No. XVIII.

PRICE 3d.

POPISH PURCHASE OF THE BRUSH.

NO. I.

THE JESUITS AND JAPAN.

Ir was the glory of the apostles to become all things to all men, that so they might win some; and of all the labourers in our Lord's vineyard, none need to keep this maxim, which governed the conduct of his disciples, so steadfastly before their minds as those engaged in the great and glorious work of Christian missions. Still full of profound wisdom as is this rule, it needs the greatest caution in its practice, lest what is pure may be polluted by human weakness, lest hypocrisy assume the garb of sincerity, and falsehood usurp the place of truth.

PART V.NO. XVIII.

Nowhere shall we find an example more striking, of the powerful effect of teachers adapting themselves to the condition of their pupils, and nowhere a more melancholy exhibition of craft, than in the history of the church of Rome, more especially among that portion of her ministers, the members of the far-famed Society of Jesus. They were indeed literally "all things to all men;" but, although we would on all occasions avoid too sweeping expressions of censure, we cannot refrain from saying, that they frequently perverted the Gospel to purposes of fraud and delusion.

Still the remarkable skill ever evinced by the ministers of the church of Rome, in availing themselves of every means by which men's minds might be filled with a lively impression of the teaching

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tention, and offers some points which may afford matter for reflection, on means of operating on the mind in other circumstances.

When we recollect that the historical portions of the Bible have often been fixed for ever in the mind of a child by means of so poor a medium as the Dutch tiles around an old-fashioned fire-place, we can conceive how powerful an instrument was that which, from a very early date, was eagerly seized on by the church of Rome, but applied too generally to the encouragement of superstition, and rather regarded as a means of aggrandizing the power of the church than of enlightening the ignorant.

When every church was filled with the best specimens of art, both in sculpture and painting, that the age could produce, we cannot hesitate to believe that the facts intended to be impressed on the memory were often more indelibly fixed by the painter than the preacher. Nor, had the object sought to be obtained been legitimate, would there have been so much cause to blame the application of the gorgeous magnificence with which the members of the Romish church have ever sought to decorate their temples and adorn their worship. Although paintings and sculpture were probably first admitted into churches as a means of withdrawing the people from idolatry, instead of plunging them into it; | too soon were they turned to a far different use, and applied to the propagation of the fables by which the priesthood sought to prop their power, instead of the truths of Bible story. But although art was so frequently prostituted, there were many exceptions; and the engraving at the head of this article affords a remarkable instance of the readiness with which, in one case at least, every means was seized on to forward an object based on the principles of piety and philanthropy. The subject of this picture, from the hand of Raffaelle, is St. John preaching to the Chinese and other heathen people, and is emblematical of the mission of the Jesuits, who were then engaged in the great work of carrying the Gospel, and its inseparable attendant-a higher civilization than is compatible with paganism-into the yet unexplored regions of "far Cathay."

The wonderful success of that extraordinary body of men, in their great, and had not other less commendable motives marred themtheir praiseworthy objects, the conversion of the heathen and the education of youth, is matter of notoriety; nor, were we so inclined, can we afford space to trace their history. But can we refuse to admire the sagacity which led them to call upon the genius of Raffaelle to aid their labours, and excite the public to a participation in them? Although the boldness of the allegory which places the evangelist as the representative of the zealous

overstrained, the idea is certainly magnificent, and calculated to work powerfully on the feelings of an ardent people like the Italians; and doubtless some portion of the success attending the footsteps of the Jesuits is due to the great painter who wielded his brush in their cause.

The Jesuits were driven out of China, and although the doctrines they taught still maintain their hold among a scattered few of the natives of that country, the traces of their labours are very slight indeed. They owed their success to the earnestness with which they devoted all their powers to the attainment of the particular objects they sought their signal fall was the consequence of the dangerous falsity of some of the doctrines they professed. It is delightful to think that labourers of a very different order have since entered the field, and that good seed from a pure stock, and not a contaminated graft, has already been widely scattered in China by the labours of Morrison, Gutzlaff, Parker, and their coadjutors. Where this springs up, good fruit will follow; for although the labours of the Jesuits perished with them, who can doubt the success of the pure Gospel, when accompanied by the power of God?

The Jesuits, driven from China, are now, after the lapse of centuries, re-organizing themselves for a fresh enterprize; and, to the number of seven hundred, are at this moment graduating in Rome, for a missionary descent on a place of kindred superstition-Japan! E.

READERS.

