been for ages, almost without a stimulus to labour; but unless some kind of employment can be obtained for them, which will furnish them with the means of purchasing the comforts and conveniences of civilized life, their very improvement will inflict upon them many evils: it will render them dissatisfied with their condition, without holding out any hope of its improvement. Their new wants will be supplied by the sacrifice of too large a portion of their present possessions; and this it is to be feared will ultimately lead to beggary and ruin. Thus a noble race of men may, in time, have the sources of their national wealth dried up, by a partial and limited civilization. I am very ready, and indeed most anxious, to admit, that if there were no remedy for these evils,-if the sufferings of a people during their transition from a barbarous to a civilized state could not be avoided or alleviated,—it would nevertheless be our duty to send Missionaries to the Heathen. The salvation of souls involves eternal consequences, and is therefore of infinitely greater importance than any of the temporal interests of man. He who died "the death of the cross," to save souls, hath also said, "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" But I am confident that it is possible, by merely providing profitable employment for the natives near our Mission villages, not only to avoid the evils to which I have briefly adverted, but also to increase their comforts, and greatly accelerate the progress of civilization. This work cannot with advantage or propriety be undertaken by Missionary Societies. Their sole object is the propagation of Christianity. Nevertheless the barbarous races of men still existing in the world will never be civilized without the labours of Missionaries; but Missionaries civilize the world, not so much by any direct plans for attaining that end, as by removing ignorance and destroying prejudices,-flashing new light upon minds awakened to inquiry, and thus introducing new wants. The preaching of the Gospel furnishes the principles of civilization, not the opportunities for their practical operation. He, however, would be a heartless Missionary who would not aid, by his counsel and influence, any judicious attempt made by the benevolent to furnish the means of civilization. To exhort any number of converted barbarians to adopt the habits of civilized life, without endeavouring to furnish them with the means of improving their condition, is scarcely to be less reprehended than the saying to the indigent, "Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled," without ministering to their necessities. I believe the plan proposed by Mr. Davis would greatly serve the interests of the numerous tribes connected with the Missions in South Africa, and perhaps of other parts of the world also. During my residence at Wesleyville I was anxious to facilitate the cultivation of silk, as a means of employment for the people of the Mission village, the climate and circumstances of the country being alike favourable to the design. I therefore planted a number of white mulberry-trees in the Mission grounds. The leaves of this tree are the chief food of silkworms. The brethren have introduced it on most of the stations; and it grows from cuttings, most rapidly and luxuriantly. From the trees already planted, a supply of food for a large number of worms might be immediately obtained; and from the ease with which the trees may be propagated, and the immense tracts of uncultivated land, the supply may be increased in a short time to any desirable extent. If Mr. Davis, and the other benevolent friends who, I understand, are desirous of co-operating with him, will guarantee a moderate sum of money to defray the expense of the experiment, I will immediately write to my friends in Africa; and ĺ have no doubt that a small Committee of benevolent and respectable individuals may be formed at Gra ham's Town, who will assiduously watch over the progress of the experiment, and regularly report their proceedings to Mr. Davis and his friends. Should the experiment succeed, nothing more will be requisite than to leave the parties in terested to follow this new pursuit on their own account. No opposition to any reasonable scheme for benefiting the condition of the native tribes need be apprehended from the English settlers of Albany. There may be exceptions; ILLUSTRATIONS I AM surprised that Commentators on the Scriptures have perplexed themselves about the food of John the Baptist in the wilderness; which, we are informed, consisted of locusts and wild honey; and for which the cassia-fistula, or locust-tree, and many other substitutes, have been mentioned. But it is well-known that locusts are an article of food in Persia and Arabia, at the present day. They are fried until their wings and legs fall off, and in that state are sold in the markets, and eaten with rice and dates, sometimes flavoured with salt and spices. And the wild honey is found in the clefts of the rocks in Judea, as abundantly as in the caves of Hindostan. We often read in Scripture of the butter of kine, the milk of sheep, and the fat of the kidneys of wheat; with the pure blood of the grape, and honey out of the rock. "He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the stony rock would I have satisfied thee." (Psalm 1xxxi. 16.) There can be as little doubt what that honey was, as of the wild honey on which the Baptist fed in the wilderness. Some of the greatest delicacies in India are now made from the rolong-flour, which is called the heart or kidney of the wheat. And most probably the brooks of honey and butter, mentioned by Zophar, in the book of Job, (xx. 17,) were the liquid honey from the wild bees, and the clarified butter, or ghee, used throughout Hindostan, which pours like oil out of the duppers, or immense but, in general, they have too much Leeds, Jan. 12, 1835. OF SCRIPTURE. WHEN I saw the Brahmin women of distinction drawing water at the village wells, and tending their cattle to the lakes and rivers, they recalled the transactions of the patriarchal days. Very often have I witnessed a scene similar to that between Abraham's servant and Rebekah, at the entrance of a Hindoo village in Guzerat. "He made his camels to kneel down without the city, by a well of water, at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. And, behold, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder; and the damsel was very fair to look upon and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant said, Let me drink, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord; I will draw water for thy camels also: and she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels." (Gen. xxiv. 11, 15-20.) The Hindoo damsels of the present day live in as much simplicity as those formerly in Mesopotamia. They still descend to the wells, and continue to pour the water into an adjacent trough for the convenience of the cattle.