vacation would not be attended with singular advantages over one of five or six weeks length? I appeal to the industrious tyro, and ask if he would not think a fortnight sufficient for amusement? and if he would not then prefer to return to his studies, rather than endure an incommodious repetition? I am aware that there is nothing more difficult than to convince a bigoted person, that he is wrong, or to dissuade him from a practice, however absurd, if he has custom on his side: but I hope my reader is not of this class. However, to those who make custom their criterion, I will only say, it is not my desire to dictate: let them judge fairly and impartially of what I have written, and act according to their conviction. Shrivenham, Dec. 16, 1830. J. P. MISSIONARY COMMUNICATIONS. ON Sunday, January 16th, 1831, the baptism of seven adult Jews, all inmates of the Hebrew Institution, Camden Town, took place at Somer's chapel, Seymour-street, Somer's Town, immediately after the second lesson, during the morning service in that church. This interesting ceremony was performed by the Rev. T. J. Judkin, M. A. of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and minister of Somer's chapel, at the request of the Lord Bishop of London, patron of the above institution, A crowded congregation witnessed this imposing ceremony, and the most lively interest therein was depicted upon almost every countenance. The seven candidates for baptism sat upon the front seats in the middle isle, facing the communion table, while the committee, and a respectable number of the subscribers to the institution, occupied the cushions which surround the rails and the area in front. The service throughout was solemn and spiritual, which, as well as the religious ceremony, visibly induced a hallowed effect upon the congre gation. They They beneld, at the appointed moment, seven of the sons of Abraham, all in the prime of life, in a devout manner rise up, solemnly approach the Christian's altar, and spontaneously, with tears, require the rite of baptism from a Christian minister. In the full view of a large and respectable gentile congregation, and in the presence of numbers of the seed of Abraham, brought together to behold and execrate this defection of their brethren from the Rabbinical creed of their fathers, and, in the midst of the committee and members of the institution, who rose up as their witnesses, they witnessed, 2D. SERIES, NO. 2.-VOL. I. with becoming humility, a good confession. Their responses were distinct and firm, and the courage with which they individually entered the area within the communion rails, and there were severally baptized into Christ, evinced the deep conviction of their souls, that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah-the Christ, the Son of God, and the only Saviour of men: receiving the sign of the cross, as a token of salvation through him. Yea, may He save them for ever! On the conclusion of the morning service, a sermon was preached by the Rev. T. J. Judkin, M. A. in aid of the Hebrew Institution, from the prayer of Moses, Numbers x. 36. "Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel." Without launching into theories which distract the age, this learned divine dwelt upon the prophecies, in reference to the seed of Abraham, with circumspection; selecting those which belong to the Jew and Gentile churches, when they shall become one in the latter days, without confounding them with those which belong to Israel exclusively. Here, in noting the dispersions, the miseries, and the promised restoration of the chosen people, the calamities of centuries of infliction, beneath the just judgments of God, because of their transgressions, were ably held up to view; and also, the benign providences of Jehovah, which followed them throughout all their wanderings, and preserved them in existence, as a people, amidst bereavements and catastrophes, which would have annihilated any other nation; and here were the promises of God for good, upon their repentance, and the certainty of their final restoration, enlarged upon with peculiar felicity. An exhortation to the converts now baptised, and the rest of the inmates of the institution present, this being the church in which they regularly worshipped God, was subjoined; which evinced the deep feeling of this pious pastor for his whole flock, and the intense desire which possessed his soul, to present them before God without spot and blameless. At the close of this excellent sermon, a collection was made, which amounted to nearly £50. Twelve inmates of the Hebrew Institution were examined for baptism; but although the whole twelve evidenced to the examiners that a work of Divine grace was begun in their hearts, yet it was deemed expedient that five, out of the twelve, should wait until a deeper work of grace enabled them, equally with their brethren, to witness a good confession. Prudence calls for 146.