EDUCATION SOCIETY, It gives us pleasure to learn, that another Education Society has been established in the South; known by the title of "The Baptist Society in SouthCarolina and Georgia, for the education of pious young men, designed for the ministry." Our limits will not permit us to give the articles of their Constitution, which are in substance the same with other similar institutions. We cannot, however, deny ourselves the pleasure of giving a few extracts from the eloquent and interesting Address, which accompanies it. Beloved Brethren, WE take the liberty of inviting your attention to the important subject, which has prompted our present meeting, and occupied our deliberations. By our constitution, you will be informed of the designs which we entertain, of the principles which are to guide our operations, and of the methods which will define our proceedings. To the formation of this union, we have been induced by sev erai considerations. The increasing de mand in various parts of our country, for Baptist ministers with suitable qualifications; the progress of general literature in all classes of society, requiring a proportionate improvement in those who exercise the sacred office; the frequent instances which bring to Cur view young men of piety and promiae, destitute of the requisite means for improving their talents, and a sincere hope, that with the Divine blessing our Co-operation in the proposed measure, might contribute to the increase and extension of genuine piety; are s me of the motives which have incited us to the course into which we now affection ately invite your benevolent activity. Such motives are so true in fact, and so obvious to common inspection, that they must necessarily disturb the repose of the indolent, and assail the observation of the inconsiderate. In the field, brethren, which we propose to cultivate, there is an impressive call to united zeal and diligence. So far are we from wishing to arrogate to ourselves the merit of originality in this scheme, that we take pleasure in alleging the example of brethren in other places, as an additional incentive to ardour, in a pursuit where they have led the way. In different parts of the United States, are societies united for the accomplishment of deigns, in all respects like those for which We solicit your favourable regard. Such examples inspire us with the greater Confidence. But admitting that no other association resembling that which we contemplate, had been formed; is there any want of evidence in favour of its claims? Do not the circumstances of many young brethren, eager to break through opposing difficulties, and stand forth as the ambassadors of Christ, make an affecting appeal to our piety and exertion? Do not Christians of all denominations, combining their ener gies in order to give greater prevalence to the Word of Life, invite our endeavours to something that may accord with the spirit and animation of the present times? Does not that extensive union for missions, which promises to embody the strength of our denomination in this country, demonstrate the expediency of such methods as might augment the number of labourers for a field of action so widely diffused? The objections which our plan may have to encounter, are not of such a nature as either to vary its principle or retard its progress. We are aware that many of those amongst us, who have risen to distinction and usefulness in the work of the ministry, had received, in a very limited degree, the aids of learning. But will any infer from this, that they would have been less eminent with such helps than they now are without them? Will any presume to say, that they who are powerful in the art of persuasion, without study and application, would not have been more so, had their minds been trained to precision of thought, and elevated to clear ness of apprehension, by the aids of science? Can any imagine that he who is already a workman that needs not to be ashamed, would not have been more distinguished, had he acquired a thorough knowledge of all the instruments of his profession? LITERARY INTELLIGENCE. THE friends of sacred literature don, a Polyglott Bible is in the press, will be gratified to learn, that in Lonwhich will contain the Hebrew, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Greek version of the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, and the English version of the OLD TESTAMENT; the original Greek, the Syriac version, the Latin Vulgate, and the English version of the NEW TES TAMENT. The letter-press of each page is uniform; and so composed, that the work may be arranged in Four Pocket Voling one Quarto volume, with two of the umes; or the whole employed in formlanguages on each page, so as to present the text all at one view. umes, will be $11,78. NEW PUBLICATIONS. THE History of the origin and first ten years of the British and Foreign Bible Society; by the Rev. John Owen, A.M. 8vo, three dollars in boards. The History of the Puritans, from the Reformation to the death of Queen Elizabeth: With an account of their principles; their attempts for a further reformation of the church; their sufferings; and the lives and characters of their most considerable divines. By Daniel Neale, A.M. 5 vols. 8vo. 4 vols. are published.-William B. Allen, & Co. Newburyport. A Series of Discourses on the Christian Revelation; viewed in connexion with the Modern Astronomy. By Thomas Chalmers, D.D. Minister of a Church in Glasgow. 