which more than 1000 are instructed annually. The sum of $185,965 26 has been paid to the several districts during the year 1826; of this sum, $80,000 was paid from the state treasury; $94,243 97 was raised by a tax upon the respective towns; and 11,721 29 was derived from a local fund, which is possessed by several counties. It is a condition of the school law, that there shall be assessed upon each town, an amount equal to that which is appor tioned to the town from the state treasury: and this sum may be increased by a vote of the town. It will be seen that the towns have raised $14,243 97 more than was requisite to entitle them to a participation in the public fund. This fact is creditable to the enlightened patriotism of the inhabitants of those towns which have been thus liberal. The number of children instructed in the common schools exceeds, by 16,200, the whole number between the ages of 5 and 15 years. This estimate does not include the cities of New-York and Albany, where the children between 5 and 15 are not reported. The returns show an increase of 15,566 of the children between 5 and 15; and the number of children taught in the common schools, has increased 13,863 since the last annual report. By the returns of 1816, it appears that the number of children between 5 and 15, was 36,343 more than the number instructed during that year in the common schools in the year 1826, the number between 5 and 15 is 16,200 less than the number taught; making a difference in favour of those instructed of more than 50,000. Deaths in the City and County of NewYork in 1826. From the annual report of deaths pub. lished by order of the common council, it appears, that in the year 1826 there were four thousand nine hundred and seventy. three in the city and county of New-York, being forty five less than in the year preceding. Of this number, seven hundred and forty-five were coloured persons. The deaths from consumptions were eight hundred and twenty; and from small-pox, fiftyeight in number. Of the deaths by consumption, it is remarked that 117 were people of colour, and that in this formidable disease the males exceeded the females by nearly one hundred. Of the whole number of deaths, 1473 were men, 1003 women, 1334 boys, and 1163 girls. Their ages were, of 1 year and under, 1232; between 1 and 2, 476; between 2 and 5, 350; between 5 and 10, 180; be tween 10 and 20, 253; between 20 and 30, 618; between 30 and 40, 628; between 40 and 50, 483; between 50 and 60, 330; between 60 and 70, 202; between 70 and 80, 132; between 80 and 90, 71; between 90 and 100, 15; 100 and upwards, 3. The inspector remarks, that "it is satisfactory to observe, that the cases of fevers were less numerous than in 1825, and the city was generally more healthy, with the exception of infantile diseases, particularly the whooping cough, which was more fatal than formerly. "It is, however, much to be regretted, that cases of small-pox seem to increase. When we consider the exertions which have been made by public institutions, and enlightened individuals, to counteract the spread of this loathsome and malignant disease, it must be a subject of as much wonder as of regret, to observe the continuance of it amongst us; and calls loudly upon every benevolent parent to arrest its progress by those means which are now happily within the reach of allvaccination." EPISCOPAL ACTS. In the Eastern Diocese. On Wednesday, December 13th, 1826, the new Episcopal church in Marshfield, Massachusetts, was consecrated by the Right Rev. Bishop Griswold, to the sacred and undivided Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. After sermon, nine persons received the rite of confirmation. After this, two were united in matrimony by the Rev. Mr. Wolcott, of Hanover. The bishop then proceeded to the administration of the holy communion. Here the dying love of a Saviour and the purchase of his blood were manifest. Our thoughts were carried back to the scenes of Calvary, and we were invited to share the riches of his grace. The glories of redemption, how conspicuous on earth-how glorious in heaven! May it be our happiness often to see and hear of the like occasions-and may holiness to God the Father, salvation to God the Son, and sanctification to God the Holy Ghost, be inscribed on all the churches of our land.