Newspaper Page Text
JOSEPH S. BAKER —Editor.
VOLUME XII
TERMS BER ANNUM.
Tub Christian Index, published
on Friday i beach week, (except two in the
year), will be furnished to each subscriber
at $2 50 cents, in advance; or $3 if not
paid within the year.
tCT* Post-Masters, where the Index is
taken, are requested to forward remittances
for subscribers at their respective offices,
according to a decision of the Post-Master
General as to their right to do so. ’ All pa
trons and agents are requested to notice this.
Every Agent (and all Baptist Ministers
are particularly solicited to become agents)
who procure and pay for five copies of the
index, shall be entitled to a sixth, as a com
pensation for his trouble.
Letters on business, or communicatio.ns,
must be addressed to the Editor, post ptiiil.
Advertisements may be inserted on usual
terms, at the discieiion of the Editor.
For the Christian Index.
Contributions of it Country Schoolmaster.
No. 2.
“ Recollections of l ift;/ Fears Since.”
It is pleasant as well as instructive to hear
the old repeat the chaiactcr and condition
of the world in by-gone days, and as the
writer has been favored with such a dis
course, he proposes to notice it very brief
ly, for the gratification of such as have not
had the pleasure of reading this tribute to
the memory of “ days lang syne.” This
article is headed with the title of a Lecture
dehveted before the Young Men’s Aasoeia
tion of Utica, New York, by Hon. Eze
kiel Bacon, a distinguished citizen of our
country, once at the head of one % of the De
partments at Washington. Judge 1!. Ins
for many years been an invalid sit tiering
under the most painful afflictions and pass
ed down with disease and infirmities. Bill
being possessed of such,high hopes ami
soaring aspirations as can resist the decay
both of body and mind, he stiil labors, in
the decline of life, to he useful; and in the
Lecture before us, has brought forth many
interesting “ recollections” of other days,
and interwoven the whole with many ster
ling truths and searching inquiiics that
might be of lasting benefit to the young of
the present day.
Though the Lecturer admits our ad
vancement during the last fifty years in
manners, taste and fashions, and duly ac
knowledges our social and scientific pro
gress, he still hesitates not to declare that
our moral advances have not been so con
siderable, and that in this respect at least,
we may learn lessons of w isdotn from the
past. This is, indeed, but too true; for in
morals the last fifty years have rather retro
graded than advanced. Out yearnings after
other objects of gain, far less valuable, have
crowded all higher attainments from the
soul, and in patriotism, morality and virtue
we are inferior to our ancestors. All things
considered, this is a humiliating truth, and
one that should strike to the heart of every
one who feels an interest in the welfare of
his country. The history of the past
should be a warning to Americans; for
wherever voluptuousness and extravagance
have taken the place of industry and econ
omy, they have been attended with a train
of vices, individual and national, that have
proved most fatal in the end. That there
has been, within the last half century, a
decided falling oil’ in that disinterested
spirit of public patriotism, private probity,
and some of the moral virtues which once
prevailed in the generation now passing
away, cannot, it is believed, be justlv ques
tioned.
The Lecturer first touches upon the sub
ject of Education, and proves that “ every
generation grows wiser and wiser,” —for
we are told that fifty years since the whole
amount of a common school education was
derived from “Dillworlh’s Spelling Book,”
“ The Psalter” and “ Pike’s Arithmetic ;”
and that the knowledge obtained from Col
leges and higher seminaries was very much
corresponding with this, “ both as to the
extent of learning and the mode of instruct
ing.” Os course, nothing was known of
the sciences which are now considered
most useful and practical,—as Chemistry,
Mineralogy, Physiology, Political Econo
my, Geology, &c, they have attained to
their present maturity since that period.—
Many of this generation will not hesitate
in coming to the rational conclusion, that
in these respects, at least, they have
“ Grown wiser than their fathers were.”
