God, on either side of which is the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations." "Those in every age, who have renounced this institution by Deglecting its duties, seem to have placed themselves beyond the influence of those means, which God has mercifully appointed for their recovery from a state of moral death, to a state of moral life and blessedness. Go to those places, where the duties of the Sabbath are wholly neglected, and search for those, whose life exhibits evidence of that state of moral feeling, which prepares for the kingdom of heaven. The search is vain. The benign influence of the Gospel is not felt. The fruits of the Spirit of God are not seen. No heart is warmed with love to the Redeemer; no voice speaks his praise; no cheering hope in distress; darkness and despair are spread over the tomb." p. 18.

At the close of the sermon, the subject is brought specially before the Legislature, by a quotation from their able report concerning it at a preceding session. This report, as Dr. M. declares, is "expressive of views and feelings like those of our venerable ancestors; and gladdened the heart and excited the confidence of every friend to the best interests of the Commonwealth." The legislature, however, felt unable, or unwilling, to attempt any change of the law relating to the Sabbath; although that law is little better than a dead letter; so great are the difficulties in executing it. We were rejoiced that a minister of the known excellent character, and elevated station of President Moore, should, in the performance of his appointment, choose this subject, by no means novel, nor affording much room for the display of profound learning, but exceedingly interesting to a Christian people, and present it before our rulers in all the force and Christian feeling exhibited in this sermon. We know that an earnest desire to do good, not ambition or desire of applause, must have directed him. We believed too, that if any thing would affect the legislature in a right manner on this subject, it must be such an exhibition of truth, and such an appeal to them, as the guardians of the invaluable interests of our citizens.

The result is well known. We seem to have passed the time when any essential change for the better is to be expected from our government. There is a controlling influence of men, whose notions on religion and the Sabbath are far below the standard of this sermon. New views are exhibited-new notions advanced. Were our venerable forefathers to rise from their graves, and mingle with multitudes of those who occupy their places, they would be as likely to think they had visited heathen Rome, as the pious land of New England. Though there has been much improvement in religious knowledg● since our fathers were consigned to the grave, there has been a deterioration in so many respects, that the improvement loses half its value. We have derived from the Gospel, ultimately, all the privileges and blessings which are so richly enjoyed in our Commonwealth. Yet are there many, who ascribe all this to the enlightened notions on civil and religious liberty, which so extensively prevail. But they forget it was the Gospel which originated these notions. It is the Gospel, which has made us freemen-it is through the Gospel, that our citizens have become enlightened. To cherish its institutions, must be the certain way to perpetuate the blessings, which we have already obtained. There is no other way to secure them.

It is highly important that this subject be understood by every pious man. No Christian should, for a moment, allow that it is not the

province of the legislature to guard and defend and preserve the institution of the Sabbath. If the Sabbath be a benevolent institution, it is as much the duty of the legislature to cause it to be respected, as to cause the government to be respected. The conscience and the heart they cannot bind-blessed be God, the legislature cannot reach them. but the external observance of the Sabbath they can command, for this reason; that it is a public, political benefit. This will no more be an infringement of the right of conscience, than the maintenance of civil government is such an infringement. The support of the Gospel, and the observance of the Lord's day, should be made the duty of the citizens, for the same reason and on the same ground, that the payment of debt and of common taxes is made their duty. There would then be no room for the pretence of violation of conscience, or of improper connexion between church and state. Religious institutions would then receive that support from the government, which their nature and importance demand. At the present time, there seems not to be sufficient virtue and knowledge to expect this. Many people suppose themselves possessed of too much wisdom to admit this. But the truth is, they want both he virtue and wisdom. Like ungrateful children, they contemn the parent which has given them their strength, and, being able to exert their own power from this derived strength, they are too proud of their present attainments to acknowledge their dependence upon this parent for the past, and too ignorant to perceive the value of the blessings she still offers them.

It only remains, that the Christian hold fast that which he now possesses, and, in humble reliance upon God, earnestly pray for the introduction of that glorious day, when more knowledge and more virtue shall be diffused among mankind, and the institutions of God shall be raised to that estimation among men, which God has assigned them in his plan of salvation. This day will come. The Lord Jesus will be exalted, and his Sabbath will be glorious. Even so, Lord Jesus.