8vo. Nine Sermons on the Nature of the Evidence by which the fact of our Lord's Resurrection is established; and on various other subjects. By Samuel Horsley, LL.D. F.R.S. late Lord Bishop of St. Asaph, 8vo. 1 dol. 50 cents. The Power of Faith, exemplified in the Life and Writings of the late Mrs. Isabella Graham, of New-York. 8vo. two dollars seventy-five cents. The Sunday School Teacher's Guide. By I. A. James, New-York. Published by the Female Union Society for the promotion of Sabbath Schools. Proceedings of the General Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States, at their first triennial Meeting, with the Third Annual Report of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions for the United States. Printed by order of the Convention. Philadelphia, 1817. Missionary Exertions encouraged. -A Sermon, delivered in Sansom. street Baptist Meeting-house, May 7, 1817, before the "General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States for Foreign Missions." By Thomas Baldwin, D.D. Pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Boston." Lincoln & Edmards, 53 Cornhill. Three Discourses on the Evidences of the Christian Religion. Designed for the benefit of Young Persons. By Philip Doddridge, D. D. 18mo. 62 cts James Loring, Boston, 2 Cornhill, Several favours have been received, which are under consideration. Interesting extracts from the Third Annual Report of the Baptist Board of the United States for Foreign Missions, will be inserted in our next. As there has been an increasing demand for the Magazine from almost every section of the country, and as it has received the particular approbation and pat ronage both of the Convention and Board, the edition is increased to 10,000. The first and second Numbers of the New Series have been reprinted, so as to supply new subscribers with complete sets. The publication of the account of monies received by the Treasurer of the Bap tist Board is unavoidably postponed till the next Number. THE painful task has again devolved on us, of inserting in this miscellany an account of the premature death of another eminent servant of Christ. It was but a few months apparently after our highly esteemed brother JENKS had "finished his course," when the intelligence was announced, that brother BABCOCK was no more. How dark these dispensations!! we involuntarily exclaimed, as our minds were revolving the wants of the church, and the high expectations which these brethren had excited. How melancholy these events, which remove with a stroke the most promising gifts, accompanied with ardent piety, at a time when they are most needed! When we see those lights, which have just began to pour their rays upon the world, and bid fair to shine for many years with increasing splendour, so suddenly extinguished, we are powerfully impressed with the declaration of the Prophet, Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. But it is our comfort to know, that Jehovah still lives, and he will take care of the interests of his own kingdom. We are all only instruments in his hand. Whenever he pleases, he can work without us; or with infi nite ease can lay us aside, and raise up others for the accomplishment of his purposes. At no time are Vol. I. 21 our minds so much impressed with this truth, as when some of our brethren who promise great usefulness in the church, are unexpectedly cut off in the midst of their days. Such impressions have been produced by the melancholy event which has occasioned this memoir. CYRUS BABCOCK was the son of the Rev. RUFUS BABCOCK, who has for many years been the faithful and successful pastor of the Baptist church in Colebrook (Conn.) He was born in Canaan of the same State, January 25, 1789. His early life was not distinguished with any events which deserve a particular notice. Accustomed as he was, however, to witness the devotions and listen to the instructions of his kind parents, his mind was at times very deeply impressed with the importance and necessity of religion; but these impressions he soon succeeded in effacing, and satisfied himself with the pursuit of worldly pleasures. We may not, however, conclude that these early convictions were useless, because they were transitory. The earlier the mind is subjected to the influence of religious truths, be it in ever so limited a degree, the greater probability there is that they will become ultimately triumphant. This consideration ought to stimulate parents to lose no time in storing the minds of their children with the leading sentiments of Christianity: for these sentiments must be received, if ever a saving change is effected in their hearts; and although they will remain inoperative without the power of the Spirit, yet no parent will presume to determine at what period that power shall be imparted. He may indulge the hope that it will be imparted at the very moment he is engaged in presenting the truth to the mind of his child. Even allowing that a complete renovation should not soon be apparent, the effect of that truth cannot fail to be beneficial. If it do not lead to holiness, it may, in some instances at least, deter from sin; and in many instances it will do more. In the subject of this memoir, it was productive of strong convictions, and a deep solicitude about the welfare of his soul; and although the struggle which was thus commenced between the dictates of conscience and the impulse of deprayed and worldly propensities apparently subsided, and left the latter for a time to an uncontrolled dominion, yet it was afterwards revived and attended with a happy result. During the interval, however, as might reasonably be expected, his mind, after having been more than usually impressed, became more hardened and indifferent to the promises and threatenings of the gospel. The current of his depraved affections and desires, after having received a partial obstruction from the influence of religious considerations, rushed forward with increased violence in its own natural channel, when that obstruction was removed. The