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intention to visit Rabenstein, the owner of that castle thought fit to prepare these two caves for his reception; to do which he broke up the whole of the floors, pounding the larger stones and bones to the bottom for a foundation, and spreading the earth and finer particles to form a smooth surface over them.

ITALY.

At St. Lazarus near Venice, there is a college of Armenians,founded by Mechitar of Sebasta, in 1721, on the plan of that of the Jesuits. The Mechitarists have published grammars and vocabularies of various languages; and the valuable remains of Greek literature preserved in ancient Armenian translations have been rendered accessible to the literati of Europe by these brethren. For a long time past they have been engaged in preparing a complete collection of the Armenian writers, on the plan of the great collections of the Greek fathers and Byzantine historians. The complete collection will fill six or eight volumes in folio.

RUSSIA.

The Russian empire comprehends one half of Europe and a third of Asia; and forms a ninth part of the habitable globe. Its European division is peopled by fiftyeight millions of inhabitants, its Asiatic by two millions, and its American by 50,000. The total number is 60,000,000 of souls, which, however, gives no more than about 161 persons to each square mile.

A Kalmuck Academy has been founded at St. Petersburgh, to supply the government with able interpreters, and with officers acquainted with the language. EGYPT.

M. Champollion found in an excavated temple, named Bet-Oually, in Nubia, a series of tablets relating principally to the campaigns of Sesostris against the Arabs; with other sculptures, all religious, and connected with that remarkable feature in the Egyptian mythology, a Triad ; Ammon the father, Mouth the mother, and Khous the child; or Osiris, Isis, and Horus.

ARABIA, &c. Mohammedanism, like all other false religions, sacrifices numerous victims to its superstitions. A traveller, after describing the pilgrimage to Mecca and the ceremonies of the Ramadhan, adds, "The termination of the Hadj gives a very different appearance to the temple. Disease and mortality, which succeed to the fatigues endured on the journey, or are caused by the light covering of the ibram, the unhealthy lodgings at Mekka, the bad fare,

and sometimes absolute want, fill the mosque with dead bodies, or with sick persons; many of whom, when their dissolution approaches, are brought to the colonnades, that they may either be cured by a sight of the Kaaba, or at least have the satisfaction of expiring within the sacred enclosure. Poor hadjys, worn out with disease and hunger, are seen dragging their emaciated bodies along the columns; and when no longer able to stretch forth their hand to ask the passenger for charity, they place a bowl to receive alms near the mat on which they lay themselves. When they feel their last moments approaching they cover themselves with their tattered garments; and often a whole day passes before it is discovered that they are dead. For a month subsequent to the conclusion of the hadj, I found, almost every morning, corpses of pilgrims lying in the mosque. There are several persons in the service of the mosque employed to wash carefully the spot on which those who expire in the mosque have lain, and to bury all the poor and friendless strangers who die at Mekka."

So cheap is land carriage in several eastern countries, by means of that most serviceable animal, the camel, that it is stated that the carriage of a camel-load of goods, weighing from 600 to 700 pounds, from Bagdad to Aleppo, a distance of 600 miles, costs only 47.

UNITED STATES.

Joseph Bonaparte, who leads a calm life on the banks of the Delawar, was lately visited by Sir Robert Porter, on his way from South-America, by the United States, to Europe. His magnificent mansion was burnt down, but much valuable property was saved from the fire; especially some of the best paintings of the Flemish and Spanish masters. One of the saloons is dedicated to sculptures of the Bonaparte family. Sir R. K. Forter describes the ** bust of Charles Bonaparte, the father of the family, as most impressive. The exmonarch has a large domain, and spends vast sums of money in promoting cultivation, agriculture, erecting villages, and encouraging artificers. He devotes his leisure hours to writing a commentary on the life of his brother Napoleon.

The American journals state, that the late General Ridgely, of Maryland, has by his last will and testament emancipated all his slaves, amounting, it is reported, to more than 400! Those above twenty-eight years of age are to be free immediately; and of those under that age, the males are to be free at twenty-eight, and the females

at twenty-five. Provision is made for the support of those over forty-five. "General Ridgely," it is added, "has long been known as a very influential character in Maryland. For several years he acted as Governor of the State; and few men have taken upon themselves a greater share of the burthen of public business than he has done."

