DR, LAG'S ItELIc toN AND EDUCATION IN AMERICA. ALTHOrGII not

devoid of the occasional unattractiveness which re- sults from a free use of statistics and a considerable quantity of stuffing, this is both an intbrming and an interesting volume. The statistics are applied, and skilfully : the liberal use of the docu- ments of religious societies has very probebly an attraction for that large class of readers who belong to the respective denomina- tions. But Religion and Education in America contains something more than well-selected extracts front original doctnnents, or general

deductions from an accumulation of particular facts, Dr. Last; has animated mere logical conclusions, by his obsetaations upon lire and nature made during a tour through America with a tTecirie purpose ; and in painting the state of the religious world, he gives many incidental sketches amen, manners, and the country.

Dr. LANG himself is an advocate after the straitest sect for the it non-interference" or the State with the Church ; and the course he sueeests to the Kirk of Scotland would 110 doubt be effectual, though it, smacks more of enthusiasm than sobriky, for the good Doctor actually proposes that she should abandon the temporalities! Still, in despite of our author's zeal for the Voluntary principle, the positive statements of MAnarAT induced him to doubt how fir it might succeed in the peculiar circumstances of America. Accord- ingly, embarking for t k States with a view to " interest the Ame- rican Presbyterian Church " iii the South Sea missions, he deter- mined to judge for himself during his profbssional sojourn there; anti the result answered his most sanguine hopes. He found true religion not mer:dy in a flourishing but in an advancing state, and Popery, Unitatienisia, and some other heresies of the wild kind, decreasing, rapidly ; the growth of Popery and its maintenance

e

being, in the opinin a the Doctor, mid of persons better qualified to judge front their local knowledge, entirely dependent on itund- gration, many persens from the Continent of Europe with the bulk of the Irish being Catholics.

Dr. LANl.'S volume consists of an historical view of religion in America, both before the separation from the Mother-country, and the growth of the Voluntary principle afterwards. It presents a general account of the present state of religion, as regards the number or ministers and of church-accommodation, both positively and in reference to the nenther of people; coinliined with which are many curious particulars of the salaries of the clergy, the eco- nomical management that prevails amongst the different classes of congregatms, and the geum al character of the ministers. It next gives a sketch of the different religious denominations in the United States; dwellin4 long upon the character and condition of Unitarianism and Pl. pen% The Doctor also stettly labours to

defend. the Voluntary from the charge or leading to Infi-

delity, which C'oplabi AT brought against it ; but he suc- ceeds no further tfret to :Mow that Infidels, who are mostly of a " certain class ol' see:, ty," take shelter amongst the Episcopalians of the 1 ligh Church, or tho Unitarians, which serl'e the uses of' an establishment in Am, rica, an:1 shelter the " nothing-at-all-ists ''- public opinion compelling a person to be of sonic church. A sensible view or slavery and the colonhmt ion of Liberia concludes the book.

thie ofth, charge:: made by Captain .1..L111:1 AT that " with the exception of colt 0.1 cases to be round in Western Virginia, Xentucky, and Ohio, the whole of the States to the Westward of tbe Alleghany mountains, comprisine more than two-thirds of' Ame- rica, may be said to h either in a state of neglect and darkness, or Professing the Cathndie religion." To this statement Dr. LANo replies, t het eVell it' it wcrc I (tin, the Dew Western States must not be con.,idered part or thy llepublie, but as a sieyies of colony, and should be compared Wi:11 &C. The as however, is III''' 1"e:1111 one or these new States Dr. LANG pl'OdUec-; the thllowing list.

int:I:tenors mew sie...ernoss Is ILLINOIS IN THE NEAR 1S3,1.

Eids.,/,,it 4roh--1.11 prr'che t30i, local preachers; numbers.

Boi•Pists— 22 associatious ; 900 di undies ; 160 priachers ; and

manic:tuts.

P/A.NbY /*; 21 S-1 Sy 1110, S presit (cries; SO chinches ; tninist,•oi; out •2,1•tst communicants, ion or presbytery ; 12 u t churches; mon- her of minister: not loom it.

1,,/s- 22 mildsters; number of members not known.