-VOL. XIII. L of tusks, which Mr. Corse has developed with more care than any other writer; but all these varieties have nothing constant, and are mixed indiscriminately with each other. In Bengal, the tusks weigh little more than 72 pounds, and they do not exceed 50 in the province of Tipperah, which produces the best elephants. There are tusks in London, however, probably from Pegu, which weigh 150 pounds. It is, in fact, from Pegu and Cochinchina that the largest elephants and tusks of the Indian species come. The coast of Malabar furnishes no tusks, according to Pennant, more than four feet long. ON SCHOOL VACATIONS. My attention was lately drawn to an article in a London journal on the expense of edu. cation: in which article complaint was made of the enormous expense still attendant on the introduction of youth, "while the prices of every necessary of life have fallen from 20 to 50 per cent." It is not my in. tention to consider whether such complaint was well or ill-founded:-though I know of many cases, in the country, where such complaint might reasonably be made; but the subject I treat of, is one of infinitely more consequence than loss of money, viz. loss of time. A. B. desires to place his son under the instruction of C. D., for a year, and makes an agreement with him to that effect. The youth is sent to school, and probably makes considerable proficiency in his studies; but Midsummer arrives, and he is obliged to abandon them, and return to his parents for five or six weeks, where his former idle habits, and juvenile amusements, which are now followed with redoubled ardour, regain their primitive ascendancy, eradicating and taking the place of the greater part of what he learned during the preceding half-year. The term of his vacation expires, and he is again sent to school; but that which before was amusing and easy, is now found to be insipid and irksome; for instead of being daily appointed a new task as heretofore, he finds that for the first month perhaps, he has to retrace his former steps, or, in other words, to relearn what was unlearned while at home. Thus is his relish for scholastic duties suspended, if not destroyed and instead of being diligent and active, he becomes indolent and careless. And if the irksomeness of his resumed studies disappear by the time he has regained his former position; still the intervening time is lost: and he begins to despair of satisfying the earnest expectations of his parents, as the Christmas vacation is fast approaching, when his studies will again be suspended for the like number of weeks, or, perhaps, no more to be resumed at school. To every impartial observer, the evils of long vacations, especially at schools in the country, must, I think, be apparent. The youthful mind will be either advancing or retrograding, and the loss of time occasioned by vacations is irreparable. Ten weeks, nearly one-fifth of a year, is certainly too much to lose: and when we add to this the time occupied in regaining what was lost during the vacation, it will give a quarter of a year, at the most moderate computation, and thus is one year in four of the precious season of youth unthinkingly thrown away. Perhaps I shall be asked, if I would confine youth to study without intermission; or, if I would keep him constantly at school, and debar him the pleasure and the company of his parents and friends, from the time he commence, till he has completed his education? To this I give a decided negative. Proper seasons of relaxation are necessary, and may be attended with singular advantages. For these seasons of relaxation, nothing can be better adapted than vacations; so that while the mind is disengaged from its accustomed duties, it may seek its delight in the company of those whose presence is best calculated to afford it; that the unchanging scenes and strict discipline of the school-room, may be exchanged for the ever-pleasing objects, and natural freedom, which is found at home. For, There blend the ties that strengthen What I complain of is, not the vacation, but the length of it. Why would not a fortnight suffice? In that time the youth might visit his friends, recreate himself in his former amusements; and return to his studies without considering them a restraint, and without the unpleasant task of retracing the steps he has gone before. Such a vacation would prove a stimulant rather than an obstacle to his improvement, and would not be a loss of the precious season of youth. I appeal to the good sense of a parent, and ask if he would not think a fortnight sufficient either for a Midsummer or Christmas vacation? I appeal to the wisdom of a teacher, and inquire if in his opinion such a vacation would not be attended with singular advantages over one of five or six weeks length? I appeal to the