an "infinite difference," one "that admits of no compromise." But, "How numerous, how powerful,” he adds, " are those doctrinal points in religion which are entertained in common by the great majority of the Christian world! One principal object which, in the laborious yet interesting task of composing the present volume, I have always kept in view, has been, to develop these points of union. I have desired to show to my fellow-believers in the divinity of Jesus Christ-Roman Catholicks as well as Protestants-Calvinists as well as Arminians-dissenters as well as mem bers of the various established churches -the strength, the breadth, and the saving efficacy of those great features of Divine truth in which they all agree. May this main agreement-an agreement which embraces every thing absolutely essential in religion-be more and more accompanied by gentleness, kindness, forbearance, and candour, and, above all, by the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' Of this unity of the Spirit, founded as it is on an essential unity of doctrine, one principal result ought surely to be, our joint and common, or at least our corresponding and harmonious efforts to promote the salvation of the world." p. 564. We have passed over the twelfth essay, "on Faith and Obedience," and must not now return to it. We had marked several other passages for extract, but further citation cannot be necessary, as few of our readers who place any confidence in our judgment, will hesitate to put themselves in possession of Mr. Gurney's volume. On contrasting these Essays with the Treatise on Christian Doctrine that lately came under our review, one cannot fail to be struck with the immeasurable superiority of the present writer in true wisdom to our English Sophocles. Those words of holy writ have forcibly occurred to us: "The meek will He guide in judgment, the meek will He teach his way." There is a spirit pervading Mr. Gurney's volume, which leaves no room for doubt as to the influence under which it has been composed. But the contrast between the two works is more especially interesting as they may both be considered as reflecting in some measure the character and spirit of the times. That Quakerism has undergone some important modifications, on the one hand, since the time of Milton, Mr. Gurney will readily admit; and on the other hand, we feel persuaded that, had our great poet lived at this era, he would never have put forth opinions so crude and erroneous. Nay, we cannot help imagining that an acquaintance with John Joseph Gurney, instead of the Quaker Ellwood, might not only have had a happy influence on Milton's religious tenets, but have led to the composition of a nobler than Paradise Regained. poem We cannot dismiss the foregoing article, extracted from the Eclectic Review, without expressing the high gratification we have received, from observing that a writer of such talents, and such soundness in all the most important doctrines of Divine revelation as Mr. Gurney unquestionably is, has come before the publick from the Society of Friends. The ordinances of the gospel we do indeed hold to be highly important; but the reception and belief of its leading doctrines we consider as absolutely essential-essential in any system which can justly claim to be denominated Christian. These doctrines are not only correctly held by Mr. Gurney, but it appears that he possesses the power of stating them, with a perspicuity, precision, discrimination and force, seldom equalled. We trust that the volume of which the above review is given will be reprinted in this country; and that it will prove a powerful auxiliary to that portion of the religious denomination us to which the author belongs, in their endeavours to arrest the progress of the infidel opinions so earnestly, and, we regret to say, so successfully propagated of late, by a preacher in that society. In say among ing this, we do not consider ourselves as departing from a rule which we have prescribed to ourselves as invariable, in editing our religious miscellany; namely, not to intermeddle with the concerns of other denominations, farther than is indispensable to the defence of our own. But it is in defence of our own-even of its very existencewhen we bear our testimony against any man, by whatever name he may be called, who impugns Divine revelation, and endeavours to exalt his own weak and delusive reveries above the sacred truths which the Holy Scriptures teach and incul. cate. Literary and Philosophical Intelligence, etc. Comets. It is now certain that the same comet has appeared in our planetary system in the years 1786, 1795, 1801, 1805, 1818, and 1825. It appears that in its course it never passes the orbit of Jupiter. The period of its revolution (which is the shortest known) very little exceeds three years and a quarter; and its mean distance from the sun is not more than twice that of the earth. It seems to be especially connected with the system in which our globe is placed, and crosses our orbit more than sixty times in a century. M. Olbers, the celebrated astronomer of Bremen, who has bestowed much attention on this comet, has been lately occupied in calculating the possibility of its influence on the destinies of our globe. He finds that in 83,000 years, this comet will approach the earth as nearly as the moon; and that in 4,000,000 of years it will come to within a distance of 7700 geographical miles; the consequence of which will be (if its attraction be equal to that of the earth) the elevation of the waters of the ocean 13000 feet; that is to say, above the tops of all the European mountains, except Mont-Blanc.-But who expects that the earth will endure four millions of years! Ambergris.