therefore, the effect produced the greater. The thickness of metal in great and small arms, being somewhat proportional, when the powder is fired, a part of the heat is absorbed in raising the tempera ture of the cold barrel. To such as are fond of rifle shooting, we should recommend the purchase of two, three, or half a dozen pounds of powder, always of the best quality, to be mixed well together with the hands, to prevent the contact of any thing that might inflame it, till rendered as homogeneous as possible. "It should be laid on a large water-dish, filled with boiling water, where after a few minutes stirring, it will be found considerably heated, and consequently dried. If then put into bottles well dried, and previously heated, for the purpose of expelling every particle of moisture, and closely corked, it may be kept for any length of time, and in any situation, with out being deteriorated as to strength or quality. The water plate is recommended on account of its safety, in preference to other methods used, as passing a heated fire shovel over it, and so on. If powder be well dried, it will not soil the hands, and therefore there is no difficulty in as certaining when it may be removed from the plate to the bottle, without fear of the operation being sufficiently completed."* We did intend noticing several other interesting passages, but we have not room. We will venture to say that no military library can be complete without Mr. Beaufoy's book. Powder should not, however, be frequently exposed to heat, in this way, as every time, a certain portion of the sulphur is carried off in the shape of vapour, and as the goodness depends chiefly on the three different ingredients, used in its manufacture, bearing a certain proportion to each other, one cannot be diminished, without deteriorating the quality of the whole. It would be injustice to omit our approbation of the superiour manner of arrangement adopted in this volume. Instead of a chaos of information, which frequently defeats the good effects of intrinsick merit in professional works, each article is ar ranged under its own proper head, and an index presents a ready refer ence to it, thus uniting the facilities of a dictionary to the interest of an able treatise. In addition to the scientifick information which abounds in these pages, it contains a great variety of very interesting reflections and observations, relative to military concerns in general-the organization of the army-of a battalion-the selection of light infantry men-of riflemen. Some very valuable hints relative to the improvement of the dress, accoutrements, and luggage of troops-and similar topicks. To those whose rank gives weight to their opinions in military matters, this work should form an object of study. All, who are any way interested in the subject, should read it attentively. And we hope that we shall not be deemed impertinent in recommending to the able author, to compile an abridgment of the most prominent and useful articles of the work, omitting, for example, all theoretick speculations, and thus, by producing a useful shilling pamphlet, enable every rifleman in the kingdom, whether regular or volunteer, to profit by the experience and the knowledge which the patriotick studies of the author have elicited. FROM THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. Periodical Accounts relative to the Baptist Missionary Society. Major Scott Waring, -Twining, Vindication of the Hindoos, &c. &c. bered their common origin, and when the interests of Christianity were in question acted as one body, with one heart and will. Before this struggle was over, the zeal of protestantism had spent itself. All sects and com THE rapid progress of Christianity during the first ages of the church, and its victory over the established forms of classical superstition, the schools of ancient philosophy, and the barbarous mythologies of the northern nations, were the uni-munities of religion settle and purify ted produce of the ardent piety and indefatigable zeal of the first preachers of the Gospel, and the blessing and assistance of Heaven. But, it is observable that, in later times, the faith has been spread more by colonization than conversion. How is it that the latter has been so deplorably checked? The Romanists accuse the Protestants for their indifference; the Protestants retort upon the Romanists for their corruptions. There is but too much truth in the charge on either side; but the reproach is better founded than the recrimination. This evil grew out of the reformation, and it is the only evil attendant upon that blessed event which has continued to the present times. The schism between the Greeks and Latins was less mischievous. There the parties were so little in contact, that their hatred was without exasperation; and each talked its own nonsense, without attempting to convert the other, except by the innocent and inefficient formalities of a council. Separated from the whole Latin church by their geographical situation, by the great boundary of language, by their political relations, their pride of elder and superiour civilisation, and their semi-oriental manners, the Greeks were scarcely included in the idea of Christendom, and our crusaders sometimes found them as hostile as the Saracens. But the revolution which Luther ef fected produced a civil war between the members of that great Gothick family, who, amid all their civil dissensions, had ever till then remem after their first effervescence. Then they become vapid. The protestant churches had reached this second stage, when they were securely and peaceably established: their turbid elements had cleared away, but the quickening spirit was gone also. While they had zeal to attempt the work of converting heathen nations they had no opportunity, and when the opportunity came, the zeal had evaporated. The Dutch, indeed, did something in Ceylon-a poor atonement for the irreparable evil which they occasioned in Japan. Quakerism sent forth a few apostles to the pope and the great Turk, and