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386 Lit.& Phil.Intell.-Egypt... Cape of Good Hope... United States. [JUNE,

France, ever since the revocation of the Edict of Nantz, that the three missionaries lately sent out from Paris to the Cape of Good Hope, under the care of Dr. Philip, are the first Protestant missionaries who have quitted the French shores since the mission to Brazil under the auspices of Admiral Coligny.

The process of boring for water is practised with great success in Paris. Two sheets of water flow beneath the Paris basin; one between the chalk and the green sand, the other at a greater depth. From the last of these, the water is discharged at St. Ouen to the height of ten or twelve feet.

EGYPT.

M. Champollion writes from Monfalouth, "I went at sunrise to visit these hypogeums, and was agreeably surprised on finding a wonderful series of paintings, perfectly visible, even in the minutest details, on being damped with a sponge, and removing the fine dust which covered them. We set to work, and gradually discovered the most ancient series of paint ings in the world, relating to civil life, the arts and trades, and the military caste. The animals are painted with such elegance and truth, that we shall need the testimony of the fourteen witnesses who have seen them, to induce people in Europe to believe in the fidelity of our drawings." This abode among the tombs has produced a portfolio of drawings, which already exceed 300 in number.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. The introduction of Christianity among the Hottentots has improved their character almost to a miracle. Habits of cleanliness and industry have grown up among them. They exercise useful trades: the best forge in the colony belongs to a Hottentot, who has nine apprentices and three English journeymen; and the only asylum in the colony for the sick, the aged, and the poor, was built by Hottentots, and at their expense. We bless God that these deserving men will no longer be the victims of colonial oppression; that the law at least protects them; and we doubt not there will be found just and benevolent persons to see that it is enforced for their benefit

UNITED STATES.

We have frequently adverted to the duties which Christian nations owe to the uncivilized tribes, bordering upon their territories; and we rejoice to believe that this important subject is becoming increasingly the object of attention among Christians in various countries. In re

ference to the proceedings of the United States towards the North-American Indians, and the claims which the latter have to expect their aid, an American Journalist remarks:-"Up to 1820, the United States had purchased of the Indians nearly two million acres of land, for the payment of which congress appropriated about two millions and a half of dollars. Previously toOctober 1819, government has sold eighteen millions five hundred thousand acres, for forty-four millions of dollars. Sales to a very large amount have been made, and I presume, our government has derived a nett gain of forty millions of dollars, besides the political importance of the country. And what gratuities have the Indians received from our government? The sum paid by the treasurer, to the superintendents of the several mission stations, for the promotion of Indian civilization in 1823, was eleven million dollars, and this is probably about the amount annually paid for the last seven years. These facts need no comment; they speak for themselves." There can be doubt that the United States have not by any means discharged the high moral and religious obligations they owe to their Indian neighbours; and in a pecuniary view also, if the debts were taxed on both sides, they owe them much though we would be fairer to our western brethren than are many of their own number, by allowing much for the unsettled state of the country, and the trifling value of land, at the period when many of these wholesale purchases were made. We willingly yield our friends this argument, only let them not abuse it to defend fraud and avarice, or forget the many duties which they owe to their brethren of the forest. They have much both to do and to undo.

A recent traveller mentions finding in Missouri, an isolated German settlement, where these people have preserved their nationality and their language. At a meeting in the woods, four hundred Germans were present, with not six persons of English descent. They are principally Lutherans. They have fixed themselves on a beautiful stream called the White-water, in the heart of the forest, and have little intercourse with the world. They are anxious for religious instruction, which they greatly need. Almost every farmer has a still, and inebriety abounds. Our traveller was present at a funeral. Among their rites they sang one of Luther's hymns so loudly, that the woods echoed with the mournful strain.

A work recently published in New

York, said to have been written by a gentleman of the bar to whom the stage is indebted for several popular plays, and which will not be suspected of being too religious, gives such an account of the theatre as must surely appal its defenders. We cannot transcribe the gross details of what the writer considers abuses of the theatre, but which from their general prevalence we must call its characteristics. He wishes for taste, genius, and virtue; instead of which he admits we have practically every kind of vice and enormity; so that, as things are," the theatre should be shunned, as a pest-house. What is the life of an actor? drunkenness, debauchery, and dissipation. Who are these men? vagabond strollers, characters of the most desperate description, who have had but one choice, the highway or the stage. Enter into the walls, and behold the passing scene:can any female who hath the least feeling or modesty; nay, can a man, who is not lost to every sense of right and shame, look on without his very soul being harrowed up in disgust and indignation? The de fenders of the stage have plumed themselves, that there have been respectable females who have followed it as a profes. sion. This may be, but the examples are so rare they can scarcely be designated; and the very boast of it discovers how few there are, and the poorness of this defence." The virtuous abhorrence of the New England public to the stage may perhaps have thrown it into the hands of a still more degraded class of persons than in England, but the main features have ever been the same all over the world.

