vidual locality, I may be permitted to state, that things are in a very interesting position. I have had with me, labouring incessantly for eighteen weeks, that well-known and extraordinary man, Professor Finney, whose labours have been of signal service in reviving the pious, deciding the undecided, and in converting numbers of thoughtless souls. The ministry of Mr. Finney is of a very peculiar character. His public efforts are very unequal, and nothing can be more unsafe than to attempt to form an estimate of him by a single hearing. His power is very great. Nothing can exceed the closeness of his applications to the conscience, the force with which he presses home repentance towards God, and faith in the Messiah. He is altogether unlike any individual with whom it was ever my lot to be associated. His habits and course of action are so unusual as to be almost unearthly. Rejecting all the solicitudes of hospitality and pleasant intercourse, sight-seeing, and almost needful recreation, he gives himself up to his one object, most strikingly exemplifying the apostolic language, "We give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word." But on this subject I will not enlarge, but conclude by simply stating the result of my daily intercourse with him, and constant attendance upon almost the whole of his mighty labours, which is, that I have come to entertain a very strong, and I believe unalterable opinion, on the importance of occasional special efforts everywhere, both in town and country, to awaken a thoughtless world, to call the attention of the neighbourhood to the interests of their souls,-and, with a view to this, to adopt such means as are calculated to bring them to the house of prayer. Indeed, there are many worthy ministers labouring to little purpose, with great numbers of perishing men around, on whom they find it impossible to get a hold. Everything is orderly established, and consequently it attracts no notice. It becomes necessary, therefore, to go forth upon them by addresses, by visitations, and other special methods of exciting their attention. I have no doubt that a special effort-comprising visitations of two or three or more in succession, of the most efficient neighbouring brethren, to help the brother that is thus ploughing upon a rock, in the space of two or three successive weeks-would issue in results

of the most gratifying character. For my own part, I believe numbers in the neighbourhood of the Tabernacle, never moved before, have been brought by curiosity to see and hear the American stranger, and have heard to the salvation of their souls. His services were almost ceaseless, and the people never seemed to weary. Hardly ever did he preach less than an hour and a-half, and, to all appearance, had he extended it, he would only have gratified his auditors; and, after these mighty Sabbatic labours, great numbers were ever found ready to add to the longest evening services another service half as long of a supplemental character, devoted to special addresses. Nor was the impulse evanescent. It continues up to the present time. Perhaps never did a larger number retire to the great adjacent room than last Sunday night, when, I presume, not less than a thousand souls withdrew from the Tabernacle to that building, after a service of two hours and ten minutes, conducted by that zealous and labo rious evangelist, the Rev. E. Cornwall, and remained another hour for additional exhortation with prayer. I have much gratification in making this statement, and now retire from the assembly and the town with unmixed and very great satisfaction--(cheers)-and if every other brother shall go home as much refreshed, strengthened, and encouraged as I do, they will regret neither the time nor the labour connected with their visit to this ancient and important town, on which and its people may every blessing rest. (Cheers.)

Our reporter was here compelled to leave for town, and we regret our inability to record what followed, beyond the simple fact, that the meeting was addressed by the Rev. Mr. Elliott, Mr. Adkins, Mr. Parsons, and other gentlemen.

After dinner-for three public dinners, as well as teas, were provided for the assemblythe customary resolutions of thanks were passed to Southampton friends for the hospitable entertainment the visitors had received, among whom there was but one opinion of the kindness manifested, and one feeling expressed of the enjoyment experienced. The Rev. James Parsons preached in the evening to a crowded assembly with his usual effect. Thus ended a series of meetings of the deepest interest, which have made, and will leave behind them, a beneficial impression.

