Satan is loath to give up his kingdom: but our weapons are not carnal; and, if properly made use of, cannot but be effectual in pulling down the strong holds of his territories.

"For some time past I have been living at the Kana Kana, where we are intending to settle. Had I remained in England, I should have had nothing to do, but to have got on my horse, rode round my farm, and given orders to my working people; but here I must put my hand to the plough in good earnest, or I can never fulfil my engagements with the Society. The land is heavily timbered, and it requires a great deal of hard labour and active exertion to clear it; and the worst of all is, the natives cannot be depended on for hard work. Since I have been in New Zealand, I have worked very hard indeed; so much so, that for some time past I have been quite languid.

66 Things in New Zealand have a very pleasing aspect; and there is no country that can possibly hold out greater prospects of missionary usefulness than this. I have made it a point of duty myself, and my brethren have done the same, to point out to the natives the wickedness, the miseries, and horrors of war: we have also met them in a body, and expostulated with Shungee and all the other principal chiefs on the subject. Last summer Shungee lost his oldest son in battle. This summer he has endeavoured to collect a large army to go to revenge his son's death: but, whether from fear of the enemy, or from our repeated conversations with them on the wickedness of fighting, I know not, I am happy to inform you Shungee is gone with but a very small party. Our principal chief, about a fortnight since, prepared his canoe, with the intent of going to join Shungee, but could not prevail on his people to accompany him; and, he having no mind to go by himself, gave up the point. This canoe, which is quite large enough to carry a hundred men, and which was dressed out in the most terrific manner, is now laid up in ordinary with all its trappings on the peaceful missionary ground at the KanaKana. I know you will rejoice with us in this glorious triumph over savage cruelty to our blessed God be all the glory.

"My views with respect to the conversion of the heathen are much the same; our prospects are bright, our schools go on well, and many of the natives could read the Bible, if it could

be put into their hands in their own tongue. Oh! how it will shake the kingdom of Satan, when the Bible is read in New Zealand. Our natives, at this settlement, are getting on very well in reading and writing. Some of them are reading the dialogues in Mr. Kendal's book. I had one boy with me who could read or write any part of the book, but his cruel master has taken him from me, He offered to give him to me for a few blankets some time ago, but my friends rather persuaded me out of redeeming him, and now I have lost him the poor fellow was very loath to leave me, as he had been with us from the time of our arrival; he was become as one of our family, wore European clothing, and seemed much attached to European customs. We have now a man, with his wife and child, living in an adjoining house, who is wishing to conform to European customs; and as he is a chief of some note, I hope the Lord will continue him with us. Finding him a tractable well disposed man, I built him a house, and fenced him in a large piece of land for a garden, &c. which has this year produced him an abundant crop of provisions, and it is now filled with a flourishing crop of winter food. He and his wife and people all attend our family worship twice a-day, and the school. This man rendered Shungee great assistance in the last fight, and got himself a great name; so that I believe it was nothing but his house and garden, under God, that hindered him from accompanying Shungee to his present fight. have just heard news from Shungee, who has completely routed the KaiPara people, and is following up his victory through the country, and behaving in the most barbarous manner to the poor distressed inhabitants of New Zealand. Oh! that the Lord may stop the cruel man in his mad career! The news we have heard has brought very distressing accounts to our ears. has sent home word to a chief at WaiTanghi, to request him to take care of the Bay of Islands until his return, as he does not mean to return himself till he has killed all his enemies. We did what we could to hinder the people from joining him in his cruel expedition, and succeeded beyond our expectations in so doing but the Lord's ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts. He does what he will in the armies of heaven and upon the earth. What the saints of God do not know now they

We

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will know hereafter: for although Shungee went from hence with but a very small party, yet he succeeded in getting all the natives from the river Thames and Wai-Kati to join him, and consequently his army is now very formidable.

"January 24.-We launched our little vessel, and named her the Herald. The natives had been anxious for many days, and asked many questions about getting her into the water, and among other things wanted to know what payment they were to have for assisting us to pull her into the water. But when the shores were taken away and the stays knocked down, which held her on the ways, they were surprised to see the vessel plunge herself into the water. After the vessel was moored, the natives regaled themselves with some boiled flour and water, sweetened with a little sugar, and in the course of two or three hours they all dispersed; there were nearly a thousand natives assembled, on the occasion. Should this little vessel be properly managed she will prove of essential service to the mission; as we shall not only be able to visit different parts of the island, but shall be enabled to get our supplies, &c. from the Colony in a regular way.-On February

16, Mr. Williams and Mr. Fairburn sailed for the colony, in the Herald.

