RELIGIOUS.

Review of a Sermon, entitled "The Christian Bishop approving himself unto God in reference to the present state of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States." Preached by Bishop Hobart, at the Consecration of Henry U. Onderdonk, D.D. Assistant Bishop of Pennsylvania. By William Wisner, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, N. Y. 8vo. pp. 32. Ithaca: 1828.

A Sermon, preached at Woodstock, Vt. Nov. 28,1827, at the Ordination of the Rev. John Richards, as Pastor of the Congregational Church and Society in that place. By Bennet Tyler, D.D., President of Dartmouth College. 8vo. pp. 17. Woodstock: 1827.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Letter from a Gentleman in Boston to a Unitarian Clergyman in that city. Seoond edition. pp. 20, 12mo. Boston.

An Address on Female Education, delivered Nov. 21, 1827, at the opening of the Edifice erected for the accommodation of the Hartford Female Seminary.

By T. H. Gallaudet, Principal of the the Deaf and Dumb. Published at the American Asylum for the education` of request of the Trustees. Hartford. ly done to supply the destitute in the State of New Jersey, with the Sacred Scriptures. Published at the request of the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Bible Society. 8vo. pp. 38. 1927. Scripture Natural History of Birds, Insects, &c.; with Reflections designed for young. By Henry Athland. 2 vols. Hartford D. F. Robinson & Co.

A Statement of what has been recent

the

Gentleman in Boston to a Unitarian ClerReply and Review of "a Letter of a gyman of that city.

First Annual Report of the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance. 8vo. pp. 67. Andover: 1826.

Fine Arts: A Reply to Article, No. LVIII, in the North American Review, entitled Academies of Arts, &c. By Samuel F. B. Morse, President of the National Academy of Design. 8vo. pp. 15. New-York: G. & C. Carvill. 1828.

Cora; or the Genius of America. 18mo. pp. 260. Philadelphia: E. Little. 1828.

The Humors of Eutopia: a Tale of Colonial Times. By an Utopian. 2 vols. 12mo. Philadelphia: 1828.

RELIGIOUS.

The last Missionary Herald contains a Retrospective View of what has been done in the great work of evangelizing the world. The article is longer than we can well afford room for in our Record, but on perusing it for the purpose of selecting, we find but little that we are willing to omit. It is valuable particularly as it gives in one view the present state of benevolent operations; and it will serve as a reference with which to compare these operations in their future progress.

The fires of Christianity, which have been kindled by missionaries in various parts of INDIA, have been seen, the past year, to flame in many places, with increasing lustre. From Culna,-a po

pulous city, a day's journey northward of Calcutta, and in the midst of a populous country where a thousand children have been taught in Christian schools,-we have heard of a written petition from the principal inhabitants for a Christian missionary to reside among them. Ten miles farther north is the town of Burdwan, where the Church Missionary Society has established a seminary for native boys, around which, in contiguous villages, are fifteen mission-schools, containing eleven hundred youths. We have heard, that a ed Christian instruction. At Dinagevillage in this vicinity has also requestpore, Monghyr, and Benares-the last of these the ancient seat of brahminical learning, and the "holy city" of their religion, and all of them in the interior of India,-we have seen animating evidence of a progressive Christian influ

ence: and we have learned that the late bishop Heber, in a single tour through the upper provinces, had personal intercourse with more than two hundred native converts, the result of missionary exertion, and yet saw less than half of such as are connected with only the episcopal missions in those provinces.

year.

Travelling south from Calcutta, we pass through a village, a few miles distant from that city, of which interesting accounts were received a year ago. These have been confirmed the past It is now rendered certain, that the inhabitants of Rammakalchoke have destroyed the image of their idol god, demolished his temple, and of the materials of that temple erected a substantial Christian church.-Proceeding down the eastern side of peninsular India, we enter the country where the apostolic Swartz labored fifty years as a missionary. Here, under his ministrations, more than 6,000 natives were induced to forsake idolatry; and the past year we have seen it stated in the correspondence of bishop Heber, who visited Tanjore, and is an unexceptionable witness, that this number has since been increased, and that the brahmins find difficulty in procuring votaries enough to speed the pondereus wheels of their idolatrous cars through the deep lanes of that fertile country.

