without light. As a miserable painting compares with a rich landscape of gardens, fields, villages, and temples, so the writings of men compare with the fair page of revelation. The Scriptures are among other volumes as the sun among the stars, as a king among his subjects. Other volumes are useful, as they unite their influence with the book of God. Those studies, which do not harmonize with the gospel, are like clouds without rain ; blossoms without fruit. Every book, used in seminaries of science, ought to breathe a religious spirit. Here perhaps it would be just to remark, gener. ally, that the defects of education in this country seem rather to be incidental, than radical. The proper sciences are taught; but are their relations and connexions, and consequences attentive. ly deduced? Youth are taught to understand, but are they taught to think ?

A savage may gaze with vacant wonder at a clock or other curious machinery; but an intelli. gent youth, who is taught the influence of the springs, the connexion of the wheels, and the relation of the parts to the whole, will enjoy a more rational admi. ration of their use, and contriv. ance. So he, that is taught to see God in every science, will find in every science a devout influence on his mind.

We see then how necessary is a religious spirit to those who are teachers of youth. This is consecrated ground. Let us put off our shoes, suppress all our unhallowed affections.

The great design of education is in unison with the gospel. The preceptor, the professor,

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and the christian pastor, are fellow laborers in different parts of the same vineyard. As the characters of their charge are different, their means are vari. ous; their object is the same. If a religious spirit is necessary in the pastor, it is not less indis. pensable in the teacher. They both are forming rational minds, for glory and immortality. High is the office; sublime the work of educating youth for heaven. This noble employment is wor thy those, who are imbued with the divine spirit, who are animated with gospel gospel philanthropy, who are themselves heirs of eternal life. Let vice and infidelity never profane the teach. er's heart. Such teachers, in. stead of elevating their charge to heaven, sacrifice them on the threshold of life; instead of nourishing them as lambs of the Redeemer's fold, they poison the fountains where they drink.

Hence parents are bound to examine and ascertain the char. acters of those, who educate their children. Those, who of fer themselves as teachers, are bound to produce satisfactory evidence of their integrity, skill, and fidelity. Will a shepherd employ a wolf to guard his flock? Will you entrust a stranger with the keys of your treasures? Dare an irreligious man, assume the charge of im. mortal souls?

For a moment suppose your. self on the borders of that lake, which burneth with fire, where hope never comes. Listen to the cries, which ascend from the fiery deep. Some are cursing their God and King; some are begging for a drop of water to cool their parched tongues. Wha

is that spirit from the midst of the darkness, that raises a loud. er voice, his horrors greater than those of the common damned? Is he not an irreligious teacher of youth or children? A thousand of his pupils surround him. They pour their execrations on his head; a thousand tongues exclaim, "O that you had set us pious examples, that you had taught us sound principles, that you had led us in the way of life. We trusted in your science; we followed your steps, and we are ruined for ever."

What would be the fate of the mariners should the compass prove false, or the pilot betray his trust on a stormy coast ? Should the system of nature be deranged, and the lights of heav. en, "unbalanced from their orbits fly," what could save a fall. ing universe? Not less terrible to the moral system are the effects, when the seminaries of science are poisoned by the vice or infidelity of their instructors and students. When the lights of the country are darkness, how dismal is that darkness? Such instructors instead of resembling the Star of Bethlehem, are the agents of that baleful dragon in the heavens, who tore away a third part of the stars, and hurled them down to the earth.

Knowledge when it ceases to be useful is not knowledge; it is art, it is cunning, it is guile, it bites like a serpent; it stings like an adder. Seminaries, which pervert the benevolent designs of their founders, ought to assume other names. They are not colleges; they are not shools of the prophets; they are not seminaries of science, but they are baleful meteors, shedding

plague and death on the nation; they are dens of vice and the pandemoniums of the world.

The Editors do not pledge themselves for the correctness of every sentiment in the above Essay; but they cheerfully submit the whole to the consideration of the candid public.

For the Panoplist.

Praise ye the Lord, mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars! Psalm cxlviii.

A SURVEY of the progressive stages of vegetation, from the bud and blossom to the ripened fruit and falling leaves, irresistibly impels the mind to the adoration of the Supreme Being as the source of all good. There is not a mind so insensible, there is not a heart so callous, that a view of the extending branches, of the distending bud, of the expanding leaf and blossom, but above all, of the ripening fruit, does not swell it with the praises of the Most High. Well might the great apostle to the Gentiles exclaim, "By the things which are made are clearly seen even his eternal power and godhead." The in. spired psalmist, the Lord of glory, and the eloquent Paul of Tarsus, taught their followers the tender mercies of heaven toward the sons of men by directing their attention to the beauty and riches displayed in the vege. table kingdom. It has long been a subject of astonishment to the writer, that the rich carpet of nature, beautified by all the tints of the dissolving sun-beam, ren

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dered fragrant by every "sweet scented" blossom, and bespread with the golden harvest, could be so heedlessly trampled on by stupid mortals without attuning their minds to a single strain of devotion.