There has been lately put up in the Presbyterian Church in Newburyport, where Mr. Whitefield was buried, a cenotaph to his memory, with the following epitaph:— "This cenotaph is erected with affectionate veneration to the memory of the Rev. George Whitefield, born at Gloucester, England, Dec. 16, 1714; educated at Oxford University; ordained 1736. In a ministry of thirty-four years, he crossed the Atlantic thirteen times, and preached more than 18,000 sermons: as a soldier of the Cross, humble, devout, ardent, he put on the whole armour of God, preferring the honour of Christ to his own interest, repose, reputation or life: as a Christian orator, his deep piety, disinterested zeal, and vivid imagination gave unexampled energy to his look, action, and utterance; bold, fervent, pungent, and popular in his eloquence, no other uninspired man ever preached to so large assemblies, or enforced the simple truths of the Gospel by motives so persuasive and awful, and with an influence so powerful on the hearts of his hearers. He died of asthma, Sept. 30, 1770; suddenly exchanging his life of unparalleled labours for his eternal rest.”

A Wesleyan University is about to be established in Middletown, Connecticut. In a work recently published on the Con

stitution of the Congregational Churches, by the Rev. T. C. Upham, Professor in Bowdoin College, occurs the following statement respecting the mode of preaching practised by the Puritan fathers of New England:-" The earliest preachers of the Congregationalists did not use notes; their sermons were unwritten, although they could not always be called extemporaneous. The first person in North-America of the Congregational sect who is known to have used notes, was the Rev. J. Warham, a worthy minister of Windsor in Connecticut. Cotton Mather, to whom we are indebted for this fact, gives us to understand, that Warham, by this practice, gave considerable offence to some judicious persons, who had never heard him. But he adds, when they once came to hear him, they could not but admire the notable energy of his ministry.' The preachers of the present day pursue, in some respects, a middle course. nerally speaking, the more formal sermons, preached on the Sabbath, are written; but on other occasions, as private lectures and conferences, they frequently preach without notes. And this course seems to give general satisfaction.'

CHINA.

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Japanese translators are rendering Dr. Morrison's Chinese Dictionary into the Japanese vernacular dialect. The arrangement of the alphabetical part of the Dictionary pleases the natives so much, that it has become common, it is stated, for persons at Nangaski to write a column of characters, with their definitions, on fans, and present them to friends.

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RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

NATIONAL SCHOOL SOCIETY.» THE plans of the National Society are so well known, that the last Report is confined to a brief detail of the most interesting events in the past year. A few schools established many years since, have been suspended, in consequence of the varying circumstances of parishes, the change of incumbents, and the death or removal of individuals on whom the schools mainly depended for support; but the decrease thus occasioned, is far more than compensated by the union of sixty additional schools during the past year. The society's resources have fallen off; but this defect, it is trusted, will be speedily supplied by renewed exertions on the part of its friends. The Report adds a testimony of deep regret for the loss of the society's late most reverend president, who powerfully promoted the important objects of the society from its first institution to the period of his de

cease.

Among the causes of thankfulness and encouragement which the committee acknowledge, may be numbered the general prosperity of the institution, a growing persuasion in the public mind of its usefulness and importance, the large addition made to the society's funds by the bequest of 20,000l. by Mr. Tillard; with the continuance and increase of the zealous efforts of the parochial clergy in promoting the religious education of the poor. In eight dioceses, societies have been formed or revived, under the sanction of the several bishops, with the valuable appendages of central or model schools. Returns made from two-thirds of the places having schools in union previously to the last Report gave the following numbers:Sunday and daily...Boys 100,477; Girls 74,136, making 174,613: Sunday only... Boys 51,089; Girls 51,547, making 102,636 total, 277,249; adding to which one-third for the places from which no accounts had been recently received, the total of children would be about 360,000. It has been determined that a general inquiry into the state of Sunday and other Church-of-England schools shall be made every fifth year. It appears from a recent inquiry, that of 400 parishes, each containing a population of 4000 souls or upwards, according to the census in 1821,

not more than one-half have any of their schools actually united with the National Society, though there is reason to believe none of them are altogether without Church-of-England schools. The committee are justly anxious that one wise and united system of co-operation should be carried into effect, "which, while it tended to the good of the society and the honour of the church, would promote the welfare of all its members and the glory of God."

FRENCH BIBLE SOCIETY.