But whether they could with propriety ap
ply to themselves the other line of Watts’
distich—
“ And better know the Lord,”
is a matter of uncertainty,—at least, with
the Lecturer.
The improvements made within the last
fifty years, for personal transportation and
for trade, have indeed, been great. Judge
Bacon tells us that about that time there
was but one line of public stages run upon
die American continent; and that one was
upon the seaboard between Boston and
Philadelphia. The Lecturer very gravely
remarks:—“ they made progress in two
days, with good Inch, fiom Boston to
Springfield, not quite a hundred miles.—
But they often fell short of this when the
roads were bad, and took part of the third
day to effect it.” The same rout is now
passed over in a little less than five hours.
In the articles of dress there lias been a
decided advancement, though, perhaps, the
improvements have not been for the better.
Alas! how we need the simplicity, the
neatness and lhe economy which clurac.Ut
tzed the dresses of our ancestors ! Many
of their fashions, however, are justly es
teemed extremely absurd, by our fashiona
bles of the present tame, but it is highly
proliabje that we wmdd have appeared stiil
more ridiculous fifty years since. Then
the clergy wore their “ white broad bot
tomed wigs,” and every man who aspired
to respectability mounted one of the far
lamed “cocked hats,” —and civil officers
equipped themselves in “redscailet coats
and cloaks.”
There is a decided difference between the
condition and character of Ministers in the
past generation and at the present time.—
The clergyman, fifty years since, when
once established in a parish, generally re
mained till death removed him ; while at
the present day the Minister is scarcely ac
quainted with his congregation before he is
called to some other quarter, ’i’liis shows
a want of firmness—a fwkle-mindcdncss-r
----tiol known in the former century, and must
be inconvenient and unpleasant to Minis
ters. In one respect there has been a great
improvement in the character of the clergy.
Fifty years since, the clergyman and bis
deacons were accustomed to use the tank
ard or flagon and pipe—toddy and tobacco
—regularly; while now, all unite in put
ting down these dangerous practices. This
is, truly, a blessed improvement!
The last improvement Hhentioncd by the
Lecturer is that of the min if of man, which,
fie adds, “s.eems from some quarter or
otlvr la have received some new uclive ami
irrepressible impulse. It has discerned
new and startling powers and faculties,
heretofore but faintly dreamed of; giving it
new relations, both to itself and all around
it, or in the most remote portions of the
universe.” Then gl nritig at some of the
modern opinions and discoveries,—with a
sound blow at popular humbugs, lie clo
ses with a few “broken and brief bints to
Young Men,” of the most excellent char
acter and worthy of being read and treas
ured in the heart, but too lengthy for this
sheet.
After perusing Judge Bacon’s Lecture,
the idea naturally enters the mind, that if
the condition of the world has been im
proved during the last half century, the
moral condition of man has remained sta
tionary or made a retrograde motion. It is
a painful conviction, but nevertheless a true
one, that the continual strain after improve
ments for out physical benefit is too apt to
employ the mind to the neglect of objects
of higher importance. Our ancestors, with
their simplicity and comparative want of
perception, were far superior to ourselves
in those noble qualities which honor and
adorn human nature, and well would it be
if we could but heed the lessons their con
duct teaches us. The Lecturer, whose
performance has been noticed, said truly
that such changes as have been, and are
gradually taking place, may yet prove fa
tal to tile prosperity of our country; anil
through ilio long lapse of years past the
mouldering ruins of Greece and Rome have
raised a warning voice to the Nations of
the Earth.
Beech Spring.
For the Christian Index,
Love.
