Tewksburyin Massachusetts, and Concord and Salem in New-Hampshire, amounting to forty persons in all, have given public notice in the newspapers of their intention to execute the laws with respect to the Lord's Day.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

NEW WORKS.

AN Historical Sketch of Charlestown, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, read to an assembly of citizens at the opening of Washington Hall, Nov. 16, 1813. By Josiah Bartlett, M. D. Boston: John Elliot 1814.

The burden and heat of the day borne by the Jewish Church: A Sermon preached at Sheibarne, before, the Auxiliary Society for Foreign Missions, at their annual meeting, Oct. 12, 1819. By Joshua Spaulding, A. M. Pastor of the Church in Buckland. Beston: S. T. Armstrong.

1814.

OBITUARY.

DIED, in North Carolina, ALEXANDER DIXON, Esq. leaving $12,000 for the education of poor children in Dublin County.

At Hudson, (N. Y.) the Rev. HENRY JENES, A. M. aged 27, pastor of the Bap. tist church in that place:

At Boston, on the 12th ult, the ONLY SON of Mr. Constant Hopkins, aged 4 years, of the hydrophobia.

At Delhi, (N. Y.) JAMES GRAHAM, executed for the murder of Hugh Cameron and .Alexander JMP Gallaway.

At Bath, Maine, on the 12th ult. THREE CHILDREN of Mr. John Parsley, aged from 8 to 12, suffocated and burnt to death, in his house, which was consumed very suddenly by fire.

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At Wilkesbarre, Penn. JoHN DIXON, a U. S. soldier, whose death was sioned by the brutality of a serjeant. Verdict of the inquest, Wilful Murder.

At New Haven, on the 26th ult., Mr. BARNEY CARROLL, stone-mason, burnt to death in the house where he lodged, which was suddenly consumed by fire.

At Salem, the Hon. BENJAMIN GoonBUE, Esq. aged 66, formerly a Senator in Congress from Massachusetts.

At Newburyport, the Hon. ENOCH TITCOMB, Esq. aged 62.

In London, on the 6th of August 1812, Jacob MIN, a Jew, and native of Elbing m Polish Prussia.

He embraced the Christian faith upwards of twelve months before his death, and was publicly baptised by the Rev. Dr. Nichol, at the Jews' chapel, on the 20th of May, 1812. From the time he professed the Christian religion, he was

diligent in attending the means of grac at the Jews' Chapel. Having received a German Bible from the London Society, he was observed to be constantly and seriously engaged in perusing it; and rom the plain and unequivocal declaratio made of his faith in the Messiah, the is good ground to believe that the Sctures were accompanied with the blessing of the Holy Spirit.

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He had been, in one. moment, reduced from very affluent circumstances to por erty, by the incursion of the French. From the natural independence of his mind, he applied himself diligently, at the age of forty three, to learn the business of a tailor; but grief was rapidly undermining his constitution. He gradually became weaker, and, soon after his baptism, was so reduced as to be confined to his room. During his illness he often expressed the greatest solicitude about his family, who arrived in England, only five weeks before his death, and to whom he earnestly and repeatedly recommended the Christian religion. Fearing he might not live to see them, and being deeply concerned for their eternal interests, he had, before their arrival, made a will, appointing the Rev. Thomas Fry, the Rev. J. S. Č. F. Frey, and Joseph Fox, Esq. guardians of his five children, with full power to secure their instruction in the Christian religion. When his family arrived, he committed his wife and children to the London Society, expressing the greatest resignation, and declaring the satisfaction it would give him to see them baptised. He was sensible to the last, and his conversations evinced that he built his hopes on that Foundation which God has laid in Zion.

He was interred in the German bur ing ground, Ayliff Street, Goodman's Fields, attended by the Committee of the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews, and the children under its patronage. The Rev. Dr. Schwabe addressed a numerous and attentive audience in the German language, and spoke to the children in English; and the Rev. Mr. Frey concluded with an address in English. This account was printed by desire of the committee of the above named Society.

We are often led to adore the Prori. dence and electing love of God, in mak ing temporal afflictions the means of everlasting good. Unless this Jew had been suddenly reduced to poverty, he would not, in all probability, have been brought to hear the truth, much less to embrace it.

N. B. As our number for July con ained half a sheet more than usual, this contains half a sheet less.

house of God, in their families, or their closets.

Thus freed from the restraints, and deprived of the blessings of the Lord's day, they gradually lose whatever reverence they previously had for its sacred hours, and divine requirements. The consequences are such as might be expected. The Sabbath being soon forgotten by them other divine institutions are of course disregarded, and they are placed at a remove, almost hopeless, from the kingdom of heaven. How many persons are employed every Sabbath, as mail-carriers, in this extensive country, I know not. ber must certainly be great. Probably from ten to fifteen hundred. And ought not their services to be dispensed with, if possible? I am sure, that the answer of Christian benevolence must be in the affirmative.'

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* As we conceive this subject to be incalculably important, our readers will pardon us for adding, by way of note, a few remarks on some of the topics, discussed by our respected correspondent.

