MR. REED'S LETTER-FORD AND BIRD'S TUNES.

Letter to the Editor of the British Re- | view, occasioned by the notice of "No Fiction," and "Martha," in the last number of that Work. By ANDREW REED. London, Francis Westley; 8vo. pp. 80, pr. 1s. 6d.

THE British Review, it may be proper to inform some of our readers, is a quarterly publication, which from its commencement to a recent date, had issued from the warehouse of Messrs. Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, in Paternoster-row; and has always been distinguished for its moderation in both politics and religion. Towards the close of the last year, it some how or other changed hands, and got under the management of certain high church gentlemen of the orthodox class, who began their career with dealing about their blows upon the dissenters en masse; and, amongst others, Mr. Reed came in for a most formidable Jobation. The fury and grossness of the attack has roused him from his slum

bers;

89

"When

judice towards Mr. Reed. Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war." But, certainly, justice requires that we should read both sides of a question ere we decide upon it. The last twenty pages of the pamphlet are class of writing to which No Fiction bedevoted to an enquiry, "How far that longs is expedient or beneficial?" And to have ever seen the subject treated we must say that we do not remember with equal ability. While we tender the writer our sincere thanks for the discussion, we hope he will excuse us in saying, that we could very well-have dispensed with the absence of his eulogium on "the wonder of Christendom!" This is all fudge. We much prefer the account which the late Bishop WarburHurd; see Letter XLVI. ton gives of the matter in his Letters to

ART. I. The first set of Original Psalm and Hymn Tunes, adapted for Public Worship, and harmonized for four voices, with chords and figured bases for the Organ or Piano-forte. By the Rev. DAVID EVERARD FORD, Lymington; a new and correct Edition, pr. 2s. 6d.

ART. II. The second set of Original Psalm

and Hymn Tunes, containing also a Doxology, and an Anthem; the whole adapted for Public Worship, and harmonized for four voices, with rotation tune for Morelyel's Metronome, and chords and figured bases for the Organ or Piano-forte. By the Rev. DAVID EVERARD FORD, pr. 3s. 6d. [The profits to be devoted to the aid of Christian Missions.] London, Knight and Lacey, Paternoster-row.

and the notice which he had refused to take of Mr. Barnett's Memoirs, and of other pieces written against him, the Editor of the British Review may claim the honour of having extorted from him. We have read the pamphlet, and with no little surprise. If it really, and bona fide, be the production of Andrew Reed, we must confess that we have hitherto done him great injustice in the estimate we have formed of the powers of his mind, for it must possess a much greater caliber than we had imagined. But we are free to acknowledge that in going through the pamphlet, the question which the king of Israel put to one of old was constantly suggesting itself to us-"Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this?" We, indeed, have no means of ascertaining the fact; nor is the fact itself of much importance to the public. It is sufficient for us to say, that this Letter places the author of "No Fiction," upon much more elevated ground than we supposed him capable of ever again assuming; at the same time that it furnishes materials which call loudly upon THESE pieces or rather publications Mr. Barnett and the Editor of the British of church music, have lain upon our Review for their replications and rejoin- table for several months, inviting our ders. We have no room for extracts; notice, and waiting our report. But, as but we strongly recommend a perusal of the Preacher hath said, "there is a the Letter to such of our readers as have time to mourn and weep, as well as a taken an interest in the controversy, time to rejoice or sing," and when this and to such of them, more especially, as season overtakes us, the lyre of Apollo have had their minds tinged with pre-himself would be an intrusion! Such,

VOL. X.

ART. III. A second set of Psalm and

Hymn Tunes, composed in a familiar style for Public Worship, with an Ode for four voices. The whole figured for the Piano-forte, Organ, &c. By WILLIAM BIRD, Watford, 2nd Edition, price 3s. 6d. London, Westley, Stationers'-court.

N

for the last three months; nor is the cloud yet dispersed. A severe domestic affliction has hung our harp upon the willows, and left us little relish for the charms of melody.