The last Report of the Bible Society of Nismes in France contains the following anecdote of one of the subscribers, who was formerly attached to Bonaparte's army. An officer of the society, struck with his modest zeal in support of the cause, asked him whether his attachment to the society did not proceed from a knowledge of the soul-enlivening contents of the Bible. "It is so," said he; "and I will inform you how it took place." "Under the late emperor, I was attached to the army; and being taken prisoner and carried to England, I was confined in one of the prisonships. There, huddled together one above the other, and deprived of every thing that could tend to soften the miseries of life, I abandoned myself to dark despair, and resolved to make away with myself. In this state of mind, an English clergyman visited us, and addressed us to the following effect: My heart bleeds for your losses and privations, nor is it in my power to remedy them: but I can offer consolation for your immortal souls; and this consolation is contained in the word of God. Read this book my friends for I am willing to present every one with a copy of the Bible, who is desirous to possess it.'-The tone of kindness with which he spoke, and the candour of this pious man, made such an impression upon me, that I burst into tears. I gratefully accepted a Bible; and in it I found abundant consolation, amidst all my miseries and distresses. From that moment the Bible has become a book precious to my soul out of it I have gathered motives for resignation and courage to bear up in adversity; and I feel happy in the idea that it may prove to others what it has been to me."

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EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE

UNITED STATES. Bishop Hobart, in one of his recent addresses to his Clergy, gives the following statement of the manner in which Episcopal Congregations are often gradually gathered in the remoter parts of his own, and other dioceses in the United States. "Increased public ministrations by the clergy, and pastoral instruction from house to house, with prudent zeal and fidelity explaining and enforcing the institutions of the church, and shewing their connexion with the great and distinguishing doctrines of the Gospel, and their tendency to excite a rational yet fervent devotion, will, through the Divine blessing, prevent the members of the church from wandering elsewhere in search of spiritual light and consolation; and will tend to satisfy others of the high excellence of her ordinances and liturgy, as the best security for sound doctrine, and for an enlightened and substantial piety. The increase of our church by any other means, by relinquishing any of her principles or institutions, is not to be desired. Numerical strength might thus prove absolute weakness, by bringing within her pale those who will seek to change her character, and to accommodate her to other religious views, and other modes of worship. Our church in this diocese has hitherto increased by a faithful adherence to her principles. In new settlements, a few churchmen, in some cases scarcely more than one zealous churchman, using the Liturgy for worship, and at last obtaining the aid of some missionary on Sunday, have often succeeded in establishing a respectable congregation, and in erecting a house for worship. At Moravia, Owasco-Flats, four or five years ago there was but one churchman-the service of the church was introducedministerial aid occasionally procured-and -a congregation has been gradually formed, who have erected a handsome edifice for worship. The above remarks may be applied to the little congregation at Trenton, and to the larger one at Ithaca, and to the still larger ones of Ogdensburgh, Batavia, and Rochester, where handsome brick or stone buildings are erected. The congregation at Rochester, itself but a new settlement, has been organized but six or eight years; and in that period they have erected two houses for worship, and the large stone edifice in which they now assemble, a beautiful specimen of Gothic architecture, is surpassed by none in the state. The small congregation at Waterloo deserve great credit for the singularly neat CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 333.

and commodious church which they have erected; and that at New Hartford is principally indebted for their convenient structure to the liberality of one venerable individual, who at the first generously endowed the church, and has since continued his munificent benefactions. In the handsome brick edifice at Batavia, a large body of worshippers assemble, where, not many years since, I officiated in the Court-house to an assembly, scarcely any of whom were acquainted with our mode of worship. I might apply the same remark to Ithaca.

"For all this, for the increase of our congregations, which now amount to one hundred and fifty, and which, within twelve or fifteen years, have been nearly doubled in number, twelve being organized during the past year, we are very much indebted, under God, to missionary exertions. And I am thus led to entreat an increased attention to measures for augmenting the Missionary Fund. I would impress this particularly on the large and wealthy congregations in our cities and elsewhere."

....

"The report which I shall lay before you from the Committee for propagating the Gospel, &c. will shew the number of Missionaries employed-who, it should be remembered, only receive each the small stipend of one hundred and twenty-five dollars. The remainder of their support comes from their congregations. Many are the new settlements where our church would be established, could they be supplied with missionaries. But the funds are wanting. I must entreat, therefore, a renewed attention to the missionary collections and to the missionary societies for raising funds.”

AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. The first Sunday-school in the United States was commenced in Philadelphia, in 1791, by persons of different religious denominations. In the year 1803, two Sunday Schools were formed in the city of NewYork, by the late Mrs Graham. In 1806, the Rev. S. Wilmer commenced a Sunday School at Kent, in the state of Maryland : and in 1808, the same person began a school at Swedesborough, New-Jersey. In 1809, a Sunday-school Society was formed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by which a school was opened in September of that year, containing 240 scholars. Now the "American Sunday-school Union numbers 2600 schools, 24,307 teachers, and 174,191 scholars. It also gives employment to fourteen printing presses, and prints on an average 432,000 18mo pages a day. Still there are at least 4 F

2,500,000 children, between the ages of five and fourteen, in the United States, of whom not more than 250,000 are receiving the benefits of Sunday-school instruction, leaving a balance of 2,250,000 to be provided for.

SOUTH-SEA NATIVE MISSIONS.

The Society Islands are sending native teachers in considerable numbers to other groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean. A missionary writes, "Brother Williams's account of the spread of the Gospel among the Harvey Islands, the Sandwich Islands, and other groups, afforded us much interest, as well as the various communications received from the native teachers, testifying the progress of Divine truth in all these places. It was agreed at the meeting, to send native teachers, as soon as expedient, to the various groups of islands to the westward, as far as New Caledonia. They are to be sent in a vessel built by the king of Rorotoa, in which the king and brother Williams came to Raiatea. Each island is to furnish two missionaries or native teachers."

INDIANS IN UPPER CANADA. The following is an extract from a recent letter of a teacher in Upper Canada. "I received your favour, in which you desire me to give an account of our Christian Indians with this request I comply with great pleasure, and shall be as brief as possible.

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"Peter Jones, who now travels as a missionary among the different tribes, was the first convert at the Grand River in the year 1823. His labours among his countrymen have been blest in a peculiar manner; for since his conversion, many, in various parts, have turned to the Lord.' The number of adults who have embraced the Gospel amounts to more than five hundred, and many children are now receiving the benefit of education. There are at present ten schools among these native tribes, and about three hundred scholars, some of whom can now read, write, and cipher. I have just had the pleasure of hearing boys, who did not know their alphabet the middle of last November, read very distinctly in the New Testament*. Their progress in writing is still more remarkable.

"It is well known in what state these poor people were before their conversion to Christianity. Ignorant and degraded,

These Testaments were a grant from the Hibernian Bible Society.

they abandoned themselves to every species of vice destitute of all knowledge, living without God, and without hope, habitually drunkards, they had scarcely the appearance of humanity, and their only desire seemed to be to obtain spiritous liquor; their thirst for it was never to be satisfied, until the grace of God converting their hearts made them abhor this and every other sin. Yet I hear there are some who would rejoice to see these poor Indians reduced to their former state of poverty and wickedness, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, lying under the shelter of a fence, without a blanket to shield them from the stormy winds, the rain, frost, and snow; and this because they wish to have them wholly in their own power, and strip them of the furs they procure in hunting, without any remuneration; and this would be the case had they no friends to protect them. Previous to their conversion, these poor people used to say, they could not see any advantage it would be to them to become Christians: they observed White men could get drunk, and swear and fight, as well as Indians. They were then ignorant that there is much difference between the mere profession of Christianity, and the influence of Christian principles. When I now witness the fervour of their devotion, their humble deportment, and their godly example, I am ashamed of my own want of love to Him who gave me all I possess. When I see their contentment with a scanty meal, and hear their expressions of thankfulness to Almighty God for the blessings they enjoy, I am induced to think that here Christianity peculiarly flourishes, that in this place is to be found in an eminent degree the religion of the heart. When you recollect that drunkenness was the vice to which these people were most addicted, it will gratify you to hear, that since their profession of Christianity not more than six instances of intoxication have occurred among the whole body, consisting of fully a thousand individuals.

"The desire for learning is great among these poor people. The Indians at Lake Simco, when asking for a teacher, said, they would reserve part of the fur they had procured to pay him, and actually stripped themselves of their silver ornaments to purchase books for the school. 1 believe the amount of trinkets sold for this purpose was 157. This desire for instruction is universal among those who have embraced the Gospel; but their countrymen have an aversion to education,

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