Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

coaches on the Lord's day is a direct violation of the Fourth Commandment; and that if such abominable practices are suffered, they know not where the outrages upon the feelings of the public will stop, or how religion is to be maintained." Eo.Mag.

We understand that the New-Lon-ty, but that the employment of stagedon Association, (Conn.) at their meeting in June last, passed, unanimously, the following vote, viz. Whereas, it appears that Arian and Socinian errors are spreading in New England, we judge it our duty to declare our firm belief of the divine Trin ity in Unity; and of the true and prop-er Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as taught in the Holy Scriptures, and for substance maintained in the Westminster confession of faith and catechism. And we recommend to the members of this Association carefully to avoid all ministerial commu nion with ministers who oppose these doctrines."

[ocr errors]

ON Lord's day, May 25, 1806, was opened for public worship the new Independent or Congregational church in Charleston, South Carolina. Dr. Hollingshead preached in the morn ing from, Isa. lvi. 7. For mine, house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." In the afternoon Dr. Keith delivered a discourse from Hag. ii. 7. "And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of. Hosts." This clegant edifice is built of brick, in a circular form, and of sufficient size to contain from 1500 to 2000 people. The whole expense is estimated at 60,000 dollars, It is hoped this beautiful edifice may stand for ages to come, an honour to those who erected it, an ornament to the city, and a commodious place for public worship, to a large and flourishing branch of the Christian Church.

SCOTLAND.

Is consequence of a project for the revival of the stage-coaches between Glasgow and Edinburgh on Sundays, to accommodate a numerous body of travellers, who have occasion to pass and repass to those places on that day in particular, the Presbytery of Glasgow have had a meeting, to take the subject under their serious consideration, and oppose it by every possible means. In their observations, which they have published, they state, that "they contemplate with dread the awful change whichmust follow the introduction of this practice on the morals of the people of Scotland." They add, that "the mail-coach may be a work of necessi

PALESTINE ASSOCIATION.

WE understand that a society has been established for the purpose of promoting the knowledge of the Geog raphy, Natural History, and Antiquities of Palestine and its vicinity, with a view to the illustration of the holy writings, and the promotion of Bibli." cal and historical knowledge.

It has been regretted by all who have attended to the subject of Syrian Antiquities, that much valuable local information is still wanted for the illustration of the ancient historians, sacred and profane, who have treated on the affairs of that province; and that, notwithstanding the learned anđ laborious compilations of Adriconius, Revenelli, Cellarius, Fuller, and Lightfoot, the more recent details of Reland, Calmet, &c. many of the most important points are still left unexamined: that there are many chasms which ought to be filled up, and a va riety of easy and obvious facts that have been little, if at all, attended to; which, if ascertained with precision, could not fail to elucidate many of the most difficult passages of the Sacred Scriptures.

It affords us pleasure to hear that this Society are now engaging proper persons to execute this plan. When we consider the high respectability of its orig al Institutors and Members, and the importance of its objects, we cannot but entertain hope, that they will meet with every requisite encour agement. Evan. Mag.

BIBLE SOCIETY.

The British and Foreign Bible Society have lately been favoured with a noble present from a lady of quality, of the sum of one thousand guineas.

THE SLAVE TRADE.

The Slave Trade has now continued 303 years, viz. from 1503 to the present. It appears on a moderate computation, in that period, that the number of slaves imported from Afri

ca by the different powers of Europe, amounts to 573 millions !!

We hope that we may congratulate the Friends of Justice and Humanity on a more pleasing prospect than has ever before appeared, of the speedy abolition of the Slave Trade. Some weeks ago an act of parliament was passed, by which it is said that the abolition of nearly two thirds of the British Slave Trade has been effected. Since that period, a bill has been in troduced into the House of Commons, to prohibit any more ships from being employed in that accursed traffic during the present season, beside those already employed. May God prosper the efforts now made to deliver this country from blood-guiltiness! Evan. Mag.