MISCELLANEOUS.

EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF THE REV. COTTON MATHER.

(Continued from p. 108.)

DEC. 30, 1712. 4. Good Devised. It may be a good service unto the interests of piety, on many accounts, and particularly for the discouraging of Christmas revels, in those parts of the country where the ruder young people may be disposed to them, to publish my late lecture on turning the grace of God into wantonness. And because the example of the thief repenting at the last hour, has been singularly abused by the impenitent children of men; it may further serve the interests of piety, for me to add a brief dissertation, wherein I offer arguments, to show that he did repent before his last hour came upon bim.

Accordingly, this day I sent my late lecture unto the press, augmented with such a dissertation.

5. G. D. When I send for a principal member in each of the religious societies, which I design speedily to do, to come to me together, I would not only inquire into the condition of each society, and put them in the way to augment their numbers; but also suggest unto them several good employments to be pursued when they are together, especially that of considering the methods to promote piety in the neighborhood.' 6. G. D. There is a gracious and aged widow, who lives in a continual dependence on Providence moving the hearts of good people to supply her necessities. I would supply her, and procure frequent liberalities from others to her.

7. G. D. It is a point of the greatest importance imaginable unto me, that I take heed of pride. There have been some singular favors of God unto me, wherein I have been distinguished from other men. The number of books I have written; the methods to do good wherein my life has been carried on; my talents not being restrained to one or two faculties. These are especially three articles of the distinction. If I should be proud on these occasions, it would provoke the Lord exceedingly, and woful would be the consequences. Wherefore, first, I will cry to my great Savior, that I may be redeemed from this iniquity. Secondly, I will by much consideration get it very deeply impressed on my mind, what a nothing every creature is before the glorious God. And I will, thirdly, consider very much on the things which have rendered me unworthy of the benefits wherewith a good God has honored me. Fourthly, I will much affect myself with the view of those faults and follies, and abasing circumstances, wherein I have rendered myself more vile than other men. Fifthly, If any vain thoughts of any peculiar excellence in myself, arise in my mind. I will tremble, immediately reproach them, rebuke them, extinguish them, and look up to God for the pardon of them, and be provoked by them immediately to fly into some sensible acknowledgment of humiliations attending me, quite contrary to such supposed elevations. Lastly; I will beware of being so impertinent, as to take notice, in any of my discourses, of the things which have been done for me to render me singular.

Saturday, Jan. 3, 1713. I set apart this day for prayer and alms, with fasting before the Lord. I bewailed before the Lord the many errors of my life, and humbled myself before him, especially for the pride of my heart. I beheld, believed, and recorded, his pardoning mercy, and the mediation of my Savior procuring the application of that mercy to me. I cried unto the Lord for his favors, and most of all, that very much grace may be given to me; and also for a good success of my ministry, that the Holy Spirit of the Lord would not withdraw from my ministrations.

1. G. D. It may prove a service unto the interests of piety in the flock, if I bestow a few written sermons on that paragraph of the Gospel which gives the relation of the penitent thief on the cross. I also single out the principal sorts in my flock, and send my book of Repeated warnings to them.

Lord's Day, Jan. 4. In the first action of the Lord's table, having found that impression of grace on my heart, which may be called the circumcision of it, and having put away all the leaven of malice by en

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tertaining an hearty wish for the welfare of every man in the world,I then approached unto my Savior, as unto the passover. I consid ered the notable things in the Jewish passover, wherein he was prefigured. And I proposed, that I would live by feeding on him in the most efficacious contemplations, till there should be left a strong tincture of him on my soul, and the very temper of my soul should be to repair unto him on all occasions, and rely on him for all benefits, and advance his kingdom and interests, and express a conformity to his example. And having my soul sprinkled with his blood, I hoped for deliverance from destruction.