Am,/ Pt, rIS-2 or 0 lunette t elks : 1'2 or rt preachers. Pa, e,!f rs— I Or II, uuu h — I tiiti.ju; S or ltlehtirchos; 7 or S ministers. Lull', in ..!V■ : bt-Sitin's u.maller bodies of MorAvians, Fliends, Colvphellitcs;Tunkers, and Mormons. iionom irr;;;Iics --it un- III priests ; ith ii popantioo. however. estimated ill I it ul,.,inIiP;'11 altogether. and consisting of old French villagers and 16,in 1.thoareis on the Illinois Canal.

, The mak ment ■In In AT. 110Werer, may possildv :iamb ox- withont rteterting to Dr. 1.1\ tn'S alit:Mails CS. 'nit,nliu tilt'

visible church of bricks and mortar, or mayhap of stones ; such as he beheld with his carnal sense in England and on the Continent.

The man of peace also hits the man of war hard upon his own ground, in this account of the

wonarso OF TUE STATE ESTABLISOBIENT IN TIIE tesiTED STATES.

The Americans, however, arc not altogether without some experience of the working of the estaldishment principle in their own country event at present. 'fliere is one department of the public service in the United States, in which the principle of a National Establishment—state s.daries nail State appoint- ments—is still in force ; and it seems somewhat remarkable that the circum- stance should have been entirely overlooked by Captain Niarryat, especially when that department w:16 his own. The President of the United States has still the appointment of ;ill chaplains in the American navy and navy-yards. 'hiring the Presidency of Mr. 'Munroe, aml towards the close of his Adminis- tration IIIIC of these offices—the Chaplaincy of the Navy-yard at Washington- 'lapin:plug to fall vacant, Mr. Munroe recollected that the son of an oltl Re- volutionary 5011111 r, %vith whom Inc haul been intimate in his youth), was residing about fifteen miles off, in the State of Mar■-land, in hut indifferent circum- stances; and liwthwith appointed him to the Chaplaincy. which was worth about 1,200 doliars per antanin ; fur as the Pret-ident of the United States is not restricted on theu-c ore, sir us, hke the Lord Chancellor of Englan I, either to a particular church or a particular curriculum, he di:emu' it quite unnecessary to make any iliquiry ahutit fedi/ices/Ion. (leo:tin-elect was a .)lar)-lawl farmer ; and though a respevt able person in his way, Ile had never studied for the ministry, ant had im wish to do so. On receiving his appoint- ment, therefore, he waited on the President, and representing the incongruity of the office with LIS o'XII previous ludas awl education, respectfully tendered his resig:nttion. This, however, tbe Preddent would not accept ; telling him Le would only have to read the burial-service over t.ie dead, and do such other clerical duty in the way of out of a took, as any to :In could do with tine utmost facility, ee st-udy of any ki;:d. The farmer, how- ever, although an Episc ..paiken, And accustomed to read idayers, could not be persuaded to turn a rcgolar pat ...11; but as he had a tiepin:sr a clerk in one of the public ofdees, who hal a ; : ' Lowe to qualify himself for the Chaplaincy,

an exchange of the appiohathin of all con-

cerned, and hod' were r,t;;,!•el. in tlo., funnily, fkere are only about

twelve Chaplai;:ci,siiit!.:: al Navy altngether; tiLd a clergyman who

had had abundant °ppm oir,erving how these ai Hot:items were tilled up, informed me, Inc Lid that more thAn tire of the Chaplains hrd either been trained to the ii•:•.:;;I:y ia any way, or were at all ii,tAlithnl fur it itt any respect. In all the States—whether new across the Allegbanies, old and free on the Ail:tittle seabord, or slave-holding in the South- 1/r. Lixe; makes out a strong case in favour of the Voluntary system in its Amu lean workings, bet h as regards the accommodation offered to the people and the external signs of zeal in the respective congregations. Instead, however, of attempting to follow :meow hi01 through a series or proofs which could not be conveniently com- ptised in our nadomns, alai which persons who feel an interest in the subject would rather examine for themselves in the volume, we will draw upon his panes for more miscellaneous matter.