What is love ? Wc feel but little doubt,
that this is an inquiry in which all classes
of Adam’s posterity will feel deeply inter
ested. Says the Poet and Novel writer,
“ The course of true love never did run
smooth.” “ True love.” What do they
mean by “true love?” If we have not
misjudged the matter, “ true love,” my
dear readers, is not what most of your nov
el writers have represented it to be. A
description of “true love” is not that which
incites tlio lovely rosy cheek girl to eat
chalk and magnesia, and to sleep till after
breakfast, for the purpose of removing that
lovely tint from her cheek, and substituting
in the place thereof, a death-like line, for
the purpose of exciting the pity and sym
pathy of her superficial upstart befit.—
Sympathy and love are two different things.
Sym hi hy, mis-denominated love, has al
ready pretty nearly, or quite, ruined the
world. When we look around on society,
and take under consideration the numerous
FOR THE BAPTIST uONVENTIOjKJXLvTHE STATE OF GEORGIA.
PENFIELD; GA„ JANUARY 20, 1844.
host of young men that arc thrown upon
the world, entire nuisances to society,
when, at the same time, they should be the
pillars of our government and of our church
es, we are necessarily constrained to look
out for a cause. And when we look to the
young ladies of our country, with a hope of
beholding in them a flattering prospect of
substantial mothers in Isiael, and find them
to be meagre, slender, pale-faced, sickly
creatures, that cannot ride to church and
back without being reduced to the necessi
ty of taking their beds, with the sick head
ache, or some other disease, arising from
litir. of constitution, wc are not fitly,,
constrained to search for a cause, but we
are stitick with alarm for the safety of our
species. But, says one, you have digress
ed from the subject. Has love any thi/fg
to do with these matters ? Mis-dcnontuia
ted love, if we are not grossly mistaken,
will, on a close search, be found very close
ly attired with these imperfections nit the
present generation of the human family.—
Have you ever been in our nursgri.es, and
observed the lnameuvriug of the mothers
of our race? But stop! We hive already
excited the indignation of a mother. We
hear her tongue. Sir, says she, why do
you first point out the mother in this mat
ter? For one of the best of reasons, my
dear madam: that is, because the first
training of a child is, unquestionably, the
office of the mother; and Solomon says,
“ Train up a child (or catechise a child) in
the way he should go, and when lie is old
ho will not depart from it.” I‘rov. xxii. G.
We have heard some say, that “ Solomon
knew no more about it than other people.”
Believing that Solomon wrote under inspi
ration, we have no hope of benolitting any
one of these by our labors, for il they
would not believe Solomon, we are sure
they would not believe us. But, if they
will excuse the harshness of*a Seiipture
phrase, we will sav to them, “The way of
a fool is right in his own eyes: J>ut lie that
hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” Prov.
xii. 15. Well, go on sir; let us hear what
you have seen in our nurseries. My pen
would fail to describe, liuu my sheet would
fail tojiold the hundredth part of the inis- v
niangemcnt that I have seen in the nurse
ries of the human family, both on tlie part
of the father and the mother; hut my pre
sent design is simply to expose what we
have heard erroneously called love. “God
is love,” and of course is capable of exer
cising trite love towards the creatures that
he has made. What does he say, with re
gard to the exercise of true love? “As
many as I love I lebukc and chastise.”
Rev. iii. 19. “ For whom the Lord loveth
he chastencdi, and seourgeth every son
whom lie receiveth.” lleb. xii. (>. See
also verses 7,8, 9, 10 and 11. Does the
mother say so? No. Oh! the precious
little creature is too little—is too sweet to
be chastised, or even to he rebuked. When
it is larger, says she, I will correct it and
teach it its duty. But alas! when it is
larger it is 100 large. She can’t control it.
The mother has too much mis-denoininated
love for it to remember, that “just as the
twig is bent the tree inclines.” She lias
too much mis-denominated love for it to rc
strain its evil passions, when she lias it in
her power to control them. She possesses
too much misdeiioniiuatcd love for it to
force upon it habits of industry and useful
ness ; and hence you see vvliat the human
species is coming to. But, no doubt, you
think by this time that I have harangued
you long enough on the subject of tnis-de
llOtninateil love, ami that it is time for me
to tell you, if I intend to do it at all, what
is true love.
