1. Ministers of the gospel and priests of every denomination: 2. Mayors, recorders, and aldermen, of cities: and,

3. Judges of the county courts, and justices of the peace.

§ 9.. When solemnized by a minister or priest, the ceremony of marriage shall be according to the forms and customs of the church or society to which he belongs. When solemnized by a magistrate, no particular form shall be required, except that the parties shall solemnly declare in the presence of the magistrate and the attending witness or witnesses, that they take each other as husband and wife. In every case there shall be at least one witness, besides the minister or magistrate, present at the ceremony.

§ 10. It shall be the duty of every minister, priest, or magistrate, required to solemnize a marriage, to ascertain,

1. The Christian and surnames of the parties; their respective ages and places of residence; and their profession, trade, or occupation.

2. The names and places of residence of two of the attesting witnesses, if more than one be present; and if not, the name and place of residence of such witness.

He shall enter the facts so ascertained, and the day on which such marriage is solemnized, in a book to be kept by him for that purpose.

§ 11. If either of the parties between whom the marriage is to be solemnized shall not be personally known to him, the minister or magistrate shall require proof of the identity of such party, by the oath of some person known to him; which oath any magistrate is hereby authorized to administer.

§ 12. Every minister or magistrate who shall solemnize a marriage where either of the parties within his knowledge shall be under the act of legal consent, or an idiot or lunatic; or to which within his knowledge any legal impediment exists, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, in the discretion of the court by which he shall be tried.

§ 13. Whenever a marriage shall have been solemnized within this state, pursuant to this title, the minister or magistrate, by whom the marriage was solemnized, shall furnish, on request, to either party a certificate thereof, specifying,

1. The names, ages, and places of residence, of the parties married, and their trade, profession, or occupation; and that they were known to such minister or magistrate, or were satisfactorily proved by the oath of a person known to him, to be the persons described in such certifi

cate:

2. The name and place of residence of the attesting witness, or witnesses: and,

3. The time and place of such marriage.

The certificate shall also state, that after due inquiry made, there appeared no lawful impediment to such marriage; and it shall be signed by the person making it.

§ 14. Every such certificate signed by a magistrate, if presented to the clerk of the city or town where the marriage was solemnized, or to the clerk of the city or town where either of the parties reside, within six months after such marriage, shall be filed by such clerk, and shall be entered in a book to be provided by him, in the alphabetical order of the names of both the parties, and in the order of time in which such certificate shall be filed.

§ 15. Every such certificate signed by a minister may also be filed and recorded in like manner, if there be endorsed thereon, or annexed thereto, a certificate of any magistrate residing in the same county

with such clerk, setting forth the minister by whom such certificate is signed is personally known to such magistrate, and has acknowledged the execution of such certificate in his presence; or that the execution of such certificate, by a minister or priest of some religious denomination, was proved to such magistrate by the oath of the person known to him, and who saw the certificate executed.

§ 16. The entry of every such certificate shall specify,

1. The names, ages, and places of residence, of the persons married, and their trade, profession, or occupation:

2. The time and place of marriage:

3. The name and official station of the person signing the certificate: and,

4. The time when the certificate was filed.

§ 17. Every such original certificate, the original entry thereof made as above directed, and a copy of such certificate, or such entry, duly certified, shall be received in all courts and places as presumptive evidence of the fact of such marriage.

§ 18. There shall be allowed to every clerk of a city or town, for filing and entering a certificate of marriage, twenty-five cents; and ten cents for a copy of such certificate, or of the entry thereof.

§ 19. The provisions of this article relative to the solemnization and proof of marriages, shall not apply to the people called Quakers, nor to Jews, whose marriages may respectively continue to be solemnized in the manner, and agreeably to the regulations, of their respective societies.

MODERN MARTYRDOM,

From a Review of Ellis' Polynesian Researches, in the London Baptist

Magazine.

"The conquest of idolatry in the South Seas, by the power of christianity, has been one of the most remarkable of its achievments since the apostolic ages.