industrious tyro, and ask if he would not think a fortnight sufficient for amusement? and if he would not then prefer to return to his studies, rather than endure an incommodious repetition? I am aware that there is nothing more difficult than to convince a bigoted person, that he is wrong, or to dissuade him from a practice, however absurd, if he has custom on his side: but I hope my reader is not of this class. However, to those who make custom their criterion, I will only say, it is not my desire to dictate: let them judge fairly and impartially of what I have written, and act according to their conviction. Shrivenham, Dec. 16, 1830. J. P. MISSIONARY COMMUNICATIONS. On Sunday, January 16th, 1831, the baptism of seven adult Jews, all inmates of the Hebrew Institution, Camden Town, took place at Somer's chapel, Seymour-street, Somer's Town, immediately after the second lesson, during the morning service in that church. This interesting ceremony was performed by the Rev. T. J. Judkin, M. A. of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and minister of Somer's chapel, at the request of the Lord Bishop of London, patron of the above institution, A crowded congregation witnessed this imposing ceremony, and the most lively interest therein was depicted upon almost every countenance. The seven candidates for baptism sat upon the front seats in the middle isle, facing the communion table, while the committee, and a respectable number of the subscribers to the institution, occupied the cushions which surround the rails and the area in front. The service throughout was solemn and spiritual, which, as well as the religious ceremony, visibly induced a hallowed effect upon the congre gation. They beneld, at the appointed moment, seven of the sons of Abraham, all in the prime of life, in a devout manner rise up, solemnly approach the Christian's altar, and spontaneously, with tears, require the rite of baptism from a Christian minister. In the full view of a large and respectable gentile congregation, and in the presence of numbers of the seed of Abraham, brought together to behold and execrate this defection of their brethren from the Rabbinical creed of their fathers, and, in the midst of the committee and members of the institution, who rose up as their witnesses, they witnessed, 2D. SERIES, NO. 2.-VOL. I. with becoming humility, a good confession. Their responses were distinct and firm, and the courage with which they individually entered the area within the communion rails, and there were severally baptized into Christ, evinced the deep conviction of their souls, that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah-the Christ, the Son of God, and the only Saviour of men: receiving the sign of the cross, as a token of salvation through him. Yea, may He save them for ever! On the conclusion of the morning service, a sermon was preached by the Rev. T. J. Judkin, M. A. in aid of the Hebrew Institution, from the prayer of Moses, Numbers x. 36. "Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel." Without launching into theories which distract the age, this learned divine dwelt upon the prophecies, in reference to the seed of Abraham, with circumspection; selecting those which belong to the Jew and Gentile churches, when they shall become one in the latter days, without confounding them with those which belong to Israel exclusively. Here, in noting the dispersions, the miseries, and the promised restoration of the chosen people, the calamities of centuries of infliction, beneath the just judgments of God, because of their transgressions, were ably held up to view; and also, the benign providences of Jehovah, which followed them throughout all their wanderings, and preserved them in existence, as a people, amidst bereavements and catastrophes, which would have annihilated any other nation; and here were the promises of God for good, upon their repentance, and the certainty of their final restoration, enlarged upon with peculiar felicity. An exhortation to the converts now baptised, and the rest of the inmates of the institution present, this being the church in which they regularly worshipped God, was subjoined; which evinced the deep feeling of this pious pastor for his whole flock, and the intense desire which possessed his soul, to present them before God without spot and blameless. At the close of this excellent sermon, a collection was made, which amounted to nearly £50. Twelve inmates of the Hebrew Institution were examined for baptism; but although the whole twelve evidenced to the examiners that a work of Divine grace was begun in their hearts, yet it was deemed expedient that five, out of the twelve, should wait until a deeper work of grace enabled them, equally with their brethren, to witness a good confession. Prudence calls for 146.