ville, without designating its character theologically or denominationally. These lands were subsequently conveyed by the trustees to Illinois College for the endowment of the Blackburn Professorship of Theology, and were sold by the corporation to a private individual, who in turn sold a part of them to actual settlers. Now, the Courts have decided that all these sales and transfers from the trustees onward are void, and that the title is still in the trustees, who are bound to use the lands or their avails in sustaining a Theological Seminary at Carlinville. Two thousand acres of land remain unsold. The whole value of property available for the above purpose is estimated at $75,000. The trustees are disposed, we understand, to establish a New School Presbyterian Seminary, as they are nearly all of that denomination, and are not restricted by the terms of the deeds. An arrangement is expected to be made, by which actual settlers and bona fide purchasers of the lands sold, shall be confirmed in their lands, and no loss be experienced by Illinois College. We have before us the Galena Gazette, which contains the following: BLACKBURN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.-At a meeting of the Trustees of the Blackburn Fund for a Theological Seminary, to be located at Carlinville, Ill., held at Carlinville on the 31st ult., the Board was filled up by the appointment of the following gentlemen: Rev. Messrs. R. W. Patterson and S. G. Spees, and Messrs. C. S. Hempstead, W. H. Brown, and A. H. Blackburn, Esqs. This fund, consisting of 14,000 acres of land, is now estimated to be worth $100,000, and is rapidly increasing in value, a sum said to be amply sufficient for all purposes of building and endowment. REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH. THE pecuniary condition of the Dutch Church is very satisfactory. The treasurer reported a balance of over $10,000 on hand, and the following as a schedule of its invested property. THE VAN BENSCHOTEN FUND-Amount loaned upon Bonds and Mortgages in New Jersey, $19,813 57 Balance in hand April 1, 1855, 2,751 64 Interest due May 1, 1855, Paid to indigent students out of interest of fund during the past year, 890 55 1,150 00 in New Jersey, $2,000 00 Interest due May 1, 1855, 120 00 Balance in the Treasury April 1, 1855, 348 11 EDUCATION FUND-Amount invested in Bond and Mortgage for educa tional purposes, $41,835 00 Balance of principal in Treasury,. 9 30 Balance of interest in Treasury, 832 53 WIDOW'S FUND-Amount invested in loans upon Bond and Mortgage, $13,750 00 Balance of principal in hands of Treasurer,. Paid to annuitants from interest and subscription, PERMANENT PROFESSIONAL FUND-Loaned on Bond and Mortgage, 2,860 00 1,378 12 $87,115 00 Other investments, 230 00 Subscriptions due, 7,000 00 BOARD OF DOMESTIC MISSIONS-Invested in Bond and Mortgage, Paid out, 263 00 Statistics. POSTAGE STATISTICS. THE following is a comparative statement of the amount received for letter postage at the principal cities in the United States, during the years ending 31st March, 1853 and 1855: The following is a statement of the amount of postage on letters sent to the respective offices named, and there to be re-mailed and sent to other offices: If all the human race, from the Creation to the present day, were buried side by side, how many square miles would they cover? C. The population of the globe at the present time is estimated at 900,000,000. It is also estimated that, a number equal to the entire population of the globe, existing at any one time, passes away three times in every century. As the present population of the earth has increased from a single pair, created about sixty centuries ago, one-half of the present population might be taken as a fair estimate of the average number who have passed away during each of the 180 periods, or thirds of centuries, during which the earth may have been inhabited; which would give 8,100,000,000 for the whole number who have lived on the earth. Allowing an average of three square feet for the burial of each person, on the supposition that one-half die in infancy, and they would cover 24,300,000,000 square feet of earth. Dividing this by 27,878,400, the number of square feet in a square mile, and we have less than 872 square miles, which would afford suffi cient room to bury side by side, all who have been buried in the dust of the earth -all of whom would not suffice to cover the little State of Rhode Island. This estimate shows how widely those persons draw on their imagination, who affirm that not a foot of earth exists on the globe that has not served as the burial place of man; or who deny the possibility of the resurrection of the body, on the pretence that the earth would not afford room for its resurrected inhabitants to stand-N. Y. Observer. Boston, June 24th, 1855. THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. RUSSIA is the greatest unbroken empire for extent that ever existed-occupying vast regions of Europe and Asia, and nearly one-sixth of the habitable globe. It is forty-one times the size of France, and one hundred and thirty-eight times that of England. Yet it was too small for the ambition of the Emperor Alexander, who is reported to have said "I insist upon having the Baltic to skate upon, the Caspian for a bathing place, the Black Sea as a wash-hand basin, and the North Pacific Ocean as a fish pond." He "encroached on Tartary for a pasture, on Persia and Georgia for a vineyard, on Turkey for a garden, on Poland for a farm, on Finland and Lapland as a hunting-ground, and took a part of North America as a place of banishment for offenders.” Autumnal Choughts. THE SEASONS. BY W. C. BENNETT. I. A BLUE-EYED child that sits amid the noon, II. All beauty that is throned in womanhood Pacing a summer garden's fountained walks, III. A happy mother, with her fair-faced girls, In whose sweet Spring, again her youth she sees, IV. An aged woman in a wintry room, Frost on the pane, without the whirling snow- Of sorrows past and joys of long ago. A THOUGHT IN A HARVEST-FIELD. "The harvest is the end of the world: and the reapers are the angels."-MATT. 11 : 39. In his fields the Master walketh, Though no leaf wears brown decadence, "It is full time," saith the Master- Lo! he looks. His looks compelling, White wings have they, and white raiment, "Speak, O Master, is it time!" O'er the fields the servants hasten, Where the full-stored ears droop downward, And the gay tares flaunt in rows. And it is the harvest-time. O, Great Master! are thy footsteps Who shall know the Master's coming? When night-dews weigh down the wheat-ears, Sleeping lies the yellow field! Only may thy voice, O Master! Peal above the reaper's chorus, And dull sound of sheaves slow falling, "Gather all into my garner, For it is my harvest-time." THE PRESBYTERIAN MAGAZINE. OCTOBER, 1855. Miscellaneous Articles. SOCIAL BENEFITS OF RELIGION. IF every Christian were wholly isolated from the rest of mankind, the influence of his piety would not extend beyond himself. But happily, God did not form us "to be alone," and religion does not change this original, divine arrangement. It is a perversion of Christianity to confine it to the cloister, or to circumscribe its influence to individuals. As our Creator designed us for society, so he requires us to sanctify our social relations with the savour of practical godliness. An interesting illustration of its social benefits is early furnished in sacred history, in the person of young Joseph, who, though a captive, inspired in the mind of his master, so much confidence in his integrity, that Potiphar made him overseer of his domestic affairs; and the consequence was an immediate improvement in their condition. "And it came to pass, from the time he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had, in the house and in the field!" Afterwards, its benefits were further manifest in the history of this same Hebrew youth, when, at 30 years of age, he became governor of Egypt. By that extraordinary forecast which God imparted to him, as the reward of his conscientious and firm resistance of temptation, he was made the honoured instrument of preserving both Egypt and the surrounding countries from perishing with famine. At a later period, the pious zeal of Moses and Aaron was employed for arresting the progress of a fearful pestilence which God sent among the people of Israel for their sins, and "the plague was stayed." And later still, Moses, by his faithful instructions and earnest exhortations, performed for them a far greater service |