the good spirit which animated them was so far communicated to the personages whom they addressed, that, little used as they were to the benignant mood, they sent the gentle zealots safely home again. A Danish mission was established in India, where it has continued merely because it is an establishment. Assistance has, indeed, been given to it by our own society, for promoting Christian knowledge; and some attempts have been made among the North American savages by the society for propagating the Gospel in foreign parts. But these efforts, however laudable, have had no very extensive consequences; and protestantism has rather attempted than effected the work of conversion. There is, however, in all religious communities a vivacious and vivifick principle not to be found in the same degree in political bodies; their hold is upon the heart of man, upon his hopes and fears, the weakness and the strength of his nature. From time to time some individual appears, who, whether inspired or infatuated, resigns himself to the impulse, and laying aside all human motives at his outset, acts with a contempt of worldly maxims and wordly prudence, which ensures him success in what the maxims and the prudence of the world would have withheld him from attempting. Such was St. Bernard; such were Francesco and Domingo, who saved the Romish church from revolution in the 13th century; such, in later ages, were Loyola and his mightier contemporary Luther; and such, in times which may almost be called our own, were Wesley and Whitefield. These men are the Loyolas of protestantism. It is easy to revile, it is easier still to ridicule them. The sanest mind will sometimes feel indignation as well as sorrow at perusing their journals-but he must have little foresight who does not perceive, that of all men of their generation they were the most efficient. The statesmen and the warriors of the last reign are in the grave, and their works have died also. They moved the body only, and the motion ceased with the impulse. Peace undid their work of war, and war again unravelled their finest webs of peace. But these fanaticks set the mind and the soul in action. The stirring which they excited continues to widen and increase, and to produce good and evil; and future generations will long continue to feel the effects. It cannot here be necessary to attend to the classification of sectarianism. The Wesleyans, the orthodox dissenters of every description, and the evangelical churchmen may all be comprehended under the generick name of Methodists. The religion which they preach is not the religion of our fathers, and what they have altered they have made worse but they proceed with zeal and perseverance; and the purest forms, when they are forms only, are little able to resist such assailants. Some evil they have done, and greater evil they will do; but all evil brings with it its portion of good, and is permitted only as it is ultimately subservient to good. That spirit of enthusiasm by which Europe was converted to Christianity, they have in some measure revived, and they have removed from protestantism a part of its reproach. The efforts which they are making to disseminate the Gospel are undoubtedly praiseworthy, and though not always wisely directed, not more erroneously than was to be expected from their inexperience in the arduous task which they have undertaken, and from the radical errours of their system of belief. The first of these missionary associations in point of time, and the only one which has become the subject of controversy, is that designated by the name of the "Particular Baptist Society for propagating the Gospel among the Heathen." Its efforts at present are directed exclusively towards India. This mission, which is represented by its enemies as so dangerous to the British empire in India, and thereby, according to a logick learnt from Buonaparte, to England also, originated in a man, by name William Carey, who, till the 24th year of his age was a working shoemaker. Sectarianism has this main advantage over the established church, that its men of ability certainly find their sta-. tion, and none of its talents are neglected or lost, Carey was a studious and pious man, his faith wrong, his feelings right. He made himself completely versed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and was then ordained among the Calvinistick Baptists. For many years his heart was set upon the conversion of the heathen. This was the favourite topick The Particular Baptists are Calvinists. The General Baptists are those of any other description, who agree in the practice of baptizing adults by immer sion. of his conversation, his prayers, and his sermons; and from the earnestness with which he seemed to feel the subject, and the remarkable aptitude which he possessed in acquiring languages, his friends were induced to think that he was peculiarly formed for some such undertaking. In the year 1791, being at a meeting of his brother ministers at Clipstone. in Northamptonshire, he proposed this question for discussion: "Whe ther it were not practicable, and our bounden duty to attempt somewhat towards spreading the Gospel in the heathen world." He was then requested to publish an inquiry which he had written upon the subject; and at a subsequent minister's meeting (as these convocations are called) this society was formed, and a subscription begun for carrying its object into effect. The money then raised amounted only to 134. 