Christ. Must there not be something erroneous in the first principle which leads to all this evil? and the error, we feel confident, is the newly revived notion that miracles are to be expected in the present era of the Christian dispensation.

ADDRESS OF CONVOCATION. We copy from the Congratulatory Address of the Convocation of the Diocese of Canterbury to the King the following interesting passages. The document is drawn up in a spirit of Christian zeal and faithfulness, which argues well for the Church, in proportion as her bishops and clergy are thus sensible of their high obligations as servants of Christ, and anxious to discharge them. Having adverted to his Majesty's Proclamation against Vice, his expressed determination to uphold religion, and the excellent character of the Queen, the Address proceeds:

"To these circumstances we attach the highest importance, whether we consider the attacks so frequently made on the faith, the discipline, and the government of the Church, which never stood more in need of support and protection than at the present time; or the diregard to the commandments of God and the laws of the land, which we fear is rapidly spreading with unspeakable injury to the prin ciples of the whole population, and more especially of the young and ignorant. In regard, Sir, to this latter point, we are satisfied that if all persons of rank and authority would shew by their conduct a sincere respect for religion, their example would greatly contribute to the general reformation of manners, as well by its immediate influence on public opinion, as by its tendency to promote the due execution of the laws against open impiety and profligacy, the dissemination of licentious publications, and the profanation of the Lord's-day.

"Yet, Sir, we are sensible that the maintenance of true religion and virtue, so essential to social order and the happiness of all classes, must principally depend on the clergy, on the soundness of their faith, the efficacy of their teaching, and the holiness of their lives; and we should esteem ourselves wholly unworthy of the privileges assured to the Church, with a view to the general good, if we ceased to labour with assiduous zeal in the perform ance of our sacred duties. It will, therefore be our constant endeavour not only to instruct, reprove, and exhort with all diligence and earnestness in the ordinary exercise of our ministry, but to assist in the diffusion of truth, the advancement of piety, the discouragement of enthusiasm, and reformation of vice, wherever our influence extends. And whilst, as in duty bound, we stand forward in defence of the faith and the refutation of erroneous doctrines, we shall strive to regulate our temper and conduct by the laws of Christian

charity, respecting the motives of honest opponents, replying with meekness and© gentleness to adversaries of a different character, and allowing liberty of conscience to all men.

"If, Sir, there are any among us who have disgraced their holy profession by scandalous neglect of their duties, or offences against morality, we can truly affirm that their conduct is regarded with grief and abhorrence by the great body of the clergy; and we look forward with satisfaction to the result of the inquiry, now in progress under your Majesty's sanction, into the state of the ecclesias tical law, in the confidence that effectual provision will be made for the speedy correction of such enormities in future."

May the fervent prayers for his Majesty and his subjects with which the Address concludes be abundantly answered; and may his Majesty and all who are placed in high stations be inercifully disposed to follow the faithful exhortations in this document, particularly as it regards personal example and the honour due to the Lord's day.

PROTESTANTISM AND POPERY IN FRANCE.

The Archives du Christianisme describes as follows the beneficial effects resulting to religion in France from the late political changes:-"The Roman-Catholic Apos tolical faith is the religion, if we may be lieve the charter, of the majority of Frenchmen. But what will be their religion in half a century? How long will this decla ration of the new charter remain true? We know not; but the duty of Protestants is clear. The revolution has rendered re⚫ ligious liberty a reality: legislative protec tion is no longer a deception. This alone will open a wide door for the preaching of the Gospel in all our towns and villages; it will be no longer in the power of a persecuting mayor or a government officer or priest to disperse religious meetings, and to procure from the courts of law condemnations against unoffending persons, guilty of no crime but meeting together, above twenty in number, to read the Bible and sing the praises of God. Wherever auditors are to be found, the Scriptures may now be publicly and openly read; the Bible may be circulated without distinc tion of Catholic and Protestant; and the instruction of the rising generation will no longer be forbidden. Thus have great obstacles to the progress of the Gospel been removed: it remains for the church of Christ to profit by these advantages with fidelity and zeal, as well as prudence and charity."

The conductors of the Archives go on to lament that, though they shall no longer have to contend with superstition and hy pocrisy, they will find a formidable enemy to the Gospel in Infidelity; and most justly they express their sorrow that the progress

and triumph of the late revolution were not consecrated by any one act of religion, any recognition of the hand of God, or of gratitude to him for his mercies. What other people in the world, say they, would have presented a similar spectacle? The conclusion which they justly draw is, How great is the duty which devolves upon the Protestants of France to endeavour to stem the national torrent, and to exhibit to their countrymen the knowledge of Jesus Christ and him crucified.