We must premise, that no salutary effect can be expected to be produced, by this discussion, upon the mind of any person, who does not regard religion with seriousness, and man as an immortal being, whose future destiny is to be fixed by the character which he forms in this life. Infidels and scoffers are beyond the reach of the most powerful and decisive arguments on this subject. But we make a confident appeal to every person, who meditates with sacred awe upon the value of the human soul;-to every person, who believes, that without holiness no man shall see the Lord, and that with the observance of the Sabbath are intimately connected all the ordinary means of grace and salvation. No such person will deem it a light thing, that a thousand or fifteen hundred men are statedly employed in such a manner, as to separate them utterly from public worship, and to 'transform them into heathens. We are of opinion, that not a single employment, which is tolerated among us in time of

But mail-carriers are not the only persons, who are prevented from sanctifying the Sabbath, by

peace, is so perfectly hostile to every thing of a serious nature, as is the employment of driving stage-coaches on the Sabbath, which is an inevitable consequence of car rying the mail on that day. Let a young man be engaged one year in this employment, and it is almost certain, that he will be an inveterate Sabbath-breaker through life, and that his soul will be lost for ever. We say almost certain; for God may interpose and rescue such a man from eternal death. Neither the word of God, however, nor his Providence, authorize any expectation that he will thus interpose. Quite the reverse.

We insist not here, on the vastly greater number of persons, who are employed on the Sabbath in driving other carriages than those in which the mail is conveyed, and who would not be thus employed, were it not for the customary travelling of mailstages on that day. Let us suppose all other travelling on the Sabbath prevented, and all the inhabitants, except mail

carriers, in the happy possession of the Sabbath, and its various means of spiritual improvemcat. In that case, would it not be thought a great evil, that several hundreds of persons should be so employed, as to be removed from hearing God's word, from the ordinary means of grace, and the offers of salvation? Would not the whole country be filled with lamentations, on account of so melancholy a seclusion from the common blessings of Christianity? Is the evil less now, when the multitudes involved in it are immensely greater, than in the case supposed? and when its magnitude is concealed by the extent and authority of bad example? Would it be thought a small matter, that a thousand or fifteen hundred men should be subjected to all the horrors of Algerine captivity without hope of deliverance? Would a humanc man consent, that so many individuals should be exposed to imminent danger of such captivity, for the purpose of furnishing him, and others like him, with papers and letters a day earlier than he would otherwise receive them? But how trifling an evil is Algerine captivity compared to an eternal confinement in the great prison of despair.

Nor is the evil to be lightly estimated because it may be voluntarily incurred? How many of the sufferings of this life are brought upon men by their voluntary misconduct. Yet no man thinks lightly of these sufferings on this account. Men are too ready, it is true, to trifle with their

the practice now under consideration. All the postmasters, who are required to open the mail on that day, are subjected to such interruptions, as must be very painful to a serious mind, and very prejudicial to religious improvement. By the arrival of the mail, during the hours of public worship, many are prevented from waiting upon God in his house. And where this is not the case, how painful must it be, to those post-masters, who have any proper regard for the Lord's day, to be interrupted by the arrival of the mail, when reading the Scriptures, or, perhaps, in the midst of family or closet prayer, and compelled to turn their attention, for hours together, to letters, newspapers, and way-bills. How much also, in many cases, are their families disturbed, by the arrival and departure of stages, and the noise and bustle which they occasion.* Nor do the evils complained of stop here. For the sake of carrying passengers on the Sabbath with impunity, stage-coaches are employed, even on those routs, where the mail might be conveyed with convenience on horseback. The consequence is,

eternal interests, and to squander away their all. But is this a reason why they should be encouraged to do so? We should rather argue, that the disposition of men to neglect their souls should make every Christian community cautious how any practices are tolerated, which have an irresistible agency in strengthening this perverse disposition.

* In our larger towns, each post-master employs from two to six clerks, who are occupied, more or less, on the Sabbath, in the common business of the office. In some towns, it is believed the business done at the post-office is little less on the Sabbath, than on any other day of the week.

that all the stagc-houses are subjected to more or less disturbance every Sabbath. Somebody must be in waiting. Horses must be changed. Passengers must be accommodated. The whole company of Sabbath-breakers must breakfast at one inn, and dine at another. Have innkeepers no souls? Have they no religious duties to perform? Is it not exceedingly to be lamented, that they should be subjected to all these interruptions on the Sabbath, in consequence of the transportation of the mails on that day?*

Let another thing be considered. The mail-stages cannot travel, without making a great deal of disturbance. It is no uncommon thing, where they pass near houses of public worship, for the voice of the speaker to be wholly confused by their rattling, while the eyes of half the congregation are turned to the doors and windows. Thousands and thousands of families, are much disturbed by the same

means.

Further; the multiplied profanations of the Sabbath, which are occasioned by this practice, ought not to be left out of the general estimate. A stranger, who happens to spend the Lord's day in one of our large commercial towns, has his attention arrested by crowds of people passing by his lodgings. His first

Passengers in the stage, on many routs in the United States, are compelled either to travel on the Sabbath, or to stop on the road three or four days. Such a delay cannot usually be suffered without extreme inconvenience. But if no stages, travelled on the Sabbath, every passenger in the stage could so arrange his jour ney, as to suffer no inconvenience,