In other instances beautiful and refreshing, like the dew that fell on the mountains of Israel, where the Lord commanded his providential blessing, the reality of the gentle operations of the God of Zion has been chiefly discernable in their gradual but real and precious effects. Among the several instances of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of which the Assembly have at this time heard, there are two which awaken the liveliest feelings of admiration. Some of the mutes in the Asylum of the Deaf and Dumb in Danville, have been hopeful subjects of renewing grace in a late awakening in that place. At the missionary stations within the bounds of the Presbytery of Buffalo, the Holy Spirit has in a remarkable manner stirred up the hearts of the Heathen to seek the Lord, and more then 40 of these children of the forest have been united with the church: and in the State Prison'at Wethersfield, Connecticut, from 12 to 15 convicts have been hopefully brought into the liberty of the gospel; so great a general reformation occurred that the practice of chaining the prisoners at night has been discontinued, and a Bible Society formed among them, by which 825 have already been contributed.

Events like these not only solemnly rebuke the stupidity of those who misimprove better privileges, and hold back their liberal contributions, amidst ample means, but they demonstrate the precious truth, that, under God, there is abundant encouragement to attempt the salvation of the most benighted, and the conversion of the most depraved.

Of revivals of religion in general, connected as they seem to be with the destinies of unborn millions, and the prospects of the church throughout the world, the Assembly cannot cease to speak without earnestly and affectionately entreating all the ministers, the elders, and members of our church, to beware of employing any questionable means to produce religious excitements-and of countenancing at any stage of their progress, measures, however apparently successful, which the word of God does not sanction; as, in either case,

discredit may be brought upon one of the most invaluable mercies of heaven, and the Divine author of these sweet and saving influences be grieved.

Within the limits of the General Association of Connecticut, God continues to reveal the wonders of his redeeming love. Out of 212 congregational churches in that State, from forty to fifty have the last year shared in seasons of special reviving and enlargement, and from 3 to 4000 souls have been added to the churches, of which number more than 250 are teachers and pupils in the Sabbath Schools. The College and Theological Seminary at New-Haven, are sending VOL. II.

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forth their streams of intelligence and piety, to fertilize the most distant portions of our country.

Our brethren of the General Association of Massachusetts, bring us good tidings of what the Lord hath done for them, and what they are doing for the glory of his name. The showers of sovereign grace have never been so abundant as during the past year, and they number in a single county of that state 1700 hopeful conversions to God during that period. In two of their Colleges, and in their Theological Seminary, the blessing of the God of their fathers, richly abides, and within their bounds generally, and particularly in the city of Boston, evangelical truth, in its majesty, power, and invincibility, is pulling down the refuges of lies, and conducting many to that foundation which neither earth nor hell can overturn.

Though the General Convention of Vermont do not record as many revivals of religion as they sometimes have, yet the good cause is steadily advancing; and Education, Tract, and Missionary Socie ties among them, are continually gaining in resources and in usefulThe friends of the Bible, in this as in the States of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine, are now zealous in supplying every destitute family in the State with a copy of the Holy Scriptures.

ness.

From the very interesting communication of the delegate from the General Association of New-Hampshire, it appears that the Lord is multiplying revivals of religion, quickening and extending the operation of benevolent Institutions-prospering Seminaries of learning, and rearing up some very remarkable monuments of sove reign grace in that favored State.

From the General Conference of the State of Maine, whose delegates have entered with the present Assembly into articles of friendly correspondence, the accounts are animating. They complain indeed of prevailing vices, and the want of gospel laborers; but they rejoice in great revivals, in the increase of religious exertion, and in the literary, moral, and religious improvement of the State.

To the Reformed Dutch Church, God is granting a happy state of feeling in her churches, prosperity on her Missionary Society, and Theological Seminary, and the copious outpourings of his Holy Spi rit upon many of her congregations; for all which gifts and bless ings to our dear brethren of that communion, we render thanks tʊ

God.

From our German Reformed brethren, we learn, that, though the want of ministers of the Gospel is deeply felt in their Synod, and in many places vital piety is deplorably wanting, yet, on the whole. their progress in improvement is rapid, and their prospects encour

aging. The people of their communion are awaking to the importance of missionary effort, and taking active measures to promote the formation of Education Societies. The Lord bless them with an abundant share of whatever is great and good, in the benevolent spirit and operations of the Christian world.

On the whole, the Assembly can assure their brethren in the Lord, that the review of the past year presents nothing to disheart. en, but much to encourage and much to excite our gratitude to the King of Zion. The kindness of God to his church at large, and to our part of it, appears in those brighter accessions of strength and beauty, and those larger measures of majesty and efficiency and power, by which he is signalizing her ascending march to the mount of promise.

