; by slightly exaggerating or dexterously colouring admitted facts; and by exhibiting as real some of those touching operations of the mind which may exist only in the imagination of the writer; `a` sympathy might be excited for the sufferings of the very worst criminaleven for the murderer of the family of Marr, or of Williamson. In the case of Bonaparte, the publication of Santini has led to a discussion in the house of lords, and to explanations on the part of lord Bathurst, the secretary of state, which appear to us to have effectually removed the impressions produced by that work. Most if not all the evils of which Bonaparte complains, are either inseparable, in the nature of things, from a situation of restraint and confinement, or are the direct consequences of his own pride aud obstinacy. He sullenly refuses, for example, to extend his ride beyond a certain limited distance (about a mile and a half), be cause, if he passes that limit, he must be accompanied by a military officer of the rank of captain; and then he complains · bitterly that his health suffers from his not being allowed a wider range. The only complaint tlist appears to us not to have been satisfactorily explained, is The metropolis has continued in a state of tranquillity during the past month, if we except some clamorous expressions of popular feeling excited by the execution of John Cashman, onė of the persons actively engaged, on the 2d of December last, in plundering the shop of Mr. Beckwith, the guusmith, of arms. The last moments of this unhappy man were marked with an imposing fearlessness, accompanied by a ħardened levity of behaviour, which was quite appalling, considering the cir cumstances in which he was placed. Herejected all spiritual counsel or assistance, joined in the shouts and exclamations of the populace, and went out of the world in the act of cheering them to perseverance in the cause, meaning of course the cause to which he fell a victim. We do not intend to discuss the expediency of capital punishments in general; but certainly it forms a considerable objection to the public exhibition of them, in cases like the present, that they may be employed to counteract the very ends of punishment. In Somersetshire, some disturbances occurred among the coal-miners about the beginning of the month, but they were repressed by the firm and at the same time conciliating conduct of the magistrates, without leading to any fatal results. At Manchester, the disposition to insubordination assumed a more serious, because a more deliberate and systematic, appearance. Preparations having been previously made, a large assemblage took place, by public notice, of labourers and manufacturers, provided with blankets and other necessaries; who met for the purpose of proceeding in a body to London, with a petition to the prince regent for the redress of their grievances. It was expected that the deputation would have. consisted, in the first instance, of at least 10,000 individuals, to whose number considerable additions were looked for in the course of their march. A large body of the petitioners had actually commenced their journey, when the civil power thought it necessary to interfere, and to prevent their farther progress. About 250 of these misguided individuals are said to have been ar rested and sent to prison. What the issne would have been, had they been allowed to proceed on their wild and infatuated expedition it is impossible to say; but the probability is, that it would have been highly disastrous to the parties themselves, to say nothing of the danger threatened to the public peace. Their means of subsistence must have failed before they could accomplish their journey; and marching in such imposing numbers, they probably would not have been very scrupulous as to the mode of supplying their wants: and on the most favourable supposition, no benefit whatever could have resulted from it, to compensate for the expense to themselves, and the alarm to the public, of such a novel and hazardous enter prize. A few individuals have also been arrested at Glasgow, suspected of treasonable practices. In parliament, the measures of security proposed, by lord Castlereagh, to be taken against our domestic dangers, have all been adopted by large majorities. These are, first, the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act until the 20th of July next; an act for the prevention of seditions meetings, similar to that which passed in 1795; and an act for punishing the seduction of sailors or soldiers from their allegiance to his majesty. It is not our purpose to diseuss the policy of these different enact ments. We are persuaded that vigorous measures of precaution had become indispensable; and we entertain no great apprehensions, that open as all the acts of government are to parliamentary animadversion, and deserving as is the existing government of credit for its moderation, any evil can flow from the increase of power entrusted to it, which ought to be regarded as countervailing, in any sensible degree, the advantage likely to be produced, under existing circumstances, by such an increase, in completely securing our internal tranquillity. An effort has been again made to induce government to abandon the lottery as a measure of finance, but without success. We were happy, however, to perceive, in the speech of lord Castle. reagh, a recognition of the immoral and consequently injurious tendency of this method of raising money; and an admission, that if a convenient substitute could be found for it, it ought to be given up. We may therefore regard the extinction of this public nuisance as not very distaut. ECCLESIASTICAL PREFERMENTS. Rev. Paul Belcher, M. A. Mathfield V. co. Stafford. Rev. John Hull, M. A. Shillington V. co. Bedford. Rev. Mr. Strong, M. A. one of the Select Preachers before the University of Oxford, vice Dr. Stone. Rev. William Michell, Llantrissent V. co. Glamorgan. Rev. Matthew Hill, Morton Jeffries V. co. Hereford. Rev. John D. Perkins, East Teignmouth Perpetual Curacy, Devon. Rev. John R. Fletcher, Gruetheke, otherwise Quethioke V. Cornwall. Rev. Henry Robinson, B. A. Otley V. and Farnley Perpetual Curacy, co. York. Rev. Samuel Whitlock Gandy, M.A. Kingston upon Thames V. Surrey, vice Savage, deceased. Rev. Philip Durham, M. A. a Minor Canon of Ely Cathedral, vice Stephens, Rev. Thomas Hill, a Vicar-Choral of deceased. Hereford Cathedral. Rev. R. Lewis, Musbury R. Devon. Rev. W. Molesworth, Beauworthy R. Devon, and St. Breake R. Cornwall. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. T. F. B.; piñoμnтup; ww; S. M.; Benevolus; M.; C. PALMER; I. L.; have been received. The details furnished by C, S. could not be inserted in this month's Number; but it is intended that they shall appear in the next. CEPHAS; PAULINUS; C. C; M. E. G.; CANDIDIOR; and SELECTOR, will obtain a place. The compositions transmitted by J. D. certainly indicate both feeling and piety, One or two of them will probably appear. We agree with B. that the British Review deserves every encouragement. seems to us to be conducted on Christian principles. It THE No. 184.] APRIL, 1817. [No. 4. Vol. XVI, RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS. For the Christian Observer. ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY.-1 COR. XV. ELIGION has been at different times greatly endangered from two opposite sources, connected with its deep and mysterious nature. The depth of its mysteries has so far captivated many of its defenders, particularly in ancient times, as to induce them to measure its truth almost by its obscurity, and to affirm their belief of its tenets on the well known ground, "Credo quia impossibile est"-I believe, because it is impossible. The absurdity of this principle, so well suited to popish chicane, has subsequently led some rational divines into the opposite extreme. With them, it has been the custom to assert, that mysteries are mysteries only before they are revealed; and that the act of revelation has in itself done away all that was mysterious in the doctrine revealed. It is sufficiently clear, whatever might have been the intent of delivering such an opinion, that its practical effect will be most pernicious;-nothing short of subjecting all Divine revelations to be tried by human standards, and of warranting the rejection of all truth which does not absolutely make itself bare to the prying eye of mortal presumption. That the great doctrine standing at the head of the present article has been so explained as to endanger the honour of our holy faith from both the causes here expressed, is sufficiently obvious. Total impossibilities, nay contradictions, CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 184. have been assumed with triumph' by some, for the genuine doctrine of Scripture, on the important article of the Resurrection of the Body. And by others, willing to avoid such manifest absurdity, an opposite mode of explaining these doctrines has been adopted, calculated to enervate, or directly setting aside, the plainest declarations of Scripture. It would, perhaps, be difficult to settle the account of mischievous effect between these very different errors; both apparently arising from an overweening conceit of human reason, though coming in at two opposite doors;-whilst the one, by presenting crudities for doctrines, has tended to make the Revelation appear unworthy to be received by the thinking part of mankind; and the other, by making no difference between natural and revealed truths, has inclined them to think Revelation itself to be of no use. In endeavouring to steer the middle course, which rational reflection on scriptural principles may without difficulty open to our view, let us at present inquire for the just notion of a future resurrection of the body, as revealed in Scripture; which may also lead us, on some future occasion, to investigate the still more important or at least practical question, upon what principles the final judgment which is to follow this event will, according to Scripture, be conducted. It is evident, from this enunciation of our subject, that some intermediate inquiries of a curious, but rather at the same time, questionable nature, must be passed over in silence. The time, for in 2 E Stance, at which these great events are to be expected to take place, will not be thought a very fit object of curiosity to those who consider the answer of our Lord to a similar question: "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." The same answer might be given to those who would curiously inquire into the duration of this dread solemnity; or who would suggest the possibility of a length ened period, and a gradual process of judgment, on the ground of a supposed suggestion by St. Peter, that" one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." That the event is to take place, is surely sufficient for our purpose. Nor can any construction of that event escape the charge of rashness, which would invalidate the solemnity of a day, "the day of the Lord," on which "before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall divide the one from the other, as a shep'herd divideth his sheep from the goats." Much less need any scruple be felt in passing over the many obscure and uncertain inquiries respecting the supposed prior appearance of our blessed Lord upon earth in the millennial state. The question of the resurrection of the body and the future and final judgment stands clear, both in character and importance, of these preliminary questions. If a prior and partial resurrection is to take place, we cannot, at least, suppose any intermediate state of the body, so risen, essentially different from its final condition: the comparative glory of the first or the second resurrection will not materially affect the main doctrine of the return of the body from its native dust, as taught by Scripture; and we shall find ourselves still embracing all that is of essential and vital importance in these two queries: 1. In what sense are we to believe that the body will rise again? 2. On what principles shall the general judgment be conducted? In answering, then, the first of these, on the present occasion, let us content ourselves with acknowledging the mystery, as a mystery, so sublimely conveyed to us by the great Apostle. "Behold, I shew you a mystery: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Words as strongly implying as words can do, the mysterious fact, that the very bodies we now wear, the very tabernacle of earth we now inhabit, and which constitutes, in conjunction with the soul, one man," shall meet again in union with that Divine principle from which it had been separated for a time, and shall form with it the very same intelligent and conscious being as before, though in an inconceivably purer and higher state of existence. In this statement, it is true, from the very earliest period, various difficulties have been offered, and some founded on the very nature of things themselves, to which even an inspired Apostle thought fit to answer, "Some man will say, How are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?" To which St. Paul returns back a similitude in answer, which, for co-gency, as well as beauty and direct application to his subject, may be safely considered as unrivalled, certainly as not surpassed, by the most renowned efforts of philosophical reasoning, whether in the heathen or the Christian world. "Thou fool! that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die: and that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body (that kind of body) that shall be, but bare grain ... but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own |