At a late meeting of the New-York City Temperance Society, one of the speakers alluded to various facts in proof

that the use of spirits is not only a useless but a pernicious indulgence. He mentioned the schools in England for training prize-fighters, in whom the perfection of muscular strength and activity is aimed at, and in which ardent spirits are entirely excluded, and even ale is very rarely allowed. In those prisons in which spirits are forbidden, even constitutions broken down by intemperance, are restored to healthfulness and vigour. The Roman soldier, he added, who fought the battles of his country with a weight of armour which a modern spirit-drinker could hardly stand under, drank nothing stronger than vinegar and water; and multitudes of farmers and mechanics, engaged in hard labour of all kinds, and exposed to every change of weather, have made fair trial of the plan of entire abstinence, and with one voice declare themselves gainers by it in every respect. As many as 600 Temperance Societies are already in existence in the United States. In the lower part of Middlesex County, Connecticut, 612 men have agreed since September last, to abstain entirely from distilled liquors. In many places dramdrinking is almost wholly abolished. In one town, where there were last year nine persons who retailed ardent spirits, there is now not one; and more than 1500 vendors and distillers have discontinued all traffic in the poison.

NEW SOUTH WALES.

In the evidence before the House of Commons Emigration Committee, it was stated, that no instance of measles, smallpox, or hooping-cough has ever yet been known in New South Wales; but what is added is quite incredible, that no febrile diseases are known,

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Sermons. By the late Rev. A. Gracie, 10s. 6d.

Three Sermons on the Sacraments. By the Rev. W. Harness. 4s. 6d.

The Excellence of the Liturgy, a Sermon. By the Rev. W. Dealtry.

The Attention due to Unfulfilled Prophecies, a Sermon. By the Rev. J. Fletcher.

The Scriptures Fulfilled; Seven Sermons. By the Rev. R. Weaver. 5s.

Sermons. By the Rev. P. Wilson. 9s. Guide to the Instruction of Young Persons in the Holy Scriptures. 3d. A Select Compilation from Commenta. tors on the Apocalypse. is. 6d.

Four Dialogues on Infant Baptism. By a Country Clergyman. 4d.

Critical Examination of the Rev. G. S. Faber's Calendar of Prophecy. By W. Cunninghame. 6s.

An Essay on the Conversion of St. Paul. By the Rev. F. Ottey.

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Reply to Mr. Husenbeth. By the Rev. G. S. Faber.

Essays on the Principles of Morality. By the late J. Dimond. 2 Vols. 21s Pluralities Indefensible. By R. Newton, D.D., abridged. 3s.

12s.

Aids to Development. 2 Vols. Memoirs of the Reformers. By the Rev. J. W. Middleton. 3 Vols. 10s. 6d. The Rockite. By Charlotte Elizabeth. 6s.

Moral and Sacred Foetry; selected by the Rev. T. Willcocks, and the Rev. T. Horton. 7s.

The dying Christian, a Poem. By the
Rev. G. Bryan. 5s.

The Age, a Poem. 73. 6d.
Popery Theological; Reply of the Rev.
H. M'Neile, to the Rev. J. Sidden.

Reply to a Manifesto of the Christian Evidence Society. By the Rev. J. P. Smith, D.D. 1s. 6d.

Cottage Poetry. 1s.

Petition to the King. By T. Atchison, late Captain in the Artillery. 6d.

Physiology of the Present Inhabitants of
An Essay on the Physiognomy and
Britain. By the Rev. T. Price. 8s.
Little Mary " set free." 2s.
Essays on Various Subjects. By the
Rev. H. Revell.

Letters to Sir John Sinclair, on the
Edinburgh Infant School.

Society. By the Rev. A. Bell, D.D. The Boor, a Poem. By the Rev. J. Hill. 4s. 6d.

A Scriptural Gazetteer. By J. Mansford. 18s.

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

APPEAL FOR THE DIOCESE OF
SODOR AND MANN.

THE population of the island of Mann is not less than 50,000 souls, and the existing churches do not afford room for more than about 9000. In the town of Douglas alone, where the total number of inhabitants amounts to about 7000, and where the churches can accommodate but about 1300, there are no free seats, and 4000 of the poorer classes, who are professed members of the Church of England, are excluded, by the want of accommodation within her walls, from joining in her service. The same deficiency exists in several other parishes of the island. The inhabitants labour under many privations. They enjoy few of the benefits of commerce and manufactures; they have little access to the sources of national wealth and prosperity; and are unable of themselves to meet the great spiritual exigencies of the diocese.

