In a somewhat similar strain I might go on to other contrasts, and note especially the gradually growing sentiment, with reference to the necessity of female education, among the more intelligent natives, as well as the efforts that have actually been made in connection with this unspeakably important object; but for the present I must forbear. My time and paper admonish me that I must draw to a close.-Enough, surely, has been stated, to indicate that changes great and momentous in their bearing on the ultimate destinies of India, are in rapid progress. Having the state of things, a quarter of a century ago, vividly before my mind's eye; and looking abroad now on the considerably altered, and hereafter still more rapidly altering state of things, I confess that an inexpressible feeling of awe creeps over my spirit. I feel somewhat, though in a higher and more peculiar sense, as I felt about this time two years ago, when standing on the verge of the mighty St. Lawrence-when the thaws of later spring were acting with visible effect, and there were unmistakable signs that that vast icy pavement which concealed the dark depths beneath was about to break up, amid the thunders of splintering and crushing fragments, and the mind in wildering amaze was racked in striving to realize the rush and the roar of the resistless cataract of waters, and the tossing and dashing hither and thither of the rapidly accumulating and rapidly dissevering masses— -wondering ere the floods settled down again in their wonted channels, what cities and districts might be strewn with the wreck and ruin of all that was stateliest in architecture, and goodliest in the products of the fields. For ages and ages has the mighty stream of Hinduism been moving on, slowly, silently, and sluggishly, in its dark deep channel; bound, solidly bound, with the frost and the ice of endless, nameless, boundless polytheism and pantheism, idolatries, and superstitions. Now, however, we are on the verge of mighty coming changes. The whole vast incrustation seems gradually loosening and softening under the thaw of wide-spreading knowledge and improving enterprise. Intellect slumbering for ages, is awakening out of sleep; mind, so long sluggish and dormant, is stirred up into multiplying activities; new tastes are created, subversive of the old order of things; new passions are excited; new objects of ambition presented with luring attraction; the spirit of devoted superstition is fading and giving place too frequently to the spirit of a rampant secularism; and where the old moorings and anchorages of Vedantic pantheism and Puranic idolatry are shaking into weakness before the blasts of innovation, we are threatened (if the Lord in his mercies interpose not) with an out-bursting flood of wildest and most undefinable infidelity; and if so, what havoc may there not be of all that is goodliest, fairest, best, ere the national soul, purified as well as liberated, settle down in the peaceful channel of gospel righteousness and peace! But the Lord reigneth! that is our hope-our stay-our support. Oh, what a time for stronger faith, more fervent prayer, more energetic effort! Help, O Lord, help-do we feel with increasing intensity-help, for vain is the help of man-ours it is to employ the means—thine, O Lord, thine alone it is to energize them all with the breath, the living breath of thy Holy Spirit! Never was a time or place, when or where an Institution like our own, was more needed—as a beacon of light amid the gathering gloom, a pillar of testimony amid the descending floods of error! But I pause. Review. THE SCEPTIC SAVED AND SAVING OTHERS; or Memorials of CHARLES GOSTLING 6 CHARLES GOSTLING TOWNLEY was no ordinary man. The grandson of a rationalist clergyman, (the author of "High Life Below Stairs," and other farces), brought up amidst the gaiety and frivolity of fashionable life, early imbued with sceptical notions by his tutors, mixing for some time after he had reached man's estate with sceptics like himself, and looking upon the hollow conformity of many around him, and the senseless perversions of christianity by the church of Rome as true religion, he seemed little likely to become an humble christian, and gave less promise of his treading in the steps of Bunyan and Wesley as an evangelist and a preacher. Mr. Martin thus speaks of his conversion. "About this time Dr. Townley's brother Henry threw off the scepticism which for some time he had cherished, and embraced the truth as it is in Jesus. And one day he said to his brother Charles, Are you willing in a dispassionate, careful, and lawyer-like manner, to examine the claims of christianity? Will you read a book or two on the subject?' He readily assented, and Henry Townley put 'Newton's Prophecies,' and one or two more works on the evidences of christianity into his brother's hands. After reading these works, Dr. Townley said to his brother, The arguments in favour of christianity seem to me to be strong and conclusive; but before I finally decide, I should like to read something on the other side. Give me the most powerful work you know of in favour of infidelity.' Henry Townley furnished him with Tom Paine's Age of Reason.' He carefully studied it, and when he had read it, said to his brother, All hesitancy has now vanished. I have been astonished at finding how shallow and frivolous the arguments against christianity are. I now acknowledge that I have embraced the gospel, and through the blessed Redeemer have fully devoted myself to God.' He had no sooner accepted the truth himself, than he became anxious for the welfare of others. His first endeavours were among his kinsfolk and personal acquaintance. The child became father to the man. Both his parents renounced their frivolous amusements, and became sincerely and devotedly pious. Desirous of giving himself wholly to the ministry of the Word, he relinquished his practice at Doctor's Commons, and entered Hoxton Theological Academy. Three