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wealth of Massachusetts, beg leave respectfully to renew their memorial to the Honourable the Congress of the United States, respecting the transmission and opening of the mail on the Lord's day. It is with solicitude and grief that we have seen this usage, sanctioned as it is by publick authority, made the pretext for various encroachments on the regular observance of the Sabbath.

From the concurrent testimony of divine Revelation and of general experience, we are solemnly convinced, that our social and civil institutions cannot be preserved, unless the publick manners are formed on the basis of sound morality; that such morality cannot be maintained among a people, without the active sense of religious obligation; and that neither can long exist when the Sabbath ceases to be regarded as an ordinance of Heaven. We believe this sacred institution, with its systems of moral restraints, to be a more effectual preventive of crimes, and a better shield to the vital interests of the community, than any code of penal statutes that can be framed.

Among the reasons which encourage us to repeat our representations on this subject to your honourable body, we are happy to mention a report of the PostMaster-General, made to Congress

at their last session, in which hơ says:-"That publick policy, pure morality, and undefiled religion, combine in favour of a due observance of the Sabbath;" and though, in time of war, the daily carriage of the mail may be supposed necessary for important publick purposes, "when peace shall arrive, the necessity will greatly diminish; and it will be, at all times, a pleasure to this department to prevent any profanation of the Sabbath, as far as relates to its official duty, or its official authority." We are aware, that to prevent the carriage of the mails, and the delivery of letters and papers from the PostOffices on the Sabbath might seem to be inconvenient, especially in our large towns. But we cannot consider the continuance of the practice to be indispensable, even in such towns, as we are well informed, that in London, the first commercial city, this practice does not exist.

With these impressions, respected Legislators, we beg leave to approach you, as the guardians of our civil and sacred privileges, and to express an earnest bope, that the speedy and effectual interposition of the National Authorities may provide a remedy for the evils of which we complain. And, as in duty bound, your memorialists will ever pray.

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"THE anniversary meeting of held on Monday, the 13th of May,

this Grand British Institution, was

1816."

44

Very great emotions of pleasure appeared to agitate the Assembly, when that part of the report, which regards Hayti, was read. The chief, Christophe, deeply penetrated with the benefit of knowledge and diffusion of the scriptures, invites among his people, all those who could contribute to their improvement. In a proclamation, in the Gazette of Hayti, he says "I invite professors of all sciences; no difference of religion shall be deemed as exclusion. Merit and ability alone shall be considered, without regard to the nation which gave birth, or the creed which may be preferred. After twenty-six years of revolu

tion, and thirteen years possession of hard earned independence, we are not (says the Gazette) the same people. Formerly, as brutes, we bowed under the lash of a cruel and ignorant master; as men we were dead; our faculties all crushed; but we burst our chains, and again erect, we look upward toward heaven as men, as social beings! A new career is now before us; thanks to thee, O God of heaven! Haytians! says the chief, be it ours to shew, by our lives, that blacks, equally with whites, are the work of Omnipotence, and the objects of the kind regard of the Father of all."

Evangelical Magazine, No. 298.

EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER FROM THE REV. DR. BLESSIG OF STRASBURG, IN ALSACE, TO THE REV. MR. STEINKOPFF.

"You ask me:-1. Whether our Bible Society purchased copies of the scriptures without note or comment? Nor do I wonder at your feeling rather uneasy, as we had announced several years ago a Bible with comments. Now I am fully persuaded, that a selection of the best explanatory remarks on the Holy Scriptures is a real desideratum of our times. This is the more necessary, as many of our present commentaries are written in so profane a tone, and with such striking contradictions to each

other.

"But, on the other hand, where is the man fully capable of executing the delicate task of an impartial survey, examination, and selection, without being biassed in any degree by the spirit of our age? I fully concede, that the British and Foreign Bible Society has acted as a publick Institution, a most wise and proper part, in adopting the fundamental rule, to confine its own labours, and its assistance to

December 20, 1815.

other societies, to the dissemination of the sacred text as the word of truth alone, leaving its interpretation to each respective party or individual.

"2. You propose the question, whether our Society has received the grant of three hundred pounds? I answer, we have not. But so much I may say without violating the bounds of modesty, that if there ever existed a period in Alsace, in which every kind of assistance and relief was most essentially wanted, it is the present. You can scarcely, my Rev. brother, form any conception whatever of the entire exhaustion and impoverishment of this country, once so flourishing. Most of our churches, schools, and parsonages, in the vicinity of Strasburg, are either entirely ruined, or stand deserted, having been plundered, torn to pieces, and shaken to their very centre; the property and the furniture of the inhabitants; their Bibles are gone also. We must, as

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Saving Banks.

Under this novel title, it is pro posed to found an Institution in Boston, for the security and improvement of the savings of persons in humble life, until required by their wants and desires. . A meeting of gentlemen has been called, and a large and respectable Committee appointed, to apply to the Legislature (now in session) for an act of incorporation, and to digest suitable Rules and By-Laws, to be proposed to an adjourned meeting. Similar institutions exist in England and Scotland; in the former place, under the appellation of " Provident Institutions for Savings," and, in the latter, of "Savings Banks." The Edinburgh Review, No. 49, and the Pamphleteer, No. 14, contain essays on the subject, explaining their objects and principles, and narrating their beneficent effects. In Philadelphia it is proposed to establish one of these Societies. We agree in the following sentiment, and wish every success to the laudable scheme contemplated: "It is not by the alms of the wealthy, that the good of the lower class can be generally promoted. By such donations, encouragement is far oftener given to idleness and hypocrisy, than aid to suffering worth. He is the most effective benefactor to the poor, who en

courages them in the habits of industry, sobriety, and frugality.” Ordinations.

Ordained at Northborough, October 30, Rev. Joseph Allen. Introductory prayer, by Rev. Mr. Whitney, of Quincy. Sermon, by Rev. Professor Ware, of Harvard University, from Jeremiah xv. 19. "Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them." Ordaining prayer, by Rev. President Kirkland, of Harvard University. Charge, by the Rev. Dr. Sanders, of Medfield. Fellowship of the churches, by Rev. Mr. Abbot, of Salem. Concluding prayer. by Rev. Dr. Puffer, of Berlin.

It may be worth while to mention, as facts in the ecclesiastical history of the town of Northborough, that Mr. Allen is its third religious instructor, in succession; that in every instance, only one candidate has been employed; and that the town has been distinguished for the regular and harmonious attendance of its inhabitants upon the institutions of our religion.

November 11th, At Alfred, Re, Nathan Douglas. Introductory prayer, by Rev. J. Cogswell, of Saco. Sermon, by Rev. E. Payson, of Portland, from Mark vi. 30, 31. Ordaining prayer, by Rev. Asa Rand, of Gorham. Charge to the pastor, by the Rev. Mr. Fletcher, of Kennebunk. Charge to the people, by the Rev. Mr. Swett, of Sanford. Right hand, by Rev. George Payson, of Arundel. Concluding prayer, by Rev. J. Greenleaf, of Wells.

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