-Ibid. ALL the large cities in Hindostan contain sets of musicians and dancing girls, under the care of their respective duennas, who are always ready to attend for hire at weddings, and other festivities; or to finish the evening entertainment of the Europeans and natives; and many of them accompany the Asiatic armies to the field. The singing-men and singing-women, mentioned by the aged Barzillai, and the daughters of music that we read of in the sacred pages, as well as in the ancient poets, resembled these characters in Hindostan. The women of Israel came out to meet David and Saul, dancing to instruments of music, and complimenting Saul with having slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands. (1 Sam. xviii. 7.) The choristers of Palestine resembled those of India; who now celebrate a Prince or General, in the same manner, at a public festival.-Ibid. Ar the earliest dawn of the morning, in all the Hindoo towns and villages, the hand-mills are at work; when the menials and widows grind meal sufficient for the daily consumption of the family. There is a wind-mill at Bombay for grinding corn, but I do not recollect to have seen another in India; where the usual method of grinding is with mill-stones; and it is always performed by women, who resume their task every morning; especially the forlorn Hindoo widows, divested of every ornament, and with their heads shaved, degraded almost to a state of servitude. Very similar must have been the custom in Judea, from the pathetical lamentation of the Prophet, alluding to this very circumstance:-"Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon sit on the ground, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate. Take the mill-stones, and grind meal; sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms." (Isaiah xlvii. 1-5.) Thus when the Hindoo female, who had perhaps been the pride and ornament of the family, is humbled on the death of her husband, it is not surprising to see her prefer the funeral pile to such a state of degradation.—Ībid. So much sanctity is attached to the Gurus, that all of inferior caste to the Brahmins are expected to retire from the road when he passes in public procession. We met one of these Brahmins of consequence; and whatever might be his sacerdotal or civil station, humility of spirit was not his prevailing characteristic, if we may judge from the pompous titles and high-sounding praises ascribed to him by the chopdais and heralds; for, like other great men, he had these precursors, and a number of pioneers to clear the road, and "make his paths straight," by removing obstacles, and filling up the ravines and the hollow ways in his route. All eastern Potentates affect these distinctions, nor do they ever travel without their heralds and pioneers; from the poorest Hindoo Rajah and Mahomedan Nabob of a province, to the Emperor himself, who in the days of Mogul splendour vied with Semiramis in her progress through Media and Persia; in which, according to Diodorus, when rocks or precipices impeded the royal traveller, they were ordered to be removed. Hills and mountains were levelled, and valleys filled up, for the accommodation of this mighty Potentate; finely illustrating the figurative language which was used on the approach of the Prince of Peace: " Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, to make straight in the desert a highway for the Lord.” (Isa. xl. 3, 4.)-Ibid. WHAT DO THE METHODISTS WANT? To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine. WHAT is it that the Methodists want? Some of their lay members to sit in Conference? Their Preachers, without confidence in each other, to vote by ballot? their old servants to want a morsel of bread? their orphan children to become inmates of poorhouses? their Missionaries to forsake the Heathen? the sons of their Ministers to be brought up in ignorance? Do they want an internal faction? pleaders, and spiritual lawyers? shallow and forward men, to domineer over them? Do they want speculative and scheming men to lead them to some point of Methodistie glory which their fathers in the Gospel never dreamed of? Do they want political ascendancy, and to be at the head of the national poll? No, Sir; they want a REVIVAL OF THE WORK OF GOD AMONGST THEM. Here is the secret! "To your tents, O Israel!" "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!" That evil being who is "transformed into an angel of light" is amongst us, trying to set every man's sword against his fellow. His design is, to divert our attention from his wasting, retreating forces. He is canting, and whining, and quoting Scripture, and about to turn saint and a Methodist. Resist him, and he will flee from you. Resist him by prayer in your closets, in your prayer-meetings, in your class-meetings, in your love-feasts, in your sacraments, in your meetings for business. The veteran fathers of our Connexion are asleep, but their spirit is in us. Their mantles are upon us; our troops are in every region; and silenced shall be that voice that would recall them. Our blood-stained flag is flying in every clime; and stiff shall be that arm that would pull it down. Methodists of England, Ireland, and Scotland, and Europe, and Asia, and Africa, and America, your