-The origin of this substance is involved in complete obscurity. All that we know of it is, that it is most commonly found in lumps floating on the ocean, sometimes adhering to rocks, sometimes in the stomachs of fish-but whence does it come? by what process is it formed? Every body knows the history of that greasy substance called adipocire that on digging up the bodies in the cemetery of St. Innocent's at Paris, many of them were found in part converted into a substance resembling spermaceti; and that it has been since ascertained, that if the flesh of animals, instead of undergoing putrefaction in the air, undergoes the slower changes which take place under water, in a running stream, it is gradually converted into this substance. It is not an improbable conjecture, that ambergris is the flesh of dead fish which has undergone this change-that it is marine adipocire. And this conjecture is corroborated by a fact which was lately stated in one of the American newspapers. A marine animal of gigantick size has lately been discovered and dug up in the neighbourhood of New Orleans, in the groove of one of whose bones was found a matter closely resembling ambergris. Original Habitats of the Rose.-In Trattinick's Synodus Botanica, it is mentioned that the species of the genus Rosa found in Europe, have reached us from the East Indies, China, and Japan. The middle parts of the Russian empire, the districts around Caucasus and Persia, are full of roses, of which the more western are mere varieties, and which propagated themselves as such. Roses are rare in Africa; there they are met with only in the northern districts; while Europe, on the contrary, from the Uralian Mountains to the coast of Portugal, abounds with them. The roses of America have reached that continent through the Polar lands, and appear to be sprung from the Rosa Alpini, and R. Majalis. There are no roses in Australasia, nor have any species been met with in South America, indeed they scarcely occur any where to the south of the equator. Origin of Coal.-Geologists have given great scope to their inventive faculties in endeavouring to determine the sources and origin of coal: but every thing tends to show its vegetable origin, and specimens of a regular succession of wood little changed, and ending with coal, in which all organic traces are lost, have occurred. And even in the most perfect coal some relic is often found, some trace of vegetable texture, some fibrous remain that clearly announces its ligneous origin. In the leaves that appear in bovey coal, for instance, resin and extractive matter have been found, and also a substance uniting the properties of resin and bitumen; and the same substance has been found in the principal coal-field of Staffordshire. Perhaps, therefore, antediluvian timber and peat bog may have been the parents of our coal strata; but then it will be asked, how has this mighty change been effected? Is it merely by aqueous agency, a kind of decay and rotting down of the wood; or has fire been called into action, torrifying the vegetable matter, and the pressure under which it has operated, preventing the escape of volatile matter, caused the formation of bitumen? And are those reservoirs of compressed carburetted hydrogen, from which blowers result, to be ascribed to such a mode of formation? The London papers mention that the coach established on the Stockton and Darlington Railway, carried lately, in one day, no less than one hundred and fiftyeight passengers, the whole of whom were drawn by two horses. One thousand seven hundred and nineteen emigrants, going westward, have arrived at Black Rock, by canal boats, since the first of May last. Alligators.-A Newbern, (N. C.) paper says: "Alligators of a very large size have recently shown themselves in our river, even close to the publick wharves. Some time since a large one was taken, and lately another of the great length of twelve feet six inches, whose expanded jaws seemed sufficiently capacious to receive a full grown boy." Anglo-Chinese College of Malacca.Among the admirable enterprises of the English, is the establishment of a college, and eight schools, in Malacca, for teaching the Chinese and Malay tongues to the English subjects, and the English language to those two sects of Asiatics.There is likewise a Tamul school. The leading object is to aid the mission for propagating the Christian religion to the Chinese, and other orientals: but students who can pay for their tuition, are admitted for the purpose of acquiring these modes of speech and their dialects, to qualify themselves the better to pursue commercial and other business in these populous and productive regions with which we have an increaing intercourse. Dr. Ebel, in his account of the Canton of Appenzel, says "In the gardens near the river Sitter, such numbers of snails are kept during the summer season, that the sound caused by their denticulated jaws, while they are eating, may be distinctly heard. Young snails are collected in the adjacent parts, and are placed in these gardens, where the owner supports them, till, on the approach of winter, they enclose themselves. In addition to the food which they find on the grounds, they are supplied with leaves of lettuces, cabbages, and other vegetables, by which they grow and fatten amazingly. Some time before Lent, the owners pack up the enclosed snails in casks, and carry them for sale to the convents of Suabia, Bavaria, and Austria, and even as far as Vienna, where they are purchased as delicacies." The once popular author of "The Pursuits of Literature," is still at Naples, where he has recently been seriously indisposed. Mr. Mathias's health, however, is now perfectly restored, and with it his ardour in pursuit of Italian poetry. He has just published a new work, which is greatly esteemed in that country. New Method of Preparing Quills.