family behind us, and say to our neighbours, and our relations, "Choose you this day whom ye will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" to withstand in a pious cause, the influence of example; to keep our way when we see an adverse multitude approaching us; to pass through the midst, unshrinking, as we feel the Scourge of the tongue, this is no easy thing; this is principle in triumph; and this christian heroism is not only commendable, but necessary. Do not say, therefore, if we do this, we shall be singular. If you are christians, you MUST be singular; it is the grand design, the unavoidable consequence of the gospel. Read the character of its followers: "Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Examine its commands. "Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of the mind." Weigh the condition of its dignities and privileges: "Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty." My dear hearers, the language is too plain to be misunderstood; the meaning too awful to be trifled with. Decide, and decide immediately. "Withdraw yourselves from these men," before a common perdition involves you all. If with them you will sin, with them you must suffer. They who followed the multitude rather than Noah, were drowned in the flood. They who followed the multitude rather than Lot, were destroyed in the cities of the plain. They who followed the multitude rather than Joshua and Caleb, perished in the wilderness; and as it was then, so it is now; "as for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord will lead them forth WITH the workers of iniquity." (To be continued.)

LITERARY NOTICE.

Doctor Dwight's sermon on Duelling. THIS sermon, though very lately printed, was preached last September, in the College Chapel at New-Haven. "It was no part of the design of any observations made in it to refer to any particular events or persons." "The gole object" of the preacher (as by himselfexpressed)" was to establish prin

ciples in the minds of his audience, and peculiarly of his pupils; and not at all to attack, or characterize persons."

Taking the following appropriate text, "A man that doth violence to the blood of any person, shall flee to the pit ; let no man slay him" the preacher exhibits to view, in a manner that would seemingly overpower any mind with conviction, the folly, the guilt, and the mischiefs of duelling.

Before the stern and awful majesty of truth, the duellist stands appalled and confounded; the blood stained laurels are torn from his brow: his pleas and excuses vanish like vapours from the presence of the sun; his egregious folly is made manifest; the rankness of his offence against God and man,is seen in the strong colours of reason and argument, aided by sublime eloquence.

In the mind of the reader, the alternate emotions of indignation and horror, suddenly give place to the anguish of unavailing grief and compassion. The "uncovered coffin" appears to view; the bloody corpse is plainly seen. There is beheld a train of bereaved and broken hearted relatives; the father of the wretched victim of false honour, "fixed in motionless sorrow;" the mother, "wrung with agony." A group still more affecting is presented; the reader wets the page with tears.

"Turn thine eyes, next," solemnly exclaims the preacher to the bloody victor, "on the miserable form, surrounded by a cluster of helpless and wretched children, see her eyes roll with phrenzy, and her frame quivering with terrour. Thy hand has made her a widow, and her children orphans. At thee, though unseen,, is directed that bewildered stare of agony. At thee she trembles; for thee she listens; lest the murderer of her husband should be now approaching to murder her children also.

"She, and they, have lost their all. Thou hast robbed them of theirsupport, their protector, their guide, their solace, their hope. In the grave all these blessings have been buried by thy hand."

The superior elegance of its language, is but the smallest part of the merit which this discourse possesses. While it enchains attention, it informs the understanding; while it awakens the indignant, and sympathetick passions, it convinces the judgment and

corrects the heart. In the clear and awful light of the sacred oracles, it displays the horrible turpitude, as well as the direful consequences, of the crime, which, in some parts of even this christian country, has been "vindicated, honoured, and rewarded, by common consent, and undisguised suffrage," "among those who filled the superior ranks of society." Connect. Courant.

FRAGMENTS.

PROVIDENCE.

In what extreme confusion must the world for ever have been, but for the variety, which we find to obtain in the faces, the voices, and the hand writings of men! No security of person, no certainty of possession, no justice between man and man, no distinction between good and bad, friends and foes, father and child, husband and wife, male and, female. All would have been exposed to malice, fraud, forgery, and lust. But now, man's face can distinguish him in the light, his voice in the dark, and his hand writing can speak for him, though absent, and be his witness to all genera

If it

RELIGION, viewed at a proper point of sight, hath a very beautiful face. It is innocent and very careful not to hurt any body, or, doing it inadvertently, is uneasy till it hath made him amends. It always means well, and does as well as ever it can. offends, it wants to be reconciled; confesses its faults; prays to be forgiven; is desirous to be informed; is less adventurous; more circumspect; sensible of its own frailty; forgives every body; abounds in good will; delights in good offices; keeps itself clean; is pleased with itself; looks cheerful; is cheerful! Why, then, will any one be so indiscreet, as to dress this lovely form in such a frightful manner, as to terrify the beholder, instead of inviting him to embrace it. (Dr. Newton's Sermon on the Ministerial Duty.)

