we have found the obscurity which we beheld at a distance, the cloud that issues from the bottomless pit. This colouring may be thought of too deep a hue: let us proceed to the exhibition of facts, which will speak and paint for themselves.

"A great proportion of the people are crowded together, from four to twelve families in a house, often two or three in a room, and those of all colours; are deplorably ignorant, and destitute of all the means of grace, and consequently are not under the restraining influence of religion. Such is the natural corruption of the human heart, such the ease with which the vile passions are kindled into a flame, and the whole course of nature set on fire of hell, that the simple fact that people live together in the manner described, and without the restraints of religion, is strong evidence that they are immoral. But we have other evidence of this painful, this humiliating truth; a mass of evidence, but a small portion of which can be exhibited in this place. Among the vices which are most prevalent, which have the most pernicious influence on society, and which are most effectual in destroying the souls of men, is that at which we have already hinted, the PROFANATION of THE SABBATH. By that great body of people who do not attend public worship, the Sabbath is wholly disregarded, or rather it is observed as a day of recreation, of idleness, and drunkenness. In some parts of the city it is impossible for Christians to go from the closet and the family altar to the house of God, without being discomposed and pained by the sight of multitudes of the high and the low, the rich and the poor, lounging in their windows about their houses, strolling the streets, and passing, when the season will permit, into the adjacent country t. But we must confine our attention more particularly to that class of people whose poverty is exceeded only by their vices. Many of them during the week are scattered throughout the city, and to some extent are employed in various kinds of business. On the Sabbath they are at home, and have nothing to do. While others are assembling for public worship, it is no uncommon thing to find them at breakfast or in bed. On the Sabbath they calculate to have better food and more liquor than on other days; to associate together, and to make of this blessed day, which to the Christian is better than a thousand, a day of mirth and rioting. It is easier to conceive than to describe the scene, which people of such a character, and in such circumstances, must exhibit. Happy would

*

ΟΙ

* In some of the largest towns in the north of England, to the disgrace at once of their police and their Christianity, the Sabbath morning lounge of the rich is their news-rooms and public libraries, which are open as on other days; a practice which is not suffered, and would not be tolerated, in the metropolis.-EDIT.

"It is estimated by those who live in the immediate vicinity of the place, that 2 or 3000 frequently pass on the Sabbath over the ferry at Corlaer's Hook, to Long Island.”

it be for society were this iniquity concealed from public view. This, however, is not the case. As I was the last summer going to a place of worship on Sabbath morning, I observed a large number of tippling and fruit shops which were open; I began to count them, and in passing a short distance counted twenty-six *. In most, if not all of them, ardent spirits were kept for sale, and in many of them persons were assembled. This is a specimen of what has often been seen, and what we fear will often be seen again. Who that has frequently walked the streets in certain sections of the city on the Sabbath, has not seen persons intoxicated even in the early part of the day? Toward the close of the day, those houses which are filled with this class of people become too narrow to contain them. In certain streets hundreds have often been seen engaged in various kinds of iniquity.

“INTEMPERANCE is another vice which is making havoc of the best interests of society, and of the present and eternal welfare of thousands. Intemperance, with its attendant vices, is the principal cause of that suffering, which has recently called forth the benevolent exertions of many of the citizens. We are perfectly astonished at the immense number of licensed tippling shops in this city. It appears from a particular examination of the records, that there are 1,489 persons licensed to sell ardent spirits by the small quantity. In the seventh ward, where the greater proportion of the people are poor beyond description, there are between 2 and 300. Though there are a few respectable and some pious grocers, it is known that most of those who retail ardent spirits are of the lowest and most vicious character. We are no longer surprised that whole families and whole neighbourhoods are reduced to beggary, wretchedness, and death."

Such is a part, yet not the blackest part, of a sketch of the state of religion and morality in America, drawn by one of its native ministers. In our next number we hope to complete it, and to accompany the faithful though disgusting detail of vice and wretchedness by some of the remedies which Christian benevolence has suggested and appliedremedies as useful, at the least, in Europe as beyond the waves of the Atlantic, since the diseases they are destined with the Divine blessing to remove, are not the growth of America alone, pervade not, taint not, contaminate not, the teeming population of any particular country of the globe, but are the indisputable proof of that universal depravity and corruption which the fall has entailed upon the whole race of man. These, and not any ill-founded notions of national

This number would easily be equalled, and even exceeded in London, or any other of our large cities or towns.-EDIT.

virtue or partial exceptions to a rule that is not only general but universal, must be the foundation of any effort for the mitigation of moral evil, or the spread of religious truth; and such views, we rejoice to know, have long actuated, and are still most powerfully actuating, thousands of our American brethren. Since we commenced our labours, one who took the lead in these honourable exertions has, however, ceased from his labours, and entered on his rest. From Dr. Kollock, of Savannah, we were expecting important assistance in a work in which his principles, his liberality, his attachment to England, his ardent wish to promote a good understanding between her and America, would have led him most cordially to engage, when we received the unwelcome tidings of his death, the particulars of which we hope to communicate in our next number, together with some account of the life and character of an individual who to be loved need but to be known. We have been favoured with the following particulars of this event from a highly esteemed friend of the deceased, and it is with great pleasure that we give insertion to so valuable a tribute to his merit.

