a population of thousands of souls, are represented as destitute of ministrations of the word, from any denomination of Christians. In one Presbytery, in which there are twenty-eight regularly organized churches, eighteen are destitute of the regular administration of the word and ordinances; in another, consisting of nearly forty churches, there are only eleven ministers; and in another, out of twenty-eight, sixteen are vacant. Their lamentation is, the harvest is great, but the labourers are few;' and their cry to their Christian brethren is, Come over, and help us.'

"While on these accounts the assembly have cause for lamentation, and call upon their churches to sympathize with, and pray for, those among whom the above mentioned evils exist; they also call upon their churches to unite with them, in sentiments and expressions of gratitude and praise to God, for his great, his unmerited, and his continued goodness. We have probably never heard so much, nor had so much to tell of the wonderful works of God amidst the churches under our care. And we have only to regret, that the limits of this narrative will not allow a detailed account of what has taken place in this portion of the heritage of God. Outward attention to the means of grace has, with few exceptions, every where increased. Many new congregations have been organized, and new places of worship erected. Biblical and catechetical instructions have been generally attended to. The children and youth have been led to the fountain, and instructed in the first principles of the truth, as one of the best preventives against error and vice, in their more advanced years. Baptized children have in many congregations been convened with the parents who dedicated them to God, and been solemnly and affectionately reminded of their obligations to be the Lord's. The system of Sabbath school instruction has been pursued with great and increased success. Thousands, who, but for these institutions, would have grown up in ignorance and vice, been the grief of the church, and the curse of the community, are now taught their obligations to God, and fitted to be useful members of society. Great zeal and regularity is generally manifested by the pupils in their attendance: several instances were mentioned of young persons who frequently walked ten miles on the Sabbath, for the purpose of attending the school: and, in several instances, the blessing of God has attended this mode of instruction, to the hopeful conversion of the teachers and the taught. The monthly concert of prayer is generally attended through the Presbyterian church and the other churches connected with the General Assembly; and it is found that this extensive union of prayer for the influences of the Holy Spirit upon the church of Christ, and the gospel of salvation, appears to be attended with the special blessing of God. Additions have been made during the last year, to the churches from which reports have been received, of seven thousand one hundred and eighty-six souls. To many of these the Lord manifested himself, not in the great and strong wind, which rent the moun

tains, and brake in pieces the rocks,' but in the still small voice.' They were the fruits of the ordinary operations of the Spirit in the word; which, though not called revivals, afford a gradual accession to the church, of such as we trust shall be saved, and for which we owe to God our gratitude. But the most of that number, are the fruits of such numerous, extensive, and blessed outpourings of the Spirit of God during the past year, as the assembly has never before had the opportunity to record." [pp. 1-3.]

Into the particulars of these revivals we do not enter; because, at so great a distance from the scene of their exhibition, they can possess comparatively but little interest; most sincerely, however, do we hope that they may be permanent, as they appear to have been impressive, and, in the estimation of the General Assembly, to have been attended by the desirable evidence of bringing forth fruits unto holiness, and meet for repentance.' That there is, in all such cases, danger, and great danger of being led away by feelings violent, but transient in their operation, no one who has marked the progress of occurrences of a similarly extraordinary nature amongst certain of our English sects, to whom they are more particularly confined than is the case in America, can for a moment doubt; and the following judicious remarks in the narrative before us, satisfy us that our transatlantic brethren are at once aware of the fact, and anxious to prevent its 'abuse:

"While the Assembly unfeignedly rejoice in these and other signal revivals of religion, and earnestly pray for still more rich manifestations of Divine grace to all the churches, they are convinced that the principal hopes of the church of God must rest on the ordinary operations of the Divine Spirit accompanying the appointed means of grace. The Lord has promised, that the humble, the faithful, and prayerful exertions of his ministers and people, shall never be without his blessing; yet He has reserved to himself the prerogative of watering his churches with copious showers, as He in his wisdom sees fit." [p. 6.]

Most cordially do we rejoice in the encouraging prospects derivable from the present state of the American colleges, and as entirely do we join in the hopes and the anticipations of the ministers under whose general superintendence the theological departments of many of them are placed, expressed in the following closing paragraphs of the narrative to which we have just referred :

"In addition to these wonderful and heart-cheering events, for which the assembly offer unto the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, their united and hearty thanks, they rejoice that they are

also able to inform the churches, that the state of religion, in the different colleges within our bounds, and the bounds of those who are connected with us, is most encouraging. There are about 40 hopefully pious youths in Union College, Schenectady; in the college at Princeton there are 25; in Dartmouth college, New Hampshire, there are about 70; in Jefferson college, Pennsylvania, and the University of North Carolina, there are several more; in Yale college, at New Haven, there are about 90; and in Hamilton college 48, professors of religion. The hope that most of these will probably devote themselves to the service of God, in the Gospel of his Son, affords a most pleasing prospect to the American churches. The theological seminary at Andover contains 112 students, and is in a flourishing condition. The foreign mission school at Cornwall, in Connecticut, contains more than 30 pupils, who speak eleven different languages, a number of whom are hopefully pious. The theological seminary at Princeton, under the care of the General Assembly, continues to enjoy the smiles of Divine Providence. It contains at present 73 students, among whom the spirit of missions is increasing. From these fountains of sacred learning, we trust many streams will soon issue to gladden the city of our God; and that when the cry of the vacant congregations within our bounds, and from other destitute parts of our country and of the world, for help, shall reach the ears of these pious youth; and especially when they hear the interrogation of their Lord and Master, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" they may all answer in the spirit of Isaiah, Here am I, Lord, send me."