Under these circumstances, the truly pious and zealous Bishop of Sodor and Mann has applied to the commissioners for building, and the society for enlarging churches; but the Isle of Mann was not to be found within the rules of the former, or the charter of the latter. An appeal, therefore, to public liberality, is the last and only resource; and most earnestly and heartily do we second this appeal, and shall take other opportunities of reverting to it. For lists of subscribers, and receivers of subscriptions, we must refer to the advertisements. We entreat our

readers to consider the exigencies of this most interesting case.

MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

The

The vessel from Labrador having, under the Divine protection, returned in safety from another perilous voyage, further Reports have arrived from the stations on that frozen coast. From Okkak, the missionaries write: "During the year past, the Lord our Saviour has manifested His power and grace among our Esquimaux congregation. Many have increased in His grace, love, and knowledge. work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts is manifest, and they seek to be followers of Christ in truth." From Nain they write : "No one can conceive what sensations of joy and gladness fill the hearts, both of us missionaries, and of all our Esquimaux, when, after our expectations had been raised to the highest pitch, the glad has arrived safe, and brought us accounts tidings burst upon us, that the Harmony from our brethren and friends in Europe. When we consider how the Lord has led this ship in safety between fifty and sixty amidst mountains of ice, our confidence in years, through the trackless ocean, and Him is confirmed; and we believe, that He will continue the same mercy towards us, for the maintenance of the mission, which is truly a work of his own hand. We never had more cause to rejoice than during the last autumn, when an infectious disorder spread so fast, that, in the space of four weeks, upwards of one hundred

and fifty of the members of our congregregation lay ill. The situation of these poor people was deplorable in the extreme. In many tents, all the families lay in a helpless state, nor could any one give the other even as much as a drop of water. Those who had recovered a little, walked about like shadows. We were employed early and late, in preparing medicines, nursing the sick, making coffins, and burying the dead. But our comfort was the state of mind of twenty-one persons who departed this life, one seeming more desirous than the other to depart and be with Christ. They all declared that they rejoiced at the prospect of soon seeing Him face to face, who by sufferings and death

had redeemed them from the power of sin and the fear of death. In watching the departure of many, we felt indeed as if heaven was opening to them." From Hopedale in like manner, the missionaries write, "The word of the Cross, which we preach in weakness and simplicity, has approved itself as the power of God, in the hearts of our people:" and from Greenland, "As to our dear Greenland congregation, we have great cause to praise the Lord for his mercy. Our people have proceeded, under the guidance of His Spirit, in the path of life, and increased in the love and knowledge of their Saviour."

OBITUARY.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

B. H. ALLEN, ESQ.

PERMIT me to record in your pages, for the edification of your readers, a few particulars respecting a faithful servant of Christ, whose sudden decease, at the early age of thirty-six years, has excited, and deservedly, the deepest sympathy, not only in the fondly attached circle of his family and friends, but throughout the densely populous district in which he resided.

The late Benjamin Haigh Allen, Esq. of Greenhead, near Huddersfield, the lamented individual to whom I allude, and who was taken to his heavenly rest on the 10th of last May, in the full vigour of his life and usefulness, was born at Thorp, in the parish of Almondbury, in the West Riding of the county of York March 31, 1793. From his childhood his disposition was mild and amiable; his character was marked by generosity, candour, and simplicity; and he was enterprising and ardent in all his pursuits. These qualities, which endeared him to his youthful companions, and ensured him in after-life the esteem of all who knew him, when ennobled by the grace of God and directed into their proper channel, rendered him the uncompromising defender of truth, the liberal supporter of every cause which proposed for its object the glory of God, the promotion of true religion, and the common good of mankind.

Having received his education at Macclesfield school, he returned to his paternal roof, and entered upon a mercantile life; which however he early quitted, in consequence of having come into the unrestrained possession, in his nineteenth year, of a very ample fortune by the death of his uncle. At this critical point in his lifefreed from parental restraint-possessed of a large estate-courted by the smiles of

the gay-having in his hands the ready means of self-gratification-and being at an age when the passions are in full buoyancy, and the world is wont to put on its most alluring garb,-had he set forward in a wrong direction, the first step might have been fatal: and the talents, given to be consecrated to God, might have ministered only to self-indulgence, to the pomp and luxury of life, and to his eternal ruin. It pleased, however, the Giver of every good and perfect gift to implant in his mind holier purposes and desires; for no sooner did he become possessed of wealth, than he was brought to feel his accountableness for the use of it; and far from being elated by prosperity, he entertained a salutary fear lest he should become an unfaithful steward of the deposit committed to his charge. About this period of his life, he read Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion, to which invaluable treatise he referred his first convictions of the heinous nature of sin, and his fervent desires after that eternal life which is the gift of God in Jesus Christ. He rose from the perusal of it with feelings of deep concern for his everlasting welfare; nor did these feelings evaporate -for he engaged in the work of his salvation with intense earnestness, and entered into a solemn covenant, or rather a ratification of his baptismal covenant, to devote himself to the service of his God and Saviour. A document to this effect has been found among his papers since his decease, drawn up after the plan recommended by Doddridge, signed with his hand and sealed with his seal The advantages of the peculiar mode of stipulation urged by Doddridge have been often questioned; but in the case of Mr. Allen, this solemn ratification was certainly attended with much spiritual benefit.