-Boston Recorder. In the Diocese of Pennsylvania. On Sunday, the 14th of January, 1827, in St. John's church, Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Mr. George Mintzer was admitted to the order of deacons by the Right Rev. Bishop Chase, of Ohio. Mr. Mintzer was a candidate in Virginia, but, owing to the indisposition of Bishop Moore, and as about removing to the diocese of Ohio, he was regularly transferred to the ecclesiastical authority of that state; and as Bishop Chase had been for some time in this city, pursuing his efforts for the establishment of Kenyon College, permission was granted by Bishop White that he should hold the ordination there. Obituary Notice. Died on Tuesday, January 16, 1827, in Philadelphia, in the 78th year of her age, Mrs. MARY MORRIS, sister of Bishop White, and relict of Robert Morris, esq., a member of congress long before the declaration of independence, of which instrument he was one of the signers. Acknowledgment, &c. The librarian of the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, acknowledges the receipt of the following donations to the library during the months of December, 1826, and January, 1827 : From John Pintard, esq.: Beati Pauli Tarsensis Epistole quatuordecim, juxta divi Hieronymi translationem. Liptzia. 1510. fol. with curious MSS notes.Psalterium in quatuor Linguis, Hebræa, Græca, Ethiopica, et Latina. Coloniæ. 1518. fol. From the Rev. T. H. Horne, of England, through the Right Rev. J. H. Hobart: Horne's Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity, 2d ed. 12mo. Lond. 1826. From the Rev. T. Bowdler, A. M., of Eng land, through the Rev. S. F. Jarvis, D. D.: Critici Sacri, 9 tom. fol. Lond.; Bulli Opera, fol.; Jackson's Works, 3 vol. fol.; Suiceri Thesaurus, 2 tom. fol.; Waterland on the Athanasian Creed, 4to.; Waterland on the Eucharist, 8vo.; Waterland's Two Defences, 2 vol. 8vo.; Waterland's Lectures, 8vo.; Water land's Sermons, 2 vol. 8vo.; M'Knight on the Epistles, 4 vol. 8vo.; Matthæi Nov. Test. Græc. 6 tom. 8vo.; Ridley on the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, 8vo.; Bowdler's Sermons, 2 vols. 8vo.; Bowdler's Remains, 2 vols. 8vo.; Burrowe's Summary of Faith and Practice, 3 vols. 12mo.; Bull's Works, 2 vols. 8vo.; Nelson's Life of Bull, 8vo. From Mr. Edward W. Peet: Thorndike's Weights and Measures, 4to.; Jacques on Presbyterial Ordination, 8vo. From R. Whittingham: Histoire de Geneve, par Spon. 12mo. From an English Periodical THE FAREWELL OF SUMMER. Farewell! for I may not rest longer here; have heard the far voice of the waning year! As it came through the valley it whispered of death, And the forest leaves paled at the sound of its breath; But mourn not for me; I will shelter me far, Where the winter wind blights not my wreathed tiar; Again in the beds of your streams will unfold bourne return. Light were their steps o'er the unbent flowers, I have seen them abroad in the dawning hours; With rose-buds, like gems, in their amber hair, And eyes that look'd sweet as the dew-bright air; As they eagerly gazed o'er the billow's swell, While they listed the chime of the convent bell. I have seen, and yet see them in beauty and bloom! But mine eye wanders forth to their turf-built tomb: The glossy locks scattered, the love-lit eye Lying rayless and quenched as embers lie: The earth-worm and shroud!-Can I see these and smile On ye who must pass from my best-loved isle? I cannot-the thought hath awakened this tear: But hark! the far voice of the waning year Grows deeper and wilder,more hollow and stern, As it murmurs, by fits, in the sear, red fern; There is fear in the sound, there is woe in the knell; Its echoings whisper of death. Farewell! say insuperable objections advanced Milton's Treatise on Christian Doc- by Dr. Hammond against the exten trine. (Concluded from page 54.) We return to our promised extracts from the review of " Milton's Treatise on Christian Doctrine." Moral excellence was one feature of what we last presented to our readers-heresy (if such a word be not obsolete) was another feature. The medley of his opinions will now be seen to contain the most astonishing immorality-as also, in our view, not a little of spiritual insubordination and spiritual caprice. "On the subject of divorce, Milton's doctrine coincides with that which he had so zealously advocated in his 'Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce,' and other tracts relating to this question.* He endeavours to prove, that unalterable dislike, contrariety of temper, and whatever hinders that peace and solace which are the chief ends of the conjugal union, are greater reasons of divorce than adultery. Our Saviour unequivocally confines divorce to the single case of adultery: Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, ei μn iπì mogveía, and shall marry another, committeth adultery. Matt. xix. 9; v. 32. In order to evade the force of this, Milton is compelled to explain our Lord's declaration to signify not so much adultery as the constant enmity, faithlessness, and disobedience of the wife, arising from the manifest and palpable alienation of the mind, rather than of the body. P. 258. "In all this our author treads closely in the steps of Selden. It would have been well, however, if he had paid due attention to the formidable, we may "See Milton's Prose Works, edit. Burnett, where they are conveniently arranged according to their subjects." VOL. XI. sive meaning attributed to our Lord's expressions by that profound scholar. Milton has propounded the same doctrine in a more popular manner, though with less erudition, but he has added no strength to the arguments of Selden.