Star.
London, England, 1829-09-15 00:00:00

STATE OF RELIGION IN AMERICA

At a Meeting of the Associate Synod, Edin'olrgh, on
Wednesday last, the following account :liven by the
Rev. Mr. A. D. Campbll, Pitsburg, of eto of Re-
ligion in America :
Mr. Cantram.a. addressed the Synod in an interesting speech,
of which the following is only an outline. He said be had no
expectation be was to be called on for an account of the state of
Religion in America. and as he was aware of the great value of
their time, he would not detain them lorg. He had been edu•
cared. licensed, and ordained, in the principles of the Associate
Church, and though they differed from other bodies on some
technical points—though they frequently evinced the usual frail-
ties of human nature, in promoting or defending their views,
they were all cordially united under one great head in preaching
salvation to perishing sinners through the atop. mint of tbe Sa-
viur Jesus CUILIST. He held in his hard the statistics of the state
of the Christian Church in Amrnca. abridged tram the last
number of The Quarterly Jalopy,' of Favcatiota. tram which
he would read a few extracts. With reference ir the UM-
titian,. their numbers were very great, and they weir Mil
on the increase. As it was held disgraceful to live in the
open profession of infidelity, infidel, and sceptic. of reel y
creed and class all regularly enlisted under their banner.
The success and growing numbers of the professed Uni•
tarians had greatly troubled their peace, but the Ministers
were netting the evil with zeal and exertions proportionate to the
emergency. and with the blessing of Gun they had Ns feat of the
ultimate triumph of evangelic t nob. Nlr. Campbell then detailed
the number of profess7lrs, student., pastors, church a, common'.
cants, and adherents of the c.inimon do-nominations in a uunifier of
places in America. The methodists in New Knglano hive 1,600
preacher., and 201,4114 b . The Genet. A•S.Ciated Courch
had fourteen thousand pastors, and two hundred thousand hearers.
The Roman Catholics weir indeed making wolderful vacs Lions;
whe the result would be he could not pretend to know. The
Pope was taking a deep interest its the effort. of his adherents,
and he had lately sent lUO,OOO crowns to encourage the erection
of Churches in the vale of the Mississippi alone. The Catholics
in that quarter amounted to nearly stx hundred thousand. and mime
nunneries were in priibres- of erection. in order to lustier the
young to repair to them, where their minds would he ensnared.
Their congregations in America were composed of communi-
cants and adherent*. The :Ministers visited their adherents
in the time of sickness; they kstructed and prayed fur
them, but they allowed them none of the Church privilege.;
they baprivd none of their ankh'. n till they became commu-
nicants, and this was the re oon that .0 many adults were fre-
quently baptized at one time. In America. the Church was
governed in the same manner as in !his country ; they had
Session., Synods, and General Assemblies, which were most
punctually attended. Ile had himself gone upwards ot 900 mile- to
attend a General Assembly, and h f dlen io a i:h several Mini ten
who had come a greater distance by several hundred is lea. They
had, besides, hlissinuary Boards for the conversion of the fudi it s.
and he had himself sat the table of the Loan with - Cher,—
keel. A few years ago a young Cherokee had been baptised by the
name of John *own ; he was brother to a young girl who had sat.
fered fur her attachment to Cbrittiatity, in a manner which could
not to be described in a mixed assembly. The Cherokees were
new paying great attention to agriculture bald are malting rapid
advances in civilization. A newspaper, called th- Chervkre
ntemis, is now regularly published among them. rhete
was a singular circumstance connected with the commence-
ment of that paper. A young man had heard of the Enk,-
lid' alphabet, lie obtained nue, rew vsd to construct an M0.,-
bet sui.ed to the comprehension of his corm tymen—and thought
he was counted crazy by forme, and a krilish enthusiast by all,
he persevered, completed his design, and one-half of The Mints
is now printed in btu alphabet. A society has born formed ii.
America, for the express purpose of supplying every destitute
family with a Bible, and the design had hero already carried
into effect in Jersey. A society bad been instituted for the pr.,.
motion of temperance, and the utter suppression of the use in
ardent spirits. In the synod of Pitsburgh alone, above lOU Nli•
Dieters have resolved never to taste, touch, nor handle whiskey
In any shape, unless it be as medicine. In consequence a number
of distillers had been forced to give up business, numbers of the
storekeepers have ceased selling whiskey, and the efforts of the
Temperance Society had already effected a reduction of 50 per
cent. in the consumption of ardent spirits. Mr. Compel* then gave
some interesting details of the rapid enervate of the population of
America, and the great want of Ministers and churches experienced
particularly in the newly-settled regions. In conclusion, he stated
that though nothing more had resulted from his visit, it was
still interesting to him to have seen the towering hills and ro-
mantic valleys of the land of his forefathers. As a Member in
the same Church, he would say to the Rev. Synod, " Friends,
countrymen, and fathers, let us have your good wishes and
your prayers." He bad come among them u a stranger—be had
been welcomed and treated as a brother in Christ. 'fbe scenes
of tb:ir residences, and exertion. were widely distant, separated
by thousands of miles of sea and land, and he could not entertain a
hope to have the pleasure of meeting them in this world again ; hut
when their lives and labours were terminated here, he hoped that
they would meet in another world, where they would all be re-
ceived with the Heavenly welcome, " Well done, good and faith-
ful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Loan."
Mr. Campbell's speech was beard with the greatest attention ;
and after a brief discussion, be received the thanks of the Mode-
rator in the usual form. for the luminous account he bad given cat
the state of religion in America. The Synod then adjourned

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