not be highly proper for all the prayer meetings in the country to have a special remembrance of our large cities? If all the praying hearts in our land were fervently engaged in their behalf, those fountains of guilty influence would be healed, and would send forth continual streams to make glad the people of God. S. D.

WANE OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE.

In a letter from an American in Constantinople I lately noticed the following remark-that that devoted city "seemed to be given over to three instruments of destruction; fire, the plague, and the sword." This remark reminded me of a kind of prediction of the late Dr. Trumbull. In a sermon which he preached at the beginning of the present century in which he reviewed the history of the century which had then just closed, after speaking of the downward destiny of the "Romish Antichrist," he speaks of the great seat of Mahommedan power as follows. "The Turkish empire, the other great opposer of God and persecutor of the saints, will fall with the harlot of Babylon. The judgments of God in the century past, and at present, are remarkably upon it, and it is not less rapidly declining than the papal interest. Constantinople has been eighteen times on fire, the last century, in which more than 120,000 houses, besides other buildings, were burnt, with 8000 inhabitants. In 1750 it was visited with the plague, in which it lost 7000 people. The next year it was almost destroyed by an earthquake, in which 3000 more perished. Other principal cites and extensive countries have been overthrown, and in a manner ruined, by earthquakes. In 1752, the city of Adrianople, the second in opulence and population in the empire, was the greatest part of it destroy

ed by an earthquake. In 1754, Grand Cairo had two thirds of its buildings shaken down, and 10,000 people swallowed up. In 1755, Fez, in Morocco, was half destroyed by an earthquake, and 12,000 Arabs were buried in its ruins. A few years since, that part of the country was almost desolated by the plague. The plague at several times, in various parts of the empire, hath swept away vast numbers of its inhabitants. Russia has made important conquests within it, and greatly impoverished and weakened the Turks. The French, in their invasion and conquest of Egypt and the adjacent countries, have slain a prodigious number of people."

The empire still exhibits a similar history. The reader of the newspapers since the commencement of the present century, will remember frequent accounts of wasting pestilence and conflagration, and earthquakes, in various parts of the empire; and not to mention these, there have been political changes and revolutions which have successively weakened the power of the realm. Such were the revolutions of 1807 and 8, in which, within the compass of a few months, two Sultans were deposed and a third placed upon their unstable and despotic throne. Such was the revolt of Ali Pacha, which withdrew from the government between one and two millions of subjects, with half a million pounds of revenue. Recently the Porte has been reluctantly compelled to relax its grasp on Wallachia and Moldavia. Egypt has long been regarded as of doubtful loyalty, and still adheres to the empire apparently more from motives of present interest than from any permanent principle of attachment. The late disorganization of the Janizaries has been attended with the destruction of a great number of those formidable instruments of

Mahommedan despotism; the present war of Greece is supposed to have wasted the lives of more than 200,000 Turks; and has become the means of uniting the three great powers of Christendom against them; a union which, according to present appearances, threatens the political existence of the empire.

These are some of the symptoms of the decay of the power of the false prophet; and though from such data we cannot certainly reason respecting the purposes of God, yet it does seem as if he designed ere long to remove out of the way, that great barrier to the spread of Christ's kingdom through the earth. OBSERVER.

P. S. Just as I had finished the last sentence, news comes of the entire destruction of the Turkish fleet by the combined fleet of the English, French, and Russians, and at this moment bells, bands of music, and the shouts of citizens, fill our streets with rejoicing for the Greeks. May God grant that this may be one great step in that design of which I have spoken above.

PASCAL'S PROVINCIAL LETTERS.

PERMIT an individual, through your medium, to call the attention of the public, and especially of booksellers, to the expediency of an American edition of the above work. I believe it is not to be found in our bookstores, and the English edition is extremely dear. I know of but one copy in this country, procured a few years since from England. The object of the book is professedly to unveil Jesuitism; but it is to all practical purposes at the present day, a most admirable antidote to Popery, though written by a Catholic. And such an antidote is now needed in some parts of this country, as very special efforts are now making, and with some success, to make proselytes to that re

ligion.

The work too is well worthy of an edition here on the score of its literary and historical merits. It is the finest production of confessedly one of the first geniuses that ever wrote. The wit by which it is enlivened, is at once innocent and inimitable. I have no doubt of the ready sale of a tolerably cheap edition. It ought to be within the reach of all reading men, and every clergyman especially should have it. For a knowledge of the dark, intriguing, and hypocritical part of which human nature is susceptible, this is the book. The style in which it is written is excellent, and the whole tenor of the work such as a Protestant would approve.