By a letter from Rotterdam, information has been received that Mr. Kicherer's labours, since his return to Zak River, have been greatly blessed; and that the people who were Aspersed, are in great part gathered again.

MEDINA.

Ib.

THE newspapers state that Medina has been captured by the Wahabees, whose army has overwhelmed the whole country, and taken the city by • assault, with prodigious bloodshed and devastation. They set fire to Medina in various places, destroyed the mosques; and having ransacked them of their valuable shrines and treasures, completely destroyed the tomb of the Prophet. After which,

some thousands of females of the first rank, and a number of the principal inhabitants, were carried off into the desert. A troop of camels were also sent away with jewels and other treasures to an immense amount.

Later accounts say, that "Since the taking of Medina, the Wahabees have made further progress: they have excited alarm at Mecca, and have made themselves masters of Gedda."

A war has also broken out in Bosnia. The Christians in that province, aided by their neighbours the Montenegrins and Herzogovins, have made a great slaughter among the Turks.

This extraordinary event will probably render some account of Maho

'met's tomb acceptable to the reader. We transcribe it from "A faithful account of the religion and manners of the Mahometans, third edition, published in 1731. By Joseph Pitts, of Exeter," father, we believe, of the late Rev. Mr. Pitts, of Southwark. Mr. Pitts was taken prisoner when very young, by the Algerines, and sold for a slave. In the course of his journies with one of his masters, he visited Mecca and Medina.

"Medina," says this writer, "is but a little town, and poor; yet it is walled round, and hath in it a great mosque; but nothing near so big as the temple at Mecca. In one corner of the mosque is a place built about fourteen or fifteen paces square. About this place are great windows, fenced with brass grates. In the inside it is decked with some lamps and ornaments. It is arched all overhead. I find some relate, that there are no less than 3000 lamps about Mahomet's tomb; but there are not, as I verily believe, an hundred (and these not of silver, as some report; but almost all of glass.) I speak what I know, and have been an eye witness of. In the middle of this place is the tomb of Mahomet, where the corpse of that bloody impostor is laid, which hath silk curtains all around it, like a bed; which curtains are not costly nor beautiful. There is nothing of this tomb to be seen by any, by reason of the curtains round it: nor are any of the hagges. (or devotees who visit it for worship) permitted to enter there. None go in but the eunuchs, who keep the watch over it: and they only to light the lamps which burn there by night, and to sweep and cleanse the place. All the privileges the hagges have, is only to thrust in their hands at the windows, between the brass grates, and to petition the dead juggler; which they do with a wonderful deal of reverence.

"It is storied by some, that the coffin of Mahomet hangs up by the attractive virtue of a loadstone to the roof of the mosque; but, believe me, it is a false story. When I looked through the brass grate, I saw as much as any of the hagges; and the top of the curtains which covered the tomb, were not half so high as the roof or arch; so that it is impossible his coffin should be hanging there. I

[blocks in formation]

UNITED STATES.

DR. TAPPAN'S WORKS.

We are happy to learn that proposals are shortly to be issued for the publication of the Works of that eminent divine, and excellent man, the late Rev. DAVID TAPPAN, D. D. Hollis Professor of Divinity in Harvard College. These works, we understand, are to embrace his public lectures delivered to the students, on Theology, and on Jewish Antiquities, and a vol ume of his sermons. The whole to be comprised in four handsome octavo volumes. The profits arising from the sale of these works, which, from the high and far known reputation of Dr. Tappan, as a writer and divine, we anticipate will be very considerable, are to be given to his widow and children.

It has been recently ascertained, that the mammoth, or American elephant, was a herbivorous animal. In digging a well in Wythe county, in Virginia, after penetrating about five and a half feet from the surface, the labourers struck against the stomach of a mammoth, the contents of which were in a state of perfect preservation, consisting of half masticated reeds, twigs, and grass, or leaves. Ch. Ob.

