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These details may be thought tedious; but they have been presented as necessary to an effective co-operation. We close these remarks in the hope, that they will bring the purposes and plans of the Association distinctly before every reader; for we are convinced that a clear understanding of these alone is necessary to produce approbation and assistance.

The following is a list of the Officers of the Association.
REV. AARON BANCROFT, Worcester, D. D. President.

HON. JOSEPH STORY, Salem,

HON. JOSEPH LYMAN, Northampton,

HON. CHARLES H. ATHERTON, N. H.

HENRY WHEATON, ESQ. N. Y.
REV. JAMES TAYLOR, PENN.

HENRY PAYSON, ESQ. MD.
HON. WILLIAM CRANCH, D. c.
MARTIN L. HURLBUT, ESQ. s. c.

REV. HENRY WARE, JR.
REV. JAMES WALKER,
REV. SAMUEL Barrett,

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Directors.

REV. EZRA S. GANNETT, Secretary.

Vice-Presidents.

MR LEWIS TAPPAN, Treasurer, 19, Water-street.

The Directors, Secretary, and Treasurer constitute the Executive Committee, who conduct the affairs of the Association.

The tracts are printed uniformly in 12mo. on a page of the same size with the Unitarian Miscellany, which it is intended the tracts shall resemble in their typographical execution. The pages bear double numbers, one for the tract, and the other for the volume.'

Scientific Library. The want of books of a scientific nature, in this part of the country, has been long felt and lamented, and has at last produced a very general feeling of the necessity of taking some effectual measures to supply it. Urged by this feeling, several gentlemen of various professions met, on the 6th of January last, at the American Academy's room, in the Atheneum, and, after some little discussion, which served to show how strong was the conviction of the necessity of a united effort to procure books of a scientific character, 'Voted,

1st.

That a Society be formed, to be called the Massachusetts Scientific Library Association.'

2d. That the terms of subscription to said Library shall be as follows, viz: Every person who shall pay to the Treasurer of this Society not less than the sum of $100, shall be entitled to

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one share in the Library and the privileges of membership; which share shall be transferable on payment to the Treasurer of $20 for each transfer. Every person who shall pay as above not less than $50, shall be entitled to a share, with all the privileges aforesaid, during his life. Every person who shall pay annually not less than the sum of $5, shall be entitled to the privileges of membership so long as he shall continue to pay his assessment. Holders of transferable shares and life members shall not be liable to future assessments.

3d. That the funds raised as aforesaid shall be laid out in procuring a Circulating Library, to consist of books on the following subjects, viz:

Mechanics, with their applications to architecture, manufactures, and the arts-mathematics, pure and mixed-natural philosophy-commerce, political economy and statistics-geography-astronomy-agriculture and horticulture-mineralogy, botany and natural history-such voyages and travels as are of a scientific character.

All books on law, medicine, theology, metaphysics, morality, history and literature generally, are to be excluded.

To a community made up in a great measure of men of business, actively engaged in works of public and private utility, in the arts and in commerce, those publications promise to be most useful, which relate directly to the application of science to the arts and business of life, and the commercial transactions of nations. In the selection of books, preference will accordingly be given to those on mechanics, and their various applications, particularly in civil engineering, in the construction of roads and canals, and the application of steam, water, and wind to machinery-and to those on commerce, political economy and statistics.'

A committee to procure subscriptions was chosen, and in a few days nearly seventy subscribers were procured, and the number continues to increase.

It is not to scientific men alone that this subject is interesting. Whoever feels an interest in the introduction and diffusion of practical and theoretical knowledge on those exact sciences, which have most occupied the minds of men; whoever desires to see the internal resources of the country developed and understood, and the mass of the community made thinking and reasoning beings, well informed on the subjects of their own daily pursuits; whoever desires to see our own country take the rank among the nations of the earth, in science and the arts, which she now holds in liberty and happiness, will rejoice in the commencement and success of these exertions.

Exertions for Soldiers and Sailors.-The British government has taken measures to supply its army with Bibles and Testaments, and its seamen with floating chapels and with preachers, at the public expense. The order and regulations with respect to the army, as promulgated by the Duke of York, the commander in chief, are as follows.

Horse Guards, March 11, 1825.

The enclosed Code of Regulations for providing the army with Bibles and Testaments,' having been recommended by the prelates, whose signatures are attached thereto, and approved by the king, I have the commander in chief's command to transmit them for your information and guidance, and to express his royal highness's expectation that they be strictly adhered to by the regiment under your command.

Sir, your most obedient, humble servant, Officer Commanding. H. TORREN, A. G. It is proposed that the following arrangements shall be made for providing the army with Bibles and Testaments, through the medium of the Chaplain-General only ::

1. That commanding officers shall be directed, by the adjutant general, to send to the captain-general an immediate return of the number of Bibles, and Books of Common Prayer, in possession of the men, and the number necessary to furnish one to every man who can read.