THE different kinds of readers may come under the four following divisions or classes :—the first may be compared to an hour-glass, which runs on, and all runs out; the second resembles a sponge, which imbibes everything, and returns it in nearly the same state, only dirty; the third is like a jellybag, which suffers all that is pure and worthy to pass through it, while it retains only the refuse; and the fourth class are like slaves in the diamondmines of Golconda, casting away all that is worthless, and preserving only the pure gem.—Coleridge.

ARE YOU COMFORTABLE?"

THE Turkish phrase, "Are you comfortable?" is often added to the salutation, "How do you do?" and which has often occurred to my recollection in a ludicrous affair which happened to me in my journey across Mount Hæmus, in a plain of some few miles, after leaving Sophia. The bey, stroking his beard, as he was sitting in the snow as high as his head, inquired if I was comfortable; and I was standing in the snow up to my middle.-Galt.

THE LABOURS OF MISSIONARIES NECES

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I PARTICIPATE in the generous spirit which has for some time past been attempting to explore the interior of Africa; but I very much question, setting religious considerations aside, whether the wished-for discovery, when made, will add anything to the happiness of the civilized world.

Were our wishes realized, I am afraid, with respect to them, we should feel constrained to adopt the language of Cæsar, in reference to the empire of the world,--"Is this all?"

The points in which savage tribes agree are so numerous, and those in which they differ so few and trifling, that we can very nearly conjecture, from what is already known, what is yet to be expected.

While our present ignorance of the interior of Africa remains, fancy is allowed to roam in a world of its own creation; but when that ignorance is once dispelled, the pleasing delusions are at an end, and instead of new sources of wealth, large cities, and highly interesting tribes, we shall probably meet with little but the disgusting details of savage life, and the barbarous effects of the Alcoran.

The prevalence of these sentiments will not, however, repress curiosity, damp the spirit of enterprize, nor prevent other attempts from being made to penetrate into the interior of Africa; nor is this circumstance to be regretted, because, although the discoveries expected may not be made, it may lead to others which may prove equally valuable to science and to humanity.

The jealousy respecting strangers natural to the minds of savages, the low value set upon human life by people in a state of nature, the injustice and barbarity many of the tribes in the neighbourhood of our colonies have experienced from the colonists, and the brutalizing effects of the slavetrade, are powerfully felt in preventing the success of our attempts in penetrating to Central Africa. The prejudices, &c., possessing the minds of the savages through those countries through which the African traveller wishes to pass, must be removed, and the confidence of the people gained, before future expeditions of discovery are likely to be

as possible to their prejudices and manner of living; he commands their esteem by his superior information; and what has, perhaps, as great an influence as anything, he addresses himself to their selfishness, by teaching them how to add to their comforts.

The name of Africaner, and the poisoned arrows of the Bushmen, which a few years ago were the causes of such terrors, our South-African travellers have now so little to dread, that one of our missionaries lately travelled on horseback from Namacqua Land to Lattakoo, making excursions among the Bushmen and among the tribes on the north side of the Orange River, and considered himself as safe, às to anything he had to dread from men, as he would have been in a journey of as many miles in England.

In the midst of his journey he was detained three days by a wandering tribe of Bootschuannas, who had heard of the missionaries, and who would have laid the hair of their heads beneath his feet to have persuaded him to accompany them as their teacher. When they had exhausted all their arguments to accomplish their wishes without effect, the chief had recourse to the following stratagem: "I know," said he, "your reason for refusing to go with us you are afraid we will murder you." After repeating the assertion several times, and repeated denials on the part of the missionary, the chief remarked that it was in his power to convince him to the contrary, but that he would hold his opinion, till he furnished him with the only proof that would induce him to alter it. "Name your proof," said the missionary, "and if it is in my power it shall be granted." The chief thought he had succeeded, when he told him that the proof that would satisfy him was that he should accompany him. At their first interview the missionary gave them a few beads and other things of a trifling nature. In the course of their conversation, when they became painfully pressing in their solicitations

* Savages are always pleased when they are trusted, and it seldom happens that they prove themselves unworthy of the confidence reposed in them. When Mr. and Mrs. Williams went among the Caffres, they took a few Hottentots from Bethelsdorp with them. While the Hottentots remained, the Caffres were shy and distant; but they no sooner saw the missionary family among them alone, than they laid aside their distant manner, and vied with each other in acts of kindness. If these feelings are created by the sight of a few unarmed people accompanying a missionary, we may easily conceive the suspicions which may be created among avages by the appear ance of a military party.

for him to go with them as their teacher, the missionary said, "I know the reason you are so earnest for me to go with you,-you suppose that I will be able to furnish you with such things as those I gave you when we first met." With this remark they were all much hurt, brought the things he had given them and laid them down before him, and, in the most feeling and solemn manner, declared that the reason he had assigned had no weight with them. "Come with us," said they, "and you shall not only have your own, but everything we have to spare; we shall defend you, and be directed by you, and hunt for you."