We lately mentioned the remarkable project of the Abbé de la Mennais, who, indignant at his church being placed nationally only on a level with others, urges all true Catholics, as they cannot be dominant, to throw off their dependence upon the state; to allow no political interference or veto in the choice of their bishops or clergy; to communicate directly with the pope; and to claim the privilege of the charter, that they shall enjoy religious liberty unshackled by any civil control over their worship or discipline. The stipends allowed by the state he considers badges of servitude; and the church, he maintains, will never flourish till it throws off these golden fetters. Thus pure and independent, he says, she will trust to her own resources; she will emulate the Roman-Catholic Church in Ireland; she will appear before the people as she is, and as God made her, raised above earth to illuminate earth by her light, and weak in the strength of man, but strong by the arm of omnipotence, and the lustre of virtue which provokes no opposition. As to the matter of temporal support, God, he affirms, will not forsake them that trust in him; and every Catholic will come forward with his of ferings when he knows that his church asks no mercenary support. We will obey, he adds, the laws of our country in civil matters; but in religious we will submit only to the spiritual head whom Christ has placed over us upon earth. "Ministers of Him who was born in a cradle and died upon the cross, look back at your origin; endure willingly poverty and suffering, and the word of God your Saviour, who bore poverty and suffering, will shed its ancient efficacy upon your ministrations. With no other weapon but this Divine word, go like the twelve fishermen of Galilee among the people, and renew the conquests of the Cross over the world. A new era of triumph and glory awaits the Gospel. Behold, ye messengers of hope, in the horizon, the signs which portend the rising of the star; and resound the songs of life over the ruins of empires, and the wreck of all transitory things.'

Whether the zealous Abbé's earnest call to his brethren to discard the patronage of the state will be obeyed, remains to be His letter, at least, exhibits the Church of Rome in a novel aspect; and

seen.

calls doubly upon Protestants to imbibe the ardent, self-denying, and devout spirit, which this ultra-montane Catholic incal cates upon his brethren. If we did not know from infallible authority that the corrupt Church of Rome is Divinely doomed to fall, we might view such a spirit as this as a new germ of life. As it is, we would rather consider it as among the struggles of incipient dissolution.

PROJECTED SWEDISH MISSION.

Sweden appears at length likely to be added to those nations in which Missionary Societies have been established. M. Haegmann, the hospital chaplain in Stockholm, commenced seven years ago the circulation of a weekly sheet, afterwards converted (the loss on the publi cation being considerable) into a monthly paper, to make his countrymen acquainted with what was doing in other lands by Missionary institutions. The losses on his publications have obliged him to discontinue them; but he has resolved to devote himself anew to the object, by procuring the establishment of a Missionary Society, with a view chiefly to "the pagans of the woods and mountains in the north of Sweden." May his efforts be abundantly blessed! We echo his own words when we say, "May He who gave the desire further it; and reveal his mighty arm in Sweden, as he has done in so many other lands!"

NATIONAL SCHOOL SOCIETY. The last Report of this invaluable society contains much gratifying intelligence of the progress of the institution, and presents the most correct and lucid account hitherto published of the statistics of the Society's transactions.

It appears that 2609 places have schools directly or indirectly connected with the National Society, of which 2595 are daily and Sunday, and 1083 Sunday schools for children of either sex. There are computed to be 123,182 boys, and 93,389 girls, receiving daily instruction; and 67,101 boys, and 62,106 girls, taught on Sundays only: making a total of 345,778. In some places there has been an increase amounting to 5968 scholars, in others a decrease of 2589; leaving on the whole an increase of 3379 children, during the last year, in the old-established schools.

Since the year 1811, the National Society has expended (in addition to the Central Schools, &c.) about 74,500 for promoting the building or enlargement of school-rooms; and, in the same time, the occasional grants of the local societies have amounted to above 18,400. The daily schools in union cannot be conducted at an average expense of less than 40. a year, nor those with Sunday attendance only for less than 5%.: the annual expenditure, therefore, on schools in connexion with the National Society cannot

be less than 110,000l. a year. The total of grants since 1811 amounts to about 92,900.; and this expenditure has caused a sum of at least three times its amount to be applied to the same purposes. Since 1811, therefore, little less than 400,000l. has been expended in establishing schools, which now contain about 346,000 scholars; and these establishments are conducted at an annual expense of about 110,000. Surely no further argument

needs be urged to prove that the expectations of those who instituted the National Society have been abundantly realized nothing more needs be said to establish the powerful claims of that society upon the public, especially every member of the church, for support. Earnestly do we pray that the blessing of God may attend its labours, which are especially needed in this day of "rebuke and blasphemy."

GREAT BRITAIN.