* Yet Dr. Symmons is bold enough to declare, that on the subject of divorce he makes out a strong case, and fights be repelled.' (Life, p. 248.) This is with arguments which are not easily to rather too much, even in the most panegyrical of all the poet's biographers: but, referring our readers to Hammond's learned and convincing refutation of Selden, we shall only observe, that, if such laxity of interpretation be admitted, any given sense may be extracted from any given text. The Bible, so far from being an unerring standard of faith and manners, would be the most pliable of all rules, and might be easily made to accommodate itself to all the circumstances and conditions of life, to the whims and caprices, and even the vices of mankind. As our Saviour is speaking of married women, the plain and strict meaning of the expression Topvela, rendered fornication' by our translators, is 'adultery,' as understood by Schleusner,Kuinoel, Rosenmüller,Koecher, Schott, &c, and for this cause alone does he grant the permission of divorce. "In this treatise Milton advocates another dangerous doctrine, of which his former works afford no suspicion, namely, the lawfulness of polygamy. Many of the texts which are usually adduced against this practice, are brought under review, and tortured to serve his purpose with considerable dexterity. But his great argument is derived from the practice of the patriarchs and worthies recorded in the Old Testament. He cannot believe either that so many holy men should have sinned through ignorance, or that their hearts should have been so hardened, or that God should have tolerated such conduct in his people, if polygamy were morally wrong. The practice of the saints, then, is the best interpretation of the commandments.' But this will not be allowed to have much weight, when it is considered, that, however particular virtues in these worthies may be represented as patterns, they are not held up to us for universal imitation: some things, too, were permitted for the hardness of their hearts (Matt. xix. 8;) and the Mosaic religion itself was not designed to be a complete dispensation, it being only complete as introductory to a more pure and spiritual law. Nor should it be forgotten, that, either in consequence of the teaching of the prophets, or of clearer views of the Levitical code, polygamy gradually ceased during the latter period of the Jewish polity; for in the New Testament we meet with no trace of any such prac tice being tolerated. "That polygamy is contrary to the intention of the Creator, is apparent from the equality in the number of males and females born into the world; from his having created only one woman for the first man; from the injurious effects which result from a plurality of wives; and from the prohibitions delivered in the Scriptures of the New Testament. These arguments against polygamy are so strong, that the sagacity of Milton, it may he presumed, would not have resisted their force, had he not been influenced by the circumstances of his first marriage. Dr. Sumner, indeed, appears to be of a different judgment; but, if Milton had not been blinded by self-partiality, if he had not been anxious to vindicate his conduct in an affair which sober reason can never approve, it cannot be supposed that a mind like his would ever have entertained opinions so * "See his note (4.) in p. 255." groundless and so mischievous. Such is the intimate union between faith and practice, that error in the former is generally accompanied with obliquities in the latter. Our judgments are affected by the feelings; our reasonings are biassed by our prejudices. The most effectual way to hold the balance of reason firm and steady, is to purify the heart and life from all the vices and follies, which, wherever they exist, will have an undue influence over our better judgment. Let all who are sincere in the desire to penetrate the recesses of truth, and especially of sacred truth, guard their conduct with a vigilant eye. Every moral aberration will, though unperceived perhaps by themselves, warp more or less their intellectual powers. "To the same cause may be attributed Milton's lax notions respecting the ministerial authority, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. He is said to have first been a favourer of the Presbyterians, then of the Independents, and lastly to have been a professed member of no particular sect of Christians. He who