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tricts, of the family, of the shop, and of the kitchen! She adores the gods who are supposed to preside over the thunder, the rain, the fire; over the grain, over births and deaths, and over the small pox; she worships "the host of heaven, the sun, the moon, and the stars." She also worships the genii of the mountains, the rivers, lakes and seas; and birds, beasts, &c. She addresses prayers and offers sacrifices to the spirits of departed kings, sages, heroes, and parents whether good or bad. Her idols are silver and gold, wood and stone, and clay; caryed, or moulten, the work of men's hands. Her altars are on the high hills, in the groves, under the green trees, she has set up her idols at the corners of the streets, on the sides of the high ways, on the banks of canals, in boats, and in ships.Astrology, divination, geomancy, and necromancy every where prevail. Spells and charms, every one possesses. They are hung about the neck, or stitched up in one's clothes, or tied to bed post, or written on the door; and few men think their persons, children, shops, boats, or goods safe without them.— The Emperors of China, and her statesmen, her merchants, her people, and her philosophers also, are idolators. For, though many of the learned affect to despise their popular superstitions, and to deride all worship, except that paid to the great and visible objects of nature, heaven and the earth; yet their own system is incapable of raising them above that which they effect to contem; and at the hour of death, finding that some god is Lecessary, and not knowing the false gods, to pray for their restoration to health, end for the rest of their spirits after dissolution, and a happy return to the world again.

From the Philadelphian.

A NATIONAL DEBT,

Which has been overlooked in the adjustment of our finances. When I hear it said that the national debt is nearly paid off, I am reminded of certain foreign claims upon us, which have not yet received proper consideration. There is one whole continent which has claims upon us of an immense amount, and of long standing. I refer to Africa. Her claims are not for such spoliations as are often the subject of complaint between nations. The depredations for which Africa asks indemnity, are of much more serious character. They are depredations committed upon the flesh and blood and souls of her children. She complains that we have torn from her, without any provocation, her own offspring, and have compelled them to drink the bitter draught of interminable slavery. Before the slave trade was denounced by Christian nations, American merchants sent their ships to Africa to plunder her of her unoffending inhabitants, and ten thousands of that ill-fated race were thus dragged into bondage by American hands. Many millions of African exiles have died in slavery in this country; and more than two mill

ions we now hold in bondage. These are the wrongs for which Africa asks indemnity. It is for these that a debt is due. And was there ever in the history of human relations, a more sacred obligation, and one of more appalling magnitude? The expenditure of millions of dollars, and the sacrifice of thousands of lives in the cause of African improvement, would cancel but a fraction of it. But something may be done. We may perhaps pay the interest of the claim, if nothing more.

POLITICAL DUTY OF MINISTERS.

In ordinary times the sacred and peculiar functions of the christian priesthood are inconsistent with active political partizanship; though so far from being disfranchised by their dedication to religion, it is peculiarly incumbent on clergyman to discharge the duty of voting according to their consciences, as much as it is to perform all the other duties of good men and good citizens. There is always if not a right or wrong, a preference between candidates on reasonable grounds. And the essence of our institutions requires that all good men should never omit to exercise the privilege, on a proper use of which the existence of those institutions depends. Clergymen specifically come within this category; though the nature of their office forbids them to be busy in the turmoil of elections; or to allow their feelings to be enlisted in contests for place and power. But, when real danger impends-when the safety of the nation is in manifest jeopardy, whether from foreign influence or force, or from the tyranny and incompetence of the rulers, it is not only their right, but their imperative duty, to uplift their voice, which commands respect, as uttering the sentiments of a pure heart, from consecrated lips, and to warn the people of the evil aud the peril. Taunton Reporter.

POETRY.

THE LIBERIAN'S RETURN.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN.

Hither from their own country driven,
Came Afric's sons with shackled feet,
But now their bonds and chains are riven;
And on Liberia's shores they meet;
No more the scoffs and ills enduring,

That were their lot on foreign ground,
A place of resting have they found,

In Afric's genial clime, securing

The joys of heart and sight,
And chief the freeman's right,
To serve and pray, in their own way,
To God, the source of light.