WORKS in the press, and preparing for publication:-Lectures upon the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark; by the Lord Bishop of Chester;-The Errors of Romanism traced to their Origin in Human Nature; by the Rev. R. Whately, D.D.;-The Sunday Library; A Selection of Sermons from Divines of the Church of England; by the Rev. T. F. Dibdin, D.D.;-Ruchat's History of the Reformation in Switzerland; translated by the Rev. J. Brackenbury ;-Knox's History of the Reformation, with an Introduction; by W. M'Gavin ; - Hall's Contemplations, with an Essay; by the Rev. R. Wardlaw, D.D.; -Help to Christians; by the Rev. J. Barr ;-Sermons; by the late Rev. B. Scott ;-Divarication of the New Testament into Doctrine and His. tory; by T. Wirgman ;-Roxobel; by Mrs. Sherwood;-" The Annals of my Village; a Calendar of Nature; by the Author of Select Female Biography;"The Life and Diary of Ebenezer Erskine, of the Secession Church; by the Rev. D. Kennaway.

In the history of maritime discovery, in Dr. Lardner's Cyclopædia, is mentioned the following alleged anticipatiou of steam navigation. In 1543, Blasco de Garay, a captain of a ship, offered to the emperor Charles V. to construct a machine capable of propelling large vessels without sails or oars. In spite of the opposition which his project met with, the emperor consented to witness the experiment; and it was made accordingly in the port of Barcelona. Garay would not uncover his machinery or shew it publicly; but it was evident that it consisted of a caldron of boiling water, and of two wheels set in

motion by that means, and applied externally on each side of the vessel. Notwithstanding some objections raised against the invention, one of which was the danger of explosion, the emperor promoted Garay, gave him a sum of money, besides paying the expenses of the experiment, and shewed him other favours; but he was too much engrossed with other matters to prosecute the discovery.

The "Journal of a Naturalist" mentions the following proof of the extraordinary strength of some insects." The employ of the Dorr Beetle is to mine holes in the soil, and this no weak animal could accomplish; but the strength of this beetle almost exceeds credibility. Man effects his objects by the reasonings of his mind, mechanical agencies, or the strength of others had he depended upon mere animal power to accomplish his wishes, in order to equal the means of a common beetle, he would raise his body from an incumbent pressure of perhaps twenty

tons!

Our glow-worm requires all its faculties. These are but lowly things to converse upon, creatures fashioned beneath in the earth; yet, hallowed by their Creator's hand, they manifest his omniscience, and we cannot but revere his wisdom and goodness."

The same entertaining work notices the following instance of insect adaptations as shewing the wisdom of the Creator. "Cut out this morning, from an old oaken rail, the nest of a carpenter bee. It merits attention, because it seems to be a construction upon which more than usual foresight has been manifested-it not being merely an asylum in which the young may be matured in quiet, but secured against external annoyance from its most destructive enemy by a contrivance

so unusual and effective, that it appears formed from the result of a reasoning upon probabilities. This creature-a short, stout, plain bee-mines a tubular channel into some decayed woody substance--a post, pail, or such thing-boring in the direction of the fibre, making her repository at the bottom, being sufficiently deep for her purpose. She cuts from the leaf of a rose several large pieces, often in half, conveying them to the bottom of her cave, and rolling them up so as to form a case; in this she deposits an egg. The mouth of the cave is then covered with five or six circular patches of leaves; fragments of wood like saw-dust are then lodged over them, and the remainder of this channel filled up with other patches of the leaf, requiring, perhaps, twenty or more to accomplish it. All these layers and saw-dust are designed to secure the larva from punctures by the ichneumon fly."

Mr. Gleig, in his History of India, recently published, thus alludes to the origin of the East-India Company. It was no sooner known in London that the Dutch had penetrated beyond the Cape of Good Hope, than the English merchants determined to keep pace with their rivals. An association was formed in 1599, a fund raised by subscription, and renewed application was made for the royal sanction. After many difficulties, in December 1600, the petitioners were erected into a corporation, vested by charter with the power of purchasing lands without limitation; and the privilege of an exclusive trade for fifteen years, to Asia, Africa, and America, beyond the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan. Such was the feeble commencement of a power which now holds sovereign sway over India. Two hundred and fifteen persons composed the company, and the capital with which they prepared to engage in their novel enterprise amounted barely to 70,000. With this they fitted out four ships and a pinnace, freighted with cloth, lead, tin, cutlery, glass, and bullion, which sailed from Torbay, in May 1601.

We have ascertained that the Georgian manuscript mentioned in our Number for October, p. 644, has not been collated by Scholz.

SPAIN.

The emancipation of the Spanish colonies having deprived the heirs of Columbus of their property, the last descendant and representative, the young Duke of Veragues, was reduced to extreme poverty; but the Spanish government has allowed

him an indemnity of 24,000 dollars. In his greatest want he refused large sums offered him for various documents in his possession relative to his family, and particularly the autographs of his illustrious

ancestor.