"In the progress of this great moral revolution, there have occurred many exhibitions of human character, of a kind analogous to what has ever in fact attended the propagation of the gospel. At an early period, persecution manifested its fury, and christian heroism displayed its grandeur. The following quotation affords a gratifying specimen:"A fine, intelligent young man, on becoming a disciple of Christ and a public worshipper of Jehovah, was ridiculed by his family. This proving ineffectual, flattering promises were made of temporal advantages, if he would again unite with those who had been his former associates in idol worship; these he also declined. He then was threatened with all their weight of vengeance, and still remaining firm to his determination, he was banished from his father's house, and forced to leave his home. Not satisfied with this, that rage and malignant hatred of christianity, which is gendered by ignorance and idolatry, and cherished by satanic infatuation, pursued him still. A heathen ceremony was at hand, for which a human victim was required, and this. young man was selected by his persecutors, because he professed to be a worshipper of the true God. A more acceptable sacrifice they tho't they could not offer, as the revenge they should thereby wreak upon him, they conceived, would not only gratify their own insatiate malice, but be so acceptable to the gods whom he had rejected, as certainly

to render them propitious. On the evening of the day preceding that on which the ceremony was to take place, the young man, as his custom was, had retired to the brow of the hill that overlooked the valley where he dwelt; and there, seated beneath the embowering shade of an elegantly growing clump of trees, was absorbed in meditation previous to offering up his supplications to his God. While thus engaged, his seclusion was invaded and his meditation disturbed, upon the appearance of a band, similar in some respects, to that which broke upon the Saviour's retirement in Gethsemane. A number of the servants of the priests and chiefs approached the young man, and told him that the king had arrived, and wishing to see him, had sent them to invite him down. He knew of the approaching ceremony; that a human sacrifice was then to be offered; and he no sooner saw them advancing to his retreat, than a sudden thought, like a flash of lightning, darted through his mind, intimating that he was to be the victim. He received it as a premonition of his doom, and in reply to the request, told them calmly that he did not think that the king had arrived, and that therefore he thought it was unnecessary for him to go down. They told him that the priest, or some of his friends, wished to see him, and again exhorted him to descend. "" "Why," said he, "do you seek to deceive me?The priest or friends may wish to see me, but it is under very different circumstances from what your message would imply. I know a ceremony approaches; that a human victim is then to be offered. Something within tells me I am to be that victim, and your appearance and your message confirm that conviction. Jesus Christ is my keeper;without his permission you cannot harm me. You may be permitted to kill my body, but I am not afraid to die! My soul you cannot hurt; that is safe in the hands of Jesus Christ, by whom it will be kept beyond your power." Perceiving there was but little prospect of inducing him, by falsehood, to accompany them towards the beach, and irritated, probably, by his heroical reply, they rushed upon him, wounded, and murdered him; and then, in a long basket, made with the leaves of the overshadowing cocoa-nut tree, bore his body to the temple, where, with exultation, it was offered in sacrifice to their god."、

From the Evangelical Lutheran Intelligencer

A BROKEN HEARTED NUN.

The following affecting piece is taken from that valuable work of Blanco White, entitled "Evidence against Catholicism." It displays the distressing and awful effects of shutting up in a convent, innocence and beauty, on pretence of religion, in terms truly affecting. This is the case of but one, but we have reason to believe that hundreds, yea, thousands, like her, have lost both body and soul, by Popish enthusiasm and Popish tyranny. Their bodies cast away, as it were, in this world, and their souls eternally ruined in the world to come. What cause have we to rejoice and give thanks to God, whilst we press our Bibles to our bosoms, and Christ to our hearts, that he has placed us in a land where His word alone can be the rule of faith--where no infallible Pope can tyrannize over our consciences, and render us miserable, both in time and in eternity!

G.

"The eldest daughter of a family, intimately acquainted with mine, was brought up in a Convent of Saint Agnes, at Seville, under the care of her sister, the abbess of that female community. The circumstances