4

GOOD THINGS.

every branch. Again, it has been customary among philosophers of a thirdrate grade, with first-rate pretensions, to assume that the power of intellect is incompatible with the power of emotion, and that as the passions are strong, the understanding is feeble-a dogma which has been derived from the character of the two sexes, but which by no means holds in regard to man, as is exemplified

in the highest degree in the case of many illustrious names, both ancient and modern. Perhaps the junction was never more remarkable than in the case of Burke, who united an intellect the most vigorous and expanded with a fancy the most magnificent, and passions of all but inconceivable intensity. Men have been misled by Lord Bacon, who was wont to say he "saw things in a dry light." His mind was one vast luminous body, but no hidden fires smouldered in his bosom, and hence the slender influence which he would have excited in dealing with the multitude. His speeches are solid and respectable compositions, containing many excellent thoughts and much sound and powerful reasoning. But they are utterly destitute of the elements of persuasion. He was, therefore, a man of the study, rather than a man of the market-placea man calculated to sway the opinions of courts and senates, rather than of large bodies. It was not so with Burke, whose biographer, in estimating the character of his hero, thus speaks:

Frequent observation proves that some of the strongest minds are under the dominion of very powerful feelings and passions, and by the stimulus which these supply to the reason, enable it to accomplish much which minds equally great, without such strong excitements, would be unable or afraid to attempt. Thus the mild spirit of Melancthon never could have done the work of Luther, Calvin, or Knox: thus Mr. Fox or Mr. Pitt, in all probability, could not have excited the public mind on the American war as Mr. Burke, by the variety of his powers and passions, excited it. It is almost certain that they never could have rendered popular the trial of Mr. Hastings, as was done, at least for a time, by him. It is unquestionable that it was not within the range of the powers of either singly to influence the nation as he influenced it on the question of the French Revolution. Men constituted as he was, uniting extraordinary acquirements with invincible zeal, perseverance, and genius, are peculiarly cut out by nature for important and trying exigencies. He has a remark himself somewhere that a vigorous mind is as necessarily accompanied with violent passions as a great fire with great heat.' Strong passion,' said he at another time, and the observation displays much knowledge of character, 'under the direction of a feeble reason, feeds a low fever, which serves only to destroy the body that entertains

it. But vehement passion does not always indicate an infirm judgment. It often accompanies, and actuates, and is even auxiliary to a powerful understanding; and when they both conspire and act harmoniously, their force is great to destroy disorder within, and to repel injury from abroad.'

The following thought of Burke is worthy of transcription. This is for the benefit of our soft and silken sentimentalists, to whom delicacy is dearer than truth, and who confound taste with insipidity:

"Delicacy I have the utmost wish to preserve; but delicacy, though a being of perfect symmetry, is only a subsidiary virtue, and ought always to give way to truth, where the case is such that the truth is of infinitely more importance than the delicacy. Delicacy is to

truth but as the ruffle to the shirt; and I do not admire the taste of those who are content to lay aside the shirt, and display only the ruffle."

The large dealers in delicacy, the would be monopolists of good manners, falsely so called, have seldom done much for truth. Their love of it is but a sentimental love, not the deep gushing of strong and honest hearts. They will talk a little, but not suffer, and far less die for it. But these mean men have a noble counterpart, of which Hazlitt says:

'They have a character at stake, which is dearer to them than the whole world. They have an idea of perfect truth and beauty in their own minds, the contemplation of which is a never-failing source of delight and consolation to them,

'Though sun and moon were in the flat sea sunk,' and which they will not sell by mixing it up with the infirmities of any cause or any party."

Again, there is a class of persons, the disciples not of truth, but of party. They are curious people, and are thus described by De Foe:

"There were," says he, in his time, a hundred stout country fellows, ready to fight to the death against Popery, without knowing whether Popery was a man or a horse! This, then, was a prejudice—that they did not fill up their own heads."

These are the men for Reformers, notwithstanding Hazlitt has thus described these hapless though useful mortals :

"The Reformers are, in general, it must be conceded, an ill-conditioned set,

and they should be told of this infirmity, When that most easily besets them. they find their full of bitterness overflowing on the very persons who take the lead, and deservedly take the lead, in their affairs, for some slight flaw or misunderstanding, they should be taught to hold, or be drummed out of the regiment as spies and informers."

Men must be told the truth, and most painfully is it to be told when they are most deviating from it. Again let us hear Hazlitt:

"If we flatter their mistakes, and not only screen them from the eyes of others, but are blind to them ourselves; if we compromise a great principle in the softness of a woman's friendship, we shall be in that case slaves of affection, not servants of the public, nor shall we long have a spark of the old Roman or the old English virtue left.'