66

Smitten friends

indeed, happens to have been our fate | Haddington, whose Self-Interpreting Bible is so well known among the English community of Christians. Though a young minister, he has already distinguished himself by several pieces issued from the press, which have given us the most favourable prepossession of his views of divine truth, and of his abilities for stating and illustrating it. In this respect we do not hesitate to say, that he is rising into enviable distinction, and has given ample pledges of future excellence, should it please the Great Head of the church to continue him in his vineyard, and prosper his labours. Mr. Brown takes his stand among, what in Scotland is termed, the Secession-in England we should say, the Dissenters or Nonconformists; but it is remarkable, that among the Burghers and Antiburghers of Scotland, there should be almost as much set form and parade kept up about the Lord's Supper as is observed in the National Church; and it is painful to find such men as Mr. Brown and Mr. Belfrage still adhering to the traditions of amidst all the light that shines around the Elders, in relation to this institution, them. Apologizing for something of this kind, Mr. Brown thus concludes bis Preface:

Are angels, sent on errands full of love; For us they sicken, and for us they die." Our reason for now noticing the articles before us, is merely to prevent the authors of them from accusing us of wilful neglect, or inattention to their requests, of neither of which could we be content to be thought guilty. From a cursory glance into them, which is all that we have been enabled to take, we feel ourselves warranted to report, that the different pieces are composed upon the true principles of harmony, and in strict accordance with the established rules of the science. Of Mr. Bird's set of Tunes, indeed, we had heard a most favourable report before we saw them, from some friends who had been privileged with an opportunity of hearing them sung at Mr. Copley's Meeting, in Watford, where they are currently used, and much admired. Of Mr. Ford's pieces, the only remark we beg to offer is, that, to us, they appear in general, to be of too high an order for the common run of dissenting chapels; and that, unless accompanied by an organ, we should fear that very few congregations would be able to manage them so as to join in the worship. To sing the praises of God is as much the duty and the privilege of one worshipper as another; and, consequently, to introduce tunes, which by necessity must debar one half of the congregation from joining in their use, is to inflict a severe penalty on that number of persons. Were we required to furnish our scale of excellence in this branch of science, we should begin with Wainwright, Croft, Harrison and Coombe-and from them descend to Leach, Moreton, Smith, Walker, Clarke, of Canterbury, to a few others of our cotemporaries, who, for reasons which we shall not mention, must be nameless.

Discourses suited to the administration of the Lord's Supper. By JOHN BROWN, Minister of the Gospel, Edinburgh. Second Edition. Edinburgh, D. Brown; and J. Duncan, and Knight and Lacey, London, pp. 350, 12mo. 5s. bds.

THE author of this volume is, we believe, a descendant (grandson) of Mr. Brown, of

"It is scarcely necessary to remark, that in the arrangement and composition of the whole work, a regard has been paid to the manner in which the ordinance of the Lord's supper is dispensed in the Scottish Presbyterian churches; and that to promote a fervid, yet rational devotion in their members, when engaged in this service, is avowedly its primary object. At the same time, as there will be found nothing sectarian, either in its sentiments or spirit, the author ventures to hope, that it may be of general use and interest, as a view of Christian doctrine and duty in reference to this ordinance; and that it may also serve the subordinate purpose, of exhibiting a picture of the manner in which the Scottish Presbyterian churches observe this solemn rite of Christian worship."

The volume comprises twelve Discourses on the nature of the Lord's Supper, its design and obligation, &c.-the death of Christ, his priesthood, &c. with addresses and exhortations to the communicants; and the whole are, in our opinion, unexceptionably excellent. We do not give any extracts, not because we do not wish to do it, but because we earnestly recommend the volume to our readers. If we except Dr. Blair's Sermon on John xvii. 1. and one or two of Logan's, we recollect nothing that will bear a comparison with Mr. Brown's, considered as Sacramental Discourses; and we conclude with adding, that upon a fair estimate we should be inclined to give the latter a preference to the former.

Religious and Literary Entelligence.

To the Editor of the New Evan. Magazine. | one, 1 made application, through the

I ought long ago to have acknowledged the receipt of your very kind letter of the 9th of April, which came to hand in September, along with the parcel which you had the goodness to send me, containing a copy of your Magazine for last year, and up to April for the present year, together with a copy of your History of the Christian Church, in 2 vols. Having written to my brother a short time after these came to hand, I requested him to inform you of their having been received, and desired him to express to you my thankfulness for such a valuable present. I now beg leave to express my gratitude to you with my own hand, for your disinterested kindness; and although I have been long in getting an opportunity of doing this, I can assure you it is not the less sincere. Your Magazine I esteem very highly, not only for the general information it contains in regard to the present state of religion, both at home and abroad, but principally for the many valuable and well written papers introduced into it, on different subjects, which, together with the Reviews, render it one of the most valuable repositories of religious knowledge I have yet met with. Your History of the Christian Church I had read before with great satisfaction, and had set it down for one of the most concise and impartial treatises on Church History I had ever seen in print; but I little expected ever to have a copy of it in my own possession. Nor is it likely, secluded as we are in this distant corner, that I ever would have possessed it, had I not, through your generosity, been furnished with a copy of it.

medium of one of my brethren at Karass, to a young man who is employed as a schoolmaster among them, for a short sketch of their history, and the following is the account transmitted by him. The numbers refer to the questions proposed, and which have been answered as they occurred, without any regard to order. They have not been answered so fully as I could have wished; but, imperfect as they are, they will tend to give you some faint idea of the situation of this interesting people. The letter was written in the German language, and the original has, some time ago, been sent to our Secretary in Edinburgh.

1st. The first establishment of the Mennonites in the Ukraine, which lies north of the Crimea, consisted of eleven villages, built in the year 1804, upon the rivers Moloshna and Kurisha. The quantity of land assigned them by the Russian Government in that country, amounts to 120,000 dessatines, (each dessatine is nearly equal to three acres.) In the years 1810, 11, 18, 20, 22 and 1823, the number of villages has increased to twenty-five, in consequence of the arrival of new emigrants from Germany. With each of the villages are connected, upon an average, twenty farms, consisting of sixty-five dessatines of land each. The whole number of farms at present, amounts to 755. Of the 120,000 dessatines, 65,000 have been thus apportioned into villages and farms, and 55,000 remain for emigrants who may still join them. Besides those who have farms, there are about 300 families, who support themselves by commerce, by trades, and by day labour. Belonging to the community there is a sheep-fold, consisting of Spanish sheep, a cloth manufactory, a brewery, a distillery, and several corn mills.

2. Besides the Mennonites upon the Moloshna and Kurisha, there are fourteen villages in the district of Chortiz, lying about eighty versts to the north, these were built in the year 1783, by emigrants from west Prussia; there is also a village of them at Michelin near Machnovka, in the Government of Kiew-three villages near Ostrog, and one village near Dubno,

Some passages in your History of the Waldenses drew my attention to the German Mennonites,* many of whom have of late years emigrated to this Empire, where they have got a large portion of land assigned to them by the Russian Government, and have the free exercise of their religion secured to them. Judging that a short account of these emigrants might be interesting to you, for more reasons than *It may be useful to some of our readers to explain, that the Mennonites are descended from that branch of the WALDENSES, who, to escape from the persecution to which they were exposed in the valleys of Piedmont, fled, in the latter part of the twelfth century, into Flanders, and settled in the provinces of Holland and Zealand, where they maintained their principles, and led simple and exemplary lives. Mr. Adam, in his Religious World Displayed, Second Edition, 1823, Vol. II. p. 186, tells us, that "From the History of the old Dutch Waldenses of that period, and from the doctrines they then held, and during the following centuries, a striking similarity is apparent between them, and the ancient and later Dutch Baptists. And though there is no particular reference to Baptism in any of the Confessions of Faith of the Waldenses, it is mentioned, on the authority of Hieronymus, Verdussun, Cligny, aud other Roman Catholic Authors, that the Dutch Waldenses rejected the Baptism of children, and applied the ordinance to adults alone."-EDITOR.

Here the account is somewhat 'obscure. It states the number thus, "In the years 1810, 11, 18, 20, till 1822, from new emigrations twenty three villages have been built, and this year two more," So that it is not very evident whether the number of villages, in all, be twenty-five or thirty-six.

in the Government of Volhynia, but my correspondent could not inform me of the year in which they were established, nor the number of families living in them. All that he could discover was, that nearly thirty-six years ago, about twenty Mennonite families emigrated from Pfatz, Alsace, and Zweibrück, and settled in the vicinity of Dubus.