The country belonging to this tribe is at a considerable distance beyond Lattakoo. The chief yields a nominal subjection to Matteebee, the king of Lattakoo, and is on a friendly footing with the king of the Marootzes, and with the other chiefs known to his tribe immediately beyond him.

"Even civilized governments, generally speaking, have but one instrument to secure the obedience of their own subjects and prevent the aggressions of the savage tribes on their borders, that is fear* " This instrument may keep them at a distance from the borders of our colonies, but it never can secure their friendship, nor render it safe for the colonists to travel among them. When the subjects of one civilized state are murdered by the subjects of another, satisfaction is demanded and obtained, and the examples that are made of the murderers furnish a guarantee for the security of future travellers. But the adoption of this system is impracticable among hordes of savages.

The captain of a savage tribe is not possessed of those ideas of justice or of policy discoverable in such a transaction; his power over his tribe is limited, and always restricted by the sentiments of his inferior captains; and if he is called upon to give up an offender to another power to be punished, he refuses a compliance with the mandate, and provides for his own safety and that of his tribe by an appeal to arms or by flight. The affair, which would have been speedily settled in a civilized country by the surrender or punishment of the offender or offenders, is the occasion of perpetual and rancorous hostilities among barbarians, and the tribe must be extinguished, or some method different from fear must be adopted to gain its confidence, or its hostility will limit all future endeavours to penetrate into the countries beyond it.

The remembrance of past injuries, the encroachments which are from time to time made upon the territories of the wandering tribes on the borders of colonies, the advantages taken of them at times * Blackstone's Commentaries, Governments can seldom deviate from this system with safety. When attempts are made to keep the favour of savages by gifts, they are ready to construe the kindness shown them into an indication of weakness, and it too often happens that the most benevolent intentions give rise to necessary severity.

by colonists+, whose superior civilization is seldom seen but as it appears in circumventing and oppressing their inexpert neighbours, must have a tendency to inspire their minds with a strong suspicion and dread of the movements and designs of the colonial government.

Buys, the Zwellendam farmer, who married the mother of Geika, and adopting the manners and customs of the barbarians, became a chief among them, taking advantage of their natural jealousy, brought the missionaries at Griqua Town into danger, and nearly ruined our prospects at that settlement. "You were free men," said he, "lately, but you will not be long free. The object of the missionaries whom you have received among you is to bring you into subjection to the colonial government, and you will soon be driven from your present country, and distributed as slaves among the boors."

Mr. Williams had only been a short time in Caffreland when the interview between his excellency the governor, Lord Charles Somerset, and Geika, the Caffre chief, took place, near the missionary institution on the Kat River. The part Mr. Williams had to act on this occasion shows the opinion those savages entertain of missionaries, and the advantages which government, science, and commerce might derive from their labour. Before Mr. Williams could prevail upon Geika to meet his excellency the governor, he had to visit him three several times; and had it not been for the confidence which Mr. Williams had obtained among the Caffres, the governor might have left Caffreland without seeing either Geika or his people.

The facts which have been adduced on the subject are only a few which have been selected from a large body; but every reader must be satisfied that more proofs are unnecessary in support of the opinion advanced in this article.

Through the greater part of the Bushman Country, among the Great and Little Namacquas, the Corannas, the Bootschuannas, the name of a missionary is synonymous with the name of a friend.

When Mr. Sass went among the Corannas in 1814, they had been engaged time immemorial in perpetual and the most rancorous hostilities with the Bushmen. No quarter was given upon either side. Wherever they met, they attacked each other with the most implacable resentment, and the contest was seldom ended but with the death of one of the parties. The country claimed by the Corannas extended from Griqua Town to Namacqua-land, and the savage war constantly carried on between them and the Bushmen rendered travelling in that country extremely hazardous. It was in crossing this country in 1813 that Mr.

↑ This observation is not more applicable to the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, than it is to the States of America and other civilized governments having savage tribes on their frontiers..

