August following, greatly lamented, beloved, and held in honour as a faithful servant of Christ. The Rev. Charles W. Shields, the present pastor of the church, was installed on the 18th of October, 1850. Mr. Shields at the time of his receiving the call from Philadelphia, was pastor of the church at Hempstead on Long Island, where he had been ordained to the work of the ministry and installed pastor on the 8th of November, 1849. The Lord is smiling upon his labours; and the venerable church which he serves, now more than a century old, has reason to thank God for the line of faithful pastors who have preached the gospel to multitudes within its courts. The Second Presbyterian Church has contributed largely from its members to the formation of other churches which have sprung up in the city. This has particularly been the case with the churches of Campington, now First Church in the Northern Liberties, the Eleventh Church on Vine street, the Arch street Church, the Seventh Church, formerly the Tabernacle and now the Penn Square Church, and the Central Church corner of Cherry and Eighth streets. It has in its day done its full share in the establishment and support of benevolent institutions. Many ministers have gone forth from its fold to preach the gospel, who were trained and aided by its prayers and contributions. The largest number of communicants was in 1832, before the division, when they amounted to seven hundred and eighty-nine. This church, born in a revival, was nursed in its early years, under God, by Whitefield, the Tennents, the Hodges, the Bayards, the Boudinots, the Hazards, the Eastburns, and their coadjutors. No church ever had more distinguished ruling elders from the olden time down to its later days. When the Second Presbyterian Church was organized, the meetings were held for about seven years in the building still known as the " Academy," between Arch and Market streets, in Fourth street. This building was commenced in 1741, and was designed by Mr. Whitefield, through whose instrumentality it was erected, for the use of itinerant preachers for ever, and for the use of his own adherents for the time being. A portion of the building is still occupied for similar purposes, and a number of congregations of different denominations have been originally gathered within its walls. There this congregation worshipped till 1750, when they removed to their new house of worship, situated on the north-west corner of Arch and Third streets. The funds for the erection of that building were mainly collected by the unremitting efforts of Mr. Tennent, whose heart was warmly engaged in the enterprise. It was at first built without a steeple, but one was erected about three years afterwards, and taken down again about the commencement of the present century. The house was enlarged and its exterior remodelled in the year 1809. The last service held in the old church was on the 25th of December, 1836. The present edifice was dedicated to the worship of God on the 16th of July, 1837. It is one of the most beautiful (if not the most beautiful) of the churches in the city. The front is of pure, white marble. The pulpit is of the same material. The interior is marked by exquisite taste, simplicity, and convenience.* The engraving of the Church, prefixed to this number of the Magazine, shows the front and flank elevations, according to the design of the architect, William Strickland, Esq. The adjacent buildings are omitted for the purpose of giving a full view of the edifice. We are indebted to Charles Macalester, Esq., one of the trustees, for the use of the drawing. Review and Criticism. The Bible in the Family, or Hints on Domestic Happiness. By H. A. BOARDMAN, pastor, &c. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, & Co. 1851. The subject is of incalculable importance; the manner of treating it marked by ability, a knowledge of human nature, the skill of a ready writer, and the courtesy of a Christian gentleman. The number and variety of the topics is as astonishing as the ease with which the author commends his remarks upon them to the understanding and the heart. Dr. Boardman furnishes an example of the extra work a pastor can accomplish through the press. Our space allows us only to present the following paragraph against Fourierism, a mischievous social heresy. "It can require no argument to show that the very worst consequences might be expected to flow from any scheme which aimed at the extirpation of all natural affection; and, obliterating from the language the sacred word HOME, annihilated, with the word, all the blessings of which home is the fountain. If there is any process by which a nation can be brutified, this must be it. If there is any machinery by which a just constitution can be subverted, and a thriving people precipitated into the abyss of anarchy and carnage, it must be this. The policy of every wise government is, to throw all possible guards around the homes of its citizens; to make them sanctuaries where they may find a shelter in times of public disaster-garden-spots, where the affections may be nurtured into strength and beauty-schools, where men may be trained for their social and civil duties under a tutelage by so much better than any other, as it is marked in a higher degree by the union of authority and love. To debase the homes of a nation, is like poisoning the streams of which they drink. And to take away their homes altogether, (for this is what is contemplated,) to crucify their natural affections, and deprive them of the powerful stimulus to virtue and industry supplied by a specific personal interest in the avails of their own intelligence and labour-is no less to cut up their patriotism by the roots, than their fellow-feeling. What will men, thus reared, care for the country they inhabit? It is not their country. They have none of the ties which bind men so firmly to their native land. They have no stake in the soil. Still less are they knit to it by the hallowed associations which connect every thought of public calamity with objects enshrined in the deepest recesses of the heart. If the State falls, it must fall; they can take care of themselves, and this is all that concerns them." An Address delivered by the Rev. D. V. MCLEAN, D. D., at his Inauguration as President of Lafayette College, &c. William S. Martien, Philadelphia, 1851. Dr. McLean has commenced his administration under the most favoura able auspices. His address is excellent and seasonable. It is a fine plea for Colleges. In answer to the question why so few young men receive a collegiate education, he mentions