of the whole transcation were so public at Seville, and the subsequent judicial proceedings have given them such notoriety, that I do not feel bound to conceal names. Maria Francisca Barreiro, the unfortunate subject of this account, grew up a lively and interesting girl, in the convent; while a younger sister enjoyed the advantages of an education at home. The mother formed an early design of devoting her eldest daughter to religion, in order to give her less attractive favorite, a better chance of getting a husband. The distant and harsh manner with which she constantly treated Maria Francisca, attached the unhappy girl to her Aunt by the ties of the most ardent affection. The time, however, arrived, when it was necessary that she should either leave her, and endure the consequences of her mother's aversion at home, or take the vows, and thus close the gates of the convent upon herself forever. She preferred the latter course, and came out to pay the last visit to her friends. I met her, almost daily, at the house of one of her relatives, where her words and manners soon convinced me that she was a victim of her mother's designing and unfeeling disposition. The father was an excellent man, though timid and undecided. He feared his wife, and was in awe of the Monks, who, as usual, were extremely anxious to increase the number of their female prisoners. Though I was aware of the danger which a man incurs in Spain, who tries to dissuade a young woman from being a Nun; humanity impelled me to speak seriously to the father, entreating him not to expose a beloved child to spend her life in hopeless regret for lost liberty. He was greatly moved by my reasons; but the impression I made was soon obliterated. The day for Maria Francisca's taking the veil, was at length fixed, and though I had a most pressing invitation to be present at the ceremony, I determined not to see the wretched victim at the altar. On the preceding day, I was called from my stall at the Royal Chapel, to the confessional. A lady, quite covered by her black veil, was kneeling at the gate through which females speak to the confesAs soon as I took my seat, the well-known voice of Maria Francisca made me start with surprise. Bathed in tears, and scarcely able to speak without betraying her state to the people who knelt near the confessional, by the subs which interrupted her words; she told me she wished only to unburden her heart to me, before she shut herself up for life. Assistance, she assured me, she would not receive; for rather than live with her mother, and endure the obloquy to which her swerving from her announced determination would expose her," would risk the salvation of her soul." All my remonstrances were in vain. I offered to obtain the protection of the Arch-bishop, and thereby to extricate her from the difficulties in which she was involved She declined my offer, and appeared as resolute as she was wretched. The next morning she took the veil, and professed at the end of the following year. Her good Aunt died soon after, and the Nuns who had allured her into the Convent by their caresses, when they perceived that she was not able to disguise her misery, and feared that the existence of a reluctant Nun might by her means transpire, became her daily tormen

scr.

tors.

"After an absence of three years from Seville, I found that Maria Francisca had openly declared her aversion to a state, from which nothing but death could save her. She often changed her confessors, expecting comfort from their advice. At last she found a friend in one of the companions of my youth; a man whose benevolence surpasses even the bright genius with which nature has gifted him; though neither has been able to exempt him from the evils to which Spaniards

seem to be fated in proportion to their worth. He became her confes sor, and in that capacity spoke to her daily. But what could he do against the inflexible tyranny in whose grasp she languished?

"About this time, the approach of Napoleon's army threw the town into a general consternation, and the Convents were opened to such of the Nuns as wished to fly. Maria Francisca, whose parents were absent, put herself under the protection of a young prebentary of the Cathedral, and by his means reached Cadiz, where I saw her on my way to England. I shall never forget the anguish with which, after a long conversation, wherein she disclosed to me the whole extent of her wretchedness; she exclaimed, there is no hope for me! and fell into convulsions.

"The liberty of Spain from the French invaders, was the signal for the fresh confinement of this helpless young woman to her former pris

on.

Here she attempted to put an end to her sufferings, by throwing herself into a deep well, but was taken out alive. Her mother was now dead, and her friends instituted a suit of nullity of profession, before the ecclesiastical court. But the laws of the Council of Trent, were positive, and she was cast in the trial. Her despair, however, exhausted the little strength which her protracted sufferings had left her, and the unhappy Maria Francisca died soon after, having scarcely reached her twenty-fifth year."

From an Edinburgh Publication of 1829.

RICHES OF A POOR BARBER.

Conscientious regard to the Sabbath providentially rewarded. In the city of Bath, during the last century, lived a barber, who made a practice of following his ordinary occupation on the Lord's day. As he was pursuing his morning's employment, he happened to look into some place of worship, just as the minister was giving out his text, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." He listened long enough to be convinced that he was constantly breaking the laws of God and man, by shaving and dressing his customers on the Lord's day. He became uneasy, and went with a heavy heart to his sabbath task. At length he took courage, and opened his mind to the minister, who advised him to give up sabbath dressing, and worship God. He replied, beggary would be the consequence. He had a flourishing trade, but it would almost all be lost. At length, after many a sleepless night spent in weeping and praying, he was determined to cast all his care upon God, as the more he reflected, the more his duty became apparent. He discontinued sabbath dressing, went constantly and early to the public services of religion, and soon enjoyed that satisfaction of mind which is one of the rewards of doing our duty, and that peace of God which the world can neither give nor take away. The consequences he foresaw, actually followed. His genteel customers left him, as he was nicknamed a Puritan or Methodist. He was obliged to give up his fashionable shop, and in the course of years became so reduced, as to take a cellar under the old market house, and shave the common people. On Saturday evening, between light and dark, a stranger from one of the coaches, asking for a barber, was directed by the ostler to the cellar opposite. Coming in hastily, he requested to be shaved quickly, while they changed horses, as he did not like to violate the sabbath. This was touching the barber on a tender chord. He burst into tears-ask