"

When everything is at stake, dear and valuable to man, as man ; when there is but one dreadful alternative-entire loss, or final recovery of truth and freedom-it is no time to stand upon trifles and moot points. That great object is to be secured first, and at all hazards."

"A very large portion of these marplots and regenerators of the world are actuated by no love of their species, or zeal for a general question, but by envy, malice, and all uncharitableness. They are discontented with themselves, and with everything about them. Nothing will suit their fastidious tastes."

PROSPECTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

THERE are few congregations of any magnitude in England some of whose members are not to be found in the United States; and so far as our experience, observation, and correspondence bear upon the question, the numbers departing are rapidly on the increase. These facts will add to the interest which all must feel in the position and prospects of that great community-a community, however, which, while compared with other nations, appears to have approached its manhood, may really be considered to be only in its infancy, as will appear from the following

Retrospective and Prospective View of the Population of the United States, for One Hundred Years from 1820.

Estimated at. By Census. 1,046,000 3,000,000

3,920,000 3,929,827

1910 1920

1850 not yet known.

It will be seen that the population of 1820, 1830, and 1840, has increased over one-third, and by the addition of foreigners may be 40 to 50 per cent. for many years; so that at the completion of the present century the whole population may exceed one hundred millions.

Such are the by no means too complacent notions of the Americans themselves. Now, considering the aspect of England, the constant increase of her population, and the peradventures which hang over her successive harvests and the whole of her commercial empire, it is probable that the stream of emigration, so far from decreasing, will go on augmenting with something more than geometrical progression. One thing, therefore, is certain that in point of numbers, wealth, and power, America is destined to be incomparably great, and there is reason to hope that that greatness will bear the impress of goodness. It is certain that if things shall continue as they are now going on, she will develope her moral to the same extent as her commercial resources. Those who look on at a distance are too apt to fix their eyes on Slavery, and, repelled by that vast black and blood-stained spot, they remain unconscious of the beauty-moral, spiritual, and social-which overspreads the New World. The latter will live when the former has perished; for sure it is that its days are numbered. The number may still be considerable, but it is probable that the younger portion of the present generation will read the proclamation of Congress that Slavery has ceased to be! The subject is great, and cannot be contemplated without deep emotion. The idea that, in the course of another two or three generations, at the * Assuming as the ratio of increase calculated from 1820 to 1920.

utmost, the whole of that mighty Continent will be intersected by railways, covered with intelligence, pervaded by the schoolmaster and the missionary, all its main localities amply supplied with the ministers of religion, and that it will

fast become one great sisterhood of free, prosperous, and happy communities, is indescribably cheering to the spirit, and suffices to compensate for the long night of darkness and sorrow which has rested on the larger portion of that hemisphere.

A CHAPTER OF STATISTICS. DENOMINATIONAL STATISTICS.

1

THE Methodists in the United States, including the church north and south, and those denominated Protestants, number in their body 1,178,626 members. The Protestant portion number but 83,600 of this large aggregate. The number of Methodist churches is not reported in the tables from which these statistics are compiled. The number of ministers in the Episcopal portion of this body is 5,080. The Baptists, including the regular, anti mission, free-will, and others, have 11,266 churches, 6,568 ministers, and 813,921 members. Presbyterians, old school and new, have 1,027 churches, 8,264 ministers, and 334,453 members. The Congregationalists have 1,866 churches, 1,912 ministers, and 193,093 mem

The

39,731,000

1 1-10 h

49,653,000

1 5 10th

58,610,156

2

than at present, amounted, in 1793, to £13,892,268. In 1775 it amounted to £16,326 364; but that includes the value of foreign as well as of native exports, and there are no means of distinguishing the one from the other.

This is the return for 1847, the Exports in 1848 being artificially reduced in consequence of the extraordinary continental convulsions of that year. They amounted, in 1849, to £63,319,967.