GREAT-BRITAIN. PROPOSALS have been circulated for printing, by subscription, the originai text, carefully collated with the

It

most authentic MSS. of the Raymayunu, a celebrated Shanscrit Poem ; with an English Translation, accompanied with elucidatory Notes. will form 9 vols. 4to. of 600 pages each, at 5 guineas per vol.: three volumes to be delivered annually. “This Poem," say the editors, who are the Baptist Missionaries at Serampore, "is far superior in antiquity to any of the Pooranus: and the veneration in which it has been held, throughout Hindoosthan, for so many ages, is scarcely exceeded by that entertained for the Sacred Scriptures throughout the Christian world; a circumstance this, which renders it interesting, whatever be its intrinsic merit. The work, however, besides furnishing an important clue to the ancient history of India, gives us such a full idea of the Hindoo Mythology, and presents to us so interesting a picture of the almost unvarying manners and customs of the country, as must render it highly gratifying to the admirers of Oriental Literature." Ch. 05

[blocks in formation]

scribers 72. A library has been already collected, which has cost 67001; and consists of nearly 8000 volumes, comprising many works of great and increasing value. The whole sum received is 76,7101. 3s. 1d. of which 65,000, with an accumulation of interest amounting to about 20001. is invested in Exchequer bills. Professor Richard Porson is appointed principal librarian, with a salary of 2001. per annum; under whom are two assistant librarians, each at 1001. per aunum.

The Marine Society has, since its establishment in 1756, clothed 34,191 men, and 25,519 boys; and, in the quarter ending December, 1805, 133 men, and 107 boys; 47 of the boys being apprenticed to the merchants' service. This society has now 60 boys on board their ship at Deptford, ready and fit for his Majesty's and the merchants' service.

The BISHOP of LONDON'S Lectures on the Gospel of St. Matthew, and MILNER'S History of the Church of Christ, have been translated into the German language.

DENMARK.

The Danish government is occupied in meliorating the condition of the inhabitants of Iceland; a people removed to the confines of the polar circle, but interesting on account of the zeal with which they cultivated the sciences in the 10th and 11th centuries; and on account of the voyages, which they made to America. Iceland, almost ruined by various physical and political evils, is about to be restored; a regular city is building, to be called Reykiavig; and it is already peopled by colonies of natives as well as strangers. A free port is opened; and a college, where the learned languages and natural history are taught, is in the full exercise of its functions.

[blocks in formation]

EAST INDIES.

The Asiatic Society has united with the College of Fort William, in granting an annual stipend, by equal contributions, of 4501. sterling, to the Protestant missionaries in Bengal, towards defraying the expense of publishing the original text of the most ancient Shanscrit writings, and particularly of the Vedas, with an English translation.

The subject of the prize essay, proposed to the students at the College of Fort William, for the second term of 1805, is the following: "On the ultimate Improvement of the Natives of India, in the course of ages, under the influence of the British government, in learning and the arts, in morals, manners, and religion.”

Captain CHARLES STEWART, Assistant Persian Professor, has commenced a Descriptive Catalogue of the Oriental Books and MSS. belonging to the Library of TIPPOO SAIB, now in the College of Fort William. He has discovered in that library, a valuable work in the Persian language, referred to by Dox and ORME, as necessary for the illustration of an important period in Eastern history, and which was sought for in India by those historians without success. It is the History of the Emperor AuRENGZEBE, from the 11th year of his reign to his death, a period of 40 years; written by the learned and authentic MAHOMMED SAKI.

M. V. LUNKAR, head Pundit on the Shanscrit and Bengalee languages at Fort William, has ready for the press in Bengalee, A General History of the Hindoos, from the earliest ages to the present time: compiled from Oriental authorities, and particularly from Shanscrit records. He is also preparing for the press, in the same language, A View of the Manners and Customs of the Hindoos, as they now exist; in which many popular practices are contrasted with the ancient observances prescribed by the Vedas. Ch. Ob.

List of New Publications.