Advancing still farther south, a more interesting scene opens. What we heard and stated a year ago, has since been amply illustrated and confirmed. More than one thousand families, in the district of southern India, called Palamcottah, have lately renounced idolatry, and assemble, every Sabbath day, in more than a hundred villages, to learn the way of salvation through the Gospel. At one village, the missionary was conducted to a former temple of idolatry converted into a Christian sanctuary, and saw the idol of stone, which several generations had worshipped, lying outside, rejected, despised, and to be no more revered. Nor was this by any means a solitary instance. Numerous idols had been destroyed, and several idol temples either demolished, or consecrated to the worship of the true God. And this was in INDIA, where some affirm that missions have failed!

After remarking that a fatal blow has probably been given, the past year, to the horrid practice of burning widows on the funeral piles of their husbands, we cross the straits of Manaar, to the island of CEYLON.

On this island, containing a million and a half of souls, about thirty missionaries are employed, and so great an impression is making on idolatry, by their joint labors, that, as the Methodist missionaries believe, the time cannot be remote when the entire population shall be rescued from the superstitions of Buddhism, and its dark and polluting system of demon worship.

We next direct our attention far to the north, to a line of GERMAN COLONIES Skirting the northern shores of the Black Sea and the northern frontier of Turkey, even to the borders of Persia. These colonies have been brought out to our view the past year. They have been planted during the last twentyfive years, and have carried with them the seeds of Christianity. We have heard, that a missionary society in Germany has sent evangelical ministers among them, to fan the flames of piety, and prepare a Christian influence to be exerted on the neighboring millions of Russia, and Persia, and Turkey.

Turning our eyes now to that interesting region, which was anciently the dwelling place of the church of God, what do we behold? The inhabitants of Mount LEBANON-comparatively a hardy, courageous, and intelligent people-become so sensitive to the approach of truth, that the missionaries at Beyroot are obliged to restrain themselves from travelling, lest the country be thrown into uproar-as Ephesus was, by the apostle Paul; and yet, in their houses, they find full occupation in conversing with such, as brave the terrors of spiritual excommunication to call upon them. We almost tremble to hear again from that land, lest some of the messengers of our churches may have fallen beneath the scimetar of the Turk, or the dagger of the vengeful papist of the mountain.

We have heard, also, that GREECE, through the merciful providence of the Lord of armies, is virtually free, and we shall watch with solicitude, during the present year, to see if the gifted minds of her population can be rendered accessible to the influence of the

Gospel. The same great event, which broke the chains of Greece, shook, algo, the power of the Moslem in Europe; and we shall probably know this year, whether the baleful flood, which has so long spread desolation over the fairest portion of Asia, is to be speedily rolled back, and lay open the Seven Churches to the reanimating influence of the Sun of Righteousness.

And now, leaving Asia and Europe, let us look for a moment to AFRICA, and observe the indications of favor to that abused continent.

In the north-eastern part of it, and south of Egypt, lies ABYSSINIA, where the Gospel was planted by missionaries from Egypt, before the age of Mahommed. God, in his providence, preserved this people from the conquering sword of that impostor. During twelve centuries, though scarcely known to the rest of the Christian world, they have preserved a nominal Christianity, and have received their patriarchs from the Coptic, or ancient Christian church of Egypt. But lately, on account of the intemperance and other vices of their patriarch, he was expelled from the country, the alliance of forty generations with the Coptic church was broken off, and a messenger was sent to Egypt to request a spiritual head from the Armenians. Saying nothing of this movement in Abyssinia in favour of sound morals, behold the good providence of God in regard to their messenger. He comes to Egypt just as missionaries had arrived there from England, destined for Abyssiniameets with them-forms an acquaintance with them over the New-Testament becomes attached to them-accompanies them and one of our missionaries to Syria-resides in the mission families at Beyroot, and observes their manner of life, faith, long-suffering, charity-becomes acquainted with pious Armenians in those familiesgives evidence himself of possessing humble, devoted piety-invites the missionaries, destined for his country, to accompany him on his return-and offers them all the protection he can give them by the way, and an introduction to his countrymen. Now be hold the favor of God towards Africa: first, in preserving even a nominal Christian church in such a central position as Abyssinia; and secondly, in

sending such a man into Egypt, and on such a message, and at such a time; and in sending missionaries to meet him, though they knew it not; and in leading him to such a full acquaintance with the nature, design, purity, and excellence of protestant missions.