Of the ! s.terdan entrteEs IN NEW rher...No. c.larac.,r ;lad ie,i!,,arituce of li'.!.•es of worship. taking them

altogether in to..vr mid co.lutry. lhavel:•:; h•---11a11 In in r.ss-,atit::: 1:: they look

as well AiAl Are 51:-A in ev, iito'de to tit, a: the great :ity of those

thonte of cf :\ta:;■ .;:' i.•••:- E New pa.p.e

(It a respe,'!.;".:• 1.. . (O. 0 : 11,011 being

.

generally rint,.. 1,

neat alet tuv a ; • . i. 1

Liell f e

churches arc also : w •hite, and t ;;;;;ionin the in Ii New lin..thmil • v.:nary, 1 r, it ali ei tig..•:-,t A' -t that part at the try Ile 1; than 7Ittl1.

costly than chi.; r • •••:- The real out of (1,

as in Se,1:1..1;:,1; hundred III, •1.,• the c• having them I, hustilde coni.tructi.,!, !of the N,

church:, ; :

a superior style -a,. 7 lit' brick, stuccoed 1."..

VOLUNT %NY 7, • 1101110:N g

Society 1,, ;Tie, ..

majority id' v.i.. • 1:. y ken .

Puritou State •••ii..t. there al.

highly evamzelieal Prot ....;.tant o. eighty thousand souls ; th.1! sond dine hundred am! venture to allirtn that tl : Scotland. better pre,: e• 11 than this provision i••

the '

Now England

;tide to the latt....tui who go to no p`..;,•,‘ of n, • no/orio 71,1 0). t e hcrefes of Boston.

li.':-.1',, ... 50'.1 till kNI, II. 71 T .

1 never saw the S•.,' ' portion ot the Foto:: •'. .

ph.ee iwotil;r. .1- ,, that I 1,,,t,••,..1 ,I,,,. hotel. conducted 1,,.. ' , lireakf 1st shone i...is s, -. morning t..tr f.tm.ii a tutil ext, mpor,• 1,..0■,:•. at an hold :e.; ::.-euii, morning. I coltote.1 :,.... ‘, a into ono for It, 0, .•. .., fte sim:ing himself ; and ..t I.,,, , .. \ .1' i..1 , 1 , I.... 7...; ,:•:0 I alt:O. IV e have no so:1111,A, ,-- •,. S. 0:1.not. 1,1 GI. \ I 1: VtION.

1 1155 grieved to see the first eltareit evectea by the l'iii;rbns. or rather the

i

I nu ai CLERICAL MODES.

TI,e Presbyterian churl:hes in America have no polpit,, properly so called. They have merely it platform awl a reading-desk. 'rills tort:Immo:tit is cer-

tainly much more ourable for oratorical effect ; hut I never got " used to at.'' T he clergy, with very few exceptions, wear iii! or gotrits our hands. I disliked this, I titIsh,,et ; but what I disliked still more, aeis ti Cue SOMe rut Ilen younger clergy otleaatiog with black silk cravats, ,0 that the elergyntati WaM

not distingitisiethle in attire from a hab.:rda..!.cr's 'rids wan a great deal too isaiathitcoa for all my ideas of propr;dy.

AN orrir sa»owstesT.

The Dutch Church Hie city of New York lii, ii Ittemlill r wlowinent, the bequest of Mytifite:r Ilaherdinek, an lemen Dutch edit, flouridied in New York about a century ago. Myrdwer Halterdioch :vat, it Man Of frugal

babits ; anal his wife, the Vrotiw Ilulterelinck, wit,. yir:. Itiffiroelleill. As

there were no savings hanks, however, sr' theke time., the worthy Dutchman ordered a hollow glwre of cast •iron to be Neale ts1 liii iii 11011and,

with 4 tuulh aperture snfricient to iolutit a small pieee thit do- mestic bank, My:dicer Ilabertlinck and his wife regularly deposited their

modern edifice which occupies its site, transformed into n Unitarian place of worship; and on meeting in the city with a highly-respectable merchant of that denomination, who, I was told, was a lineal descendant of the famous Rogers the martyr, who was burned alive at Smithfield, 1 could not help thinking at the moment, from the striking contrast which the circumstance

1:ryesented, that if the cold and heartless s,ystein of his offspring had been held the sainted reforuier, the "tire," which, in the wont s of old Latimer, "lighted all England," would most assuredly never have been kindled.

DR. WEEsTER AND HIS LUCKY SPELLING-Boon.