various reasons, which he refutes with great sagacity and skill. He shows that colleges furnish the kind of education required; that the want of public interest in these institutions is unreasonable; and that the prejudices and objections entertained against them are without foundation. It is one of the strongest and most commonsense vindication of colleges that we are acquainted with. Judge Porter's introductory address is also to the point. The pamphlet is printed in beautiful style. The Progress of the Age: An Address delivered before the Literary Societies of Washington College, Virginia, by GEORGE JUNKIN, JR. Philadelphia, 1851. We copy a single paragraph of this excellent address to show that the young lawyer honours the name he bears, and has commenced his professional career with a right estimate of religion, and with a sense of responsibility both to God and man. It was reserved for that gospel which brings life and immortality to light, to unfold the true views of humanity; and just in proportion as these ideas have been spread, has the race been elevated and advanced. It is only when man learns his true relations to his Maker, that his improvement becomes firm and enduring. Heaven's light revealed, in a dim, shadowy form, those thoughts to several of the nations of antiquity, and they became cultivated and refined in many things. But the radiance of their arts was dimmed by their moral debasement, and unguarded by a sound morality, they perished, and are known only by their ruined relics. The pyramids have for centuries beheld the sands of the desert covering up Egypt's godless civilization; and the elegance and learning of Babylon, Persepolis, Athens, and Rome, have long ago, with fragmentary exceptions, been lost beneath the wave of oblivion. Man's improvements in his physical, intellectual, and political relations, may be, and have been, magnificent: but they must be subservient to his moral relations, in order to be permanent. It is when man is contemplated upon the platform of eternity, as a child and heir of his Maker, endowed with powers capable of illimitable expansion, that he is beheld, far exalted above the positions he held here on this atom of the universe, as a man, a citizen of a nation, a dweller on one of God's worlds. The Relations of Religion to what are called " Diseases of the Mind." Philadelphia, 1851. This pamphlet, generally referred to Frederick A. Packard, Esq., the well-known editor of the American Sunday School Union, contains much interesting matter, on an important and difficult subject. We give the results of the author's investigations. As the result of the present discussion we suggest the following propositions: I. It is as unjust to ascribe cases of what is commonly called "religious insanity" to religion, as their cause, as it would be to charge our insane hospi tals with originating or confirming the cases which they do not cure. II. There is no such thing as religious insanity: i. e. it cannot be said of religion, as it can be of grief, or disappointment, or chagrin, that it causes insanity. III. To inculcate the doctrines, as well as the precepts, of revealed religion upon the human mind, at the earliest period of its capacity to receive them, is the clear scriptural duty of all persons who have the care of children and youth. IV. To neglect or delay such an encouragement of the religious sentiment, from any apprehension of developing a tendency to "cerebral disease," is as unphilosophical and fatal, as it would be to withhold all food from a child through fear of strangling it, or destroying its digestive organs. V. The due apprehension and influence of religious truth, as revealed in the Scriptures, constitutes the best preservative against mental aberrations-especially such as are supposed to originate in moral causes. VI. The earlier the mind is brought under the supreme influence of religious truth, the more likely it is to retain its integrity, when the exciting occasions of derangement occur. Memoir of William H. Hewitson, &c. R. Carter & Brothers, New York. We have given on page 482 a sketch of Mr. Hewitson's life. He was a choice spirit. His biographer, the Rev. J. Baillie, has executed his task with judgment and with power. Such a book is good for the soul. VOL. I.-No. 11. 67 Che Keligious World. STATISTICS OF THE (NEW-SCHOOL) PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. In the following tables, 1. Teachers are kept distinct unless they are Pastors. 2. Pastor Elect is counted as Pastor. 3. H. M., chaplains and colporteurs counted as S. S. 4. Where a minister is engaged in any official work, as agent, &c., W. C. is not counted. N. B. In this table, we have deducted the pastor and members of the Third Church, Newark, N. J., who belong to the Old-School Assembly. (See Minutes.) OLD SCHOOL, TOTAL. 1435 1027 209 120 102 556 3523 4253 836 349,876 16,551|| 15,120 In the October Magazine, the N. S. pastors were put down as 496. Excluding Dr. Brinsmade, 495. The aggregate was correct. THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS.This great, excellent and well managed Institution held its anniversary last month at Portland. Missionaries sent forth.-During the year, 5 missionaries, and 2 male and 8 female assistant missionaries, in all 16 persons, have been sent to different missions under the care of the Board, viz: 4 to South Africa, 2 to the Armenians, 2 to the Nestorians, 1 to Syria, 2 to the Gaboon, 2 to Ahmednuggur, and 3 to the Choctaws. Publications.-The monthly average of the Missionary Herald was 17,500; of the Journal of Missions, 41,834; of the Youth's Dayspring, 55,500. Receipts and Expenditures.-The receipts of the Board, for the year ending July 31st, were from all sources, $274,902 21, which is an advance on the previous year of $23,376 69. But as the legacies were $3000 less than the previous year, the actual advance in donations alone, has been $26,682 17. The expenditures, during the same period, have been $284,830 56, being greater than the receipts by the sum of $9,928 35; which, added to the existing debt, makes the present indebtedness to be $43,999 40. Number of ordained Missionaries (8 being Physicians,) 151 Licentiates, Whole number of labourers sent from this country Number of Native Pastors, other Native Preachers, other Native Helpers, Whole number of Native Assistants, 2 7 25 201 -386 11 19 112 -142 -528 Free Schools, (437 supported by Hawaiian Government,) 734 331 708 22,334 -23,373 The report on the state of the Missions, comes to these conclusions: 1. That the missions of the Board are mostly of the expansive kind. |