The Press.
London, England, 1855-04-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

formed, and the early use of which is one great proof
of the existence of a distinct British Church long
previous to the mission of St. Augustine. The
various reforms which from time to time have
been imposed upon our Liturgy, and the struggles
tbat have been maintained in order to preserve its
purity, are subjects touched upon by the author, while
the great Presbyterian dispute in the reign of Cbar:es I.
concisely described, with the objections of the
Presbyterians, and the replies of the bishops given
in full. To all who take an interest in church mat.
tete, we recommend this little manual as affording
us in a few pages the most valuable information,
taken from the best authorities, upon the subject of
the origin and history of our Liturgy.

Romanism in Ceylon, India, and China. By the
Rev. Edward J. Robinson. London : Hope
and Co.

THE reverend author of this little book commences
his preface in rather too sectarian a spirit,, by
assuming— upon his arrival off Ceylon that
the first fisherman who brought his canoe along.
side the Persia, and asked for a glass of "rum,
brandy, or gin," was from this fact a Roman
Catholic ! We leave this little bit of sectarian feel-
ing without remark and pass on to the subject of the
book, which is simply to expose the crafty and too
often successful intrigues of the Romanist priesthood
in Ceylon and India against the earnest endeavours
of our Protestant missionaries. Of the extent of
Popery in Ceylon, or of the real conversion of the
natives to Romanism, Mr. Robinson expresses great
doubts, in support of which view he notices the total
absence of native Catholic priests, their clergy being
entirely comp( sed of European missionaries; but he
firmly believes that the system of Protestant schools
now established in Ceylon will produce rich fruit to
our Church, provided it be but fairly supported by
the Government. We are afraid, however, that all
experience proves that the Cingalese are somewhat
like the Chinese as regards matters of faith. They
will as soon put :on one creed as another, provided
they can improve their temporal interests by the ex-
change. As a nation they are firm sceptics, and all
efforts hitherto at any real conversion of the people
to Christianity have failed in a marked manner. The
Roman Catholic missionaries apparently are more
successful than their Protestant antagonists, because
they ingeniously blend much of the native Paganism
with their own original faith; but they are not in
reality one whit the more successful in converting
the heathen Asiatic nations. The system, however,
which our missionaries have now adopted of
educating the Cingalese children from their earliest
years, is one we may hope to be eminently successful
and productive of really good results. A good deal
of information upon the actual state of the religious
question in Ceylon can be obtained in these pages,
Mr. Robinson having resided on the island for up-
wards of four years, during which time he was acting
as a Wesleyan missionary in the northern and
eastern districts.

Among pamphlets, cheap publications, &c., we
have a Letter upon Reformatory Schools, addressed
to C. B. Adderley, Esq., b) the Rev. Sydney Turner
(Hatehards), in which the whole domestic system
and educational plan of the farm-school at Red-hill
is explained, and the principle of family division
in preference to association, unhesitatingly recom-
mended by the writer, who supports his views, not
only by his own experience at Red-hill, but by the
evident and proved superiority of this principle of
family combination, the forming households of thirty
or forty boys together under strict superintendence,
at some distance from the central establishment, at
the great school of Mettray. With regard to the
question of what is to be done with a reformed cri-
minal when he is discharged, and when experience
proves he usually returns to his old haunts and
habits from sheer necessity, Mr. Turner is of opinion
that the army, navy, or the colonies are preferable
for juvenile criminals than any trade in a populous
town. The letter is highly practical and instructive.
—A pamphlet upon The Government and the War,
by Captain W. White (Piper and Co.), appears to
have been written with the object to prove that the
mortality of our troops in the Crimea arose more
from the Government having neglected to supply
the army with Captain W. White's curry paste, than
any want of medicines or medical superintendence
and means.—The Australian Colonies, by Henry
Capper (Groombridge and Sons), is an excellent
little pamphlet, full of sound advice and correct
directions to the intending emigrant. Thrower's
Arithmetical Questions (Simpkin, Marshall, and
Co.), a series of miscellaneous questions in arith-
metic, carefully arranged and compiled, and more
adapted to the common occurrences of every-day life
than the questions in arithmetical works usually
are. The Town Garden, by Shirley Hibberd
(Groombridge and Sons), an excellent little book
upon gardening and green-houses, with every in-
struction for the cure and rearing of plants, and
containing, moreover, a complete classified list, wits

335

the names, the time of flowering, soil required, &c.,
of all the plants that will thrive in towns. This little
book should be in the hands of every one whu " in
populous city pent" is desirous of cultivating the art
of flower-growing.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

1100 KS.

Westminster Review. J. Chapman
British Quarterly. Jackson and Walford.
New London Quarterly Review. Walton and Mabberly.
('olburn's New Monthly. Chapman and Hall.
The Christ of History. John Young, M.A. Longmans.
The Voices of the Seven Thunders. ( 'ash.
Evangelical Christendom. Partridge and Oakey.
Tail's Magazine. 1)0.
Biographical Magazine. 1)0.
the berns ttl Great Britain and Ireland. Part I. Thomas
Moore, F.L.S. Bradbury and Evans.
Churchman's Magazine. Harrison.
Macphaits Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal.