ject of religion, except that several young men, members of the congregational churches, by mutual agreement-requested their Pastors to attend a Sabbath evening conference. The request was joyfully complied with, and hailed as the harbinger of greater good. This meeting was continued without interruption, in a place provided for the purpose, and capable of accommodating not less than 300 persons. The room was always crowded, and from the seriousness and solemnity which uniformly pervaded the assembly, a stranger, appearing suddenly among them, would have thought that a revival of religion had already begun. Yet not more than two or three instances of special religious impression are known to have existed for some time. Meetings for prayer were, as they had previously been, frequent and numerous, and characterized by fervency of spirit. The spring opened with these prospects, although no living breath from the four winds seemed to breathe upon the multitude of the slain In April, several of the divinity students and charity scholars of Yale College manifested a deep interest to effect the institution of a "biblical class." They were advised to proceed, and not at all discouraged by the general indifference which apparently prevailed to subjects of the kind, succeeded in procuring a large number of subscribers to the proposed establishment. A class, whose written constitution has since been published, was formed,-consisting of youth of both the ordinary and the most respectable standing in the community. The usual exercises were the recitation of a portion of scripture-previ ously given out, and a lesson in "Perkins' Catechism,"-enforced by explanations, addresses and prayers from the attending ministers. These occasions were always highly interesting to those who attended them. They excited not so much emotion or, there was a certain aspect in the signs of the times, which, although not suthiciently distinct and definite to be characterized, failed not to excite attention and even to inspire hope. Nothing of this was communicated, but an appointment was announced publicly on the Sabbath, for those who were particularly desirous of being conversed with respecting their own salvation, to meet next day for the purpose. This notice was speedily noised abroad, and excited unusual interest and enquiry, as to the occasion of its being given. The meeting was accordingly looked for with anxiety, accompanied with many prayers. At the time specified, seventeen assembled,-several of whom were professors of religion-recovered from their declension and awakened to new life and vigour in the cause. The others came as enquiring sinners,-several of whom were under real conviction of sin; and the rest in a state of solicitude on the subject. When the result of this meeting became known, the effect it produced on christians and on many of the unconverted, was immediate, sensible and important. It communicated an impulse like that of an electric stroke, to no small portion of the community. About the same time, a few of the brethren met for free conversation and the mutual confession of their faults. That week was one of fears and hopes, which had not been felt for a considerable number of years. There was evidently preparation making for an approaching change in the existing state of things. The next week thirty attended the anxious meeting. It was now evident that God had begun to revive his work; there were perceivable, though as it were in miniature, all the characteristics of a gen uine revival of religion. The tidings spread and produced still greater effect. Seventy assembled at the meeting for enquiry the subsequent week; the week fol week after that one hundred and eighty; and for two or three of the succeeding weeks, from two hundred to two hundred and forty or fifty attended. These persons were not all under deep conviction, or that extreme distress of mind which usually precedes the submission of the sinner to God, but they were all more or less anxious as to what they must do to be saved,—with the exception of those who had begun to hope in the mercy of God through Christ. as a spirit of enquiry after religious truth-lowing one hundred and twenty; the accompanied, in some cases, with pecul iar solicitude and solemnity. The scrip tures were, in consequence, more frequently and diligently searched, and more highly valued as the only source of true wisdom. No method had ever been adopt ed by us for the instruction of the young, which produced so much attention to the word of God. These recitations became, from week to week, more frequented, and the interest manifested in the subjects presented, more deep and extended. This class, in consequence of the multiplicity of other religious meetings, has now been, for some time, discontinued, -but a large proportion of its members, we trust, are sitting as learners at the feet of Jesus, and training up for the enjoyment of his heav enly presence. Early in July, the watchmen of the night, saw, or thought they saw, the dawn of day. There were certain appearances, These meetings were usually opened with a short address, after which all knelt and united in a short prayer. The ministers present then proceeded to converse with every individual, in a low tone of voice, so as not to interrupt each other, or break the solemn stiliness of the scene. meeting was then closed with suitable exbortation and a prayer. It is impossible to convey to those who have not witnessed The such an assembly, an adequate idea of its impressive solemnity. There was evideatly much emotion, although no noisethere were many tears, although no outbreaking of the agony of the mind, save in the expressive look and the half-stifled sigh. To stand and attentively survey a multitude of immortal beings, convened for such a purpose-the salvation of the soul, -that for which the Lord of glory left heaven, and caine down to earth,--was an almost overwhelming sight. We have never beheld an assembly, the bare view of which was so affecting and solemn. The fascinations of sense, with all the glory of time seemed to fade away, and an ap proaching eternity alone to occupy the thoughts. The effect was increased by the fact, that meetings were usually held the same evening for prayer-with special reference to the additional effusions of the divine Spirit on this anxious assembly.Meetings held from day to day, in private houses, consisting of from eight to fifteen or twenty persons, proved highly useful in awakening the attention, as well as in deepening the impression of religious truth on the mind. Both have been signally blessed of God, and made the birth-place of many souls. One week in September, from twenty-five to thirty, it was judged, were hopefully converted. The week fol lowing only a few less; and, on one occasion, eight or nine were, in the compass of an hour, to human view, brought out of darkness into light. Our ordinary conferences, which were frequent, and held in different places at the same time, were always crowded, and from that which was the most public and general, hundreds have been obliged to return home for the want of room. The object, in speaking on these occasions, was not to address the passions,→ but to impress the simple truth on the conscience; to show sinners, from the word of the living God, that they are guilty, condemned, lost, and must be miserable for ever without a change of heart, and that it is their duty immediately to submit to God, and become reconciled to him through the efficacy of atoning blood. Some weeks after the revival had commenced, the Rev. Mr. Nettleton, providentially directed, came and spent a number of weeks, as an evangelist, among us. He was received with joy, and his labours were eminently blessed of the great Lord of the harvest Is it not important to the churches, that there be many men of this tried character to assist their wearied brethren, at such times? Several other ministers rendered seasonable and efficient aid. The brethren of our two churches have also, manifested a very becoming zeal and activity for the salvation of souls and the glory of God. They have come forward like men sensible of their duty and desir ous to do it, and contributed much, very much, to relieve the labours and strengthen the hands of their pastors. Their conferences and prayer meetings, conducted altogether by themselves, have been impor tant auxiliaries to the great work carried on by the divine Spirit. This revival bas by no means, been confined to the denomina. tion with which we are officially connected; but all the other denominations in the place have, more or less, experienced its benign and saving efficacy. Indeed, so great and extensive has been the effect produced, that the community at large wears the aspect of seriousness. This work begun among the young, and was for some time almost exclusively confined to those between twelve and twenty years of age. But it now comprises many of maturer age, some quite advanced in years. There are those as young as nine or ten, who have, it is hoped, by regenera tion, become children of God. Very few instances are known of those who, having been particularly anxious, have relapsed into a state of stupidity. There is, as has always been the case, a great variety in the former character and condition of those who appear to have been awakened, convicted and converted. Husbands and wives, in some instances, have been separated, in some they have both been taken, and together made to magnify the grace of God. The amiable, lovely, and accomplished youth, who once thought he wanted nothing new, has been distressed for sin, and made a subject of that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. The man proverbial for his honesty and morality,--whose life for three-score years had been uniformly exemplary, has been brought to feel that morality could not save him, and made a new creature in Christ Jesus. The protane swearer has been struck dumb by a sense of guilt, and his oaths and curses given place to prayer and praise to God and the lamb. The scoffer has been taught to admire the grace he once despised, and the supercilious, sarcastic infidel prostrated at the foot of the cross, imploring mercy, as a ruined bell-deserving sinner. Where sin did abound, grace has much more abounded. We have made no calculation as to the exact number of this accession to the constantly accumulating hosts of the Lord.-About one hundred and eighty have been examined and propounded to the two congregational churches in the city; perhaps somewhat more than half of the whole number, who entertain a hope. From fifteen to twenty have recently been admitted into the church in Yale College. The number that remains to be added to the foregoing list, must depend on the copiousness of the showers of divine grace, that shall in the mean time descend. And blessed be God that his compas. sions toward us fail not! blessed be his holy name that we may still speak, not merely of what is past, but of that which is progressing. This is the seventh month of the continuance of the work, and for aught that at present appears, it may be prolonged through as many successive years. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither bis ear heavy that it cannot hear." What be has done, if it do not serve as the pledge, may well encourage the hope, that he will do more. There is not indeed the same general excitement, nor the same degree of notoriety attached to the subject now, that there was during most of the month of September. But although the novelty of the thing is gone, its importance is still felt, and that with a deepening interest. Although the number of persons now awakened and hopefully converted, from week to week and day to day, is not so large as it was at that period, fresh instances are still occurring, some of which are ancommonly illustrious displays of divine power and grace. The progress of the revival remains the great and general subject of enquiry and conversation. The attention to religious meetings is undimin ished. There is no abatement of the animation, zeal and activity of professing christians. And never among us was there such a spirit of prayer as at the present time. Samuel Merwin, Nath'l. W. Taylor. New-Haven, January 26th, 1821. DONATIONS TO RELIGIOUS AND CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. The Treasurer of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions acknowledges the receipt of $1148,60 from Nov. 21st to Dec. 20th. The Treasurer of the American Bible Society acknowledges the receipt of $3295,10 in the month of December. The issues from the Depository during the same period, were, Bibles 1440: Testaments 717: value $1445,11. Presented to the Biblical Library, by Mrs. Harriet A. Tucker, of Danbury, Conn. a Dutch Bible, 12mo, printed at Dordrecht, 1720. By Divie Bethune, Esq. of New-York, a Latin Bible, folio, printed at Venice, 1476, thirty-SIX years after the invention of the art of printing. The Treasurer of the American Education Society acknowledges the receipt of $190,25 in the month of No vember. Ordinations and Installations. Dec. 20th. At an ordination held by the Rt. Rev. Bishop HOBART, at St. John's Church, Yonkers, N. Y. the Rev. JOHN GRIGG, was admitted to the order of Priests. Sermon by the Rev. H. J. Feltus, Rector of St. Stephens, N. Y. Dec. 25th. The Rev. SAMUEL H. Cox, was installed, by the Presbytery of New-York, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Spring-street. Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Weed, of Jamaica, L. I. Dec. 25th. The Rev. ELIHU W. BALDWIN, was installed, by the Presbytery of New-York, pastor of the seventh Presbyterian Church, situated at Corlear's Hook. Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Goldsmith, of Newtown, L. I. Jan. Sd. The Rev. BAXTER PERRY, was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church and Society in Lyme, N. H. Sermon by the Rev Josiah Towne, of Hanover. Jan. 3d. The Rev. DAVID PARKER, installed pastor of the Reformed h Church, at Rhinebeck Flats, N. Y. Sermon by the Rev. Mr. De Witt, of Hopewell, N. Y. Jan. Sd. The Rev. E. L. BASCOM was installed pastor of the First Church and Society in Ashby, Mass. Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Foster, of Brighton, Ms. Jan. 3d. The Rev. Messrs. JOSEPH BROWN, REYNOLDS BASCOM, CHA'S B. STORRS, ELIPHALET WHITE, and EPAPHRAS GOODMAN, were ordained as Evangelists in the Circular Church, Charleston, by the Congregational Association of South Carolina. Jan. 17th. The Rev. SEWALL HARDING was ordained pastor of the second Congregational Church and Society in Waltham, Ms. Sermon by the Rev. Mr. Ide, of Medway, Ms. The new meeting-house erected by this society, was dedicated to the worship of God on the same day, before the ordination of Mr. Harding. Jan. 17th. The Rev. CHARLES BROOKS was ordained pastor of the third Congregational Society in Hingham. Ms. Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Ware, of Cambridge. Diew of Public Affairs. UNITED STATES. The Exports of the United States, for the year ending the 30th of Sept. last, were estimated as follows: Of Domestic Products, 51,683,640 Foreign Products, 18,008,029 Making a total of $69,691,669, according to custom-house valuation. The Domestic Exports were composed of the following general amounts: Products of the Sea, 2,251,000 Products of the Forest, 5,304,000 Products of Agriculture, 41,485,000 Products of Manufactures, 2,519,005 Uncertain, 625,000 By Official Documents laid before Congress, it appears that the amount of Drawbacks on merchandize exported during the years 1817, 1818 and 1819, compared with the amount of Duties which accrued thereon respectively, was as shown in the following abstract: Duties ac- Drawback cruing. payable. In the year 1817, 22,082,758 3,987,323 In the year 1818, 25,832,685 3,343,958 In the year 1819, 21,320,034 3,501,812 A list of American claims on Spain, for spoliations, reported to the government May 12, 1820, amounted to 866 in number-of which 18 were emphatically designated claims, and amount to $1,510,450 and 124, amounting to $5,519,150-leaving 744, the value of which could not be ascertained from the documents on file, but allowing the average of these to be the same, they amount to $38,926,824. The Secretary of the Treasury of the U.S. has made three reports during the present session. The first, we bave noticed in a former number; from the last, we make the following ex Of the sum of $1,076,271 18, in the treasury on the 1st of January, 1821, $500,000 were paid by the Bank of the United States, on the 30th of December, 1820, but which were payable on the 1st day of January thereafter, and were estimated in the receipts into the treasury for 1821. If this sum is deducted, the amount in the treasury on If it is that day will be $576,271 18. considered a part of the receipts of 1820, the estimated receipts for 1821 will be diminished by that amount. With this explanation, it will not be material whether it is placed to the credit of the one or the other year: the general result of the two years will be the same. The receipts of the 4th quarter, with the exception of payments made at Mobile and New-Orleans, in the two last weeks of December, 1820, and in the whole month at most of the land offices, are ascertained to be $4,045,585 99. In the annual Report, the receipts of the 4th quarter were estimated at $3,430,000; the actual receipts, therefore, exceed those that were estimated, by $615,585 99, and by $115,585 99, if the payment made by the Bank on the 30th of December be deducted from the receipts of 1820. If the sum of $615,585 99 be added to the sum of $5,417,830 83, which was stated in my letter of the 21st of December, 1820, to be the aggregate means of the 4th quarter of the year, the amount at the disposition of the treasury, in that quarter, will be augmented to $6,033,416 82 It is ascertained that the payments from the treasury, during that quarter, have amounted to $4,957,145 24, which being deducted from the estimated means of that quarter, will leave in the treasury, as already stated, on the 1st day of January, 1821, the sum of $1,070,271 18. But, if the $500,000 paid by the Bank, be deducted from the receipts of 1820, the balance in the treasury, on the 1st day of January, 1821, will be, as has already been stated $576,271 18. The demands upon the treasury during the year 1820, in order to complete the service of that year, and to effect the objects for which the several appropriations were made, and which are not included in the foregoing sum of $4,957,145 24, amounts to $4,707,987 96, viz: Civil, diplomatic, and miscellaneous, (being the difference between the sum) of $1,407,218 56, estimated to be paid in the fourth quarter, and the sum actually paid,) $855,905 20 2,076,918 15 Public debt War Department 665,164 61 Navy Department 1,110,000 00 Which leaves an excess of demand beyond the money in the treasury, of $3,631,716 78, and of $4,131,716 78, if the payment, made by the bank be deducted from the payments into the treasury in the year 1820. GREAT-BRITAIN. The Bill of Pains and Penalties against the Queen of England, on the 9th of Nov. passed to a second reading by a majority of 28, and on the 10th, to a third reading by a majority of 9. Before the question was taken on the third reading of the bill, an attempt was made to expunge the divorce clause, but the motion for this purpose was lost by a majority of 67. As soon as the decision was made on the question for the third reading, Lord Dacre informed the Peers that he was intrusted with a petition from her majesty, praying to be heard by counsel against the passing of the bill. The Earl of Liverpool immediately rose, "and said that he apprehended such a course would be rendered unnecessary by what he was about to state. He could not be ignorant of the state of public feeling with regard to this measure, and it appeared to be the opinion of the House, that the bill should be read a third time only by a majority of 9 votes. Had the third reading been carried by as considerable a number of Peers as the second, he and his noble colleagues would have felt it their duty to persevere with the bill, and have sent it down to the other branch of the legislature. In the present state of the country, however, and with the division of sentiment, so nearly balanced, just evinced by their lordships, they had come to the determination not to proceed further with it. It was his intention, accordingly, to move that the question" that the bill do pass now," be altered to "this day six months.” The most vehement cheering took place at this unexpected declaration." The demonstrations of joy, in London and other places, at the termination of the prosecution of the Queen, have been very great. In an answer to an application which the Queen after the conclusion of the trial, made, for a residence and establishment suitable to her rank, she has been informed that until a decision of Parliament in the case, the same allowance which she enjoys is all that can be allowed her, and that "under all the circumstances," his majesty cannot assign a palace for her residence. In an annexed paper, Lord Liverpool adds, "that he thinks it material to observe, that this answer must not be understood as withdrawing the facilities which had been previously offered for procuring a residence in London for the Queen." Lord Erskine, whose sudden and alarming illness was noticed in our last number, was sufficiently recovered, before the termination of the trial, to take a part in the debates. SPAIN. By a vote of the Cortes, the following property has been appropriated for the payment of the national debt. 1st. The property belonging to the temporalities of the Jesuits. 2d. The property belonging to vacant benefices, and such as shall become vacant, and of the chapters of the military orders. 3d. The Royal Domains, or property belonging to the Crown, which are not necessary for the maintenance of the august personages of his Majesty and their Royal Highnesses. 4th. The half of the public lands. 5th. The estates of the late Duchess of Alva, and others that may revert to the nation. 6th. The valley of Alcudia, belonging to the Prince of Peace. 7th. The property and estates of the suppressed Monastic institutions, and of other livings that are sequestered. 8th. The property belonging to the Inquisition. |