This astonishment

ceases on reflecting that untaught man is but a barbarian: it is but a short time since even our phi losophers have been attracted to the study of plants. Youth, emphatically styled the flower of life, is the age appropriate to the study of botany; but what young man can take comfort in studying a science, in the elements of which he has not pre. viously been indoctrinated. And how can youth be indoctrinated in elements without teachers and elementary books of instruction? Thanks to the patrons of Har. vard University, New-England is no longer destitute of an estab. lishment for regular botanical instruction or of an able profes. sor to teach the elements of the science: Thanks to our coun

trymen, Dr. Barton, the student in botany is no longer destitude of an elementary guide to conduct him by simple and easy steps to the revels of Flora: The writer of an elementary trea tise, whose aim it is to teach the

untaught, should carry with him through his book a recollection of all the difficulties he had to surmount in his noviciate. This Dr. Barton has happily done in his Elements of Botany. In many places to the adept he may seem diffuse to the student he seems clear without redundancy.

There is one excellence in the style of Barton's Elements of Botany, which, infused into all ele. mentary treatises on science, would add much to their utility: it is a precision of language, which conveys neither more nor less than was intended by the author. The student however, who sees much to admire and praise, discovers one material* defect, which a new edition only can remedy. A work, which has been well received in America, which has been reprinted in Eng. land, and which has been translated into French under a special or. der of the empress of Russia, the public might readily expect, would undergo a new edition enlarged by the author.

*The defect alluded to Dr. Barton apologized for in his preface Vegetable physiology, or the philosophy of botany, a subject highly interesting and truly important, has not received attention proportionate to its merits.

COPY OF A LETTER FROM THE REV. W. CAREY, TO THE REV. DR. MILLER, OF NEW YORK, DATED

Calcutta, Nov. 30, 1809.

I RECEIVED yours, sent by favor of brethren Gordon and Lee, and beg you will accept my thanks for it, and the volume which accompanied it. It gives me great pleasure to receive, at any time, a letter from you.

KARASS stands on the east side of the largest of the five mountains, called Beshtaw, in about 43 degrees north latitude, and 61 degrees east longitude from Lon

don

The missionary settlement is surrounded with two double fences with a. ditch between, and the whole defended by a guard of six Cossacks. In consequence of being thus secured, it has not suffered such losses from bands of robbers this season (1809) as in former years.

At present there are ten dwelling houses or distinct families in the settlement, and the number of inhabitants young and old, that properly belong to it, forty three souls. The double fences include a piece of ground about 270 feet square on the declivity of the east side of one of the Beshtaw mountains, the gardens and other inclosures are pretty extensive. Little or no grain has yet been sown. The chief articles raised are potatoes, tobacco, cabbages, green peas, &c. Agricultural labor in this climate is severe for the constitutions of Englishmen. They are unable to support the fatigue, which it requires, for any length of time, without bringing on weakness and dis

ease.

As there are few good tradesmen on the lines of Caucasus, and as the Russians and Tartars are able to bear fatigue without inconvenience, the missionaries are likely to support themselves by mechanical trades. Watch mending would be a very profitable business, because there are plenty of watches in the country and but few to keep them in repair. There is not a watch maker in the whole country except an Armenian, and he knows nothing of the business.

As good potters' clay is found near Karass, pottery would prove very advantageous A hatter likewise would do extremely well, as the materials for making fine hats can easily be procured.

About 7 days journey from Karass lies the Ebse or Sonna country, through which runs the Ager discharging itself into the Black Sea This country contains upwards of 50 villages, some of which are considerable towns. Latli con

tains 900 houses built chiefly of stone and lime. The greater part of the people are free; and at the same time a number of villages are at the disposal of chiefs. The whole population is computed at two hundred thousand. The country is said to be very healthy, and abounds in wood of every kind The Sonnas are professed christians. They believe in one God and in Jesus Christ, as their only Savior and King. They pray that God would bless them for Christ's sake, they baptize their children 4 or 5 days after they are born by washing them all over the body. In their churches they have images, some of which they say were produced by the power of God in a miraculous way In one church they have the image of a horse. When they swear they wish that they may be turned to the left at the day of judgment should their oath be false. They observe fasts and kill cattle to feed the poor, when they repent of their sins. They observe the Sabbath in a religious way, and have a number of priests who are allowed to marry.

In their churches they have a number of large books, which the priests read, but do not pretend to explain. The services consist mostly in singing and prayer. The priests wear long garments, richly ornamented with gold and silver When they pray, they look toward heaven with uplifted hands. They look on the preservation of christianity among them as a miracle It is evident the Sonnas are Greek christians, and they probably once belonged to the Georgian church. The Sonna country is very fruitful. The men and women eat together and both wear long hair. Some of them keep slaves, but the greater part of them disapprove of the practice, and dread lest it should bring calamities upon their nation. They inoculate their children with the smal pox on the crown of their head.

Other tribes are the Abazas, and Abazichs, formerly christians, but now chiefly Mohammedans. The Lesgiz also are a numerous tribe. Ch. Ob. Feb.

WHEN we consider, say the missionaries in their Journal, March, 1809, the number of children gathered from among the heathen; the number of adults, that have been baptized; the printing and circulating of a vast number of tracts, and particularly of the gospel by Matthew in the native language; the inquiry that prevails, and the suspicions of the truth of Mohammedism, that have been excited; the alarm of the chiefs; the apparent disposition of whole nations to receive the christian religion, produc ed by our conversation and the reading