V.

To the Editor of the Christian Spectator.

THERE is unquestionably too much reason for the remarks of your correspondent Antipas, in the Spectator for November, on "the defects of academical education, as they apply to the existence and growth of piety in students." I rejoice that the subject has fallen into the hands of one who, judging from the spirit he manifests, will not rest satisfied until the moral culture of students shall take that precedence of intellectual culture, which the Christian religion demands.

In efforts to accomplish this desirable change, however, it is important that the deficiencies of College Faculties in the religious instruction of students should not be exaggerated. "Respecting the degree of attention, which moral culture, on evangelical principles, is accustomed to receive at the common places of education, I am not aware," says Antipas, "that it is ever undertaken systematically, except so far as the exhibitions of the pulpit may be of this character." I can speak with confidence only in regard to one of the col

leges of our country. But in that one, justice requires that it should be stated what measures are adopted for the moral culture of the students, that the public may judge whether they are systematic. Besides the regular preaching in the College Chapel on the Sabbath, there is a religious meeting every Thursday evening, at which all the students are invited to attend. Every other week the President conducts this meeting, and delivers a regular, though extemporaneous discourse. The same is done each alternate week by the Professors in rotation. On Saturday evening, once in a fortnight, a meeting is appointed for the church, to be conducted by some member of the Faculty. The monthly concert is carried on by the officers of the college in succession; and he who conducts the meeting is expected to make special efforts before hand to prepare himself for the occasion. At the commencement of each term, the secretary of the Faculty hands a card to each member, containing a list of all the regular meetings he is to conduct during the session, and the time of their occurrence, and for those meetings each individual feels himself alone responsible. Besides these meetings, there is one holden weekly by the Faculty, solely for the purpose of learning the religious state of the college, devising means for the moral culture of the students, and praying for the divine guidance and blessing.

To provide for personal religious instruction, the students of the three lower classes, at the commencement of the year, are divided among the professors and tutors, so that each man shall have nearly an equal share. To that number, which falls to an individual, he is expected to pay particular attention, to learn their spiritual state by frequent conversation, to warn backsliders, to exhort the impeni

tent, comfort the feeble minded, and to encourage those in whom piety appears in vigorous exercise. The officers are expected to appoint Bible classes in their several divisions during such a portion of the year as they shall judge expedient. The particular oversight of of the senior class, as to their spiritual concerns, belongs to the President.

Antipas says, that the condition of academical honours is, if he mistakes not, "exclusively intellectual excellence." In the laws of one of our colleges, however, I find it written in regard to appointments for Commencement, that "in making such selections, as in awarding all other literary distinctions, special regard will be had to the moral conduct, punctuality, and orderly behaviour of the students, as well as to their classical attainments." And I am sure that this section has been thought binding upon the faculty of that college, and in making their appointments, they have had regard to the moral conduct, taking the term "moral" in a sense so wide, as to include the religious character. To make piety, however, the leading requirement in assigning college appointments, would be a more difficult task, than those who have had no experience on the subject imagine. Nor do I believe on any plan, it would add very much to the piety of a young man, to crown him very profusely with college honours. Facts show us alas! that you can scarcely take a surer course to lower the standard of his religion. The difficulty of which Antipas complains, under this head, can be avoided only by abolishing the existing system of college honors. Is not the day at hand, when the leading institutions of our land will have the courage to rid themselves of a scheme that fosters some of the worst passions of the human heart?

A- -ht.

I was glad to see the paper of ANTIPAS in the Christian Spectator for November. The degree of truth it contains, as well as the spirit with which it was written, will not, I trust, be unheeded. The writer appears to me, however, to have wanted a sufficient acquaintance with facts, as to the actual attention to religious instruction in our Colleges. I read his remarks with a reference to the particular College with which I am best acquainted. To that they did not appear to be applicable in their full extent; and I presume they will be found to be similarly inapplicable to others.

The "charge" he brings against Colleges is, "That intellectual culture uniformly takes precedence of moral culture; and that moral culture is rarely, if ever, undertaken systematically on the principles of Christianity." The first part of the charge he thinks is substantiated by a simple appeal to "the condition of academical honors, which, if he mistakes not, is exclusively intellectual excellence."