Dr. Webster is a nut,: interesting old man. lie entered upon the great world, he told me, durisg the Revulutionary War. His father, whom the war Lad ruined, could only give his son Noah an eight-dollar bill to set him afloat, like his great namesake, in the world ; and from the depreciation of' the currency which had taken place during the war, the hill was in reality worth only four dollars, or about seventeen shillings. Ile was thus put upon his shifts very early, and, pour yew/. r cc tie, he wrote a spelliegahook, and stipulated with the publishers to receive half a cent, or about a farthing of our money, fer each copy that should be sold. The spelling-book, he told me also, has edu- cated twice the number of the present inhabitants of the Union ; and though it has been repeatedly pirated, to evade the half-cent to the author, it has maintained his family in comfort and respectability for thirty years, and afforded him during that 1011g perlikl literary leisure stitlicistlit for the vast labours of its dictionary.

CONSFA"EICUT DOUSE or REPRESENTATIVES.

The Representativ, s appeared for the most part re.tp,ctaltle, intelligent Ni W England farmer, ; ited t u holepia (Toting, seemed to he conducted with great propriety and decorum. The subject before the itolNe was that of arrest for debt ; and the right f.aling that evidently characterized the assembly on that important .subjeet could not fail to have been gratifying in the highest degree to any honest limn. The idea t,f imprisoning a lna!I for debt merely, was scouted by all the speak,u : the only question iv- whether the creditor should . Lave the power of (wrest, in so far as to oblige the debtor, whom he -might suspect of unfair pl ty, to go before a magistrate to xl Iui t such a statement of his affairs as would show whether he really was or was not an hottest man. Mr. Sherman Llahlit in, an eminent lawyer of Connecticut, tool; the aliinnatice on this (tile:snots (oat s!mwed, in a sober, business-like, and peculiarly luminous speech, which was 114, ned to with profound attention, that if the law refused such a power, it would just be tantamouot to rendering the State a general asylum for all the fraudulent debtors and swindlers of tlw Union. Ni honest man, lie contended, could suffer troin the power which the law zdready granted in the ease; no creditor could be safe if it were taken away ; mut the rharacter of the State, moreover, would in that ease suffer materially. in the vstimation of their whole country.

A I:SE Or STATE I.EuiSLATIoN.

I was much pleased at the good sense and the high moral feeling that seemed to characterize Loth branches of the Connecticut Legislature : end it struck use very forcibly, When sitting in the Balls of Legislation, that a Covertnnent which rested fur its support On not fewer than twenty-six little Parliaments. dike the one I then saw—each exereisivg its distinct sovereignty in its own separate territory, alai silently communicating to all the rest every improve- ment it had effected in the science of government—was not likely to be easily .overtbrown. A single successful insurrectioo in London or Paris would, at any time, be sufficient to overturn the Governments of Great Britain or France. That an ltilsurrection at W ashington, that 'login prove succsSsfa! les the moment in overturning the existing Government of the ITnited States, would be absolutely powerless all over the Union. The insurgents we' ld have tweety- six sovereign and independent States successively.. and nerhaps shnultntwously arraved against them—States whose interest it is to he united, and which it would be ruinous to dissever.

PEW-RENT AND AMERICAN camicacv.

Dr. B's salary is 2,0n0 dollars per annum. It is tamed, as those of the Presbyterian clergy in America generally are, by a valeta:11.y assessment of 6 per cent, on the original price of the pews. The law la Ann . . ica would, doubtlr ss. compel the payment of such an assessment, when mice agreed to, just it does the fulfilment of any other lawful contract hev.veen man and man; hut the thing is unheard of. Any man would be (ligracy(1 in society who should refuse to pay Ids pew-rent.; any minister would Is caste, even in his own order, who should resort to such means1 enft_tre.itg jet■ iii. At the same thne, it often happens, that when fami as whn hat, occupied a pew in a church, experience reverses of thrtune, and 1

secolse r,:tl!y linable to pay their proper rate, they are silently passed over by tie elmiell-nemagers, and their proportion made good from the general funds of t I A! ettngreption. I was told of a church in one of the Allier:Can cities, in which some of the best pews were i ccupied by families in reduced circumstances, who psid no pew (rent at all. The preceding :.-leneration of thes(e fourth:: had, in tiefavourable cir- cumstances, been eminent supporters of the church ; awl it wa., deemel un- worthy of the congregation to require them to give up the pea s they had occu- pied in such circumstances, merely because they had become pour.

AN CTILITARIAN'S CHAIR.