From the mass of information before us, we select for this number the following articles.

MISSIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

THE London Missionary Society was established in 1795. The ninth number of their Transactions, contains a very interesting narrative of the Rev. Mr. Kicherer's mission to the Hottentots, which has already appeared in some American periodical works. From this we learn that Mr. Kicherer, with Messrs. Vanderkemp, Edwards, and Edmonds, embarked in Dec. 1798, for the Cape of Good Hope, where they arrived the March following. A few days previous to their arrival, three Boschemen had come thither from Zak river, 400 or 500 miles N. E. of the Cape, with a view to solicit the government to send teachers into their country. They came in the capacity of publick ambassadors. At the conclusion of a peace between these heathen and the Farmers of the back setdements, some of the latter offered a

prayer. The Hottentots inquiring the meaning of such an action, were informed, it was done to obtain the blessing of Almighty God, that their neglect of this God was the cause of their wretchedness. This so forcibly impressed these poor heathen, that they immediately sent to the government of the Cape for gospel instructors. There they met several missionaries, just arrived from Europe. So remarkable a coincidence of circumstances left no doubt in the minds of the missionaries respecting their duty. On the 22d of May several of them left Cape Town. At Rodezand they rested several days, where Mr. Voss presides over a flourishing congregation. Thence they visited Bavian's Kloof, where the Moravians have a congregation of "Tame Hottentots." From Bavian's Kloof, they proceeded a fortnight's journey, through a vast tract of land, so dry as generally not to afford a blade of grass; yet the surrounding inhabitants, hearing of their journey came to them to

hear the gospel. Arriving at Mr. Fischer's, who had negotiated the peace mentioned, they tarried three weeks, during which time they often preached to full congregations of Farmers, who came sometimes four, and sometimes eight days journey to hear the gospel. Proceeding on their journey, the 22d of July, they, on the 6th of August, arrived among the Boschemen, and fixed on a place of settlement; on their knees devoting the place and themselves to the service of the Lord.

The following account of these miserable people, by Mr. Kicherer, cannot fail to interest the feelings of our readers.

“These wild people have no idea whatever of the Supreme Being, consequently they practise no kind of worship. They have however a supersti. tious reverence for a little insect known by the name of the Creeping-leaf, a sight of which, they conceive, indicates something fortunate, and to kill it, they suppose, will bring a curse upon the perpetrator. They have some notion of an evil spirit which they imagine produces mischief, particularly the diseases which they endure, and to counteract his evil purposes, a sort of men are employed to blow, and make a humming noise over the sick, which they sometimes continue for many hours together.

"Their manner of life is extremely wretched and disgusting. They delight to smear their bodies with the fat of animals, mingled with a powder which makes it shine. They are utter strangers to cleanliness, as they never wash their bodies, but suffer the dirt to accumulate, so that it will hang a considerable length from their elbows. Their huts are formed by digging a hole in the earth about three feet deep, and then making a roof of reeds, which is however insufficient to keep off the rains. Here they fie close together like pigs in a stye. They are extremely lazy, so that nothing will rouse them to action, but excessive hunger. They will continue several days together without food, rather than be at the pains to procure it. When constrained to sally forth for prey, they are dexterous in destroying the various beasts which abound in the country ;*

The wild beasts are always shot with poisoned darts They take the poison out of the jawbone of the serpent, and put it on the point

but when they cannot procure these, they make shift to live upon snakes, mice, and the most detestable creatures they can find. There are some spontaneous productions of the earth of the bulbous kind which they also eat, particularly the Cameron, which is as large as a child's head, and the Baroo, about the size of an apple; there are also some little berries which are eatable, and which the women go out to gather, but the men are too idle to do this.