By intellectual culture taking precedence of moral, I suppose Antipas to mean, either that more time is devoted to literature and the sciences than to instruction in religion; or that learning is held up to the view of the students as of more importance than piety; or else simply, that religion does not receive that prominence which it should receive, in the midst of all human pursuits, and is not made the subject of that frequent and impressive inculcation, in season and out of season, which its importance demands. In the first of these senses the writer surely does not mean to be understood; the second is inconsistent with the character of the men who compose the faculties of most of the American Colleges, and so far as my acquaintance extends, is not agreeaVOL, II.-No. I.

understood in the third sense, then I fear there is too much ground for his complaint. Who indeed, that has the care of souls, is not deficient in this respect, whether he be a College professor or a parish minister? Yet it is true in regard to Colleges, that as the promotion of piety in them is peculiarly important, so there are peculiar temptations to neglect it. In this light the subject is one of more than ordinary interest, and is worthy of the best zeal of Antipas. I should be glad to see an essay, written with the most mature reflection, not only on the importance of religion in these institutions, but on the best means of promoting it. There are peculiar difficulties in the way of this object which are not apt to be obvious to those who look at it from a distance. That peculiar relation between a minister and his people which makes them so accessible to his counsels, is scarcely felt to subsist in a College. The young men come together from various parts of the country, and from various denominations, strangers to their instructor, as well as to one another, and by the time he becomes well acquainted with them and understands their peculiar prejudices and habits, they have passed beyond his influence. Their influence, too, upon one anotherI speak of those who are not religious-is such as to hinder rather than to favor personal intercourse with them on the subject of religion. Again, some of our Colleges by their original constitution, and others by an implied pledge to the public, are bound to use no sectarian influence. Their pupils are of various denominations, and their friends at home are keeping a jealous watch over them, lest they should be proselyted from the tenets in which they have been educated. This is another circumstance which embarrasses the sub

:

ject of religious instruction in Colleges it is a circumstance which creates a frequent doubt, probably in the mind of a conscientious professor, as to the kind and degree of religious influence he is permitted to exert. But these things, though they tend to embarrass the faithful discharge of duty, do in no degree excuse the neglect of it. They are not mentioned as an apology for such neglect, but only as matters of fact which should not be left out of view in a considerate discussion of the subject of Antipas's paper.

In respect to the condition of College honors, Antipas appears to be under a wrong impression. It is not true of all, I presume it is not of any, of our Colleges, that they profess to bestow their laurels on "intellectual excellence" merely. The candidate for honor may not be, as he supposes, an "infidel or a pagan" and "have no small luxuriance of vice about him" and yet be honored with the same distinction to which his attainments as a scholar simply might entitle him. In the College of which I was a member, so well understood was the influence of moral character on the distribution of appointments, that it was a subject of complaint; and one ambitious canditate, who was known to be secretly wicked then, as he has been openly wicked since, actually affected piety, with a view to raise himself in the estimation of the Faculty. With this fact in view, what higher place among the qualifications for Collegiate distinction, would A. give religion or morality. And if it were practicable to set up an inquisition to test the hearts of students, would he think it expedient publicly to crown a young man and "reward him openly," with academical distinctions, for his faithfulness in his closet rather than at his desk; and this too for the purpose of promoting in him, and in others, the

unambitious graces of the Christian. While literary honors are bestowed at all in our Colleges, it must be admitted, I think, that they are bestowed on proper principles. Whether it would not be well to dispense with them altogether, is a question I shall not at present examine.

The second position in the charge which Antipas brings is, "that moral culture is rarely if ever undertaken systematically.' How this may be in respect to the Colleges generally, or how much may be meant by the term systematic, I cannot tell. In the College to which I have referred, I am not aware that there is any digested system of religious instruction and influence. The students are strictly required to attend public worship in the Chapel-or elsewhere if they belong to other denominations. The Professor of Divinity is expected, and I believe required by the laws of the College, to preach about half of the time on the Sabbath in a systematic course of Theology; so that during a four years' residence, the attentive student will have heard a discussion of all the fundamental doctrines of the word of God. The remaining portion of time may be devoted to miscellaneous and practical subjects. It is this requisition which has given to the world one of the most popular systems of divinity it has ever enjoyed. Besides the instructions of the pulpit, there are several stated meetings in the week, some of which are conducted by members of the Faculty. Two of these meetings have been regularly continued for probably more than half a century, and have often been, as the writer well remembers, places of the deepest interest. The labors of the Faculty are not confined to meetings. It is but justice to some of them to say, that they have sought out such as were accessible to personal religious coun