2. That, exclusive of the requisitions which may follow this circular instruction, the chaplain-general will procure, from the Naval and Military Bible Societies, and other sources, such a number of Bibles and Testaments, and Books of Common Prayer, together with such religious tracts as he may think sufficient, to be lodged, as a depot, in the orderly-room of each corps, in order that recruits, and others, wanting such books, may be provided for from time to time, as they may require them; that these Bibles, &c. shall be kept in a chest, and that the state of this depot of books shall be inspected at the half-yearly inspections, and the number of Bibles, &c. in store, inserted on the back of each half-yearly return to be submitted to the adjutant general. The adjutant general will furnish the chaplain-general, half-yearly, with a return of what is required to keep these depots of books complete.

3. It is proposed that the expense of furnishing these books to the soldiers now in want of them, as well as to all the recruits, who may from time to time join their respective corps, shall be borne by the public;-but that each man who is found, upon the usual periodical examination of his necessaries, to have lost or disposed of his books, shall be again provided from the depot of Bibles

at his own expense, and commanding officers of corps will address to the chaplain-general a return every six months.

(Signed)

London, Feb. 1825.

C. CANTAUR.
E. EBOR.
W. LONDON.

The Commercial Institutions of the City of London, wise in respect to their own interests, have contributed to the funds of the Society instituted in behalf of seamen.

Upon looking over the list of donations to the Seamen's Friend Society, attached to the Seventh Annual Report,-says the Editor of the Mariner's Magazine,-our attention was particularly arrested by the liberality of some of the public mercantile Institutions. The monied Institutions of London appear to feel, that they have a deep interest in the efforts that are made to diffuse among seamen principles, which inculcate the strictest integrity, and which enjoin fidelity and industry. Property can certainly be more safely entrusted in the hands of men, who have a due sense of moral obligation, than to those who are dead to all sense of virtue or morality,—men who acknowledge no law but necessity, and who consider an unrestrained indulgence of all the most debasing passions as perfectly legitimate and allowable. Missionary Herald.

The Christian Register.-This paper, devoted, as is well known, to the cause of Unitarian Christianity, has lately had it columns enlarged, and exhibits, with its increase of size, an accession of spirit and point, which, with the much greater variety of interesting religious and secular matter it presents, adds greatly to its claims on public favour. With the exception of our own, there is hardly a denomination of Christians, which does not support its newspaper and its other periodical works, and support them well. So long as Unitarians continue to stand alone in this exception, there will not be wanting at least one irrefragable argument in support of the high pretensions, made by others, to a monopoly of active religious zeal.

Church Register-We have received the first number of a paper under this title, to be published in Philadelphia, and 'devoted principally to the interests of the church;' i. e. the Episcopalian Church. When we first cast our eyes upon it, we did think we saw a gleam of hope, that 'the Church' was at length about to give us something new, if not something valuable. But when we read in the Prospectus, that the Liturgy, Articles and Homilies were to be explained and vindicated 'consistently with the best authorities and established practice,' we confess that this hope was turned to extreme distrust, if not to utter despair.

Prayers for the Use of Families.-Daily Devotions. 85

Notices of Recent Publications.

1. Prayers for the Use of Families, with Forms for particular Occasions, and for Individuals. Cambridge, 1825. pp. 108.

2. Daily Devotions for a Family, with Occasional Prayers. New York, 1825. pp. 164.

We are happy to find that these volumes have been given to the public. They are of a class of books, highly valuable in themselves; and for which, it is gratifying to perceive, there is an increasing inquiry. The prayers by Jay, Merivale, and the more recent collection by Mr Brooks, have been extensively circulated; and will be found to furnish excellent helps to the performance of a duty, which is still greatly neglected among us. Of the benefits of domestic devotion, much is well said in the preface to the latter of the works before us. Of its reasonableness and fitness, no one, we may presume, will question. The same reasons, by which we maintain private prayer to be the duty of individuals, and public worship that of a community, may be offered for domestic devotion. If God is the author of our being, he also sets us in families. If he impart to us of his bounty as individuals, he blesses us at the same time in our domestic relations; and if we acknowledge him in private for personal favours, we can surely offer no sufficient reason why we should not acknowledge him in our families. There are circumstances, also, of frequent occurrence, arising within the domestic circle, awakening the deepest interest and the strongest affections, which, besides the returns of daily wants and blessings, peculiarly invite to prayer. When a new and tender relation is formed; when any important business is commenced; when long absence is to separate one portion from the rest; when a child is given, and a mother's health restored; when sickness awakens anxiety, or death removes a beloved member; on all such occasions of special interest, it seems most reasonable, that they, who are so nearly united in the joy or the sorrow, should unitedly pour out their hearts before God; that mercies should be acknowledged and favours be sought, in the relation, in which those mercies have been bestowed, or those favours needed.

Both to these special occasions and to the daily returns of domestic worship, the volumes before us are admirably adapted. The larger of the two, is by the Rev. Edmund Q. Sewall, of Amherst, N. H.; the smaller, we presume we are at liberty to

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