Well, as I have already suggested,
“God is love” and “God is truth;”
therefore God is true love. And whenevi r
you sec the smallest spark of genuine god
liness existing, either in the heart or actions
of a human being, you may take it for
granted that that being possesses true love.
Love is tire touchstone by which to try our
relationship to God. By this may every
man judge of his true situation in relation
to eternity. Let him examine his own
heart impartially and form a righteous judg
ment thereon; and if lie can say, of a
truth, do I love my brethren in the Lord,
yea, I do love all conditions of man ; 1 do
not only pity my enemies, but 1 love them,
and pray for them ; then may be known of
a truth, that he has passed from death unto
life. Says one, I have carefully examined
my heart and do honestly believe that 1 do
love my brethren, but the human heart is
so treacherous ; how am I to really ktniw
that my heait has not deceived inc? Dost
thou really sympathise with, pray for, and
pity the vagabond whom thou hast beheld
rolling in the filth of drunkenness ? Dost
thou raise thine eyes and heart to heaven,
and let fall a tear on behalf of the pooi
wretch whom thou hast heard calling upon
the God who made him, and who sustains
I * T f “ - 1 a—— — uj—__i__
lus-UU, to damn his own immortal soul, or
the ol his fellow-creatures, without
ever reflecting on what he is saying ?
Dust vion sincerely pity and prav lor the
broth.* or sister who has fallen into trails-
it, and who has sinned against a
graciu is Gad ? And dost thou seek an op
porlui ity to help up that brother or that
sister Iw.ho has fallen under transgression ?
Or dost thou take pleasure in whispering
his OT-jrer laults to the world, and m ma
king a great flame of that which might only
haM>pcn a spark? Dost thou heartily
foit'ivc and pity the faults of those who
Jw? Jf.mv time trespassed against thee?
vhou love thine enemies bless them that
cuVsQ.'theo, do good to them that hate thee,
and pray for them that despitefully use thee
and .persecute theo? If thou eanst honest
ly ans-v‘er the foregoing questions in the af
lirmath we think thou hast the promise
that thou mavest be the children of your
Father which is in heaven: “for he maketn
his situ to rise on the evil and on lhe good,
and scmlcth rain on the just and on the un
just. _ For if ye love them which love you,
what reward have ye ? do not even the pub
licans the same ? Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect,” and we shall have a heaven on
eafth. Yours in the Lord,
KIDUON.
Tii -mson, Jau. 1!, 1813.
Tiic Practical Working of the Colporteur
System.
The following extracts from the letters of
Colporteurs, received by the Am. Tract So
ciety during a single week, will give some
insight into the practical workings of ibis
system, and will furnish some conception
of the need there is of such an operation,
if our whole population ate ever to be
evangelized.
Needy 50 oilier Colporteurs, about one
third of whom are Germ tuts, are success
l’ully engaged in the same labors.
. Rhode Island.
A Kilter from Air. John Clark, who lias
distributed some 30,000 volumes in Ithode
Inland, says, “ 1 have been in the wilder
. nn- 1 R. I. for i lung time, and find much
to encourage as well as much to try me.—
> My sides do not amount to much from week
to week in these destitute towns; but the
books go to the very place where they are
• most needed. You would be surprised to
; visit fifty families in succession, and not
I find as many pages of religious reading of
aify kind in them all, unless it be of the
sort alluded to T>y one man, who, when 1
L asked him if lie bail any religious books,
said, “ lie had the History of the French
s War This in New England !
Michigan.
1 Mr. Elijah Clark, who is laboring as a
i Colporteur in S’. Michigan, explains fully
: the reasons for granting so many books
, the region in which iie is at work being re
. centiy settled, and the people destitute of
( money, and mostly of religious books of
any kind. In his journal arc found nicmo
-1 ramli like the following: “I called on a
I newly-formed family, both parties irreli
i gious; no Bible ;no books ;no money.—
Gave them Baxter’s Call and a few Tracts.
