Imatges de pàgina
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Java is one of that large group of islands which separates the Indian from the Pacific Sea.

It lies nearly in the direction of east and west: to the south and west its shores are washed by the southern Indian ocean; to the north-west lies the island of Sumatra; to the north, Borneo; to the north-east, Celebes; and to the east that of Bali. According to the most recent and best obser.. vations, it is situated between 5° 50' and 8" 46" of south latitude, and ex. tends from 120-5 to: 129° 50' longitude, east of Teneriffe, full one hundred and eighty Dutch miles in length; and at the broadest part, from the point of Coedoes, near Japara, to the south coast of the province of Mataram, it is about six and thirty Dutch miles over. A chain of high moun tains, commencing to the east, in the province of Balambouang, and running through it to the westward, gradually decreasing in height, divides this island, longitudinally, into two parts, of which the northern portion is the largest and the best."

Of the south-west, little, it appears, is known. The northern side is low, and woody; and during the south-east monsoon, affords good and safe anchorage, but in north-westerly winds it becomes a dangerous lee-shore. The island is watered by a great number of rivers, which all descend from the chain of mountains which divides the island, but none of them are navigable for ships, or large vessels.' The soil is fertile, and produces rice, pepper, cotton, indigo, good timber for ship building, turmeric, &c..

When the Company first established themselves here, Java was di vided into three large empires: namely, Bantam, Jaccatra, and the empire of the Soesoehoenam, which last was the most, extensive, and compre hended full two-thirds of the whole island, Cheribon being feudatory to it. Times have now so far altered, that the island is divided into five states or empires, which altogether contain one hundred and twenty-three provinces, or governments, among which the kingdom of Bantam is considered but as one. Each province or government consists of a certain number of Tjatjars, or families, the number of which, throughout the whole of Java, including Bantam, amounted, in the year 1777, to 152, 014.

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It is not necessary, nor would it be very interesting to our readers, for us to trace the steps by which the Dutch.obtained the virtual sovereignty of the island. The advances of usurpation have been similar in all ages and climates; varying only as the usurping power felt itself stronger, or weaker. Trea chery and violence were here, as elsewhere, the weapons of European policy; and the maxim, divide and reign, was never better illustrated than by the conduct of the Dutch, in the Island of Java. A parallel, full of gloomy interest, might be drawn between the bloody and arbitrary measures of the different commercial companies, who have formed establishments, and claimed dominion in countries presumed barbarous; and in this comparison of cruelty and deceit, the slaughter of

the Chinese settlers at Batavia would occupy a distinguished place. The Chinese have not, however, been deterred by this treacherous massacre, from continuing and enlarging their establishment; for this volume describes their quarter in the suburbs as the most populous,' and the poll-tax levied on them by the Company as amounting to 40,000 rix dollars. It does not seem very easy to state the value of the Company's immense trade, different estimates producing different resutls; but, on the whole, we suspect the highly favourable calculations of Mossel to be altogether erroneous, and that, in a commercial view, it was a losing concern. That this has been the case for some time past, appears clearly from the statement of the writer of the first part of this Olla.

The principal European establishment, Batavia, is situated on a noble bay, perfectly secure at all seasons. The number of houses in the city and suburbs is estimated by Valentyne at 4,770, by Barrow at 5,270; and the statements of Huyser give the number of male inhabitants, of all nations, at 110,816. The unhealthiness of Batavia is proverbial, and sufficiently accounted for in the following paragraph.

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Two principal causes are to be met within the city, and a great part its insalubrity is to be ascribed to them; namely, the little circulation of waterin the canals which intersect it, and the diminution of the number of its inhabitants. The former is occasioned by the river, which formerly conveyed most of its water to the city, being now greatly weakened by the drain which has been dug, called the Sl khaan, which receives its water from the high land, and carries it away from the city, so that many of the eanals run almost dry in the good monsoon. The stagnant canals, in the dry season, exhale an intolerable stench, and the trees planted along them impede the course of the air, by which, in some degree, the putrid effluvia would be dissipated. In the wet season the inconvenience is equal; for then these reservoirs of corrupted water overflow their banks in the lower part of the town, and fill the lower stories of the houses, where they leave behind them an inconceivable quantity of slime and filth: yet these canals are sometimes cleaned; but the cleaning of them is so managed as to become as great a nuisance as the foulness of the water; for the black mud taken from the bottom is suffered to lie upon the banks, in the middle of the street, till it has acquired a sufficient degree of hardness to be made the lading of a boat, and carried away. As this mud consists chiefly of human ordure, which is regularly thrown into the canals every morning, there scarcely being a necessary in the whole town, it poisons the air while it is drying to a considerable extent. Even the running streams become nui-' sances in their turn, by the negligence of the people; for every now and then a dead hog, or a dead horse, is stranded upon the shallow parts, and it being the business of no particular person to remove the nuisance, it is negligently left to time and accident.'