3. All the Mennonites who live on the Moloshna, (excepting nine families, who came originally from Zweibrück on the west side of the Rhine,) as well as those in the Chortiz district, have emigrated from the west of Prussia, between the rivers Wechset and Nogat, and from the cities of Danzig, Elbing, Marienburg, and Marienverder. The causes of their emigration were varions. The poorer class, with a view of bettering their condition; those from Prussia, because they were afraid of their former freedom, rights, and immunities, being encroached upon;-and those who left Pfatz and Alsace, about thirtysix years ago, in order to withdraw themselves and their sons from military service. 4. Almost every year a few families from Prussia join them. Every stranger received into their community must be baptized again. My correspondent does not say, whether they have received adult baptism or not, but I suppose he must mean the latter.

5. Every head of a family, is master of his property.

beards, have also the ceremony of washing the feet after the dispensation of the ordinance.

11. Each congregation has an elder, four teachers, and two deacons, who are chosen from among themselves. The manner in which the election is gone about is as follows:-When the office of elder or teacher is vacant, the elders of the community, in a circular letter, require all the fathers of families to pray to the Lord, that he would shew them whom he hath chosen to fill the vacant office, at the same time, intimating when the election is to take place. On the day appointed, one of the elders addresses the meeting; and after the votes have been taken, he who has the majority is considered as duly elected. The district in which my correspondent resides, is divided into four parishes, viz. Petershagen, Orlof, Alexandervohl, and Rudnerveide. The two first parishes have the Brother Berend Fort for their elder; Alexandervohl, Brother Peter Wedel, and Rudnerveide, Brother Frang.

This is all the length my correspondent goes in his account of the Mennonites. I have heard from others, that among their neighbours, their character stands high for sobriety and industry; yet, I fear, there are many things among them that would require to be set in order. A Missionary from Britain, of their own sentiments on the subject of Baptism, might, I have little 6. Every possessor of land pays a tax of doubt, through the blessing of God upon fifteen kopeks per dessatine, which for a his labours, be the means, not only of farm, amounts to nine rubles, seventy-five drawing their attention to the scriptural kopeks, and twenty-five kopeks for sup-order of the ordinances of the Gospel, but porting the post. Head money is also paid, but the rate is not fixed. At one time it amounts to a ruble and sixty kopeks; and at another, only seventy-five kopeks. This tax is paid to the village overseers, who transmit it to the chief superintendant, by whom it is sent to the rent office.

7. Their civil affairs are managed by a district Superintendant, two Assessors, and two Writers. The Superintendant and Assessors are changed every three years, but the Writers hold their office for life.

8. They have special privileges, but different from those of the Moravians in Sarepta. They are under the guardianship of the office for Foreign Affairs, in the Government of Ekaterinaslav.

9. With regard to their religious tenets; they swear no oath-they abominate waracknowledge the validity of Adult Baptism only, and of course reject that of Infants. They are divided into two sects; the Flämigier, and the Friesen. My correspondent promised to send me two of their Catechisms, to give me a better view of their faith, but they have not yet come to hand.

10. The ordinance of the Lord's supper is administered twice or thrice a year, always in the forenoon. The Flämigier receive it sitting, the Friesen standing. The old Friesen, who formerly wore long

likewise of stirring them up to active exertions for making known the Gospel to the Tartars, many of whom are resident in their neighbourhood. I have lately been informed, that an individual from amongst them was so much affected with the state of the Tartars, that he hired himself as a servant among them, for the purpose of learning their language, and thus qualifying himself for preaching the Gospel to these poor deluded followers of the Arabian Prophet. He had made considerable progress in the acquisition of the language, when some family affairs made it necessary. for him to return, for a time, to his native city. He was expected to return last summer, and, I suppose, has long before now resumed his disinterested labours among that people. May his labours be rewarded by seeing many turned from the error of their ways. The Tartars in that quarter and in the Crimea, present a most interesting field for Missionary exertion; and I trust the time is at no great distance, when labourers shall be raised up to cultivate it.

I remain, my dear Sir,
Yours most affectionately,
JOHN MITCHELL.

AN APPEAL TO CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE IN BEHALF OF THE FATHERLESS AND THE WIDOW.