The next family was in the same condition.
Called on Mr. 15. and wife, backsliders;
too much in debt to buy r books; gave them
appropriate Tracts. The next family,
which was numerous, has recently’ emigra
ted, and were mostly professors of religion:
had a part of a Bible and a few other pages
of religious truth. Gave them a book, Al
manac, and a few Tracts. The houses in
this region are from half a mile to two miles
apart, and there are many tedious crossings
and dismal mud-holes. The work is a self
denying but blessed one.”
Illinois.
Mr. ('harles . .Spring reports Ills Ui
l orsAtr the month in visiting 150 scattered
families in Northern Illinois, embracing
103.1 persons, with most of whom he con
versed on spiritual things. They were
nominally connected with thirteen denomi
nations, while thirty-seven families ptofess
cd no sympathy with any religious sect.—
The amount of sales during the month was
$37 25, and 191 volumes were distributed
gratuitously to the destitute,
“ 1 have met with five families in four
hours,” says Mr. !S. “destitute of the Bi
ble, and on another occasion, three in suc
cession had not the word of God. A few
days since,” he continues, “ 1 made two
barter trades on your account. For four
volumes ol Bulwer’s Novels I gave Bogue
and Practical Piety; for ‘ the Devil on two
sticks’ and two other pernicious works I
gave ‘ two sticks’ which have often foiled
the prince of darkness—Baxter and Pay
son. When 1 get the trash in ;ny posses
sion I burn it, so thfit no more mischief
mav be done. I am fully convinced that,
under certain eirouinstances, in a country
like this, where every book is read by all
die neighborhood, a quiet supplanting of
had books in this way will be greatly hon
oring God and doing incalculable good.”
There is only space for a single extract
from his glowing journal: Game near to a
very humble hut: found a young woman
with a child in her arms. No sooner did I
allude to the tldlign of eternity, than her lip
quivered and the silent tear told the emo
tions of the heart. When ltei husband
came in, 1 prayed with them. They had
no Bible nor any other good book : 1 gave
them a Bible,’ a large volume of Tracts and
Baxter’s Call, and went on my way re
joicing,”
Kentucky.
Mr. Milton 11. Starr, whose field is S.
Kentucky, gives an amusing account of
bis adventures with bad roads, swollen
streams, <kc - —having been often complete
ly covered with mud, and in crossing
swamps, compelled, for fear of drowning,
to feel his way along with a stick, up to the
arms in water—remarking, that alter one
ol these adventures “ a horse never shone
so mudily, or a starr so dimly, as did the
Colporteur and his beast, that whole day!”
Mr. Starr has sold and granted to destitute
ism, lies, publications to the amount of $2,-
000 in the last fifteen months.
From his letter we make a single extract.
“That you may have a more distinct idea
of the spiritual wants of some portions of
this country, follow me through a journey
of two weeks. During this tour l held
eight meetings—collected S9O on lhe wav
for hooks, and left a Tract or book in more
than 200 families, in all of which I had
some religious conversation or prayer.—
The majority of these families w .c very
indigent: more than half said they hail .ot
money enough to buy a ‘bit book,’
cts.;) live families, from five to ten souls’
in each, were wholly unable to read, and t
40 others could read but imperfectly ; near- !
ly fifty families were destitute of either Bi
ble or Testament. No agent of the Bible
Society or Sunday Sfchool Union was ever
through this count)’. On one occasion
several persons told me they had, not attend
ed church for many years, and that others
in the neighborhood were in the same con
dition. One woman said “ her son was
13 years old and never heard but one ser
mon—and that was tl thing!”
Tennessee.