"His health, for some time past, was sensibly affected by the extensive labours peculiar to his situation; and, in the spring of 1817, he visited England. He derived so much benefit from the voyage, that sanguine hopes were entertained of his perfect restoration; but it was soon evident that a relapse had taken place, and an alarming alteration was too visible. During the last summer great mortality prevailed at Savannah among emigrants from Europe, numbers of whom arrived there at that fatal season. At such a time, however, he was more than commonly diligent in his attention to the sick, nor could any considerations of personal safety deter him from the discharge of these arduous duties. He often attended either funerals or the sick bed every hour of the day, nor was his rest scarcely more free from these calls. Those who have witnessed his visits on these occasions will never forget the tenderness, the affection, the piety with which his whole soul seemed to enter into the feelings of those around him. Notwithstanding this great degree of physical and mental exertion thus constantly called into action for weeks and months together, he was never laid wholly aside from his delightful work. By this long course of assiduous and affectionate concern for the temporal and eternal welfare of his fellow-creatures, he had gained a degree of love from most, and esteem and reverence seldom equalled from all.

"His ministry was remarkably blessed, and many hundreds were added through his instrumentality to the church. He was attended and admired by all ranks and characters; so that the

place, though large, had long been found insufficient to accom modate the people. A large one, on a most magnificent scale, was therefore built for him; and a year has not elapsed since he opened it. On this solemn and interesting occasion the President of the United States, then on a visit to Savannah, attended, and expressed himself highly pleased with the eloquent sermon he heard. Nothing could now present a more pleasing prospect than his church did, but its great Head has been pleased to call it to pass through the cloud, and has suddenly turned it into a house of mourning. On Sabbath morning, Dec. 26th, after delivering a sermon on behalf of the Orphan Asylum, which produced a collection of £120, he was attacked as he entered his own door by a paralytic stroke, which nearly at once deprived him of speech; and which, at length, extinguished this bright luminary of the western world, on the evening of the 29th, and dismissed his happy spirit from its labours to its rest. The afflicting event was announced in all the papers, which were put in mourning, on the following day, and I cannot better shew their feelings than in their own words: How shall we suitably describe the universal sorrow which this event has produced among our inhabitants! His endearing and affectionate manners, the blameless simplicity of his life, and his exalted character as a divine, in which extensive learning and the charms of literature were blended with the mild graces of the Christian, constituted a character whose loss is irreparable. To those who enjoyed the happiness of his familiar acquaintance, we resign the task of delineating more minutely the virtues of this interesting man; but we cannot omit the pleasing information, for the satisfaction of his remote friends, that he displayed in the closing scenes of life an eminent example of the truth of those precepts which he so powerfully inculcated.' The editor of another paper says: "In announcing the decease of this

eminent Christian and divine, we cannot restrain the tribute of a tear, and we mingle our sorrow in common with the grief of every citizen. It is not alone the public teacher of the Christian religion, the coruscations of whose luminous mind shed light on the sacred page -- it is not alone the public orator, whose holy and fervid eloquence, binding like a charm the attention of his hearers, awak ening the infidel from his delusive dream, and bringing back the sinner to the remembrance of his God it is not alone the man of genius or of learning that we deplore, but him who in the hour of mortal suffering kindly bent over the couch of distress and pain; and in the hovel of the poor, or the prison of guilt, poured the balm of our holy religion into the wounded spirit, and taught the sufferer, afflicted with the agonies of this world, where to look for safety and happiness in another. Many are the tears that will water his path to the tomb, and long, long, will his memory be cherished by the community, who yet can hardly believe or appreeiate their loss.' The Mayor also issued the following notice :

"The Rev. Dr. Henry Kollock is no more! He died last night;: and in the final departure of such a man a chasm is left in the community of which he has long been a distinguished member which will not be easily supplied. It is due to his exalted character, that no evidence of respect should be omitted; but, on the contrary, that more than common tokens should be offered. I, therefore, request that the shops and houses may be closed, and all business suspended, that the community may thus evince how sincerely they mourn for a man who was an ornament to society, alike distinguished for talents and for goodness.

T. U. P. CHARLTON, Mayor.'

"On the 31st, the day of the funeral, all classes sincerely joined in the public tribute of respect. The ships in the harbour displayed their colours half masted. The inhabitants generally were invited by public notice to attend this last scene in which they would be connected with him whom all deplored. An eyewitness says, it surpassed any thing we ever witnessed. The mourning members of his family; the members of his church; the mayor, aldermen, and public officers; the Medical Society, and every society, moral or religious; the judges and officers of courts; the Jews, as a distinct body; all formed a part of the procession to the church and the grave, where his ashes will sleep till raised and fashioned like the Redeemer's own glorious body. It would be easy and delightful to expatiate on the many excellencies that distinguished and adorned the character of this holy man of God, and it would be pleasing to observe more at large the influence of evangelical principles in the formation of such a character - principles stigmatized by many, but to which alone such effects can be attributed but I am forbidden by the short limits of this notice, and it is almost unnecessary after the detail of such circumstances I have already recited — such a public testimony says more than a volume."

Ere we close this article, we have to perform another melancholy duty in announcing our regret to learn, by a letter from New York, dated March, that the excellent and laborious Dr. Mason is again laid aside from his public ministry, by severe indisposition. We sympathize with his afflicted church, and the religious public in that city, in the anxious solicitude which the declining state of his health must have created; and with humble submission to that wise, but often mysterious Providence, which cannot err, would fondly cherish the hope that the health and usefulness of that eminent servant of God may be speedily restored, and long continued.