Let us turn our eyes to the other side of Africa,- -to its WESTERN SHORES. The intelligence of the last year seems to place beyond reasonable Controversy the practicability and usefulness of colonising western Africa with a Christian population of free colored people. This is not all. The researches of the colony in Liberia have made us acquainted with a most interesting field of missionary labor in that country, and a society in Germany, and three societies in the United States have already resolved to take possession of it.-And how blessed will be the day, when missionaries from Liberia, and missionaries from Abyssinia, shall meet each other, for the first time, on the healthful table-lands of Central Africa!

From SOUTHERN AFRICA, we have heard, the past year, that about thirty missionary stations are there occupied; and if they flourish the present year as they have hitherto, some thousands of Hottentots and Caffres, who have been raised from the lowest depth of degradation, and collected into orderly and respectable villages, will, under the fostering influence of schools and a Christian ministry, make further advances in the career of civilization and social enjoyment.

We now take our departure from the eastern continents, and direct our attention, for a moment, to the ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC, on the other side of the globe.

And first to the ISLANDS IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC.-The intelligence of the past year enables us to say, definitively and positively, that the influence of Christian missions has driven idolatry entirely from twenty-one islands. Their inhabitants are no more alarmed by the noise of war, nor by the shriek of victims immolated on the altars of demons: and they have been taught to read, and write, and to make provision for the necessities, the decencies, and the comforts of life. Some thousands have been introduced into the Christian church upon a credible profession of piety.

When one island had received the gospel, its inhabitants had exerted themselves to send it to another. The intelligence of the past year states, that a missionary society of one group, and that not the largest, contributed in a single year, of the productions of the country, to the value of more than a thousand dollars; that thirty pious natives had gone as missionary teachers to islands and a people, which to them were strange and foreign; and that thirteen missionary stations are occupied by native missionaries alone.

From our own mission at the SANDWICH ISLANDS, We have heard of animating success among the natives, and of bitter opposition from foreign residents and visitants;-which opposition, however, has been the means of making the existence and prosperity of the mission known to thousands in this country and in England, who otherwise might have remained in ignorance respecting it; and so the wrath of man has been overruled for good.

We are now about to end our long, but delightful pilgrimage through the world, in survey of the divine goodness and of the progress of the reign of right

eousness.

It is but a little distance from the Sandwich Islands to the WESTERN SHORES OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT, on which we hope to see a missionary station within two years. From thence crossing the Rocky Mountains, and coming four hundred miles this side-but at a distance from us of more than half the space to the Pacific ocean -we may be surprised at hearing the songs of Zion, where, perhaps, we were trembling lest we should hear the warcry of the savage of the wilderness. At that remote distance, the American Board of Missions has missionary stations. After we had travelled still farther towards the abode of civilized life, we should find other missionaries, and might cheer our minds by intercourse with pious natives of the forest. There we should hear, if we had not heard before, that the venerable Indian, the father of Catherine Brown, and of four or five others who are believed to be members of the household of faith, died in peace, the past year, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.

*Among the Osages. At Dwight.

In our progress eastward, we should cross the Mississippi, and then should find the benevolent missionaries, with their schools and preaching houses, occupying numerous spots in the wide forest. In less than a month, we might visit, perhaps, twenty of these interesting stations.

Among the CHOCTAWS we should find, in many of their families, books in their own language. And if we inquired how. and when they were obtained, and who gave their language a written form? we should be informed, that these books were prepared by missionaries, that their language was reduced to writing by missionaries, that the books were printed for them by a missionary society, and that most of them were prepared during the past year.