ITALY.

A lady in Paris has procured the translation into Italian of several English reli. gious tracts, which have been printed at Florence, Sienna, Naples and Rome, with the imprimatur and nil obstat of the ecclesiastical censors. Among them is "La Perdita del Kent." English travellers in Italy will do well to avail themselves of these useful manuals for distribution. MALTA.

A missionary who lately visited Malta writes:

"One thing that strikes the stranger in Malta is the number and attire of the priests, who are seen at all times in the streets, and are of all ages and sizes, from old men of seventy to boys of twelve or fifteen. I know not but they constitute a tenth of the whole population. The images are another object of attention; and, to a Protestant, of disgust too. In almost every corner, over almost every church door, and in many other places, you are forced to behold a carved and painted image, either of the Saviour, the Virgin Mary, or some departed saint. I must not forget the beggars. We never walk to and from the city without being saluted_by numbers of them. Sometimes they beg for the soul of your father, your mother, for your brother or sister; sometimes for the souls in purgatory, without specifying the individuals."

that of Shishak, who captured Jerusalem and pillaged the Temple! A portrait of Rehoboam in the nineteenth century! And yet these fancies boast not a few converts.

UNITED STATES.

In the State of Ohio, forty years ago there was not a White inhabitant to be found; none but Indians in the most rude state of savage life. Now there are upwards of a million of inhabitants.

According to the late Governor Jay's will, instead of the useless expense of scarfs and rings at his funeral, two hundred dollars were distributed for purposes of charity.

At the anniversary meeting of the Nassau-Hall Temperance Society, at the College Hall in Princeton, animated addresses were made by several of the professors and students of the college and theological seminary, and some melancholy facts were communicated respecting the ravages of intemperance among professional men. One of the professors stated that he had recently been engaged in preparing a new catalogue of the alumni for publication; and that, in order to ascertain the deaths and other changes which had occurred since the last was issued, he had been under the necessity of making numerous inquiries, and "he had been astounded, and most deeply pained, to find the ravages which intemperance had in a few years made among the graduates of the institution. In some instances, as many as onefourth of large classes had fallen sacrifices to the devouring monster, and some of them under the most afflictive and heartrending circumstances." Similar statements apply to the principal colleges in the United Sates. The students at Princeton have passed resolutions expressing their hope that every student of every college and seminary of learning in the United States will set an example of entire abstinence from every kind of ardent spirits.

A letter from Dr. Milnor appears in the American newspapers, in which he describes his visit to England. Among other things, he says,—

"I have scarcely ever dined abroad without having an opportunity urged upon me in the way of Scripture exposition and prayer; and all the nights I have spent at villas in the country have been consecrated by an attention to those duties, before retirement to rest. In some of the most splendid mansions, in retiring to the drawing-room, I have found on the table in the centre of the room, a Bible and hymn-books numerous enough for all present; and the

evening has been closed with singing and Scripture reading, and exposition, and prayer. It is delightful to see noblemen, and church dignitaries, and laymen of the first eminence in the community, thus fearlessly and fervently devoting themselves to the offices of Christian piety and devotion in this humble way. The public meetings are differently conducted in one respect from ours.

Most of our addresses

smell of the lamp, having all the stateliness and accuracy of prepared compositions. Here, on the contrary, they appear with very few exceptions, at least as to language, the effusions of the moment. If less elegant and precise, they are, nevertheless, in London, more full of animation and fire than in New-York; and if the report of them in the publications of the day place the speakers here in an inferior light to ours, (who generally furnish the manuscript from which their addresses have been committed,) they are abundantly more stirring and interesting in the delivery. The universal habit alluded to of extemporaneous speaking relieved me from much trouble.".

The illiberal prejudice that the Indians are incapable of religion or civilization, which has been long the current excuse for every species of injustice and cruelty towards them, is beginning to give way before the evidence of facts. Mr. Ward, the UnitedStates agent for the Choctaws, says,—“I have been the agent for this tribe since the year 1820, and have been most of the time since in the nation. I have no hesitation in saying, that the improvements in their general habits of life have far exceeded my expectations, particularly within the last two or three years. The nation begin to live like White people, and they dress quite decently at public collections. They begin to raise plenty of stock of all kinds, and have generally supplied (in part) the neighbouring Whites with pork and beef. Much has been done for this nation by preventing ardent spirits from being brought into the nation."

Captain Johnson says,—

"I have been acquainted with the Choctaw tribe of Indians for about fifteen years past, and am satisfied that their means of living by the chase have much declined; but that they have been gradually and pretty generally improved in the art of making clothing and subsistence from the cultivation of the earth. They have also imbibed a disposition for more regular government, and have discarded most of their former barbarous and ernel usages of