-VOL. XIII. L double caution in the case of a Jew; because his profession of Christianity subjects him instantly to the loss of all things. The tender parent, the affectionate brother or sister, with every friend of his youth; yea, even the wife of his bosom, disappear at that moment. Then comes persecution, in place of tenderness; hate hurries forward, to cast out affection; and, "Lord, what is man?" the friend is resolved into an enemy, implacable; and those conjointly hurl vengeance on the head of this apostate, who, in their estimation, has renounced his God, and become an outcast from the sons of Abraham. Under such a fight of afflictions, who can endure? Not a novice. It is those only who are strong in faith, that endure such a conflict, abide in the truth, and glorify God. W. COLDWELL. King's-square, January 20th, 1831. THEOLOGICAL REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. [We give the following article as it has reached us, without vouching for its authenticity.-EDIT.] "DEARSIR, "32, Sackville-street. "The subjoined extract of a letter, just received from Paris, I am sure will be read by you with great pleasure:" * Our chapels are overflowing-300 children are attached to them. We know not what to do to get accommodation for the numbers who wish to attend. If we had £10,000 to provide chapels, we could have congregations of a size, and schools of a number, to astonish Europe! ' A remarkable circumstance has just oecurred. A large body of reformed priests have applied for means to separate themselves from the church of Rome. They affirm that there are two thousand five hundred priests of their body affiliated with them throughout France. They have just drawn up a confession of faith almost analogous with English episcopacy. Application has been made to the English bishops. Already many parishes have sent for priests of this body. One has been sent to Montaign. This day the celebrated Dupin has applied for one for Nevers, (a place of 30,000 inhabitants,) where the national guard has taken possession of the church, declaring that they will have no Jesuits for cures. The confession of the reformed body of priests, is thisNo Pope! no infallible church-no Latin mass - two sacraments - no celibacy of priests-no injunction to regular confession -but the Word of God as the only rule of faith. This day a Royal ordinance has appeared, suppressing the Catholic missions, and taking its funds, and abolishing all holidays, but those of Easter, Christmas, EUROPE IN THE WINTER OF 1830-1. THE year 1830, recently closed, was fraught with events which live in their consequences, and, in all probability, will thus live througli many years yet to come. The effectual humiliation of the Grand Turk beneath the Christian arms, and the independence of Greece, proclaimed by the great leading powers, relieve the east of Europe from a bondage, of long continuance and intolerable severity, beneath the tyranny of the haughty Crescent. The conquest of Algiers, and the states subject thereto, on the north of Africa, adds another wreath to the laurels of the Cross, and opens the way to a better order of things in that fine country, long the seat of Christianity and of the arts; a country which has for ages called, but called in vain, to Christendom, "Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out." A system of incendiary conflagration, commencing in Normandy, spread over the north-west of France, crossed the British channel, raged in Kent, extended to the adjoining and midland counties, and dealing huge alarm, reached the most distant parts of England, and even Wales; and glad should we be if we could say, this mania has ceased from the earth. For what, but a species of madness, can prompt men to destroy that corn and provender, which the bounty of Divine Providence has given to man and beast for sustenance, and which, when once destroyed, cannot be restored? The late monarch of Great Britain has expired, and his royal brother reigns in his stead. The King of Naples, Pope Pius the eighth, and the Grand Duke of Baden, also died. An awful revolution suddenly took place in France; the reigning monarch was driven from his throne, amidst seas of blood, and the Duke of Orleans is placed thereon. A similar revolution, somewhat less bloody, took place in Belgium; the Orange family were excluded from the throne, and the national congress, at Brussels, proclaimed the independence of Belgium. Anthony of Saxony and Charles of Brunswick ceased to reign; and the Dey of Algiers, that potent plunderer, was driven from his tyrannical sovereignty. The swellings of that awful ocean, revolutionary France, continue to roll, with a voice of thunder, upon the shores of Europe; and even mountains and plains far inland feel the successive shocks of this tremendous surf, and shake to their very foundations. To Brunswick, Saxony, and Belgium, we now add to our list of revolutionary