"With this retrospect of the past, and these animating prospects of the future, we close our narrative of the state of religion within our bounds--hoping that those evils which exist, either among professing Christians or others, may excite suitable humiliation before God; that Christians, and Christian ministers, will be found more engaged at a throne of grace, and follow their prayers with corresponding endeavours, for the advancement of the interests and the extension of the limits of the Redeemer's kingdom. We have, Christian brethren, the greatest cause for gratitude, and the greatest encouragement to persevere. We have the promise, that in the latter day Israel shall blossom and bud; that its boughs shall be sent out to the sea, and its branches to the river; that it shall spread itself like a goodly cedar, and be a dwelling-place to the fowl of every wing. The Lord shall build up Zion, and comfort all her waste places. He will make the wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord: joy and gladness shall be found therein; thanksgiving and the voice of melody. I the Lord will hasten it in his time. Animated by these precious and faithful promises of God, continue your prayers and exertions; and then may we confidently hope, that ignorance, and vice, and delusion, will be banished from our borders, and that these and other clogs

being removed from its wheels, the Redeemer's chariot will soon ride in majesty and triumph over this western world.

"Amen: even so, come, Lord Jesus: come, quickly." [pp. 6-8.]

Of the seminary at Andover, we have received some further particulars in a letter dated the 10th of June last, from the Rev. Moses Stuart, one of its theological professors, with some of the after productions of whose pen we hope, at an early opportunity, to make our readers acquainted.

"We have now," he writes, " 4 professors; about 120 students in divinity; 3 buildings, each 100 feet in length, and 4 stories high; 5500 volumes in our library, and about 250,000 dollars funds. This is a good beginning, for 12 years. Several other seminaries of a similar nature are rising up in our country; and the whole course of theological study is becoming more thorough, and more biblical.' Only four or five individuals have bestowed all the munificence which I have just mentioned."

Another portion of his letter we gladly extract, and shall be most happy in devoting some of our pages to the hints of any of our correspondents, English or American, for the furtherance of the object to which our attention is there

invited.

"Cannot some way be devised, in which the Congregational churches in N. England should have some better knowledge of your churches, and your churches of ours; and a co-operation in some of the great plans of Christian benevolence be produced? We are part of your flesh and bones,-allied in blood, habits, language, literature, and religion. If any parts of the globe, separated by nature, should have frequent and friendly intercourse, it is the dissenters (Congregationalists and Presbyterians) in England and N. England, who are of one heart and one soul."

In conducting our work, we profess not, however, to know, and trust that we do not know, any distinctions of sect or party in those who are agreed in the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion; and we shall, therefore, as readily promote the intercourse of the Episcopalians of our country and of America, as we shall do that of the various, denominations of dissenters. Happy, indeed, shall we esteem ourselves. in being the instruments of promoting in any measure a better understanding than has hitherto existed between the descendants from one common stock, nations using but one language, and professing, under like modifications of sects. and parties, the same common faith.

From another very valued correspondent, Dr. Ezra Styles Ely, we have received the first five Numbers of a new VOL. III.-No. 6.

E E

periodical publication commenced at Philadelphia with the beginning of this present year, under the title of " The Presbyterian Magazine." It is conducted by twelve ministers of the church whose name it bears, and amongst them by Drs. Janeway, Wilson, Banks, Brodhead, Wylie, Neill, and Ely, who appear each of them to have furnished the work with some valuable papers, with selections from which we may, perhaps, from time to time enrich our pages. At present, we shall content ourselves with extracting some statistical notices furnished by the valuable correspondent last named, and who, with his wonted zeal, ranks with the ablest and most indefatigable contributors to this new work.

"The city and county of Philadelphia contained, in 1810, a population of 111,210. By the census of 1820, it appears that our population amounts to 133,273; so that in ten years, the increase has been 25,063 persons. The total of the city population, between Vine and Cedar streets, and between the Delaware and Schuylkill, is 63,695; of which 54,919 are whites, and 7,883 blacks. We have but one slave in the city,

"The population of Maine, in 1800, was 151,719; in 1810, it amounted to 223,705; giving an increase of 71,986; and in 1820, to 297,839; giving an increase in the last ten years of 74,124, and a total increase in twenty years of 146,110.

"The state of New Hampshire, in 1810, contained 214,342 inhabitants; and, in 1820, according to the census, 244,161 persons; giving an increase of 29,819 in ten years.

"Massachusetts contains, by the late census, upwards of 525,000 inhabitants. In 1810, the population was 472,000; increase in ten years, 53,000, or more than 11 per cent.

"The state of Maryland, in 1810, contained 380,556; and in 1820, her population amounted to 407,300.

"The district of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1810, contained a population of 63,179 souls, and in 1820, of 80,212; giving an increase, in ten years, of 17,033 persons."

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By the census of 1820, the state of Delaware contains 72,749 inhabitants; which gives an increase of only 75 souls for the last ten years. This is undoubtedly owing to the continual emigration from the two lower counties of this little republic to the western states.

"The population of Missouri, of every class, amounts to 66,607. "In 1810, Indiana contained 24,000 inhabitants; and in 1820, the census gives 147,000; making an increase, in ten years, of 600 per cent."

"The number of churches and meeting-houses, of every description, in the city and county of Philadelphia, amount, according to the best of my knowledge, to 70. Upon an average, these will not contain more than 1000 persons each; so that, were every place of