or delivered, any meat, pudding, pie, or tuals, at any time after half past one in the afternoon of that day, or in any other manner exercise the trade of a baker, save and except so far as may be necessary in setting and superintending the sponge to prepare the dough for the following day's baking; and that no meat, pudding, pie, &c. shall be brought to, or taken from, any bakehouse during Divine Service in the church of that parish or place, where the same is situated, nor within a quarter of an hour of the commencement thereof:" Conviction to be before one justice on view, or oath of one witness, or on confession;-penalty for first offence 5s. -for a second offence not exceeding 10s. -and for every subsequent one not exceeding 15s.; with the costs and expenses of prosecution to be assessed by the justice, &c.

By 55 GEO. III. c. 99, it is further provided that no baker within the bills of mortality, or ten miles of the Royal Exchange, shall bake bread or rolls on Sundays, nor sell bread nor bake meat, &c., except from nine till two, under the penalty of 10s. for the first offence,-20s. for the second,-and 40s. for the third and every subsequent offence. This statute extends the time of delivering bakings until half past two o'clock; which unfortunately, however, in London is often extended till five o'clock.

Notwithstanding the various statutes which have been thus recapitulated; notwithstanding 21 GEO. III. c. 49, which declares, that no house, room, or other place, shall on the LORD's-Day be opened for PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT or for any DEBATING SOCIETIES; and notwithstanding 13 GEO. III. c. 80, s. 4, which prohibits KILLING GAME on that day; it is universally admitted, and by the wise and good it is deeply deplored, that the LORD'S-Day IS OPENLY PROFANED.

What is the reason for such conduct? It is certain that the true reason is a want of moral feeling and of religious principle. But as such defect is only to be gradually remedied by the blessings of GOD on the preaching of the Gospel, the diffusion of knowledge, the circulation of the Scriptures, Sabbath Schools, and the dispersion of religious Tracts, is it not also necessary to inquire whether it be not the duty of the religious public, to endeavour, in the mean time, to obtain the enactment of a law,-not by which persons shall be compelled to assume the appearance of devotion, or against their inclination to attend at any place of religious worship,—but by which the tradesman, the merchant, the artificer, the shopkeeper, shall be legally prevented from setting at defiance the basis

of all the laws by which his country is governed, and from flagitiously trading on a day which the dictates of common decency, the usage of all ages and christianized countries, and the laws of GOD, have required to be observed as a day of abstinence from business, and indeed of attention to religion.

How is this object to be effected? This question has been variously answered. Some individuals have proposed the establishment of PERMANENT SOCIETIES to enforce the laws, as PROSECUTIONSOCIETIES. To such institutions, however, others urge many objections; and it has been said by a Dignitary of the Church; "Let laws be powerful, explicit, and intelligible; let the penalties be decided and adequate; and let their recovery be rendered simple; but when such laws are passed, let their enforcement be entrusted to the people whom they are designed to govern, and let the virtnous and the good remember it is their IMPERATIVE DUTY to enforce them."

By others it has been said, shut up all shops, and all public-houses,-prohibit all baking,-suppress Sunday news-papers, -prevent all travelling,-and compet persons to attend at some place of public worship, under a severe penalty. But these propositions have only been met by reproach or ridicule. By endeavouring to effect too much, no good has resulted, and whilst the evil has been again and again deplored, the remedies proposed have been either deemed hostile to liberty, or impracticable and absurd.

Impressed, however, with the propriety of calmly investigating the state of the laws, and of endeavouring to effect, in the first instance, the prevention of TRADING on a Sunday, without immediate reference to any of the other evils which exist, and which should, in due time, receive the consideration of the Legislature; some benevolent individuals have determined on forming a TEMPORARY ASSOCIATION, (NOT A PERMANENT SoCIETY,) for the purpose of such investigation, and of obtaining some alterations in the present laws on the subject. Those individuals consist of Clergymen of the Church of England, of Dissenting Ministers, and of Lay Gentlemen of all religious denominations. Their number at present is twenty-five, but they are desirous of increasing it to fifty; and they avail themselves of this opportunity to invite the assistance of all religious denominations, and especially of the Clergy and Dissenting Ministers residing in or near London, to further this important object.

By the measure they propose, no violation of the great principles of civil and religious liberty can occur. Those principles they venerate and love, and would be among the last to curtail. Their views are definite, and limited. They are temperate, yet firm; and whilst on the one hand they will endeavour, by every fair and legitimate method, to obtain their object, they respect the Constitution and the Laws of their country.

From several persons of high station and influence, they expect to derive the most important assistance, and, thus supported, eventually to conduct to a successful termination a measure as important and necessary, as to the licentious and profligate it will be irksome:

From their friends in the country, and especially from Ministers residing in large towns or cities, they invite information and assistance; and to them they intimate that when the measure shall be introduced to Parliament, if PETITIONS from all parts of the Kingdom should be found necessary, they fully rely on their activity and energy.