During my stay in Philadelphia, I visited the library and other rooms of the American Philosophical Society; which was instituted, I believe, at the in- stance of the celebrated Benjamin Franklin. Fiauiklur s own library-chair Still preserved in the Committee•room, and is alwajs oecupied hy the chairman at the meetings. It is an old high-hacked:inn-chair, stuffed, tool covered with black leather, now much tarnished. I WII3 miunuel ut 1 .litgttlar piculiarity in its construction, remarkably characteristic of its erisinal oe,in•r. I observed that the apron of the chair, or the bar in front, nee ited tornets hat lower than usual; and was wondering why it had been so awls.; arils comaructed, when the librarian, John Vaughan, Esq., a riar-t interesting old gest leman —an ocnigeha- Tian, but still a perfect devotee of literature and se,, us liii rennitalters Franklin and all the other Atnericau worthies perfet t —slto veil me that the

bottom of the chair moviut upon a pivot, and that, i■e:i tip a”aitist the back, it fiafned a ladder, hy UMW,' of steps fixed to it hese (tin to enable tl:e philosopher to reaeh the higher shelves of his library, a ithout being iscom- moded with an additional and :somewhat inelegaut piece of furaittire in the room. savings; and when it refused to admit a single ether more, the stout Dutch- man took a sledge-hamtner and broke the hank, and with a part of the money purchased a small farm of eight acres, near the little town of NutV York, which was then in the market. This farm he afterwards bequeathed to the Dutch Church in NOV York, making his wife's sister his residuary legatee. The little

from two tie three t»illions of dollars. 'This irroperty held in trust fur ths church the Consistory ; and grants from it are regularly «lade for the eree-

farm is new' in the centre of the modern city, aml coustitutes (t pritql:4:1,:yi-tywoarutalt thin of addil hoed (diuretics of the Dutch Reformed communion in

neighbolirhood. The representatives of the residuary legatee, however, lucre lately endeavoured to establish their title to the greater part of the property, under the English statute of mortmain, which incapacitates a chars!! from in- heriting real estate to au amount greater than 50.V. sterling mi• minion. suit was instituted in the Court of Errors in New 'York ; but was decided in favour or the church, on the ground or ninety years' possessjm, by it majority of 22 to 17. All the old aml experienced judges, however, gave their written opinion in favour of the claimants, who have since carried them claim Into the Supreme Court of the United States.

rho reader from these (potations may form a judgment of the curious and solid intbrmation that he will meet with in Dr. Issxo's volume. Ile will also encounter solute tinge of' the evlium theulvi, cum, conveyed in that unctuous bitterness which divines iodulge in when judging of sects they deem beyond the pale. There are also one or two passages of' a still more questionable kind. We were surprised to find in Dr. LANG'S pages a grave record like the fol- lowing, of

SPECIAL INTERPERENCE.

The Reverend Mr. Bullock, the Secretary of the Society I have just men- tioned, was in the habit of walking out in the evening with hui wife, and visit- ing every house in the particular district of the etty he selected for his ton, with a pared oh' tracts. In one of these tours lie happened to enter the house of a player in the Bowery Theatre ; and finding the player's wife at home, he told her that he was engaged in distributing tracts in the nei.ddwurltood, lust that, although Ii,' was aware, from her manner of lire, that shs meld not be in the habit of thinkilig seriously on her eternal welfana Ids conscience would not allow hint to pass her by ; and he hoped, therefore, she would mot take it amiss if he earnestly recommended to her to read the tract he had come to offer her, and to make it the subject of her serious meditetion. The it) r,;, for each was, replied that she had often thought seriously on her manner of life, and had even resnlved to (drake it entirely very shortly. .ks her Intsktud, however, had an engagement in the Bowery Theatre on the Monday evening of the fol- lowing week, and as she was also engaged for the saint: use she had re- solved, after that engagement was over, to give op the stae. Mr. Ilallock made no reply. ID the course of the week, however, the avirese called at his house, to tell him she could hear her manner of life mu) longer. She felt that she was dishonouring God, and contracting great guilt ; and slit. letil therefore resolved to give up the stage immediately. In these eircutindances, she desired gagement fbr the thllowing 31onday. Mr. Ilallork told her 110 could give her ciple, and or couseientious feelings of duty, she might safely leave the issue no advice on the subject; but that if her determination was the result of prin- svuth God, as he would bring about her deliverance by some means which it was Mr. I-hillock's advice as to what course she should pursue in r.tgard, impossible to ihresee. Wiiii ibis aliviee the actress returned 1.. .....iii) thi Saturday night, or rather the Sabbath morning thereafter, the Bowery Theatre was burnt to the gonad