A SERMON, delivered at Hartford, at the funeral of John M'Curdy Strong, son of the Rev. Nathan Strong, D.D. who was drowned in Connecticut river, on the evening of Sept. 16. By Abel Flint. Hartford. Lincoln and Gleason, 1806.

A Sermon, delivered at New-Boston, N. H. Feb. 26, 1806, at the Ordination of the Rev. Ephraim P. Bradford, to the pastoral care of the Presbyterian Church and Society in that place. By Jesse Appleton. Amherst, N. H. Jos. Cushing. 1806.

A Sermon preached to the United Independent or Congregational Church of Dorchester and Beach-hill, (SouthCarolina) at the Ordination of the Rev. James Adams, to the pastoral charge of said church. By the Rev. Daniel M'Calla, A. M. Charleston. W. P. Harrison. 1799.

The Christian Monitor, Vol. 2, a Religious periodical work. By "A Society for promoting Christian knowledge, piety, and charity." Boston. Munroe and Francis. 1806.

A Discourse commemorative of the late Maj. Gen. William Moultrie, delivered in the Independent Church, Charleston, (S. C.) on the 15th of Oct. 1805, at the request of the Society of the Cincinnati of South-Carolina, before that Society and the American Revolution Society. By William Hollingshead, D.D. Charleston. Peter Freneau. 1805.

The Acts of Incorporation, together with the Bye Laws and orders of the Massachusetts Medical Society. Salem. Joshua Cushing. 1806.

A Medical Discourse, on several Narcotic Vegetable Substances, read before the Massachusetts Medical Society, at their annual meeting, June 4th, 1806. By Joshua Fisher, M. D. Salem. Joshua Cushing.

An Address to the Members of the Merrimack Humane Society, at their annual meeting in Newburyport, Sept. 2, 1806. By Samuel Cary. Newburyport. Edmund M. Blunt.

On the advantages of public worship, a Sermon. By William Hollingshead, D. D. one of the Ministers of the Independent or Congregational

Church, in Charleston, S. Carolina. Preached June 3, 1794, at the opening of the newly rebuilt house of worship of the Independent or Congregational Church, at Dorchester, Charleston. Markland, M'Iver, & Co.

A Sermon, delivered before the Hampshire Missionary Society, at their annual meeting at Northampton, August 28, 1806. By Jonathan L. Pemeroy, of Worthington. Northampton. William Butler.

Two Discourses, delivered in the North Meeting-house in Portsmouth, 16th June, 1805, it being the Sabbath succeeding the interment of Mrs. Mary Buckminster, consort of the Rev. Joseph Buckminster, D. D. By Jesse Appleton, Congregational Minister in Hampton. W. & D. Treadwell. Portsmouth.

Sacred Classics, containing the following works: 1. Hervey's Medita tions. 2. Evidences of the Christian religion, by the right Hon. Joseph Addison. To which are added, Discour ses against atheism and infidelity, with a preface; containing the sentiments of Mr. Boyle, Mr. Locke, and Sir Isaac Newton, concerning the gospel revelation. 3. The death of Abel, in 5 books, translated from the German of Mr. Gesner, by Mrs. Colver. To which is prefixed, the life of the author. 4. Devout Exercises of the Heart, in meditation and soliloquy, prayer and praise, by the late pious and ingenious Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe, revised and published at her request, by J. Watts, D. D. Friendship in Death, in letters from the dead to the living; to which are added, Letters, moral and entertaining, in prose & verse, by Mrs.Elizabeth Rowe, Reflections on Death, by Wm. Dodd, L.L.D. with the life of the author. The Centaur, not fabulous, in six letters to a friend, on the life in vogue: by Dr. Young: with the life of the author. The Pilgrim's Progress. Blackmore on Creation. The above works are in imitation of Cooke's edi. tion of the Sacred Classics, embellished with elegant engravings. Price $1 per volume, neatly bound. New York. J. & T. Ronalds.

« AnteriorContinua »