years after, his brother Henry went out as a missionary to India, and he himself, though having three "calls" to pastorates at home, determined on devoting himself to evangelistic labours in Ireland, and in 1817 was ordained to that work at Chester. Dr. Townley made Limerick his head-quarters, but preached all round for many miles. "Many of his preaching tours," says his biographer, "were performed on horseback. He has frequently travelled in this way forty or fifty miles a day, besides preaching. It was not unusual for him, when setting out on one of these expeditions early in the morning, to take two hard boiled eggs, a little salt, and some bread in his pocket, as his day's repast, during his journey; and he would slake his thirst by drinking at some mountain stream. He was often exposed to danger in these expeditions, from various causes, sometimes even to the risk of his life; but neither danger, scanty fare, nor fatigue deterred him. On one occasion he found the bridge of a river carried away by a flood. It was, however, necessary that he should cross the stream to reach the place where he was announced to preach. He knelt on the river's bank, commended himself to God, and then swam the swollen stream. He visited all the country towns and villages in the south of Ireland, and wherever a congregation, however small, could be gathered, there he would preach the gospel of the grace of God. He employed every lawful means to awake attention, and to induce the people to come and hear the word of life. He once hired a bellman to announce his intention of preaching at Killarney, and the man with the craft of his trade, and to obtain money from his employer by exciting an interest, roared with stentorian voice, that the great Calvinist preacher from London, the Rev. Dr. Townley, would honour them with a sermon.' Dr. Townley's liberality knew no bounds. He had private resources it is true: but this does not render the less noble his refusing any remuneration for his pastoral work in Ireland. He supported nearly alone the Hibernian schools, maintained a second city missionary in Limerick at his own expense, gave largely to the chapel in that city which had been erected since he came, and never refused his help to any who needed this world's goods. Thirty or forty poor papists received weekly relief at his house, and numbers more at their own houses. He established a Bible repository, in a house he himself had hired, and held social prayer meetings in the upper part. The poor-house, the hospitals, the prison, the garrisons, and the shipping were constantly visited by this inde fatigible and zealous missionary. Finding he should succeed better if he could speak Irish, he set about its acquisition, and soon the people, as they heard him speak, declared they never heard such sweet and beautiful Irish, but it was a pity he had such an English tongue. He learnt, therefore, the colloquial, and for this purpose would talk in Irish with any one he chanced to meet. No other end did he set before himself in this labour than that of making known the gospel. The language mastered, he soon put it to use; wrote several tracts, which he printed himself, and set about translating the New Testament into the Erse vernacular. Dr. Townley continued his work in Ireland upwards of fiveand-twenty years. Of the letters, full of expressions of gratitude, which Dr. Townley received after he had retired to London : of his amiable partner, and her zeal and help, and many other equally interesting matters, we must refer our readers to the book before us. Mr. Martin has widely deviated from the ordinary plan of biographers. He gives the end first; his opening chapter is "death and burial." There will be much difference of opinion about the wisdom of such a course. Even in this he shrinks from exposing to the eyes of an indifferent world the sanctities of home. For ourselves we have only to say that Mr. Martin has in this, and in other things, set an example which may be safely followed. We have great pleasure in commending these "Memorials" to all our readers. THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: the Sultans, the Territory, and the People. 12mo, cloth, pp. 316. Religious Tract Society. THE affairs of Turkey have recently been mixed up with the affairs of England. The bookish have endeavoured to rub up their history to satisfy their own minds, and answer the endless enquiries of their friends; but have often found that Turkish history was just the history of which they knew the least. That ignorance need continue no longer. Here, in a portable form, is a very readable account of the Ottoman Empire, with a sketch of its three first rulers, who were called emirs; and its twenty-eight succeeding Sultans, from Bajazet 1st, to Abdul Medjid. There is an excellent map of the Ottoman Empire in its widest extent in the 17th century; and all those possessions, since lost to Russia, Austria, and Greece, are marked with divers colours. The great defect of the book is, the want of a good index. We hope this will not be omitted in a second edition. HISTORICAL TALES FOR YOUNG PROTESTANTS. 