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Which Satan shall create! Yet must the whole,
Before my seat exalted, be receiv'd

From out my hand. Thus saith the God of hosts,
To whom each circle of unending space,
With its inhabitants, and orbs belong,

As th' all-perfect world his heaven surrounds !
So Adramelech read. But vain; for hell,
Yet timorous, believ'd him not.
God heard,
Jehovah heard the blasphemy, and said,
Deep in himself: "Am not I God, the Lord,
E'er like myself?" Doth not the sinner show
My power, and my omniscience! As he spoke,
Flew forth his sentence ! 'Neath the inmost hell,
And out the sea of flames, there rose a mass
Of liquid fire; whose base sinks far below
Death's ocean! Adramelech whelm'd, the pile
The waves beneath of that dread sea of death,
Where 'stead of days, seven nights revolve ! so long
Lay suffering keenest tortures, there, the fiend!
Long ages after, did that spirit build

A temple to the God* on high; wherein
He sits; himself the priest and by the foot
Of the high altar, where he ministers,

Stands the gold tablet! None believe the cheat,
So ancient, so blaspheming! Yet oft comes

A mercenary crowd of flatterers in

To bend before the image: But, should e'er
His place of sinning, Adramelech quit,

Quick falls the fiendish mask; and the curst train
With unrestrained laughter mock around.
Thence, came the spirit: And he plac'd himself
By Satan's side, with ill-concealed rage.

Next him, came Moloch, from his mountains down;
Who, lest the warriour of the thunder, (so

He call'd the God of heaven,) should strive to approach,
In hostile guise, the plains of hell, had 'camp'd

New mountains ever round for his defence.
Oft, when the mistful day hath o'er the banks
Of that fel, lurid ocean risen sad,
Do. bell's inhabitants behold him wind
With lonely steps; and bending 'neath the load
He pileth round the tops of those dread mounts
That graze her dreary vaults. And ever, 'mid
Mists and slow-rolling vapours, doth he stand,
Thinking he lances thunder on the Highest ;
As, loud from time to time, some rock resounds
Crush'd by its fall below! Him too, behold!
Earth's conquerors, at times. From down his hills,

*Fate or destiny; as distinguished from Deity.

Rush'd the tremendous spirit through the crowd.
Hell trembled and gave way! With armour bound,
In hue like duskiest clouds, which thunders bear,
And striding that the mountains quak'd, and rocks
Roll'd down amaz'd, the kingly throne he sought.
Belielel now appeared: Rudest came he
From out his forests, and the barren plains,
Whence spring the sources of those lakes of death
That roll their rapid waves towards Satan's throne.
There dwelled he. There strove he, but in vain,
For ever vain, to shape those fields, o'er which
God's curse had been pronounc'd like heaven's bright bowers.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

SOUTH CAROLINA.

THE Church in this diocese consists of the bishop, 27 presbyters, 4 deacons, and 35 organized congregations.

The annual convention of 1823 was held on the 19th, 20th, and 21st days of February; and was attended by 16 presbyters, 5 deacons, and 35 lay delegates from 19 parishes. 5 clergymen, entitled to seats, were absent.

The parochial reports vary but little from those presented last year. In both years it is remarkable that 22 only out of 35, are reported. During the last year there have been,

In 21 congregations 287 baptisms.

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88 marriages.

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182 burials.

1614 communicants.

300 Sunday scholars.

The number of communicants in the three city churches is 1249. In St. Paul's church, Radcliffeborough, the communicants have increased, since the last report, from 190 to 242. The bishop stated in his address that the affairs of the Church, since the last annual convention embrace nothing calculated to mark the year with striking or peculiar interest. "With an uninterrupted harmony and order," he observes, " and, as I would fain trust, in a godly quietness, we have been permitted to pursue the ordinary business of the courts of the Lord's house; and if, on the one hand, no new and distinguishing blessings, from the Spirit by which the whole body of the church is governed and sanctified, have seemed to attend its operations, we are not, on the other, called to mingle our sorrowings on any remarkable subject of affliction or calamity of our Church." Confirmation had been administered in 6 churches, and 200 persons confirmed. Four persons have been admitted to the order of priests, and 2 to that of deacons. One church has been erected, of which the bishop gives the following account.

"It is with very happy emotions, that I find it my duty, to mention to you, an effort of liberal zeal, within our communion, worthy to awaken a common feeling among us of grateful exuitation. At Pendleton, where a missionary of the Society for the Advancement of Christianity, has been employed for the last few years, a neat and convenient building has been erected for our worship, by the exertions of a few individuals from the sacred use of which, we are encouraged to hope, that the name of God will, according to our mode of worshipping him, be honoured by some respectable portion, at least, of our fellow citizens, in that remote portion of the state. To the generous personal exertions and sacrifices of Col. Thomas Pinckney, I feel it incumbent on me to state, the success of this good work, of which the amiable modesty of his true zeal for the Church, would have forbid. den him to be proclaimed as in any degree the author, is, under God, greatly to be ascribed."