Among the CHEROKEES, if we arrived early in the present year, we might find a printing press erecting in the midst of the wilderness, but at the seat of their now regularly organized government-a printing press, purchased by the Cherokees themselves, and to be conducted by one of their own people;-who had been, however, taught by the missionaries, and became hopefully a child of God in consequence of their labors.

We have now returned from our wide survey into the bosom of our own country.-In respect to that, the past year has been more remarkable, than any one that has preceded. Never a year commenced with so many revivals of religion. They were not confined to one district, or State, but were in almost all the States and districts of the land. How many were added to the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ in consequence of them, we have not the means of knowing;--probably more than 50,000-perhaps 100,000.

The year has also been remarkable for great designs in Christian beneyolence; and as remarkable for their prompt and rapid execution. The standard of devotedness, of self-denial, of Christian activity, has risen greatly. Many men have subscribed a thousand dollars a year, who before were content with subscribing an hundred. The Bible cause has received a mighty impulse. It has already been resolved in six States, that those States shall shortly be supplied with the Bible, and the example is exerting a strong influence.

It has been resolved in one State, to raise forty thousand dollars, in two years, to furnish schools, teachers, and missionaries for its destitute places; and this example will doubtless be followed. What are to be the events of the coming year, we know not; but our expectations are raised. The demand upon our prayers, our liberality, and our exertions, will doubtless be great; and so, also, will be the reward.

Missions of the American Board.The following summary of the operations of this Society, as given in the Herald for January, presents us with forty-one stations, occupied either in countries where the Gospel has not before been proclaimed, or where it had been obscured and perverted by the corruptions of declining ages. At these stations, laborers are employed in the numbers and proportions stated in the following table.

Ministers of the Gospel, (in the survey called Missionaries,)

Physicians, (besides one who is also

the syllabic alphabet was the invention of a Cherokee. Presses are owned and employed by the missions at Bombay, in Ceylon, in Western Asia, and at the Sandwich Islands. The printing for the Choctaws has been executed in Ohio. Among the Cherokees, the printing for the mission will be performed at a press belonging to the Cherokee government.

We have not the means of exactly estimating the amount of printing in the several missions. The following table may be regarded as exhibiting a near approximation to accuracy.

At Bombay, in the Mahratta language, previous to 1827; general size, 8vo, average number of pages in a copy, 47;—

For the mission, For others,

At Malta, previous to 1826;--In Modern Greek; 12mo and

No. of copies.

181,210 25,500

-206,710

a clergyman,)

Teachers,

Printers,

Farmers,

Mechanics,

41

4

27

3

17

6

200

Whole number,

Several of the clergymen acquired, before leaving this country, a considerable knowledge of the medical and surgical arts. One, who is enumerated among the physicians, is also a licensed preacher, and all are employed more or less in the business of instruction. A few of the teachers have received licensure to preach the Gospel.

The number of pupils in the schools connected with the stations, is not less than 30,000; and about 500 native teachers are employed in them. Not far from 300 persons have been received into the mission churches.

The missionaries will employ the press, during the present year, for the dissemination of knowledge in nine languages; the Mahratta, Tamul, Italian, Greek, Armenian, Arabic, Hawaiian, Choctaw, and Cherokee. The Hawaiian and Choctaw languages they were the first to reduce to writing; and the same is true of the Cherokee, so far as the English alphabet is used:

At the Sandwich Islands,in Hawaiian, previous to 1827; average number of pages 18; 18mo,

Whole number of copies,

130,000

426,360

The New Testament in Mahratta, printed in different portions, is included in the above estimate. The printing in the Choctaw language consists chiefly of elementary school books, scripture extracts, and religious biography: the number of copies not reported. The printing in Cherokee will com mence soon after the erection of the native press in the Cherokee country, which will be early in the present year.

American Jews Society.-The Board of Directors of this Society have purchased a farm of 500 acres, in the town of New-Paltz, on the margin of the