Campbell was in such dread from the Bushmen, and that one of his Hottentots was killed by one of their poisoned arrows. The comparative security with which one may now travel in that country has already been noticed, and it must be interesting to every friend of humanity to know how this desirable change was effected. Mr. Sass was some time among the Corannas before he could get them to look at a Bushman without attempting to murder him. By continued efforts and much persuasion, they were brought so far that they would endure the sight of Bushmen.

He now employed one or two bastard Hottentots, for the Corannas had not yet so far conquered their antipathy as to approach the Bushmen as messengers of peace, to go in quest of Bushmen, and to persuade them to meet the missionary, who had good things to tell them, and who had some good things to give them. A few came. They were so pleased, that they came back, and brought others along with them.

For the first time in the remembrance of any living persons, they now ventured to appear as friends in the midst of the Coranna kraal. In the course of a few weeks the news was spread over all the Bushmen country, between the limits of the colony and the Great Orange River, and Mr. Sass has been the bond of union between the Bushmen and Corannas ever since that period.

A party of Bushmen met with a flock of strayed sheep, some weeks after this event; they accidentally heard that the sheep belonged to Mr. Sass; they no sooner heard who was the proprietor, than they brought them to our missionary, and expressed the greatest happiness that they had it in their power to testify their affection for him in this manner. Several times stray cattle belonging to Mr. Sass have been found and restored by the Bushmen; and our worthy missionary remarked, that he would not wish his cattle or his property in greater safety than among the Bushmen.

By the labours of the missionaries at Griqua Town, and the persevering spirit of my fellowtraveller, Mr. Campbell, the interior of Southern Africa is now better known than formerly. The tribes beyond Lattakoo are crying for missionaries. By improving the present opportunity, some of the recesses of the most interesting portions of the southern part of this continent are now laid open to the spirit of European enterprize. By the present discoveries the trade and commerce of the mother-country will be promoted, the boundaries of science enlarged, and the triumphs of religion and civilization and the British empire in Africa extended from Cape Town to De la Goa Bay.

On Mr. Campbell's arrival at Lattakoo, he found circumstances uncommonly favourable to the further extension of his journey into the interior. The missionaries had been recently visited by Bootschuannas from various tribes beyond them,

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who had expressed a wish to have missionaries among them; and a powerful chief of one of those tribes was at this time at Lattakoo, and had offered his services to assist our traveller in accomplishing the object of his wishes. Accompanied by Munnaneets, the king of Lattakoo's uncle, and the king, whose name is not mentioned, and a suitable escort, Mr. Campbell left Lattakoo on the 11th April, 1820, in his bullock-waggon. After travelling about forty miles in a northerly direction, they came to Old Lattakoo. On the removal of Mattabee and his people to New Lattakoo, their former place was taken possession of by people belonging to different tribes, and Mr. Campbell supposes it at present to contain 8000 inhabitants.

It is governed by a chief by the name of Mahcomo Peloo.

At a public meeting of the principal men of the place, there was not only a willingness expressed to receive and protect missionaries, but even a desire to have them. From thence Mr. C. proceeded in a north-easterly direction, and after travelling a week (about 120 miles) came to Meribohwhey, the chief town of the Tammaha tribe, sometimes called Red Caffres, and who are represented as a savage warlike people. Mr. C. observed that their appearance corresponded with this report; but he experienced kind treatment from them, and after the chiefs had held a consultation, they consented to receive missionaries, and promised them their protection. He next visited Mashew, a town about twenty miles further, which was estimated to contain from 12,000 to 15,000 inhabitants. Much land was seen under cultivation. Here Mr. C. had some conversation with an intelligent old woman, who said she came from a country to the eastward, bordering on the "great water," where people lived who had long hair. At Mashew the people expressed an equal willingness to receive missionaries.

From Mashew, Mr. Campbell travelled a week (about 120 miles) further to the north-eastward, and came to Kurreechane, the principal town of the Marootze tribe, containing about 16,000 inhabitants. Here Mr. Campbell found a people arrived to a degree of civilization, and possessing a knowledge of arts, superior to any of the tribes he had seen. They smelt iron and copper from the ore. The metals are procured from mountains in the neighbourhood.

When Colonel Collins was in Caffreland, and among the Tambookees, in 1809, the articles of iron and copper which he found among the savages he supposed to have been furnished by the Portuguese at De 'la Goa Bay. From the description Mr. Campbell has given of the Kurreechane, the colonel appears to have been mistaken in this opinion. The manufactures of Kurreechane are found to have diffused themselves from the borders of the colony of the Cape of Good