Air. Samuel IT. Slebbins, writing from
Tennessee, speaks of an exclusion of four
days, during which his sales amounted to
more than SOO. The gentleman who ac
companied him generously advanced S3O
for books for families who had not then the
means for paying for them. At one little
village, “ a ventriloquist had given notice
of an exhibition for the evening: I mana
ged,” says Mr. S'., “ to have notice given j
lor an opposition meeting: and while the
ventriloquist had -only the inn-koopc.” and
his family for customers, my room was
filled,’ and some good was done. A few
days afterwards 1 attended a muster : sold
some books to the people who were assem
bled: went to the stores, groggeries and
houses and talked to most whom I saw on
the subject of religion, in as brief and point
ed a manner as possible. Such awful pro
fanity I think 1 never heard—and such
drunkenness and lighting ! It seemed as if
the spirits of the pit had escaped their dun
geons. 1 longed to drive out in all the
country round and hunt up these wretched
souls and try to do them good. During
these two and a half days I circulated over
100 volumes.”
Arkansas.
Air. Rhea Wallace is laboring among the
destitute population of Arkansas ; and re
ports about 500 families visited in Jackson
and Independence counties. Os these ser
enh/five were destitute of the Bible and
all oilier religious books. He distributed
publications to the amount of SIOO among
them. He found a family of a father and
two sons, in Blackmonr swamp, Arkansas,
20 miles from any I‘ost-oflice, hopefully
converted by means of some books given
to the father at New Orleans, by Mr. Pack
ard, our faithlul Colporteur at that place,
lor the raftmen and boatmen on the Missis
sippi river.
Alsssouri.
Mr. Alfred liclknap reports his labors
among the Missouri lead mines, near l’o
tose. 11c visited a neighborhood in which
“ but one sermon had been preached for the
lust four or live your#;” made :iu address
in the evening, and next day went out to
converse with the people and give them
books'.’ To li is surprise they all purchased.
Many seemed solemn and thoughtful. “It
is about four weeks since 1 left,” writes Mr.
B. “ and they are now enjoying a most in
teresting revival of religion. Sonic 15
have already expressed hope in Christ, and
others are bowed down under a sense of
guilt and danger. Religion is now the all
absorbing theme.”
Deplorable Ignorance.
A Colporteur of the American Tract So
ciety in one of the most destitute parts of
the West, writes that his sales had amount
ed in two months to about 500 volumes
and his grants to more than two hundred.
“Many of the people,” he says, “ate as
ignorant as the heathen. I have found ma
ny whole families in which there was not
a single individual who conld read: and a
great many who can read have no hooks
except the Bible and some old song book.
I have found some fifteen or twenty fami
lies without the Bible: but what is even
more to lie lamented, there are many, even
in the church, who have the Bible but do
not read it. For instance, I called on one
of the first families in a village named TANARUS.,
which consisted of the parents and six or
seven children, who could read—some of
them members of the church. While con
versing on some points of Bible truth, the
storv of David and Goliath was alluded to.
The old gentleman remarked, ‘I have never
heard of that!’ ‘Nor I,’ said the old lady.
Publisher— BENJ. BRANTLY.
NUMBER 4-
1 took my Bible and read the narrative,
which was listened to with bieaihless atten
tion. 1 also gave them lhe narrative of
Samson, and Moses, and then commenced
a sketch of Joseph’s life, when the old
man remarked, ‘lhave hcarn tell oj that!’
—of the other stories not one in that large
family had ever heatd or read ! 1 have of
ten seen tears flowing Ireely, when rising
Irom tny knees, in cabins where the voice
of prayer had then been heard for the first
time : and that heart must be stone which
would not be moved by such indications;”
I believe God hours Prayer.