At Chatham, a town of considerable importance in the northern part of the state, there is an Episcopal church which had long until within a few years, been disused by Episcopalians. In consequence of this disuse, it appears to have been taken possession of by some other denomination, but has lately been reclaimed, and, under the zealous patronage of the Society for the Advancement of Christianity in South Carolina, the Rev. Mr. Wright, of Wadesborough, in North Carolina, has been employed there as a missionary. His prudent and pious deportment in a situation where angry passions and prejudices were likely to be roused by the very circumstance of reclaiming a church, which had passed into other hands, is already happily operating to conciliate the unfriendly, and to animate with new hopes those who are attached to our communion. The organization of the church has taken place, so far as the election of vestrymen and war. dens is necessary to it; and a delegate was appointed to attend the convention. The peculiar circumstances of this church seemed to render it proper that the denomination who had used it should not at once be deprived of the privilege of assembling there for the purposes of their worship. There would, however, be a manifest inconsistency in permitting, for any great length of time, what would in fact be an acknowledgment of sectarian principles; and, in addition to this inconsistency the practical consequences would be the destruction of that peace and harmony which it is the duty of all Christians to mainOn this subject, therefore, we are glad to see that the bishop expressed himself firmly, and that he has placed it in its proper light. "At present, there seems to be a propriety in their granting to another denomination, who have used the building, the continuance of some stated use of it for the purposes of their worship. As, however, nothing can be more obvious, than the evil of the use in common, by different denominations, of the same religious edifice, it is to be hoped, that mutually satisfactory provision will, before long, be made, to render this arrangement neither necessary nor desired. Christianity is scarcely in any thing, so liable to be wounded in the house of its

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friends, as by measures which thus force those into collision, who, duly separated, might charitably abide in concord. This comes unavoidably of the infirmity of our nature; and it is a kind of treachery to the cause of religion, unnecessarily to provoke such infirmity, in counteraction of its spirit of love, joy, and peace."

The subject of the General Theological Seminary is mentioned by the bishop this year, as it was the last, with that affectionate solicitude and high sense of its importance which ought to exist in the bosom of every friend to pure religion and apostolick order. We are pleased to see that it induced the convention to appoint a special committee on the subject, and that the following resolutions, recommended by them, were unanimously adopted. "1. That this convention retain a strong conviction of the necessity and importance of the General Theological Seminary; that we feel grateful to the gentlemen who bave taken an active part in the management of the same, and we do assure the general convention, and the board of trustees, of our determination to co-operate in such measures, as may seem best calculated to ensure the stability and improvement of this valuable establishment.

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"2. That we do respectfully recommend to the board of trustees, to continue to make such appeals to the members of the Church, as shall secure to the seminary a sufficient productive capital; to use such endeavours as, in their wisdom, shall seem best adapted to diminish the expenses of maintenance, to which the students are now liable and to appoint for one of their stated meetings some day near to the period assigned for the triennial general convention, so as to ensure the attendance of those members of the board who reside at a distance from New York, and who may be on their way to the general convention.

"3. That each minister who has not attended to the request, respecting the seminary, made at our last convention, be requested within the present year to attend to it, as expressed in the first and third resolutions then adopted.

"4. That the standing committee be instructed to dispose of these resolutions as they shall deem best."*

* In consequence of this last resolution, the standing committee have since the sitting of the convention, passed resolutions; 1, requesting each minister who did not preach a sermon on the subject last year, to do so on the first Sunday in May, or some other which he may deem more suitable, and with the concurrence of his vestry to cause a collection to be made in aid of the funds of the seminary; 2, requesting all ministers to read in their respective churches, the Sunday before the collection, that part of the bishop's address which relates to the seminary; 3, to print and circulate through the diocese the part of the address referred to, together with the reports made to the convention; and 4, that as an evidence of the disposition of the diocese of South Carolina, to co-operate in the rearing of our General Theological Seminary, a copy of these resolutions be transmitted, to be laid before the board of trustees of the said seminary, and another copy be laid before the general convention; and that their attention be respect-fully and more particularly invited to the second of the resolutions on this subject, adopted by our late diocesan convention.

The standing committee reported the sums they had received during the past year, for the benefit of the seminary, amounting in the aggregate to $976,77. The special committee stated, that there are 32 clergymen in the diocese, and that the amount of 7316 77 had been paid to the General Theological Seminary, by individuals of the diocese; so that the convention were entitled to nominate 8 trustees. This was accordingly done.

The next subject of general interest which the bishop recommended to the consideration of the convention, was that of the missionary society, instituted by the last general convention; concerning which, he justly remarked that the chief obstacle to the success of this pious design is the small number of candidates for the ministry." In the success of our seminary," he therefore observes," and its accompanying facilities and encouragements to the nurture of men for such a work, we might see the prospect opening on us, of an answer to the prayer, which the faithful, in the contemplation of the great and wide scene of spiritual necessity, as well within the borders of our own country, as beyond them, spread out before their view, are, I doubt not, with anxious, fervent constancy, sending up before the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.”

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The mention of the subject of leading the pious young men of our Church, to turn their views to the Christian ministry, naturally led the bishop to reflect upon a circumstance which must be painful to every well-wisher of our spiritual Zion; we mean the fact that there is no college or university throughout the whole of our country, in which our young men are not trained up either with indifference for all the apostolick institutions, the primitive worship and pure doctrines of our Church, or in open and avowed hostility to them all. The bishop's remarks on this subject are so temperate that they cannot offend any who are willing to allow us the same right which they themselves exercise; and they are at the same time so judicious, and forcible, andaffectionate as to be worthy of the serious attention of every member of our communion. We think, therefore, that we shall confer a benefit upon all our readers, by extracting the whole. Education, in its relation to the interests of our Church, is still, in another view of it, a subject of unspeakable concern, in the thoughts of him who addresses you. He has long painfully contemplated it, as the misfortune of this Church, remediable only, by an effort of zeal, which, circumstances seemed to forbid to be expected, that the whole process of the academical education of its youth should be conducted under influences at variance with the principles which distinguish its communion. considers this a lot not more to be lamented, than it is extraordinarily peculiar. He is reasonably anxious, that he may not, on this subject be misconceived. He glories in the real liberality of sentiment and conduct, with respect to other Christian societies, which he sincerely believes, in an eminent degree, to characterize that, of which he is one. He deprecates, at the same time, the effects of such an erroneous liberality, as would make that to be regarded with indifference here, which, among all others, is cherished as a concern of high

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