All communications are to be addressed to MR.JOHN WILKS, JUN., SOLICITOR, 36, NEW BROAD-STREET, who will submit them to the Committee; and it is unnecessary to add, that promises of pecuniary aid will be particularly important.

When a PUBLIC MEETING of the friends of religion and good order is convened, (which will probably take place in MAY,) the measure will be minutely explained,—the probable amount of the expense stated, and every information afforded which can be desired. In the mean time, they entreat their friends throughout the kingdom to implore the blessing of GoD on their efforts, and to afford them all the assistance and encouragement which they so eminently require, and thus earnestly entreat. 36, New Broad-Street,

March 20th, 1822.

DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS TRACTS.-The diffusion of Christian Knowledge by this method, has, within the last twelve months, increased, in various circuits of our Connexion, in a degree which really surprises while it delights us. We cannot but think that the special guidance of Divine Providence has conducted our friends to these laudable exertions. Religious feeling is most likely to be influential and permanent, when it is connected with the instruction of the judgment in the truths of religion. Extracts from a few of the Letters which have lately reached us, on this subject, are incorporated in a Paper

which will be found at p. 228 of this Number, and to which we respectfully direct the attention of our friends. Other similar accounts from Louth, Richmond, &c., might have been added; but our limits prohibited further enlargement.

APPROACHING ANNIVERSARIES IN LONDON.-In reference to the interesting Meetings and Services, which the Religious World is now anticipating, with unabated interest, we beg leave especially to invite the notice of our Readers to a communication on Prayer for the HOLY SPIRIT, by a highly respected Clerical Correspondent, which we have inserted in page 228 of the present Number. The recommendations which it so properly enforces, apply not only to Meetings in the Metropolis, but to similar Meetings of Auxiliary Societies in the Country.

On the subject of our own Missionary Anniversary in London, we refer to the Advertisements on the Cover of this Number. From these it will be seen, that the Three Annual Sermons before the Wesleyan Missionary Society are to be preached, this year, on Thursday and Friday, April 25th and 26th, by the REV. HENRY MOORE, of Bristol; the REV. DR. A. CLARKE, of Millbrook; and the REV. JOHN JAMES, of Halifax. An eminent Protestant Minister from the South of France, we understand, was expected to have been one of the Preachers on this occasion; but owing to the accidental miscarriage of a Letter, it is probable that he will, for this year, be prevented. We are happy that the vacancy has been so excellently filled up. The General Meeting of the Society will be held in the forenoon on Monday, April 29th, at the City-Road Chapel. JOSEPH BUTTERWORTH, Esq., M. P., one of the Society's Treasurers, will take the Chair.-From the general aspect of the accounts received through the year, there is ground to expect that the friends of the Society will be furnished, on this occasion, with continued reasons for mutual congratulations, and for devout thanksgivings to GOD, both for the success with which the LORD of the harvest has been pleased to crown the past efforts of its labourers, and for those encouragements which are offered to new enterprises for the extension of the kingdom of CHRIST to yet unvisited regions of darkness and misery. In these delightful exercises we trust to be joined by many of our friends from different parts of the country. May we all assemble in the spirit of deep sympathy for a world, of which so great a part is still sitting in darkness and the shadow 2 H

lowed to accumulate, for the formation of an Evangelical Fund, out of which the means of erecting places of worship may be, in whole or in part, provided, and other heavy expenses borne.

V. Subscribers of One Guinea or upwards, per annum, to the General Fund, whether in annual, quarterly, monthly, or weekly payments, shall be considered Members of the Society, entitled to vote at General Meetings, and eligible to Committees.

VI. For directing the affairs of the Institution, there shall be a central Committee of Managers, annually elected in or about January, at a General Meeting. Those now appointed shall continue in office till January, 1823, when the first official year shall terminate, and the second annual subscriptions become payable.

VII. The Managers shall, at present, be Five in number, besides a Head-Collector of their own nomination, who shall be a Member during the continuance of his office. They shall meet monthly at a stated time, and oftener if necessary.

VIII. The Managers shall divide the duty of correspondence among themselves, nominate one of their number to be Treasurer, and a second to be recording Secretary. The latter shall keep the proceedings, and be furnished with a copy of all documents, written opinions, and correspondence.

IX. The Managers may delegate to local and subsidiary Committees, such duties as it may be found expedient, and invite Members of the same to at tend and vote at their sittings.

X. The moral and religious improvement of these Colonies being viewed as paving the way for the evangelization of all Pacifica, the patronage of the friends to the universal spread of divine knowledge shall be solicited for the present undertaking. For the attainment of this object, and acquisition of desirable emigrants, an intercourse shall be kept up with correspondents, and corresponding Committees, (when formed,) in other parts of the christian world.

XI. A brief and simple Report of proceedings shall be annually submitted, and published, with a list of contributions, and statement of accounts. The

accounts shall be audited by two or more persons nominated by the annual General Meeting.

XII. The Managers may assemble General Meetings at other times, if deemed expedient, and fill up, from among persons eligible under the 5th rule, such vacancies as may happen in their own body, during their continuance in office.