In the year 1814, Mr. Allen was united in marriage to Sarah, the fourth daughter of the late John Whitane of Woodhouse, Esq.,

a lady of sentiments congenial with his own; and the result was an abundant measure of domestic happiness. Immediately after his marriage, as before no ticed, he withdrew from the cares of business; considering that God had already bestowed upon him as much of this world's goods as it was expedient for him to possess; and being desirous of having his time more entirely at his own command, not to dissipate it in idleness or unprofitable pursuits, but that he might have greater leisure and opportunity for doing good. The manner in which he spent his days will shew that this was no idle wish or vain resolve. Among other important engagements, he entered with ardour won the office of a magistrate, which, in the populous neighbourhood in which he resided, could not be otherwise than laborious, and often painful; especially as he had fallen upon troublous times. The period from 1816 to 1820 was marked by much disturbance on the district around Huddersfield; and he was soon called to take an active part in unravelling a plot which disturbed the public peace, and aimed at nothing short of a national revolution. His unwearied exertions and valuable services at this period will not soon be forgotten. The firmness with which he repressed disorder, and the mildness with which he exercised authority, not only raised his character, but greatly contributed to the return of tranquillity in his neighbourhood. On the magisterial bench his loss will be much felt, and deeply deplored.

But though much occupied in maintaining the civil welfare of the community, he had still higher thoughts and purposes. He was pre-eminently desirous of promoting the influence of true religion, well knowing, that the principles of Christianity conduce not less certainly to the temporal than to the spiritual and eternal welfare of mankind. Huddersfield, like many other large towns of recent growth, was provided with only one church for a numerous and increasing population. Mr. Allen had for some time formed the purpose of erecting one at his own charge; but many difficulties, particularly at that time, stood in the way of such a design. To overcome these, and to obtain an act of parliament for the purpose, required all the energy of his character; but, by the blessing of God, he succeeded; and, in December 1816, laid the foundation of a handsome Gothic edifice, dedicated to the holy Trinity, adapted for the accommodation of 1500 persons. This he subsequently endowed, and it was consecrated by his Grace the Archbishop of York in Oct. 1819. Mr. Allen appointed to the incumbency his beloved friend the Rev. H. I. Maddock. In this holy temple he was a regular and devout worshipper; and it was the never-failing subject of his desires and prayers, that the word

of God there preached might become the seed of eternal life to many souls. He hailed with no less satisfaction than the minister himself the diffusion of pure and undefiled religion among the congregation. In 1826 he was deprived of his beloved friend and pastor; and respect for his memory, combined with a persuasion of the fitness of the appointment, led him to make choice of his brother the Rev. B. Maddock, as his successor.

Mr. Allen, it will be readily inferred, was deeply anxious for the increase of true religion abroad, as well as at home. He was an active supporter of all the great religious institutions. He was a vicepresident of the Huddersfield District Society for promoting Christian knowledge; president of the Auxiliary Bible Society; secretary to the Church Missionary Association; a liberal subscriber to the Society for the Conversion of the Jews; one of the founders of the two large National schools in Huddersfield; and a zealous supporter of every other local charity, and every plan for promoting the instruction and welfare of the labouring classes of society; particularly by means of Savings Banks, in which he took an especial interest, seldom failing to give his personal attendance at the one at Huddersfield on the days for receiving deposits, and feeling his heart cheered at witnessing the honest and industrious poor bringing in their extra earnings to be treasured up against a time of need. He took much delight in imparting instruction to the young: a school for girls was supported at his charge, and he devoted a portion of every Sunday to their improvement. For the last nine months of his life he employed his leisure on this day in teaching a Bible class for adults. He heard the details of the plan from the late Rev. B. Allen, Rector of St. Paul's, Philadelphia; and with his characteristic energy he immediately organized one himself. heart was much engaged in it; he found it attended with a great blessing, and he earnestly recommended the system for adoption to his friends. Would that Bible classes prevailed generally; they are evidently calculated to do much good, inasmuch as they carry forward scriptural instruction at an age fraught with danger and temptation.

His

Whatever his hand found to do, he did it with all his might. He gave to these institutions not only his money, but his time, his influence, his watchful care and superintendance; and above all his prayers. His services to the Church Missionary Society in particular, were very valuable; he visited the neighbouring associations, pleaded on its behalf, and, to mention but one among many instances of his good-will towards this excellent institution, he made on one occasion an anonymous grant to its funds of one hundred pounds, as a thank-offering to God, on

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