Tame

“They are total strangers to domestick happiness. The men have several wives, but conjugal affection is little known. They take no great care of their children, and never correct them except in a fit of rage, when they almost kill them by severe usage. In a quarrel between father and mother, or the several wives of a husband, the defeated party wreaks his or her revenge on the child of the conqueror, which in general loses its life. Hottentots seldom destroy their offspring, except in a fit of passion, but the Boschemen will kill their chil dren without remorse on various occasions, as when they are ill shaped, when they are in want of food, when the father of a child has forsaken its mother, or when obliged to flee from the farmers or others; in which case they will strangle them, smother them, cast them away in the desert, or bury them alive. There are instances of parents throwing their tender offspring to the hungry lion, who stands roaring before their cavern, refusing to depart till some peace offering be made to him. In general, their children cease to be the objects of a mother's care, as soon as they are able to crawl about in the field. They go out every morning, an old sheep's skin to lie upon, ing, and when they return in the evenand a little milk or piece of meat, if they have it, is all they have to expect. In some few instances, however, you meet with a spark of natural affection, which places them on a level with thẹ brute creation.

of the dart or harping iron. They then creep behind the small bushes, where they conceal themselves, and attack the beast when about ti.e distance of an hundred steps. If the dart wounds him in the slightest degree, the Hottentot is sure of his prey sometimes the wounded beast falls down dead immediately, in other cases he pursues it for a time, and at length succeeds. They then take out the wounded part, and eat the rest without injury. They can run almost as well as a horse."

"The Boschemen frequently forsake their aged relations, when removing from place to place for the sake of hunting. In this case they leave the old person with a piece of meat and an ostrich egg shell full of water; as soon as this little stock is exhausted, the poor deserted creature must perish by hunger, or become the prey of the wild beasts. Many of these wild Hottentots live by plunder and murder, and are guilty of the most horrid and atrocious actions.

"Such are the people to whom the providence of God has directed our course; and among them, blessed be his name, he has been pleased to call many to the fellowship of the gospel, and to render them the distinguished trophies of his almighty grace."

An abstract of the remainder of this interesting Narrative, with the latest intelligence respecting the Missions in this quarter shall appear in our next number.

EAST INDIES.

The London Missionary Society have several missionaries lately sent to the Coromandel coast, to Ceylon and to Surat. Among other reasons for sending to Surat, were the following; "The great population of the city, supposed to be more than 100,000 souls; the fertility and population of the surrounding country; the complete toleration of religion; the independence and security of British subjects, and the free access to every description of the heathen, many of whom are acquainted with the English language; that it does not appear any missionary efforts have been made in that neighbourhood; and that its situation and commercial connections are remarkably favourable to render it a suitable station from whence the gospel may be diffused through all the north western parts of India, Cabul Candahar, Persia, and Arabia."

The same society contemplate a mission to the Prince of Wales' Island, inhabited and visited by great numbers of Chinese and other people, and where protection and encouragement would be offered to the Missionaries. They also propose a translation of the scriptures into the Chinese language.

OTAHEITE.

COMMUNICATIONS from this place received July, 1804, inform, that the island remained in a state of peace,

though matters were not so amicably settled as to leave the missionaries without fear; that the shocking practices of murdering infants, and offering human sacrifices were continued, which, together with fatal diseases were fast depopulating the island, the inhabitants of which do not now exceed 6000, or 7000 at most. It appears also that the natives view the missionaries with a jealous eye. Capt. McLennan of the ship Dart, by whom the above intelligence was received, gave information to the Directors of his conversation with the missionaries there, and of the death of the chief Pomarre, upon whose decease they desired the captain to stay until they could ascertain whether they were likely to be secure under the new governours; when having made some inquiries, it appeared to them that they might venture to rely on the promises of Otoo and Edea, that they should remain unmolested on the island, whatever changes might take place.

The society have missionary stations at Otaheite, where they have 15 missionaries; at eight places in South Africa, where they have 17 missionaries; at Ceylon, Serampore, Surat, and other places in the East Indies, where they have 9 missionaries; at Quebec, Bay of Chaleur, Twillingate, and Newfoundland, where are 3 missionaries.

BAPTIST MISSION IN BENGAL.

From a periodical account of the history and progress of this mission, published last September, it appears, that the number of baptized natives had increased to twenty three, two of whom were Brahmins, three were of the writer cast, and four were Musselmen, the others of the inferior casts of the Hindoos. The following extracts from the Journals and letters of the missionaries will doubtless be acceptable to our readers.

"From our journals and letters you' will get a pretty correct idea of the work of God amongst us. No doubt you are ready to say, He hath done great things for us whereof we are glad: yet, my dear brother, could you see the thousands assembled before a woodengod; could you see as our brother Kristno saw this day, a quarter of a mile from our house, three women mount the funeral pile of a dead husband! you would be ready to say, who hath believed our report," &c. (p. 425.) "It will