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Yet these people are, perhaps, as ready to hear and obey the Gospel, as any similar number of the human race who possess not true piety. In but few places, if, any, in our own country, or in any other country, would a minister labor for ten years to come, with fairer prospects of having souls for his hire, than in those islands.

Almost every station which has been formed, stands in great need of being strengthened; and, on Hawaii especially, various new stations should be speedily organized.

Two printers, and two presses, kept in constant employ, could not furnish the materials of reading and reflection as rapidly as they are demanded by the waking intellect of the Sandwich Islands, and by the circumstances of that interesting people: and hereafter there should be two printing establishments, -one for Hawaii, the other for the remaining islands.

It will be proper to say here, though in few words, that a mission to the NorthWest Coast will soon be expedient; and that whenever it is expedient, it had better be attempted, probably, by some of the missionaries, from the Sandwich Islands. From those Islands access to the coast will be easy, and may be frequent; and for some of the missionaries such an enterprise may furnish a desirable change of climate. The mission on the N. W. Coast might be regarded as a Branch of the Sandwich Island mission, and labors and laborers might be interchanged, as should be deemed expedient and the expense of the new mission, thus undertaken, and thus conducted, would be considerably less, than it must be, if sent originally from this country.

In view of this not improbable state of things, it becomes still more important, that the present necessities of the mission at the islands be supplied with a liberal hand.-Mis. Her.

The latest communications from the

Missionaries at these Islands, published in the Herald, are exceedingly encouraging. We select several paragraphs which are chiefly interesting for the facts which they embody.

Mr. Chamberlain thinks, that not less than a third part of the population

of Oahu give their attention to instruction, in some form or other. How large a portion of the inhabitants of all the islands are acquiring the rudiments of knowledge, it is not possible to tell : but it is stated, that 41,000 copies of an elementary book has been printed, and nearly all distributed; and that an edition of 10,000 copies of the hymn book, which has been frequently mentioned in this work, as going off very rapidly, though the missionaries are careful to give away copies to none, unless they can read, or have made such progress that they will soon be able to read. The entire edition would be gone in three months, were every one who applies, to be supplied with a copy.

Mr. Bishop, who labors at Kowaihae, writes-

Sabbath evening, Nov. 5.-I have just returned from the services of this day, where I have preached twice to a congregation of more than ten thousand listening hearers. They were assembled in a cocoa-nut grove, and I delivered my message to them in the open air. The stillness of this immense multitude; the solemn occasion upon which we had met; the thought that all this people would pass into eternity in the lapse of a few years; gave a splemnity, and an interest to the scene, which I have seldom felt. The Lord helped me to speak as one standing between the two worlds,--as an ambassador of reconciliation between God and his fallen creature man, revealing to him a covenant of grace.

There was never, perhaps, a time, when the prospect of complete success to our enterprise was greater than at present. Could you but witness, for one day, the order, the attention, the anxious, eager look, and observe the tear which starts in the eye of the tawny, sun-burnt savage, and the countenance of hope and joy as he casts his eye upward to heaven upon hearing the terms of pardoning mercy proclained to him, your heart would leap for joy, and you would give God thanks for having ever put it into the hearts of any to come over the wide waste of water that divides us, to preach salvation to this people, who have long been sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.

Mr. Ely, whose station is at Kaavaroa, says,

Our schools are flourishing. Considcrable efforts have been made the year past to improve the manner of instruction; and many are already able to read the word of God. I made a survey, a short time since, of the schools within ten miles each way from Kaavaroa. The number of scholars exceeds 2,000. And in the villages beyond, to the south, including Kau, I think that, at a moderate estimate, they may be reckoned 2,000 more, making in the whole, 4,000. I think the actual number exceeds this. But the number of scholars is limited only by the want of teachers. With safety it may be asserted, that, of the 80,000 people who inhabit Hawaii, 40,000 are ready to become learners, as soon as they can have teachers; and with even the present prospects, we may calculate that in two years from this date, 20,000 will be able to read the Gospels, and more than that number of copies will be wanted.

The sabbath-school under the care of Mrs. Ely is still flourishing. The scholars are now learning a history of important events from the Bible, in the form of questions and answers. We have often had occasion to speak of the children and youth of Kaavaroa, and are happy now to be able to state that we have daily and renewed encourage ment to persevere in giving them instruction, and have the pleasing hope that many of them will ere long stand as pillars in the church of God.

Embarkation of Missionaries for Bombay.-On Tuesday, 6th ult., Rev. CYRUS STONE and Rev. DAVID OLIVER ALLEN, with their wives and Miss CYNTHIA FARRAR, embarked at Boston in the ship Emerald, Capt. Heard, for Calcutta, expecting to proceed from thence as soon as possible, to Bombay. Mr. Stone was ordained as a missionary at Springfield, Mass. a little more than a year since. Mr. Allen received ordination at Westminster, Mass. on the 21st of May last; and both had pursued a regular course of theological study at the Seminary in Andover. Miss Farrar has gone as a teacher with a view to taking charge of the schools for native females, which have lately been established at Bombay.