Resolved, That MR. JAMES CHANdler, CAPTAIN FRANCIS IRVINE, and WILLIAM WEMYSS, Esq., be elected as a Committee of Management, with power to associate two other persons eligible under the fifth rule.

Resolved, That it be a fundamental principle of this Society, that no person ought to be elected to the central Committee of Management, of whose evangelical principles, or practical godliness, doubts may justly be entertained.

Resolved, That it be a fundamental principle of this Society, that no Patron or Vice-Patron, President or Vice-President, be appointed, or other honorary distinction exist in relation to it.

Resolved, That as we are warned, by our SAVIOUR'S reproof to the Pharisees, against receiving honour one of another, it be a principle of this Society, that at no Meeting shall thanks be moved to any person or persons present."

AMERICAN METHODISTS.-(From an American Newspaper.) "The REV. MARTIN RUTER, A. M., of the Methodist Episcopal Church, has been elected to the Professorship of Oriental Literature in the Cincinnati College.

"The GENESSEE CONFERENCE of the Methodist Episcopal Church, held at Paris, Oneida County, has adjourned, after a session of eight days. Twenty-nine Ministers were ordained at this session; and reports were received that thirtyfive Chapels are building within the bounds of that Conference. The subject of the new Seminary, to be erected under their patronage, was considered, and the place finally decided upon. A committee of nine was appointed to organize and form a constitution for it, and to carry the measure into effect. It is contemplated that the erection of the edifice will be commenced during the ensuing Fall."

"It gives a detailed account of an antediluvian den of hyænas discovered last summer at Kirkdale, near Kirby Moorside, in Yorkshire. The den is a natural cavern in limestone, extending 300 feet into the body of the solid rock, and from two to five feet in height and breadth. Its mouth was closed with rubbish, and overgrown with grass and bushes, and was accidentally intersected by the working of a stone quarry. It is on the slope of a hill, about 100 feet above the level of a small river, which, during great part of the year, is engulfed. The bottom of the cavern is nearly horizontal, and is entirely covered, to the depth of about a foot, with a sediment of mud deposited by the diluvian waters. At the bottom of this mud, the floor of the cave was covered from one end to the other with teeth and fragments of bone of the following animals: hyæna, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, horse, ox, two or three species of deer, bear, fox, water-rats, and birds. The bones are for the most part broken, and gnawed to pieces, and the teeth lie loose among the fragments of the bones; a very few teeth remain still fixed in broken fragments of the jaws. The hyæna bones are broken to pieces as much as those of the other animals. No bone or tooth has been rolled, or in the least acted on by water, nor are there any pebbles mixed with them. The bones are not at all mineralized, and retain nearly the whole of their animal gelatin, and owe their high state of preservation to the mud in which they have been imbedded, The teeth of hyenas are most abundant; and of these, the greater part are worn down almost to the stumps, as if by the operation of gnawing bones. Some of the bones have marks of the teeth on them; and portions of the focal matter of hyænas are found also in the den. The animals found in the cave agree in species with those that occur in the diluvian gravel of England, and of great part of the northern hemisphere; four of them,

the hyæna, elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, belong to species that are now extinct, and to genera that live exclusively in warm climates, and which are found associated together only in the southern portions of Africa near the Cape. It is certain, from the evidence afforded by the interior of the den, that all these animals lived and died in Yorkshire, in the period immediately preceding the deluge; and a similar conclusion may be drawn with respect to England generally, and to those other extensive regions of the northern hemisphere, where the diluvian gravel contains the remains of similar species of animals. The extinct fossil hyæna most nearly resembles that species which now inhabits the Cape, whose teeth are adapted beyond those of any other animal to the purpose of cracking bones, and whose habit it is to carry home part of its prey to devour them in the caves of rocks which it inhabits. This analogy explains the accumulation of the bones in the den at Kirkdale. They were carried in for food by the hyænas; the smaller animals, perhaps, entire; the larger ones piecemeal; for by no other means could the bones of such large animals as the elephant and rhinoceros have arrived at the inmost recesses of so small a hole, unless rolled thither by water; in which case, the angles would have been worn off by attrition, but they are not.

"Judging from the proportions of the remains now found in the den, the ordinary food of the hyænas seems to have been oxen, deer, and water-rats; the bones of the larger animals are more rare; and the fact of the bones of the hyænas being broken up equally with the rest, added to the known preference they have for putrid flesh and bones, renders it probable that they devoured the dead carcases of their own species. Some of the bones and teeth appear to have undergone various stages of decay by lying at the bottom of the den while it was inhabited, but little or none since the introduction of the diluvian sediment in which they have been imbedded. The circumstances of the cave and its contents are altogether inconsistent with the hypothesis of all the various animals, of such dissimilar habits, having entered it spontaneously, or having fallen in, or been drifted in by water, or with any other than that of their having been dragged in, either entire or piecemeal, by the beasts of prey whose den it was."