Wesley is not dead; he lives in the hearts and the tongues of every true scion of his race. Preachers of every grade, Trustees, Class-Leaders, Prayer-Leaders, Missionary Collectors, Sunday-school Teachers, private members of society, "let us play the man for the cities of our God." Let us incessantly and unitedly pray for a revival of the work of God. Then shall the flag of our Immanuel wave on every tower; and God shall "make you a thousand times so many more as ye are." Kent, December, 1834. JOSEPH. A DEMAGOGUE OF FORMER TIMES. To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine. "THERE is nothing new under the sun." That which is has already been, and shall occur again. Many of the errors of modern times are merely a revival of the exploded heresies of a former age; and the agitations, political and ecclesiastical, which from time to time occur, originate in the causes, and are carried on upon principles, which have been in ceaseless operation ever since the fall of man. An aspirant after power and honour thinks that his abilities are not duly appreciated; or he finds that others stand in the way of his promotion; and he makes an appeal to the passions of the multitude, persuading them that they have long laboured under various evile, which he is most anxious to remove. Those evils have perhaps never been either felt or suspected; yet several persons, by an incessant repetition of "soft words and fair speeches," are deceived, and surrender themselves to men who merely intend to employ them as the tools of their own ambition. Such schemes are the more successful when they are carried on under the garb of religion. Never was there a more striking example of this than in the case of Absalom, who attempted to undermine the government of his aged and indulgent father, "the man after God's own heart." May I be permitted to call the attention of the readers of the Methodist Magazine, to the conduct of this wicked son, as described in the holy Scriptures, with the remarks upon it by Bishop Hall? "If the cap fits" any man in the present day, "let him put it on," as the old proverb suggests. "And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to K VOL. XIV. Third Series. FEBRUARY, 1835. the King for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the King to hear thee. Absalom said moreover, O that I were made Judge in the land, and every man that hath any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice! And it was so, that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him. And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel, that came to the King for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. And it came to pass after forty years, that Absalom said unto the King, I pray thee let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the Lord in Hebron. For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If the Lord will bring me again indeed to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord. And the King said unto him, Go in peace." (2 Sam. xv. 2-9.) Outward pomp, and unwonted show and magnificence, are wont much to affect the light minds of the vulgar. Absalom, therefore, to the incomparable comeliness of his person, adds the unusual state of a more than princely equipage. The eyes and tongues of men are thus taken up; now hath Absalom laid snares for their hearts also: "He rises early, and stands beside the way of the gate." Ambition is no niggard of her pains; seldom ever is good-meaning so industrious. The more he shined in beauty and royal at tendance, so much more glory it was to neglect himself, and to prefer the case of justice to his own case. Neither is Absalom more painful than plausible; his ear is open to all plaintiffs, all petitioners; there is no cause which he flatters not: "See, thy matters are good and right;" his hand flatters every comer with a salutation, his lips with a kiss. All men, all matters are soothed, saving the state and government: the censure of that is no less deep than the applause of all others: "There is none deputed of the King to hear thee." What insinuations could be more powerful? No music can be so sweet to the ears of the unstable multitude, as to hear well of themselves, ill of their governors. Absalom need not to wish himself upon the bench; every man says, "O what a courteous Prince is Absalom! what a just and careful ruler would Absalom be! how happy were we, if we might be judged by Absalom! " Those qualities which are wont, when single, to grace others, have conspired to meet in Absalom; goodliness of person, magnificence of state, gracious affability, unwearied diligence, humility in greatness, feeling pity, love of justice, care of the commonwealth ! The world hath not so complete a Prince as Absolom! Thus the hearts of the people are not won but stolen, by a close traitor, from their lawfully anointed Sovereign. Over-fair shows are a just argument of unsoundness: no natural face hath so clear a white and red as the painted. Nothing wants now but a cloak of religion, to perfect the treachery of that ungracious son, who carried peace in his name, war in his heart; and how easily is that put on! Absalom hath an holy vow to be paid in Hebron. The devout man had made it long since, while he was exiled in Syria, and now he hastes to perform it: "If the Lord shall bring me back again to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord." Wicked hypocrites care not to play with God, that they may mock men. The more deformed any act is, the fairer vizard it still seeketh. How glad is the good old King, that he is blessed with so godly a son, whom he dismisseth with his causeless blessings! What trust is there in flesh and blood, when David is not safe from his own loins! The conspiracy is now fully formed; there lacked nothing but this guilt of piety to win favour and value in all eyes; and now it is a wonder, that but two hundred citizens go up with Absalom from Jerusalem: the truehearted lie most open to credulity. How easy is it to beguile harmless intentions! The name of David's son carries them against the father of |