On the evening of the 5th, (which was the evening previous to their emPark-street church, and in the prebarkation,) at the Monthly Concert, in structions of the Prudential Committee sence of a large congregation, the la were read to these missionaries, by the Corresponding Secretary; and they vine protection, in the prayers offered were specially commended to the di

on that occasion.-Mis. Her.

The Cherokee Alphabet.-We have formerly noticed the invention of a syllabic alphabet by George Guess, a native Cherokee. This alphabet is become an object of great national partiality, and indeed is regarded with so much enthusiasm by the Cherokees that the Missionaries think it would be useless to attempt introducing books printed in any other character. Mr. Worcester, a Missionary, thus writes to the Editor of the Missionary Herald on the subject.

the Cherokees is correct, in regard to Whether or not the impression of the superiority of their own alphabet for their own use, that impression they have, and it is not easy to be eradicated. It would be a vain attempt to persuade them to relinquish their own method of writing. Their enthusiasın to read: they are circulating hymns is kindled: great numbers have learned and portions of Scripture, and writing letters every day: they have given a medal to the inventor of a wonderful method of writing their own language: at their national council they have listened to a proposal to substitute an alphabet like Mr. Pickering's, and have rejected it: they have talked much of printing in the new and famous character: they have appropriated money to procure a press and types, and taken measures to ascertain the cost: some are eagerly anticipating the printing of the word of God in a manner in which they can read and understand it. Tell them now of printing in another character, and you throw water upon the fire, which you are wishing to kindle. To persuade them to learn that other, would be, in general, a hopeless task. Print a book in Guess's, and hundreds, both of

adults and children, can read it the moment it is given them: print it in Mr. Pickering's, and you have to overcome strong feelings of disappointment to kindle enthusiasm in the place of aversion, and by the assiduous labour of years, to attain, probably at best, only a part of what, on the other supposition, is already attained. In the meantime a crisis in the nation is passing by a few years may decide its fate: those few should be occupied in the diligent use of means the most immediately efficacious towards their moral and intellectual improvement. And when at such a crisis, such an ́enthusiasm is kindled, it must be cherished, not repressed, if you would save the nation. If we had been ready to print books in Mr. Pickering's alphabet several years ago, it might have been of some avail. But it seems now too late. The experiment upon national feeling is too hazardous to be made, for the sake of all the advantage which can possibly be anticipated. As a fount of types, on the model proposed by Guess and approved by the principal men among the Cherokees, is in a course of preparation, it may be expected that the Cherokees will soon have the means, as many of them certainly now have the disposition, to become a reading people,

Russia and France returning to Reason. We are credibly informed that the Emperor of Russia has given permission for the re-establishment of the Bible Society, and that his Imperial Majesty liberally patronizes the institutions which enjoyed the favor of his late brother.

It gives us great pleasure to state, that the strong expressions of public feeling in France, relative to the projected law of the press, have induced the French Government to withdraw that most obnoxious and impolitic statute.-Lond. Bap. Mag.

Bigotry in Sardinia.-The King of Sardinia has issued an ordinance, decreeing that if any of his Catholic Piedmontese subjects die without receiving the sacrament, they shall be buried at night, and in unconsecrated ground; and that Protestants shall be interred without any public ceremony, not more than twelve persons of the same religion being allowed to be present.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Of

American Asylum.-From the Eleventh Report of the Directors of the American Asylum, for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, we learn that the Institution is gradually extending the sphere of its usefulness. The whole number of those who have enjoyed its advantages, is two hundred and twenty-seven. these, about one half have left the Asylum, and have gone back into the world, furnished with the means of intercourse with their fellow men, prepared for usefulness and happiness in this life and made acquainted with those truths which reveal the blessedness of a future state and the way of obtaining it.

State Colonization Society.-A meeting of the citizens of this State at Hartford, on the 5th of May, formed a Society auxiliary to the American Colonization Society. According to the constitution, an annual subscription of one dollar shall constitute any individual a member of this Society; and a donation of not less than ten dollars at one time, a member for life. His Excellency the Governour of the State was chosen President of the Society.

The comparative severity of Egyptian and modern slavery is forcibly exhibited in the following paragraph which we extract from an article in the Christian Observer.

"Even the children of Israel multiplied in Egypt. They grew from a single family-from about seventy persons, to six hundred thousand men, besides women and children. To the British West Indies alone there have been carried from Africa, not fewer, on the most moderate calculation, than two millions of human beings. These have not only not increased, but they have diminished to little more than a third of that number."

Succor to the Greeks.-The brig Levant sailed from Philadelphia on the 31st of May for Greece, with eighteen hundred and fifty barrels of provisions.

The Boston Greek committee have obtained a vessel to transport a cargo of provisions to Greece.