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In Java,' observes Mr. Barrow, every object seems to be impregnated with life: a glass of water from the canal becomes,

within a few hours, a mass of animated matter, the minute por→ tions of which move about with astonishing rapidity. The bay, swarming with myriads of living creatures, exhibits in the night-time a phosphorescent light, like a sheet of fire. The stream of fresh water which falls into it, being more impreg nated with animal life, is distinctly traced in the bay, by a train more luminous and more brilliant than the rest of the surface, appearing like another milky way in the midst of a firmament of stars.'

The native Javanese are described as of a middling size, and in general well-proportioned, of a light brown colour, with a broad forehead, and a flattish nose, which has a small curve downwards at the tip.' Their hair is black, their dress adapted to the climate, and their weapon, the Malay Kris. In disposition they are said to be proud, lazy, and cowardly.' They are, in general, Mohammedans, but the traces of their original Hindooism are still apparent.

The notices respecting the vegetable poisons of Java are collected from various sources. First, we have the notorious romance, translated from the French of the veracious M. Foerch, and transplanted from the London Magazine into Dr. Darwin's Botanic Garden. Then we are presented with M. Leschenault's Memoir, taken from Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle; and the account is closed with a few extracts from Mr. Brodie's Experiments on Vegetable Poisons, of which our readers will find an abstract in our Review for December,

1811.

Art. XV. Two Sermons preached at the Visitation of the Reverend the Archdeacon, at Leicester, in the Years 1805 and 1811: to which is added, a Sermon on the Salvation which is in Christ only. By the Reverend Edward Thomas Vaughan, M. A. Vicar of St. Martin's and and All Saint's in Leicester, Domestic Chaplain to the Right Hon. Lord St. John, and late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Evo. pp. 136. Price 3s. 6d. Hatchard. 1810.

FOR these Sermons Mr. Vaughan deserves our sincere thanks. He discovers a piety of spirit, and a soundness of doctrine, which cannot be too warmly applauded; and with heartfelt zeal and benevolence, delivers many weighty truths and appropriate instructions. Happy would it be for the Church were all her ministers, when called upon to similar services, to perform them in a manner equally faithful and impressive.

In the first Sermon, from 2. Cor. iv. 5, Mr. V. treats of the excellence and importance of the institution of preaching; and after specifying the topics on which the discourse of the Christian minister should chiefly turn, he shews, from the VOL. VIII. 3 X

command of Christ, the example of the apostles, and the reason of the thing itself, that these topics should be explained and enforced with the utmost earnestness. The following passages, notwithstanding their length, we must be permitted to transcribe.,

What is this Gospel, and what constitutes this Gospel, which we are thus commanded, and have thus undertaken to preach? Is it not the revelation of God's will to mankind, for the forgiveness and acceptance of sinners? Is it not those "good tidings of great joy," which bring to us the knowledge of a Saviour? Is any thing more required to constitute it, or is any thing less sufficient to constitute it, than the declaration of those truths, which I have set forth as the outline of Christian preaching? The worth of the soul; its native condemnation; its restoration in Christ Jesus; the way of access to Him; the origin, source, and channel of each individual's redemption; the use of the means of grace; enlarged and minute views of Christian duty and of Christian privilege: surely these several particulars must be combined to form the whole of this saying; "that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Now if this be the Gospel. what is it to preach the Gospel? Is it not fully to unfold these truths, and to enforce them upon the understanding and the conscience? Tamely to assert any number of grave propositions, however weighty and important, is not to "preach the word." Jesus Christ must be " evidently set forth before their eyes, crucified among them." Even argument and demonstrration are not sufficient, if alone. To constitute the solid and impassioned exercise of preaching, not only must the understanding be convinced, but the affections also must be roused, and the conscience made to bear witness, and the thoughts to accuse or excuse.' pp. 37-39.