"At present we are staying to look after the Settlement. My hands are full, as I have the whole Settlement to provide for, and the natives and School to attend to. It is a sweet employ. The natives have a great desire to learn, and the people all around will listen to a preached gospel. Oh! that I knew more of the language, with what delight should I tell them of the unsearchable riches of Christ.

"Our dear children, and Mrs. Davy, are well, and through the kindness of Mrs. Williams, our daughters are going on well with their education. My boys I instruct myself, and they are also getting on very well.

"I hope, dear Sir, you are living in the light of God's reconciled countenance, that the candle of the Lord shines on your head, and his love in your heart.

"In this country we have many trials, the nature of which, the Christian in England cannot comprehend. And it is nothing but the Divine Saviour that can support the humble, devoted Missionary in this dark part of the world. Pray for us; do not forget us at a throne of grace."

THE following extract from the Bombay Courier of April 22, 1826, announcing the death of this pious and excellent prelate, at the early age of forty-seven, will deeply affect every Christian mind.

"Our readers will receive with a universal sentiment of grief, the intelligence that the earthly career of our beloved and revered Bishop terminated at Trichinopoly, on the morning of Monday, the 3d inst. April. His Lordship had reached that place on Saturday morning, and on the following day had preached, and held a confirmation in the evening; after which, he delivered

another discourse, concluding with a solemn and affecting farewell to the congregation.

"On Monday, at an early hour, his Lordship visited a congregation of Native Christians, and on his return, went into a bath, as he had done on the two preceding days. He was there seized with an apoplectic fit; and when his servant, alarmed at the length of his stay, entered the bathing room, he found that life was extinct. Medical aid was immediately procured, but proved wholly unavailing."

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NICHOLAS RIDLEY, well known in the annals of the English reformation, was born of an ancient family at Wilmondswick in Northumberland. He was educated in the rudiments of learning at Newcastle upon Tyne, and enabled by the kindness of Dr. Robert Ridley, his uncle, to study at Cambridge, where he entered at Pembroke Hall, and proceeded Bachelor of Arts. character and attainments gaining the respect of the other university, as well as of his own, he was elected fellow of University College in Oxford, in 1524. The next year he took his master's degree, and was appointed by the college to an official situation. *

His

He passed three or four years on the Continent, to make himself acquainted with the divinity and learning of foreign academies, and acquire that knowledge of human character, which to an observant mind is the result of travel. But neither Oxford, Paris, nor Louvain, could weaken his early predilection for Cambridge, whither he returned to prosecute his theological studies. As his safest guide, he diligently read the Scriptures in the original; and, in a walk in the orchard at Pembroke Hall, which is to this day called Ridley's Walk, he succeeded in committing to memory all the * Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses, vol. i. p. 78.

NOV. 1826.

He

epistles in Greek. He was very urbane in his manners, and devout without any appearance of sanctimonious monasticism, for he would sometimes relax in shooting at a mark, or playing at tennis. happened to be senior proctor, when the university was called to examine the scriptural foundation of the papal supremacy; and their resolution, "That the bishop of Rome had no more authority or jurisdiction derived to him from God, in this kingdom of England, than any other foreign bishop," was signed by Simon Heynes, vicechancellor, Nicholas Ridley, and Richard Wilkes, proctors, to the lasting credit of the parties concerned. He lost his uncle in 1536, but found a greater patron in Archbishop Cranmer, who appointed him his domestic chaplain, and collated him to the vicarage of Herne in East Kent. He bore public testimony against the act of the Six Articles, and instructed his flock in Christian verities, as far as they were known to him, although at this period he held the tenet of transubstantiation. But it pleased God to awaken him to a sense of its erroneousness, by the perusal of the treatise of Bertram, a pious monk, who had shone as a light in an age of gross darkness; and having sought in a humble and teachable spirit the doctrine of

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