participated in the advantages of that general revival of religion which promises to be the characteristic of modern times; and before their zeal has had time to cool in solitude and separation, it has often secured a provision for those religious ordinances by which it may be cherished and sustained. But the back parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia were settled in less auspicious days; and we must not be surprised if the flame of piety, burning less brightly at that time, even on the coast, should grow pale and sickly when removed into an atmosphere which ministered little to its support.

In a religious point of view, the dispersion of the population by emigration to the western country, assumes a very serious aspect; and there are intelligent men in this country, who regard it with the most gloomy forebodings.*

*The following observations on this subject, from the pen of Dr. Jarvis, of Boston, deserve the most serious attention. Alluding to the provision of the Federal Constitution for the toleration, but not the support of Christianity, he observes :—

"This single measure has altered the whole aspect of affairs. The constitution of the general government immediately became a model for the constitutions of the several States. Thus a force was created; which sapped the foundations of all establishments: and though the religious institutions of Massachusetts and Connecticut have been seated deep in the habits and affections of the people, yet the constantly accumulating power of this formidable lever has, at length, heaved them from their base. It is now left to men, as individuals,

It must frequently happen, that the new settlers, within the ordinary range of a minister's

to associate for the purpose of public worship, as they would associate for any object merely of private and wordly interest. In our cities, and other large places, this may be done. Enough may be found already united in sentiment, to unite in the formation of a Christian congregation. But, when you look beyond them, and contemplate the small villages and hamlets, the population of which is thinly scattered over an area of miles, you behold the same divisions rending many society into shreds and patches, various in texture, and form, and colouring. The few of each religious denomination cannot agree to worship together, and are unable, from the smallness of their number, to support separate places of worship. The consequence is, that they are left destitute of the means of religion. The sanctity of the Lord's-day is either violated by an attention to worldly concerns, or is observed in a manner worse than the violation, by being made the occasion of idleness and vice. In this part of our country, (the State of Massachusetts,) religion was supported by law, until it became the habit of the community; and, therefore, it still continues to act with the force of an establishment, as a wheel continues to turn, after the force applied to it is stopped. Yet, even here, we are beginning to feel the evils arising from division, and to feel them severely. Your parishes are crumbling into ruins. Party is arranged against party. To settle a minister becomes impracticable; or, if two or more are settled, the scanty pittance, given to them for their support, obliges them to escape from the horrors of poverty, by removal."

، If it be so here, what must it be in our newly settled territories, where religion has no nursing fathers or nursing mothers? One clergyman, it is said, is necessary for a thousand souls. Be it so; but when it is remembered, that this thousand may be composed of five or six different denominations, it will be seen at once how the divisions of the Christian

exertions are too few and too poor to maintain a single pastor, still less to maintain one

community, by increasing its wants, increase the difficulty of supplying them. Can it be a matter of surprise, that, in the midst of all that life and energy, which are exhibited in our new settlements, the goodly plant of Christianity should have taken no root, and is withering and dying for want of nourishment? The sound of the axe may ring through the forest; the plough may pierce the sod, which had been before undisturbed for centuries, excepting by the hunter's tread; the streams may be pent up in their narrow bed, and powers not their own, given them, to turn the mill-wheel, and afford nourishment and protection to man; villages and towns, and cities, may spring up and flourish: but while the smoke is seen to curl from many a domestic hearth, where, alas! are the altars?-where is the village spire, pointing to heaven, and telling to the distant traveller, that he is approaching the abode of Christian, as well as of civilized man? My brethren, the divisions, the hapless divisions, of this little community, weaken their strength, and deprive them of all the means of grace. Their children remain unbaptized and uninstructed. The incense of prayer never ascends from the altar of their hearts. The walls of the sanctuary never reverberate with their praises. The memorial of their Redeemer's love never touches their lips. The oblation of charity is never offered by their hand. In the first generation, religion wears itself away by a gradual decline; in the second, it can hardly be said to have existed. As our population increases, therefore, the prospect is shrouded by a more portentous gloom: and there is great danger, that, with all the exertions which the pious and benevolent can make, we shall become a nation of heathens, and not of Christians." -Jarvis's Sermon, pp. 9-11.-See an interesting article in the British Review of February, 1824, on "American Episcopacy," in which there are many valuable particulars respectVOL. II.

for each of the five or six different sects into which they may be divided.* It is in cases of

ing the state of religion, and of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the American Union.

*The following extract from the interesting "Appeal on behalf of the Diocese of Ohio," will illustrate this remark. The Bishop of this Diocese, the Right Rev. Philander Chase, the only Bishop beyond the Alleghany Mountains, is now in this country; a man of primitive manners, who has exhibited in the various difficulties, labours, and privations, with which he has had to contend, a spirit of charity and devotion worthy of Apostolic times.

"Some idea may be formed of the overwhelming labour, connected with an infant diocese, in such a country as that of the Western Territory of the States, by the following fact, quoted by the Editors of the British Critic, for May 1822, from the Journal of the Convention :

666

Bishop Chase travelled in the course of the year 1820, on horseback, which is the only way of visiting the infant settlements of that country, a distance of twelve hundred and seventy-one miles, and performed divine service and preached eighty-two times, besides attending the sick, the dying, and the afflicted.'

"Very justly do these writers add, in reference to such Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church of America, that they

"have succeeded, not only to the office of the Apostles, but also to their labours and privations.'

"The principal passages quoted by the Editors, from the Bishop's Address, here follow :

66 6 'The map of Ohio will show you the extent of our charge. Our extreme parishes, as those of Cincinnati and Asatabula, are distant, each from the other, rising of three hundred miles. In other directions, their distance is not much less.' 'On this vast surface, our settlements are thinly scat

this description, that I have been most forcibly struck with the injurious consequences of the

tered, and, among these settlements, are mingled the members of our primitive church. Having emigrated from places where the pleasant things of our Zion were freely and in abundance ministered, they remember their past enjoyments as hungry persons think on their former feasts of plenty. In this situation they sit, like the captive Israelites, by the muddy waters of the Euphrates' stream, waiting, with sighs and tears, for redemption to the church of God; for that blessed time, when the word and sacraments can, with any thing like constancy, be ministered among them.'

"Besides innumerable individuals dispersed throughout our State, there are forty-eight places containing our LITTLE FLOCKS, mostly in circumstances similar to the above. These I have hitherto visited once a year. I have witnessed their joy at meeting, and their grief at parting. Their passionate inquiries, prompted by their love of Zion, and especially by the danger of the rising generations being enticed every day from her order and beauty, into the paths of sin and infidelity; their passionate inquiries for some prospects of relief, in the enjoyment of faithful missionaries, almost every where repeated, have sunk deep into my heart, and caused my tears to mingle with theirs.'

"Our parishes and places of holding divine service, are mostly distant from each other, from fifteen to sixty miles; and the amount of parochial services is hardly so much as five clergymen to support them all. Though these are faithful, I fear, beyond their strength, yet, what are they among so many congregations, and at such distances? To keep, from ecclesiastical extinction, the little flocks already formed, they have, in many instances, encompassed so great a field of duty, that, before they have finished their circuit, their former labours are no more seen; their fences against error are thrown down, the weeds of sin are grown, and their