-The following is the manner in which M. Schloz of Vienna, proceeds in the preparation of quills for writing, by means of which he renders them more durable, and even superior to the best Hamburg quills. For this purpose he makes use of a kettle, into which he pours common water, so as to occupy the fourth of its capacity; he then suspends a certain quantity of feathers perpendicularly, the barrel lowermost, and so placed, as that its extremity only may touch the surface of the water; he then covers the kettle with a lid properly adjusted, boils the water, and keeps the feathers four hours in this vapour bath. By means of this process he frees them of their fatty parts, and renders them soft and transparent. On the following day, after having scraped them with the blade, and then rubbed them with a bit of cloth, he exposes them to a moderate heat. By the day after, they are perfectly hard and transparent, without, however, having the inconvenience of splitting too easily. Messrs. G. & C. Carvill, of New York, have printed, from the last and improved British copy, a very handsome edition in octavo, of Dick's moral and instructive work, entitled, "The Christian Philosopher; or the Connexion of Science and Philosophy with Religion." It deserves publick patronage on every account. Mr. David Flagg, of Gardiner, Maine, has received a patent for a Family Grist Mill, which is thus described in the northern papers." Meal and flour of the first quality are made in it, and they may, at pleasure, be bolted by the same operation. Its principal recommendations are, its cheapness, and the small mechanical power required to give it motion. It costs only thirty dollars, and will grind two bushels an hour, requiring one man only, or even a boy at the crank. It is acknow. ledged to be useful, and it will undoubtedly be brought into operation, particularly where the water-mills are scarce, and water power precarious." Keligious Intelligence. The following letter, received within the last month from the Rev. Mr. Stewart, will be found deeply interesting to the friends of missions. We do not think that it was written with a view to publication; but chiefly from a desire to satisfy the editor, that leaving Lahaina was not a matter of choice, but of a most afflictive necessity; and to recognise the goodness of God in the remarkable series of providential occurrences, by which the departure from the Sandwich Islands was favoured. And these are also our motives for laying the whole communication before our readers-with the exception only of a sentence or two at the close, of a merely personal nature. It is due to Mr. Stewart, and to the sacred cause in which he is en gaged, that it should be fully known, that he did not desert his post; but that he was most reluctantly compelled to leave it, by a marked providential dispensation, which, in the unanimous opinion of his missionary brethren, as well as of his physicians, made it his imperious duty, to endeavour to save a life justly and unspeakably dear to him, and indeed to all who have ever known his amiable wife, by an attempt to return with her to their native land. We do not know whether the letter, (which it appears was written at sea,) was sent by a vessel met with, before the Fawn reached Britain; or by some vessel which sailed from London or Liverpool, after the arrival of the Fawn in one of those ports. Since writing the above, we have received a note from Mr. S., dated "49 Westmoreland Place, London, May 18, 1826"-in which it is said, "Mrs. Stewart improved greatly for the first month after our arrivalShe is not quite so well at present We may probably sail the first of July from this port." On board the Fawn, off the Western Islands, March 18th, 1826. My very honoured and beloved FriendCircumstances and place have greatly changed with me and mine, since I last directly addressed you. Yet I presume, will be unnecessary to inform you of the by the time this reaches Philadelphia, it particulars of either. The continuations of my journal to Mrs. B. up to the middle of July, 1825, will have fully apprized you of the afflictive dispensation with which it letters from the Mission to Mr. Evarts, of has pleased God to visit my family; and which some notice will probably appear in the Missionary Herald, will have given information also of the truly unwelcome duty in which it has resulted—that of our departure from the Sandwich Islands, on the 17th of October, for the United States, by the way of England. To receive a communication from me, therefore, dated on the bosom of the North Atlantic, will create no surprise: it will rather give joy, from the assurance it will convey, that our long voyage is thus far accomplished under circumstances of peculiar mercy. Mrs. Stewart still lives, and we hope will be permitted yet to meet the embraces of her friends in America; though her state is such, that it is impossible to say what a day, much less weeks and months, with the vicissitudes of cli mate and seasons, still to be experienced, may bring forth. Our all is in the hands of Him, who alone is wise in knowing, and merciful in securing the highest good of his servants; and to his will it ought to be our happiness, and the happiness of all ther it be made known in open bereavewho love us, cheerfully to submit, whement, or in "blessings undisguised." Your last letter of affection, of encouragement, and of counsel, dated October 5th, 1824, reached Oahu at a time to be read with deeply affecting sensationswithin a day or two of our embarkation in the Fawn-immediately after it had become clearly our duty to forsake for a season, and perhaps for ever, those scenes and occupations to which you advert with so much interest, and in which we had and pleasure. been engaged with so much satisfaction As early as during the visit of the Blonde, we had feared that, to save the life