states, Hesse, many of the lesser principalities of Germany, nearly every canton in Switzerland, and the important kingdom of Poland. Blood has already flowed in Warsaw, and scenes of awful daring yet await that city. Responsive to their parent, France, these states heave with kindred tempests, and the swellings of their sanguine billows roll thunder to thunder upon the distant ear. A tempest, portentous in its onset, and frightful in its rush upon Paris, on the trial of the ex-ministers, held Europe in alarm during the concluding weeks of the year; and wonder was outwondered that so awful a storm terminated without a single wreck, while every eye was intensely bent over its waves, looking, amidst its turbulence, for the ruin of the state. But there is a Providence, even amidst storms, which serenely awards life and death, according to that precision of wisdom, which is equally infinite in its action as in its being. On surveying the positions of the powers that are upon the platform of Europe, we behold Great Britain, with her Norman Isles on the west, her Mediterranean possessions on the south, and in junction with independent Greece on the east, and the Principalities, Russia, Poland, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, Saxony, Hanover, the Hanse-Towns, and Holland, on the north, forming lines of circumvallation around the seat of the beast; while France occupies an advanced position in the very heart of his dominions. This position, being central, cuts off the Iberian from the Italian peninsula, and bars all military communication between Iberia and Rome; while the irruptions of the French on the coast of Africa open to her resources, on the south, a vast maritime country to the east and west of Rome and Spain. It is from the advanced position, France, that several of the northern portions of these lines of circumvallation seem to receive their impulses: and, responsive to her movements, these move like portions of the same body. But the seat of the beast, hitherto a stranger to these impulses, with all its potentates, rests secure; apparently conscious of its own strength; and whatever attempt is made to disturb this repose, is repelled with ease. Yet numerous defections from the rites of Rome swell the ranks of infidelity in France, and add somewhat to the reformed churches Gladly would the mind dwell upon the future, in glorious anticipations. It would paint France, aroused from the apathy of ages, following, yea, united with the efforts of Great Britain and her free-born Transatlantic sons, in the great work of civilizing and christianizing the whole world. At how many points, at home and abroad, are the Man of Sin, Antichrist, and the Great Dragon, vulnerable, under Divine grace, to her efforts: and in none more so abroad, than in that vast extent of coast, and that yet more vast interior with which her recent possessions on the north of Africa have brought her into immediate contact. There dwell the superstitions of Rome; there, rampant in insolence, domineer the institutions of Mahomet; and there the great Dragon yet holds his seat, and hosts of pagans fall down before, and worship the works of the hands of men. But the views of France, at this moment, are the reverse of these; the military mania of the age has possessed her altogether. No formidable enemy thunders at her gates, nor has even the sound of distant artillery reached her frontiers; yet she springs up, as if conscious that she has aroused Rome, and occupies an advanced position in her domains, in huge alarm, and takes the attitude of a besieged nation. Volunteers after volunteers flock, in troops too numerous to be enrolled, beneath the tricoloured flag. These march, with the Marsellois hymn upon their lips, in full chorus, while the very peasants make the manual exercises their pastimes; and France reckons up her hosts at four millions strong. The announced positions of these hosts are, a formidable army upon the Rhine, a second upon the frontiers of Italy, a third at the feet of the Pyrenees, a vast army of reserve, a mass of moveable national guards, and a yet huger mass of stationary national guards, whose duties arise out of a consciousness that France has foes within her, and needs this mass to preserve peace at home. What will these millions of men under arms achieve? Will they enslave France? Will they liberate the world? Will they massacre each other? Or will they demean themselves like peaceable citizens, giving and enjoying rest? Let us make an effort to lift up the veil. In the midst of a profound peace, which pervaded the whole world, when the restless turbulence of Rome, then in the zenith of its power, was hushed into quietude, and all nations were in full expectation of a change favourable to the interests of mankind, then, in the order of Divine Providence, and in the richness of Divine |