• The method I have recommended is intrinsically excellent, as being adapted to the wants both of sinners and of believers. To the former of these, with whom I comprehend all that large multitude of mankind that is not yet faithfully labouring to "serve God in the Gospel of his Son," it displays the need of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; whilst it administers persuasions that they may seek, and directions that they may find him.

Man is not naturally inclined to feel his spiritual necessities. Mor. bidly sensible to his temporal exigencies, his soul perishes, yet he knoweth it not. It is an arduous task indeed, to humble his pride, and make him cry for succour. How suitable does it seem then to his wants, that we should be frequent, minute, and strenuous in declaring the natural blindness, guilt, and corruption of man! Assure him continually, that "the light which is in him" by nature " is darkness;" that he "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God," without the illumination of that Spirit; that he must be "born again," or ever he can "see the kingdom of God;" proving and illustrating this assurance, and appealing strongly to his understanding and to his conscience for the truth of, it will not such a mode of teaching extort from him the acknowledgment, that he requires a Prophet, who can give sight to the blind?

Speak to him at large of the holy character of God; of the holy, spi

ritual, heart-seaching requirements of his law: call upon him to examine himself by this standard; to compare his actions, thoughts, and words with it; his imaginations and projects; his public and his private moments; his seasons of business and his convivial hours; his boyhood, his manhood, his advancing age: will he not at length confess, that he has need of "such an High priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens," and whose "blood cleanseth

from all sin ?"

In like manner, if he be urged to take strict notice of the inclinings of his will; of his daily frame and temper; of his usual habits in feeling and practice; if he be reminded continually, "that in his flesh dwelleth no good thing;" that the fountain whence his actions flow is polluted with sin; that as a cage is full of birds," so is "his heart full of deceit" and of vile affections: will not these intimations convince him, that he has need of a Prince as well as a Saviour? of one who can give repentance as well as remission of sins; who can subdue his corruptions as well as remove his stains of guilt; who can affect what "not one" besides must attempt, by " bringing a clean thing out of an unclean ?"

• Convinced that he has need of such a Saviour as Jesus Christ, we leave him not without strong motives to seek an immediate interest in the merits of this Saviour. We admonish him that God is faithful and true, who has promised to forgive and magnify the believer, and to punish the impenitent; that there is no refuge from eternal torment but in the sanctuary of the eross of Christ; no real happiness here but in that "service which is perfect freedom." Thus insisting upon the extreme hazard of delay, the pure joys of the obedience of faith, and the certain miseries of unbelief; do we not compel him to desire, and with all earnestness to seek," the kingdom and the righteousness of God" in Jesus Christ?'

Nor is our plan less adapted to the exigencies of believers. They are treading in that "narrow way which leadeth unto life;" but they are treading amidst briers and thorns, not always discerning their path, sometimes taking devious and even retrograde steps, and often discouraged, faint, and weary through the tediousness and toilsomeness of their journey. Thus in the discharge of our pastoral office we have a strange and various care to fulfil even towards the folded of the flock. We have the hearty and the sound to lay down in green pastures, and to lead beside still waters: we have also the diseased to strengthen; the sick to heal; the broken to bind up: we have to bring again that which was driven away, to seek that which was lost. How can we do all this, but by unfolding the whole range of Christian duty, and by opening the full store of Christian privilege? We instruct them, therefore, so that they shall not err for lack of knowledge: we caution them that they may not fall for lack of restraint: we heal and restore, by putting them in remembrance of better times, and better hopes; we purify, console, make fruitful, rich, peaceful, joyous, by speaking to them of mercy and of judgment, by expostulating, threatening, persuading; in short, by not shunning to declare to them all the counsel of God," in its place and proportion. Are they puffed up? we warn them they are nothing; "very worms, and no Are they desponding? we remind them of the fulness of Christ :

men."

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