momentum thus given to a mind already averse to truth, may easily be conceived to go far towards the overthrow of all the barriers with which conscience and revelation may have impeded its course. Such in fact was the case with the mind of Mr. B. Naturally ardent and aspiring, after recovering from the shock which his feelings sustained in his early religious impressions, he seemed determined, if possible, to get rid of the restraints of Christianity altogether; and for this purpose he assailed the truth of revelation, and shielded himself beneath the iron crest of infidelity. He had now nearly arrived at his seventeenth year, and for a while his parents and friends were compelled to fear, that his mind had become impervious to all the sublime considerations with which the gospel addresses itself to the hopes and the fears of mankind; that the tender instructions he had received in his youth had ceased to produce their effect; and that the serious impressions which truth had formerly made upon his heart, had been entirely effaced. But still he was a chosen vessel of mercy, and was soon to be prepared unto glory. As a sheep having gone astray, he was soon to return to the Shepherd and Bishop of souls. In all his wanderings, the eye of Jehovah had followed him. The apparent victory of infidelity was suffered to take place only for the purpose of rendering the triumph of grace the more conspicuous and complete. After all his relapses, his heart began to yield again to the impressions of truth. A very severe illness, with which his eldest brother was afflicted, occasioned, instrumentally, the return of those convictions which he had formerly felt. The thoughts of death and judgment now rushed upon his mind with double force. The vanity of the world, the uncertainty of life, and the accountability of man, now occupied his attention. He saw himself to be an impotent, helpless, and guilty creature in the hands of a holy God. He was led to reflect on the importance of the change, which awaited him at death; and to inquire into the nature of that eternal existence upon which the soul must then enter. He now became convinced that "natural religion alone" was insufficient to support the mind and administer solid peace in the dying hour. His infidelity failed him. Guilt, conscious guilt compelled him to fear, that justice would finally overtake him. He saw that without holiness no man can see the Lord, and was heard to inquire with deep solicitude, What must I do to be saved?" To this inquiry he found no satisfactory answer, till he was led to Christ, as "the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world." Jesus now became his only hope. He saw him to be a suitable and allsufficient Saviour, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and who was "made like unto his brethren in all things, sin only excepted, that he might be a faithful and merciful High Priest, in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." Into the hand of this "High Priest" he was enabled to commit himself; but not until his mind had been fully impressed with the awful delusion, with which Satan had attempted and nearly effected his ruin. He was led to the borders of that dismal gulph into which but for the grace of God he had soon been plunged. All his former opposition to the gospel he now saw to have been aimed at the only medium through which he could possibly be saved. In the death of Christ alone, he saw how the guilty could be pardoned and the justice of God maintained. Thus was he prepared to set a higher value on those precious doctrines, which he had treated with contempt; and while convinced of the folly of "our infidels," "Who set at odds Heav'n's jarring attributes, [wound; And with one excellence another Bid mercy triumph over-God himself, Undeified by their opprobrious praise." He also beheld O'er guiit (how mountainous) with outstretched arms [brace, Stern Justice and soft smiling love em Supporting in full majesty, the throne, When seem'd its majesty to need supOr that or man inevitably lost." [port, It is truly gratifying to a devout mind to witness the triumph of truth over prejudice and infidelity. The word of God indeed is quick and powerful, sharper than any twoedged sword-casting down imagination, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." If minds capable of but little reflection and less argument, however depraved, may be supposed to yield to the impulse of the Spirit without much violent opposition; yet in minds naturally strong and towering, fortified with the arguments of sophistry, a severe contest will ensue; every step will be disputed; every doctrine will be thoroughly investigated; nothing will be taken on mere report, or without the strongest evidence to support it. Of course, the foundation of religion, especially of experimental religion, will be put to the test, and the assent of the mind will be withheld until completely overcome by the power of truth, and the heart yielded up to God, through the sanctifying influence of the Spirit. In this process, however, religion has nothing to fear. Its evidences will only shine the brighter, and its doctrines appear the more majestic and heayenly by every such investigation. The infidelity of Hume, Voltaire and Payne arose, not from a careful examination of the merits and eviden... ces of Christianity, but from a determination previously formed in their minds to reject whatever light might be thrown in their way; and, without the least conviction of their own sinfulness and helplessness, to concentrate all their powers to "crush the wretch,"* as they blasphemously called the Saviour. Erecting their own erring reason as the standard, they rejected with disdain * Voltaire's words in relation to Christ |