changes from opinion to opinion, who wanders from sect to sect, subjects himself to the imputation of weakness and frivolity: but imbecility was not the character of Milton's mind; his Erastian notions, therefore, can only be attributed to his having imbibed a portion of the malignant spirit of the age which subverted the altar and the throne. His disregard of external religion cannot be vindicated, notwithstanding the apologies offered by some of his annotators and biographers. If the Almighty have constituted a visible church on earth, it must be the duty as well as the interest of every Christian to prove himself a member of it by openly and outwardly complying with the terms of its communion. Listen to the judgment of a writer who was as much superior to Mitton in gigantic force of intellect, as he was below him in imaginative invention: To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind, unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.' Such is the sentiment of Dr. Samuel Johnson; and it is likely it would have found an echo in the bosom of Milton, for he expressly owns the duty of joining internal and external worship in practice (p. 557.) But having deserted the outward ordinances of religion, he lived on, like too many others, in the neglect of what, in all probability, his better judgment approved. "His opinions on the authority and government of the church, as recorded in this treatise, are as loose as can well be imagined. He seems to carry his notions of individual liberty, or rather licence, in matters of religion, to an extent scarcely compatible with the institution of a Christian ministry. A toleration of all the different sects of Christians is now universally acknowledged: not so the right of private opinion to the extent claimed by some; for such an unlimited right is inconsistent with the very idea of an ecclesiastical establishment. He maintains that the visible church consists of all believers in any place whatever, either individually, or in conjunction with others (p. 457;) that any believer is competent to act as an ordinary minister, provided he be endowed with the necessary gifts, these gifts constituting his mission (p. 461 ;) that any believer furnished with the requisite gifts, may administer the rites of baptism and the Lord's supper (pp. 463, 464;) that every believer has a right to interpret the Scriptures for himself (p. 472;) that the choice of ministers belongs to the people (p. 483;) that, though a certain recompence to ministers is reasonable and sanctioned by the law of God, yet it is better to render an unpaid service to the church (p. 484;) that, where this is impracticable, ministers should look for their support, not from the edicts of the civil power, but from the spontaneous liberality of the church (p. 486;) that to bargain for tithes or other stipendiary payments, or to have recourse to legal processes for the recovery of allowances purely ecclesiastical, is the part of wolves rather than of ministers of the Gospel (p. 487;) that ministers are to live on their own private resources, by the exercise of some calling, by honest industry (p. 489;) that church discipline consists in a mutual agreement among the members to fashion their lives according to the Christian doctrine, and to regulate every thing in their public meetings decently and with order (p. 497;) that the custom of holding assemblies is to be maintained according to the apostolical institution, which did not ordain that an individual, and he a stipendiary, should have the sole right of speaking, but that each believer in turn should be authorized to speak, or prophecy, or teach, or exhort, according to his gifts (p. 498.) "Were it possible to effect the universal adoption of these conceits, for they deserve no better designation, what an admirable confusion would thence arise? Every man might become his own church; and every man might broach whatsoever doctrines he chose, without the fear of censure or reproach. The want of an adequate and legal provision would drive from the ministerial office all that is respectable for rank or talent, to make room for the hypocrite and the enthusiast. Learning would be soon scared away, when even the lowest of the rabble might presume to become teachers; and ignorance and fanaticism would then be left undisturbed to hatch their wild brood of heterogeneous opinions. Instead of being all of one mind, and speaking the same thing, the Christian world would become a very Babel of noisy and discordant tongues. If under such a state of things the church could exist at all, she would exist shorn of her beams, lacerated by endless dissensions, without rewards to remunerate merit or to stimulate abilities, with no outward splendour to adorn her, no barmony, no order, no discipline. |