The Hon. Daniel Waldo has made

a bequest to the Calvinist Society in Worcester, of the meeting house in which they worship, and five thousand dollars in addition, as a permanent

fund, the income of which is to be appropriated for the support of the gopel ministry in that society.

ORDINATIONS AND INSTALLATIONS.

May 19.-Rev. WILLIAM S. PLUMMER, as an Evangelist, by the Presbytery of Orange, at Danville, N. Y. Sermon by the Rev. James W. Douglass.

June 19.-The Rev. ALVIN ACKLEY, over the Baptist Church in Colchester and East-Haddam, Conn. Sermon by Elden Wilcox.

May 20.-Rev. E. EVANS, from Wales, was ordained as an Evangelist, by the New-York Independent Association in Providence Chapel. Sermon by the Rev. S. Overton, NewJersey.

May 23.-Rev. ELDAD W. GOODMAN, over the Congregational Church in Springfield, Vt. Sermon by the Rev. P. Cook, of Acworth, N. H.

May 23.-Rev. DAVID PAGE SMITH, over the Congregational Society in Sandwich, N. H. Sermon by Rev. Jacob W. Eastman, of Methuen, Ms.

May 23.-Rev. Ebenezer Colman, over the Congregational Society in Swanzey, N. H. Sermon by Rev. Mr. Barstow, of Keene.

May 23.-Rev. RALPH S. CRAMPTON, Over the Congregational Church in South Woodstock. Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Hotchkiss of Saybrook.

May 29.-Rev. HENRY BENEDICT, at New-Canaan, as an Evangelist,

Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Burton of Ridgebury.

June 5.-Rev. WALTER COLTON, Chaplain in the Military Academy, at Middletown, was ordained at Worthington, as an Evangelist. Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Allen, of Eastbury.

June 6.-Rev. ICHABOD PLAISTED, over the South Church in Rochester, Mass. Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Storrs of Braintree.

June 6.-Rev. SAMUEL C. JACKSON, Over the West Church in Andover, Mass. Sermon by the Rev. Professor Stuart.

June 7.-Rev. RODNEY A. MILler, over the First Church in Worcester, Mass. Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Fay of Charlestown.

June 27.-The Rev. NATHANIEL GALE over the Unitarian Church in Dunstable, New-Hampshire. Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Gannett, of Boston.

June 27.-The Rev. SAMUEL H. RIDDEL, over the first Congregational Church in Glastenbury, Conn. Sermon by the Rev Samuel Greene of Boston.

June 27.-The Rev THOMAS HOLIDAY was installed Pastor of the Union Presbyterian Church of Onesquethaw, N. Y. Sermon by the Rev. H. R. Weed, of Albany.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

A number of Communications have been received, which shall be noticed in due time. Among them are PHILODEMUS, JOSEPHUS, and PHILO. V. was to late for the present Number.

Erratum.-At page 357, line 22, in some copies, 'Shy revealer' should be 'Sly revealer.'

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REPLY TO MINIMUS ON THE COM- sing if they had been unable to de

MENCEMENT OF HOLY TIME.

Ir was the practice of our ancestors to begin the Sabbath on Saturday evening at sunset. This they did on the ground that the Jews began their Sabbath at the same hour on Friday evening, and that the Christian Sabbath commenced one day later. And although many of their descendants have, in this as in other things, departed from their example, yet the alteration in the commencement of the Sabbath, and consequently in the night observed as holy time, has been defended on other grounds than that the Jews began their Sabbath at midnight. That question, indeed, I conceived to be set at rest. I thought that the Bible had decided it. I thought that the practice of our ancestors had decided it. For with whatever faults they might have been chargeable, whatever might have been the blindness of their zeal, their intolerance, or the repulsive sternness of their religious creed, no one has been fool-hardy enough to deny their vast acquirements on all subjects connected with Biblical science. And trained as they were to habits of patient investigation, and urged on by their love of the truth and the fervour of their religious feelings, it would be surpriVOL. 1.-No. VIII.

50

cide a question of such practical importance. But it seems that they were unable to decide it. And Minimus has now stepped forward to draw aside the veil which has hung over it for almost nineteen hundred years, and to chase away the mists which have darkened the eyes of the fathers of the Christian church. The universal agreement of commentators proves nothing, although it forms a chain of evidence reaching almost back to the commencement of the Christian era; the practice of the Jews since their dispersion proves nothing, although as a nation they are and ever have been, distinguished for the inveterateness of their prejudices against innovation. But what is the testimony brought forward to establish a claim which carries with it such prima facie evidence of its improbability? It consists in an assemblage of texts designed to prove that the evening followed the day instead of preceding it, and that the Jews commenced their civil day at midnight. These assuredly were facts which the Jewish writers must have known,-facts which must have been either directly or indirectly alluded to in the pages of almost every author. Strange then that a mistake so universal should have prevailed when

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