2s. 6d. but want of money in such cases, is a molehill in the way of zeal. Before any plan had been formed, or any place fixed for their opera tions, they found that John Thomas, a member of their own church, late ly returned from Bengal, was endeavouring to establish a fund in London for a mission to that country. This is the person who is called a madman by Major Scott Waring, and said by him to have died raving mad. That gentleman has been misinformed Once during his life Thomas was deranged for some weeks, and the ardour and constitutional irritability of his mind evinced in him a tendency to madness, from which religion might have contributed to preserve him, by giving that ardour a steady direction towards one worthy object. There are passages in his letters and journals which may make a jester merry, and a wise man sorrowful. They spring from the insanity of the system, not of the individual. But there are also abundant proofs of a zeal, a warmth of heart, a geniuswhich in the Romish church would have obtained altars for him, and which in our own entitle him to respect and admiration. He had preached to the natives in Bengal, and produced effect enough to convince him that much might be done there, Here then was a way opened for the society. They engaged him as a missionary. Carey consented to accompany him with his whole family, and in 1793 they sailed in a Danish Indiaman. Thomas, who was a surgeon, intended to support himself by his pro fession. Carey's plan was to take land and to cultivate it for his maintenance. After many difficulties they accepted the superintendance of two indigo factories in the neighbourhood of Malda, and covenants were granted them by the British government. Fountain, another missionary, was sent to join them here, and he and Carey, having acquired the common language of the country. proceeded with a translation of the Scriptures into Bengalee, which Thomas had begun during his former residence in Bengal. In 1799, a reenforcement of four brethren came out; permission to settle in the British territory was refused them, and Carey and Fountain, therefore, found it expedient to remove to Serampore, where the Danish governour protected and favoured them. Here they purchased a house, and organized themselves into a family society, resolving that whatever was done by any member should be for the benefit of the mission. They opened a school in which the children of those natives who chose to send them were instructed gratuitously. The translation was by this time nearly completed. Ward, one of the last missionaries, understood printing. They formed a printing office, and advertised for subscribers to a Bengalee Bible. Hitherto no convert had been made; but now, when some of the missionaries could converse fluently in the language of the people, and portions of the Scripture and religi ous tracts were provided for distribution. Their preaching in the town and neighbourhood soon produced considerable effect. They entered into controversy with the Brahmans, ridiculed their fables, and confuted their false philosophy; nor did the numerous bystanders discover any displeasure at seeing these impostors silenced and confounded. But when the first Hindoo, though in no higher station than that of a carpenter, was truly converted, declared his intention of receiving baptism, and by eat ing with the missionaries publickly broke his cast-a great uproar arose, and Kristno the convert, and his whole family, were seized and dragged before the Danish magistrate. The senseless mob, when they had carried them there, had no accusation to make against them; and the magistrate commended the new Christians for having chosen the better part, and dismissed them. They were brought back again upon a charge, that Kristno refused to deliver up his daughter to a man with whom she was contracted in marriage. This charge was true. She had been espoused to him four years before, being then ten years of age, and after the espousals had returned to her father's house, there to reside till she was marriageable. The parties appeared before the Danish go. vernour, and the girl declared she would become a Christian with her father. The bridegroom was then asked, whether he would renounce heathenism; and on his replying no, the governour told him that he could not possibly deliver up a Christian woman to a heathen. The next day Kristno was publickly baptized, after the manner of the Baptist church, by immersion in the Ganges, and with him Felix Carey, the missionary's eldest son. The governour and a number of Europeans, native Portuguese, Hindoos and Moslem were present, and one of the brethren, then labouring under a mortal disease, was brought in a palankeen to VOL. II. witness this first triumph of the faith. Carey addressed the spectators in Bengalee, declaring that he and his fellows did not hold the river sacred: it was only water, and the person about to be baptized, professed by this act to put off all their deities, and all sin, and to put on Christ. The ceremony was impressive. The Danish governour could not restrain his tears, and all the beholders seemed to be struck with the solemnity of the rite. "Ye gods of stone and clay," says one of the mission ries, "did ye not tremble when in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one of your votaries shook you as the dust from his feet!" Three months after Kristno's bap tism, Golak, his daughter, was seized at some little distance from his house, and carried off by two men, one of whom was the person to whom she had been contracted in marriage. The father overtook them. He was beaten unmercifully, and she forced across the river to Calcutta, and beaten also. As they passed by a police station she cried out. The master of police called them before him. Golak said she had heard of the love and sufferings of Christ; these things had laid hold of her mind; she was become a Christian from choice, and was not willing to go with this man. They were detained for further inquiry, and the next day appeared again before the magistrate, together with Kristno. The man claimed her as his lawful wife, and the magistrate said he could not separate them; but would take care that she should profess what religion she chose. This promise he did not perform, and the father, after one visit to his child, was not allowed to see her again. Application was made to the magistrate that this might be permitted. No answer was vouchsafed; and when Kristno spoke to him upon the subject, he past on without making the slightest reply. Kristno was exceedingly fond of this daughter, and no circumstance could be conceived ប |