There on their native hills reclining,

Their own broad trees and tents beneath,
While heaven and earth are round them shining,
There's freedom in the air they breathe,
And what in life is worth their seeking,
If they must live a block or stone,
With nothing they can call their own,
No rights of action, thought or speaking?
Then blessed be the wave,

That bears the ransom'd slave,
Where he can be, with freemen free,
And fill a freeman's grave.

By Niger's stream, and Ganges' waters,
In Afric's clime, on India's shore,
Too long the lands of grief and slaughters,
Shall freedom shine forevermore,
That light their darkness shall dissever;
And send down gladness to the soul,
And going forth to-day and ever,
Shall shine and shine from pole to pole.
Thou light of freedom, hail!
No sickly ray and pale;

O'er all the earth, thy fire have birth!
O'er all the earth, prevail!

INTELLIGENCE.

Ecclesiastical Council.-A council convened at Whately, October 17, by letters missive from the Church in Whateley for the purpose of giving advice in a case of discipline. The council was composed of a pastor and delegate from each of the following churches:-East Hamp ton, North Brookfield, East Parish in Amherst, Williamsburgh and West Hampton. The church by their council charged a member "with mixing and retailing ardent spirits as an article of drink." Testimony was introduced, and the arguments of the advocates of the parties heard. On the 10th, the council came unanimously to the following result:

The evils of intemperance in the church and community, are so great and ruinous, that, in the opinion of this body, the practice of vending ardent spirits as an article of drink, is at the present day, inconsistent with the character and obligation of a member of the church of Christ, and is a disciplinable offence. In accordance with this sentiment, the council reccommend to this church to pursue the case of discipline.-Hampshire Gazette.

A Novel project.-The government of New Grenada (S. America) has established at Bogota a college for the education of females.

This is probably the first instance of a female college in any age or section of the world.

Among the various departments of instruction, are cookery, domestic economy, Christian morals and religion—the Roman Catholic, we presume-with appropriate professors. These, with the President, are to be ladies.

Some of the studies might be advantageously introduced among ourselves, under the auspices of intelligent ladies in academies for females. Cincinnati Standard.

The death of Pope Adrian.-The death of Pope Adrian caused such n joy at Rome, that the night of his decease they adorned the door of his chief physician's house with garlands,-adding this inscription— "to the deliverer of his country."-London Medical and Surgical Journal.

How the Methodists do.--" After preaching, I opened the door of the church for the reception of members; and after having observed, that it was customary with us to admit penitents to membership, I remarked, that however individuals might object to this practice, I had not one single doubt, but there were numbers that would thank God in eternity, for their having been admitted into the church previously to their having obtained religion.—G. W. Teas. Ch. Advocate.

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Meditating is the same as musing, and musing is the same as thinking, in a certain manner. All thinking is not musing, or meditating. Thinking is desultory and various, according to the variety of objects presented to the mind. In the common concerns of life, we are obliged to attend to objects superficially and promiscuously so that we seem to attend to many things at once, and to no object distinctly and seperately. But in musing or meditating, we fix our minds on one, or a few objects, and gradually exclude all others from our view; so that the things upon which we meditate absorb the whole attention and destroy all sensible influence of the nearest and most common objects. While David was musing on the frailty of man ; crowns, and sceptres, and kindoms, and armies, and palaces, were out of his mind. The shortness of time, the certainty of death, the lonely tomb, and the great realities that lie beyond the grave, filled his mind and fixed his attention. Like Paul, he hardly knew whether he was in the body, or out of the body. See Psalm 39th.

When good men meditate upon religious subjects, they fix their attention upon them so closely, so constantly, and so intensely, that all other objects seem to vanish from their sight, and to lose all influence upon their minds. They view them in a variety of lights. They think of their superior and divine nature, and of their remote and eternal consequences. Meditation breaks down the seperating wall between time and eternity, and makes fu ture things present, and invisible objects visible. It stamps every thing with the permanent idea of reality. While the mind is roving from object to object, nothing looks real, but all things seem light and trival. On the contrary, meditation upon religions objects, sets them in their full magnitude and im portance. And when meditation has effected this, there is nothing to prevent or impede the most sensible exercise of de

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