dred thousand dollars. A taste for reading useful books will open many sources of pleasure to which money cannot of itself procure access. It will provide company in solitude, relaxation from care and fatigue, and a refuge from depression of spirits and despondency. It will tend, more strongly than any other mere temporal possession, to preserve from habits of idleness, dissipation, and intemperance; from the thousand evils which beset a man, who has no regular employment for his mind.

All the arguments, which have been urged heretofore in favor of the utility of reading, can now be urged with increased force. At no preceding period of the world has so much interesting knowledge existed; interesting, we mean, to all classes of men, from the prince to the peasant, interesting, as it relates to those great concerns in which all have an equal share; to the progress of the Bible, the reformation of morals, the improvement of the temporal condition of the community, and the promulgation of the Gospel through the world. All these subjects are worthy of the constant attention of every person, who has arrived at years of discretion. They ought to compel the attention of every person, who has professed religion. No Christian has any excuse for being ignorant of the great things, which distinguish the present age. No Christian can remain thus ignorant, indeed, without great criminality, as well as great loss of comfort, of encouragement, and of powerful motives to beneficent actions. Let the careless and indolent Christian awake from his lethargy; let him regard things according to their real value; let him wipe off the reproach, which is cast upon his profession, by showing the world that he is in earnest; and then he will witness the blessed effects of union, perseverance, and enlightened zeal. Boston, Dec. 1816.

18 Superstitions, Hindoo,

We do not think it wise to bring before the public, in a prominent manner, the ques-
tion which CRITO has discussed; certainly not in a religious magazine, at the present
time. Perhaps a well-written essay on the subject, composed with great care and de-
liberation, and with great solicitude to state the arguments of opponents fairly, might be
useful in a separate pamphlet.

The Comment on Prov. xxvi, 10-29, with remarks, contains many sensible and
judicious observations; but it is rather too diffuse, and some parts seem not well adapted
to the state of society in this country.

Obituary notices of Mrs. NELSON, Mr. JANES, and others, are necessarily deferred.