In the second action I proposed the death of that particular lust, my pride; and having bewailed the disposition of it in my soul, especially in affectations of grandeur, and inclinations to be thought somebody, -I applied myself to the sacrifice of my Savior for the pardon thereof, and for the purchase of that glorious grace of humility. I proceeded then to consider the pattern of the humble and lowly Jesus, and to aspire after, and resolve upon, the imitation of it. And I formed the purposes of a mind reconciled unto all possible humiliations, and annihilations before the Lord.

2. G. D. A servant in my family, that appears to be under the beginnings of dispositions to piety, and has never yet been baptised, is an object that calls for my particular care to bring her forward unto the service and baptism of her Savior. I will do the best I can for her.

4. G. D. I have many services of extensive importance for other places in my eye, one is the making a present of my "Repeated warnings," to be lent in every town of Connecticut. Another is, the procuring of a good-schoolmaster for Bridgewater, who may assist and succeed my excellent friend in the ministry there. A third is, for the ministers of this town to single out certain important subjects, and each of us preach a lecture on what is assigned unto him, and then together publish the same unto the world. Of this I will advise with them.

5. G. D. I would in the society renew my proposal, for some honest and prudent men to walk the streets at the times and places where the children most carry on their play; and if they find any to use wicked language, instantly to threaten them, or use the most proper methods to reform them.

7. G. D. Never, never, would I deal with any person for any offence, until I have in the first place very strictly examined, how far I myself may ever have offended in any degree in that point, on which I am to speak to my neighbor; and very deeply humble myself before the Lord on account thereof, and embrace the pardon offered with the blood of my Savior. And so I will treat the offender with that spirit of meekness which becomes me who have been, or yet may be, tempted.

VACCINATION.

AMONG the more recent conjectures or discoveries relative to vaccination, it is stated by different physicians in the East, to be a protection against the plague. Of 6,000 persons vaccinated at Constantinople,

not one, it is said, has been visited by that dreadful malady. It has been also advanced, with considerable confidence, nearer home, that most, if not all the alleged instances of small pox after vaccination, have been nothing more than cases of "chicken pox." It is also asserted, on high medical authority-contrary to the vulgar prejudice on this subject that chronic diseases of the skin of all kinds, have been rather upon the decline than the increase, both as respects number and virulence, since the introduction of the vaccine practice,

Ch. Observer for Dec. 1818,

STATUE OF MEMNON.

THIS grand wreck which has lain for so many centuries amidst the ruins of the palace destroyed by Cambyses, is about to be deposited in the British Museum. It is a colossal bust, of a single block of granite, ten feet in height from the breast to the top of the head, and twelve tons in weight. Various travellers had adopted the design of transporting it to Europe, and renounced it only from not conceiving the means of effecting it. The great difficulty was in moving such a mass for the space of two miles, until its arrival at the Nile, whereby alone. it could be conveyed to Alexandria. M. Belzoni, who was charged by the British Government to make collections in Egypt, has succeeded in effecting it, without the aid of any machine, simply by the manual assistance of a number of Arabs. It was the work of six months. He has also obtained numerous other relics, and made various discoveries of great interest to classical and antiquarian literature.

ib. for July, 1818.

The statue of Memnon, mentioned in our last number, now lies in the yard of the British Museum, and consists of one solid block of granite, weighing about nine tons. The face is in high preservation, and is remarkably expressive. The same vessel has also brought presents of antiquity from the Bey of Tripoli to the Prince Regent, consisting of columns, cornices, chapiters, &c. found at Lebida. The columns are mostly of one solid piece, one weighing nearly fifteen tons, and being twenty-two feet in length. They were selected by Capt. W. H. Smith, of the Royal Navy, assisted by the British Consul at Tripoli. ib. for Aug. 1818,

PYRAMID OF CEPHRENES.

WE have before had occasion to allude to the very interesting discov eries of Signor Belzoni, in Egypt. The most extraordinary however of his exertions, is the opening of the second pyramid of Ghiza, known by the name of the pyramid of Cephrenes. He commenced this Her culean task on the 10th of last Feb. The probabilities of success were very feeble; the current of opinion, both of the natives themselves, and of the learned throughout the world, as far back at least as the age of Herodotus, has been, that no subterraneous chambers existed in the Pyramid; and it is at least certain that every previous attempt to diseover them had completely failed. But Signor Belzoui,-after trans