This cause then should command our best affections and our most strenuous endeavors. We should be awake to every duty, improve every talent, and grow in every heavenly virtue, remembering that the time is short. Seed time and harvest revisit and renew the face of nature, but to man the days and the years of active duty return not again for ever. For unpardoned sinners there are no warnings in the grave; for negligent professors there will be no season for active duty, when the night cometh; and for the ministers of the Gospel, it has not been told how soon the heart that throbs with the pulsations of benevolence, and the voice that utters the message of God, shall be alike cold and silent in the grave. How impressively are the General Assembly reminded of this solemn thought, as they are called to number with the dead, thirty-one of their fellow servants in the gospel ministry, removed from earth, and taken, we trust, to heaven, during the past year.*

In this annual list of the dead, containing names dear to our hearts, we recognize some who have occupied the seats, and whose countenances have diffused delight in the session room of the Assembly. Their presence and counsels imparted wisdom; but they will

*Rev. John Bascom, of the Presbytery of Cayuga; Daniel Banks, St. Law rence; Samuel Blatchford, D. D. and John Younglove, Troy; Caleb Alexander, D. D. Onondaga; Ebenezer Lazell, Bath; Wm. Pennington, (coloured man,) Newark; Robert Russell, Newton; Joseph Moulton, Susquehannah; Joseph Eastburn, and John Gloucester, Philadelphia; Thomas Kennedy, Lewes; William Moffit, District of Columbia; Thomas L. Birch, Baltimore; William Swain, Redstone; Thomas Marquis, Washington; Lyman Potter, Steubenville; John Field, Portage; Salmon Giddings, Missouri; Samuel J. Scott, Wabash; William Henderson, and Samuel H. Nelson, Transylvania; Joseph P. Howe, Ebenezer; James Turner, Hanover; Titus J. Barton, Shiloh; Joseph D. Logan, Lexington; Ard Hoyt, Union; Andrew K. Davis, North Alabama; A. H. Webster, Hopewell; T. Charlton Henry, D. D. and Reynolds Bascom, Charleston Union; with several licentiate preachers of the Gospel.

return to animate and commune with their brethren no more; and all that remains for the Assembly, is to offer unto their God and ours, sincere and fervent thanks, that on some of them at least. he was pleased, in the near approach of death, to shed in a remarkable manner, the unclouded light and the endearing smiles of his approv ing countenance. Blessed be the Lord who alone doth marvellous things, and blessed be his holy name; who, though his creatures die, liveth and reigneth the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Let the mountain of Zion rejoice, for her night is far spent, and her day is at hand. Death in its relentless march may cut down her watchmen, but nothing can arrest her majestic progress onward to univer sal enlargement and triumph. The conflict, by which she wins the day, may be with every kind and every measure of iniquity, and it may be fierce, and bold, and obstinate; but through every interven ing cloud that darkens her pathway, the Sun of Righteousness shall break forth; and beyond these scenes of error, corruption, and crime, lie the green fields untainted with vice, unstained with blood, and unmarred by divisions, where the church of God shall rest in the latter day. Brethren, in this great conflict between light and darkness, be decided, be active, pray much, give much, and do much; stand in your lot, and let every power of thought and of action be devoted to this great cause, forasmuch as ye know that your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord.

By order of the General Assembly.

EZRA STILES ELY, Stated Clerk.

From the Home Missionary.

A WORLD TO BE EVANGELIZED.

Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Dr. Miller, of Princeton, to the Correspond ing Secretary of the American Home Missionary Society.

When I call to mind, my dear brother, what great things ardent, persevering men have accomplished, in times past, in enterprises far less worthy of zealous effort, than those in which we profess to be engaged, I am sometimes almost ashamed to recollect that my brethren and myself bear the name of "ambassadors of Christ." Think for a moment what scenes occurred more than seven centuries ago, on the plains of Clermont, in France, when "Peter the Hermit" is said to have addressed an assembly of more than three hundred thou sand persons, and to have roused them, by his fanatical eloquence, to that wonderful point of excitement which prepared them to enter with enthusiasm on the Crusades! I have often asked myself-and am again constrained to ask myself, with peculiar emphasis, while I

write this letter-Did that ignorant fanatic, by the fire of his misguided zeal, electrify Europe? Did he, by going from town to town, and urging his plea with vehement and untiring earnestness, persuade millions, ecclesiatics as well as laymen, to devote their time, their talents, their property, and even their lives to an insane project? And shall those who call our churches to a rational, and an infinitely glorious service-"not to destroy men's lives, but to save them❞— not to corrupt or degrade their fellow men, but to promote their temporal and eternal happiness; shall they labor in vain-plead in vainand be scarcely able to excite one feeling of generous enthusiasm in the noblest of all causes, in the bosom of more than one in fifty of those whom they address?-Shall we not soon witness a feeling and hear a voice breaking forth on every side, something similar to that which, you remember, on the occasion referred to, rent the air"Let us march and plant the cross on the territory which belongs to Christ! God wills it! God wills it!" With how much more propriety we adopt this language! "There is yet much land to be possessed. Let us march and plant the cross upon it!" May we not say, Jehovah, the Saviour wills it? I trust it will be seen that he does intend to accomplish much in this holy enterprise, by the men of the present generation.

may

But what is the object at which we ought to aim? It is manifest that we ought to set ourselves no less a task than COMPLETELY EVANGELIZING THIS WHOLE NATION. While foreign missions, far from being abondoned or diminished, ought to be more and more extended every year; at the same time every hand ought to be lifted, every heart to beat, and every pulpit to resound, in behalf of DOMESTIC MISSIONS. For carrying on this cause with ardent and increasing zeal, every minister ought to consider all his powers as put in requisition; every theological student ought to regard himself as a consecrated agent preparing to act with all his energy; every Christian ought to hold himself and all that he has as pledged; and our children from the earliest dawn of moral feeling, ought to be taught to lisp the importance and the duty of urging forward this hallowed and glorious cause. Thus ought we to proceed-never ceasing to strive, and plead, and pray;-every year, if possible, doubling our exertions; -until we shall see a Bible in every house, a Sabbath School in every little district; and a pious minister of the gospel in every neighborhood in which a sufficient number of souls are found to form a decent congregation.

It has often been observed, that when God is about to accomplish great things for the church or the world, he commonly raises up one