12mo, cloth, pp. 180. Religious Tract Society. IT is a false delicacy that keeps such books as the one before us from the young. They cannot be made too familiar with the sufferings of the great champions of our faith, and with those who, though heading no religious reformation, meekly laid down their lives for the testimony of the Lord Jesus. If the reading of such sketches cause them to hate popery with a perfect hatred, it will save them from becoming a prey to that maudlin and silly medievalism which even now dares to show its front. Let the plain truth be known. Papists can gild their own system quite enough without avowed Protestants setting about to help them. The persecutions of the past but reveal the spirit of the present. It is lack of power, not lack of will, that makes the Romish church non-persecuting. Like Bunyan's Pope, thanks to the spread of the gospel in England, they can do little more here than sit in their cave's mouth, grinning at pilgrims as they go by, and biting their nails because they cannot come at them." Protestant parents, put this little book in the hands of all your children. SKETCHES OF A TOUR IN EGYPT AND PALESTINE, during the Spring of 1856. Post 8vo. cloth, pp. 101. London: Nisbet and Co. THIS book must have been published to gratify the most injudicious friends of the writer. It gives no information that has not been rendered stale by frequent repetition; and can hardly claim to be read by those who have been in the countries described for the sake of recalling pleasant hours spent there. It may induce some other lady to attempt the journey: but we would advise her to get a better companion for her travels than this book. As fireside chat, it might please the friends of the author; but as a published book, it can never gain many readers. The book is very neatly got up, and that is the only recommendation we can give of it. THE REASON WHY: a careful collection of many hundreds of reasons for things which, though generally believed, are imperfectly understood. Tenth thousand. Foolscap 8vo., cloth, pp. 320. London: Houlston and Wright, Paternoster Row. THE amount of explained facts in this book is marvellous. Nothing seems omitted. Of common phenomena in the air, the clouds, or the waters; familiar matters of every day occurrence; the peculiarities noticeable in animals, in birds, and in insects; of these, and a thousand other things, "The Reason Why" is here given. It is a very well arranged and useable book, and should lie within the reach of all. Endless disputes may at once be settled by an appeal to it, and without loss of temper, notwithstanding that a wise writer, in his "Art of living with others," has declared, "If people wish to live well together, they must not hold too much to logic, and suppose that every thing is to be settled by sufficient reason." THE ANGEL'S VISIT. A poem. Heaton and Son. THE fact that this is the first production of a young lady disarms criticism. The subject of the poem can scarcely be said to possess much novelty; but the treatment is praiseworthy and encouraging. The smooth rhyme and simple piety will be certain to secure readers, chiefly, however, among her own class. Her forte, as far as we can judge, seems to be lyrics. If after more mature reading and reflection the fair author were to devote herself to such compositions, we feel persuaded that the circle of her admirers would be wider than it can be at present. JESUS CALLS THEE-COME BACK-REMEMBER TO GIVE THANKS-GIVE THE BEST TO CHRIST THIS WORLD OR THE NEXT?-HUSH! Imp. 32mo. Tracts. By REV. SAMUEL MARTIN. London: Nisbet and Co. VERY useful little books. We heartily commend them to all who wish to give away something more readable than the great majority of our religious tracts. Working men will not hesitate to read pamphlets of this order. We hope Mr. Martin will go on with the series. THE CRY OF THE LABOURER; or an appeal to the churches for the better support of their pastors. By N. HAYCROFT, M.A. Pamphlet. London: Heaton and Co. A word fitly spoken. This pamphlet cannot be too widely circulated. The interest and extension of our churches depends on a right view of this question. Correspondence. ON FORMS OF PRAYER, &c. To the Editor of the General Baptist Magazine. I wish to ask through the Repository whether it is right that any subject vitally affecting the General Baptist churches, should be brought forward and attempted to be carried by a mere handful of the representatives at the fag end of the association, when the body could not be more than one quarter represented, which was the case at our late assembly at Wood Gate, Loughbro', on the Friday morning. If unanimity is to be kept up amongst us, a few individuals must not attempt to carry so important a subject; what I refer to, is, that of a form of prayer or liturgy to be read by our ministers, which was proposed and seconded, and although some of the speakers stated they had no idea of pressing it to a vote, still it was, and the connexion ought to know that it was lost only by one vote. I consider it an unwise and imprudent way of acting. If we are to have a form of prayer, don't let us half do the thing, but go the whole hog, and have a form of sermons which would act very nicely as a dose of morphia. I hope some one better able to handle the subject than the writer, will give us his thoughts upon the wisdom (if he can find any) of so important a subject. One reason assigned by the advocates of the subject was, that there is so much sameness in the prayers of many of our ministers. This is to be lamented; but would a set form of prayers improve such a state of things? I think it must suggest itself to any mind that it must be far more formal and flat. I think if prayers proceed spontaneously from the heart, they will be far more likely to reach the heart than any form of set prayers. I think had it been carried it would have had a deadening effect, and that it would have been fraught with great evil. I have given my views on the subject, and have no desire or intention to say more about it. AN OBSERVER. [This case was not brought on irregularly, though the pressure of other business delayed its discussion.-ED.] Intelligence. BAPTIST UNION. In accordance with a vote of the General Baptist Association of 1855, the Annual Session of the Baptist Union was held this year in Nottingham. Divine service was performed at the Derby Road chapel, (P. B.) on Tuesday evening, June 30th, when Rev. Mr. Landells, of London, preached to a large and attentive congregation. There was an early prayer meeting at Broad Street chapel, (G. B.) After breakfast, the delegates and ministers assembled in George Street chapel, (P. B.) when a very excellent and argumentative address was delivered by Rev. J. H. Hinton, M.A., of London. The Rev. J. Edwards, of Nottingham, pre |