of Mrs. S., it would be necessary to leave the islands for a colder climate. By the 1st of September, that impression had become the settled conviction of every member of the mission acquainted with her case, and the professional opinion of all the medical gentlemen with whom Dr. Blatchely had consulted. We considered the point of our return, then, to rest entirely on the fact of her surviv ing, and remaining in a state capable of making a voyage, till an opportunity of leaving the island should offer. That we should meet with a suitable opportunity at a sufficiently early period, was, however, very improbable. Two requisites were essential, which we could not expect to find united in the same ship in this part of the world-a physician, attached to the vessel, and accommodations sufficiently large for our family. In fact, our whole expectation of making a voyage, after the departure of the Blonde, rested on the anticipated visit of Com. Hull, in the frigate United States-of course, our path was covered with great uncertainty. Com. Hull might not arrive for months; might not come at all; and if he did, even in time for our purpose, it might not be in his power to accommodate us with a passage. Such was our attitude, when the Fawn touched at Oahu, for refreshments, in October. We knew she had a physician on board, and soon heard that she was bound directly to London. But so foreign to our thoughts had so circuitous a route been, and so little did we deem it probable that we could be received on board a vessel with a full cargo, not originally designed to take passengers at all, that several days passed after her arrival, without the slightest inquiry on the subject. Dr. Short, the surgeon attached to her, having however called a number of times to see Mrs. Stewart, and expressed his decided opinion of the necessity of a speedy removal to another climate, I felt it my duty at least to ask the question, whether he thought it possible for us to procure a passage in the Fawn? To which I was surprised to hear him answer that Capt. Dale and himself had already conversed on the subject, and he did not conceive there was any thing to prevent it, provided the accommodations they could offer, would answer our purpose. Both these gentlemen called the next morning, with an invitation for me to visit the ship. This, to my further surprise, I found to be a very fine vessel, of 450 tons, formerly a sloop of war, in the royal navy, still retaining the large, light, and airy cabin she then had, with advantages and conveniences of every kind, which not one of a hundred of the ships that visit the islands, can boast; and I could but be deeply affected at the kindness and totally unanticipated and unthought of generosity of a stranger, when Capt. Dale, in a delicate and handsome manner, assured me it would give him pleasure to appropriate one half of the cabin to Mrs. Stewart and myself, and an adjoining state-room, communicating with the same part of it, to the children, and our friend Betsey, if we thought we could be comfortable on board his ship, and would ac cept a passage to England, as an act of friendship only. Dr. Short, at the same VOL. IV. Ch. Adv. time, made a similar tender of such ser vices in his profession, as Mrs. Stewart and the family might require. The answer did not rest with me-I felt it my privilege and happiness to consider the judgment of my brethren in the Mission, under God, the criterion of duty in every important measure, and I could therefore, at the time, only acknowledge myself fully sensible of the favour they were ready to confer on me. A meeting of the members of the Mission then at Oahu, was immediately called, and the subject of our departure from the islands formally discussed, under two propositions. 1st. "Whether it was my duty, under the existing circumstances of my family, to return, at least for a time, to the United States?" and 2d. "If so, whether the kind offer of Capt. Dale, of a gratuitous passage to London should be accepted?" both of which were fully and unanimously decided in the affirmative. Thus, my dear friend, in one hour, as it were, light shone out of darkness, and a path of duty was clearly pointed out, which we could not doubt was of God, as it was entirely the result of dispensations in his wise and gracious Providence, which no device of man could have produced. It had long been our daily and unceasing prayer, to be permitted still to make known the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles, but if that happiness was to be denied us, to have the will of God so clearly revealed, that our duty should not admit of a question. This prayer seemed now to be answered:-if a shadow of doubt remained on my own mind, it originated in the possibility of Com. Hull's arrival in time to secure the end of our removal, when a still longer trial might have been made of its unavoidable necessity. But where the life of one, invaluable to myself and family, was at hazard, I did not feel at liberty to give up a certainty for an uncertainty, and thankfully accepted Capt. Dale's offer, and prepared to embark with him, at the end of eight days. After the first emotions of a decision, to me so solemn and so momentous, my thoughts and my affections hurried to Maui-a spot, interesting above all others, to my heart. I could not think of leav. ing the islands without paying it the farewell visit at least of an hour. This, through the very great kindness of a prin. cipal mercantile house, at Oahu, I was enabled to make express, in one of their smaller vessels, under the command, for the occasion, of Mr. Elwell, of Boston, a gentleman connected with the establishment, to whom I have often been indebted for similar marks of friendship. We arrived at Lahaina at midnight, and as we had been delayed three days by head 2 T |