Here

bers. The Episcopalianists have 1,192 churches, 1,40 ministers, and 67,550 members. are 212 more ministers than churches. The Lutherans have 1,452 churches, 599 ministers, and 149,626 members. The Associate, Reformed, Cumberland, and other Presbyterians, together with Reformed Dutch and German Reformed Churches, have 2,052 churches, 2,091 ministers, and 41,740 members. The Roman Catholics have 907 churches, 917 ministers, and 1,199,700 members. The Unitariabs have 244 churches. The number of ministers and members not reported; but the number of ministers is doubtless as large as the number of churches, if not larger. If the churches contain, on an average, as many as the Orthodox Congregational Churches, the aggregate number would be 27,532. The number of churches of these several denominations, exclusive of Methodists,

which are not reported, is 21,981. Allowing the Methodists 10,000 churches, the whole number would be about 33,000. The whole number of ministers in these denominations is 22,808, and the whole number of members of churches, 4,197,141. Supposing the population of the United States to be 20,000,000, it would give one professor of religion to every five of the population-not including the childrenone to three and a fraction. How many of these professors of religion are not possessors we may not presume to say, but undoubtedly the Omniscient One would make a very material deduction. The Baptists have the largest number of churches and ministers. The Catholics have the largest number of members. The Methodists have the largest number among the Protestant denominations. The old-school Presbyterians have 725 more churches than the new school, 162 more ministers, and 23,953 The old and new school Presmore members. byterians together have 2,160 more churches than the Congregationalists, 1,652 more ministers, and 141,360 more members.

SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES, 1776.

The first slaves introduced into America were twenty in number, brought by a Dutch ship-ofwar from the coast of Guinea. They were landed, for sale, on James River, in the colony of Virginia, August, 1620-two hundred and thirty years ago. Negroes thenceforth soon constituted a species of tariff, more or less, in all the colonies. At the time of the Declaration of Independence, in 1776, the whole number of them was estimated at 500,000, viz.:

The census of 1790 exhibited 697,897 slaves, and 59,460 free persons of colour; that of 1800, 893,041 slaves; that of 1810, 1,191,364; that of 1820, 1,538,064; that of 1830, 2,009,031; and that of 1840, 2,427,355.

Since 1808, the importation of slaves has been prohibited by an Act of Congress; consequently, the increase of 1,285,991, from 1810 to 1840, more than double in twenty years, has been from natural causes.

By the first statement, as above, it is shown that slavery existed in all the American colonies at their separation from Great Britain. When, and under what forms it was subsequently abolished in seven of the old States, we have not the means of ascertaining at present. Eight other States, since admitted into the Union, have excluded slavery by organic laws; and nine States, added in like manner, have established it within their limits.

BENEVOLENCE OF AMERICAN CHURCHES.

Mr. Leavitt, of the Independent, in replying to

The European provinces of Russia cover an area of 99,489 square miles; Transcaucasia, 2,825; Siberia, 208,600; the Steppes of Kirghis, 30,000; the Islands, 1,100; American colonies, 17,500; making a total of 359,524 square miles. Reden, the geographer, calculates that the number of inhabitants of these vast countries amounts to 60,600,000; and among them 50,000,000 Sclavonians, and 4,333,000 Poles. The census of 1763, according to Schlozer and Storch, showed a population of but 20,000,000; that of 1782 showed an increase of 6,000,000; and the census of 1835 reached a figure of 55,000,000. In the European provinces of Russia the population averages 609 on a square mile. The most populated districts are those of the central provinces, where one square mile contains about 2,000 inhabitants. The minimum of population exists in the Government of Archangel, where a square mile is inhabited by 16 people. Of Russian subjects there are 50,552,000 (88 per cent. of the population of Russia) belonging to the Greek religion; 6,744,145 are Roman Catholics; 3,409,330 are Protestants; 1,604,767 are Jews; and 566,320 are Mohammedans. The rest of the inhabitants belong to various sects, or they are considered as temporary residents and foreigners. 154 periodicals are published in Russia-viz. 108 in Russian; 29 in German; 8 in French; 1 in Italian; 5 in the Polish; and 3 in the old Lettish language.-Kolner Zeitung.

POPULATION OF AUSTRALIA.

A Parliamentary return recently issued affords the means of ascertaining the relative increase, during the last ten years, in the popu lation of each of the various colonies of the Australian group. New South Wales has advanced from 114,386 souls in 1839, to 220,474 in 1848; In Van being an increase of 93 per cent. Diemen's Land, the returns for which reach only to 1847, the increase has been from 44,121 South Australia, to 70,164, or 59 per cent. from its mining discoveries, shows the most re*These sums are estimated on the best data at hand.