* A few years ago there was a battle fought
on the ocean. ’Ou the deck of the ship,
which was commanded by Capl. James
Haldane, a company of poor soldiers lay
munfflcd, :unj bleeding, and dying. Their
limbs were tori i from their bodies, and sent
tcred about the ship. The battle, hovVfcver,
bail just begun, and the captain ordered
another company to be called up from be
low ; as they came up oil deck, and saw
the bodies ol their companions, the pale
and gastiy countenances of the dying, and
the dead, they manifested, a3 was very
natural, some emotions of fear and alarm ;
at which the captain was dreadfully angry,
and swore a horrid oath, imprecating the
vengeance of heaven ou the trembling raa:-
iners. One of lhe soldiers being a pious
mail, was shucked and grieved at the pro
faneness of tite captain, and remarked, ta
king oil’ his hat at the same time, out of
respect to the commanding officer, “Cap-’
lain,” said he, “ 1 believe God hears pray
er. and if he were to hcar.vbui prayer now,
wlrat would become of us ?’*
The battle was fought, and when, the
captain became more calm, Jie thought of
what the pious sailor had said to him.—
The result was, lie lclt ofl’ swearing, anu
was ever after a pious man. When he re
turned to his home in Scotland, lie called
on his brother. Robert Haldane, and told
him whet the Lord had doite for his soul.
Ills brother was a very wealthy man, but
not religious; lie had heard of his brother
Jam converrion, and was very angry
with him on account of it. lie ordered
him to leave his house and never come into
it again. James accordingly left; but as
he turned aivw, be said to his brother,
I “ Robert though you forbid me your house,
! you can’t prevent my prtiying for you, and
: 1 ivill pray for you as long as we both live.”
This expression Went like an arrow to liie
heart ol Robert. He thought how unkind
he had been to his brother, and how wick
ed he was in the sight of God, to be so an
gry because his brother had become a Chris
tian. lie wept, and went away by him
self and fell upon his knees in prayer, and
begged that God would have mercy upon
his poor soul. The Lord , heard his pray
! ers, and ho became an eminently pious
; man, devoting his influence and wealth to
the cause ol Christ. He made a visit to
Geneva for the purpose of conversing with
tire young men there, who, under the in
fluence of Voltaire’s and Rousseau’s wri
tings, had imbibed infidel principles. He
took a house in the bosom of the most en
chanting natural scenery, on the margin of
the beautiful lake of Geneva, and beings
man of wealth and general intelligence, as
well as humble piety, many of the stu
dents came to visit him. 11c conversed
with them on the subject of religion, rela
ting to them bis own experience and told
them how sad it was that young men of tal
ent and literary acquirements should de
grade their minds and throw away their ac*
(positions in the cause of irrcligion and in
fidelity. The result was, that some of
these young men became religious, and a
tnong the number the now celebrated Dr.
Merle D’Aubine, who has written the his
tory of the reformation, and is now at the
head of a {theological iiistsiution which is
educating a large number of pious young
men for the Christian ministry. All these
glorious results wc trace back to that pious
sailor who, on the bloody deck, said to his
profane captain, “ I believe God hears
prayer.” — S. S. Treasury.
Effects of the Gospel in a Heathen
Family. When Mr. J. Goadby was in India
lie well knew Boleram, a converted Hin
doo. Boleram was the father of two little
girls : the elder about five or six years old,
the younger just able to talk. On one oc
casion Boleram came to bis European
friend and said he had something pleasing
to tell him. He went on to state that lie
heard someone apparently talking in one
ol his outbuildings. Attracted by the
sound he listened, and soon perceived the
voice of his little daughter, and he foTind
that she was teaching her youngest sister
to pray. Let children who pray not mark
this ! Let parents who teach not their cl il
dreir to pray mark this! A little Hindoo
!>iri whose father not long before was a
heathen, now teaching her infant sister to
pray !
A Native Wish. —At one of tire Free
Church breakfasts in Glasgow, Dr. Chal
mers asked a French gentleman, whether
he wished “ to be helped to some kippeted
salmon.” The Frenchman enquired the
meaning of “kippered,” and on being told
that it signified “ preserved,” lie was help
ed to a portion, and seemed to relish it
much. On retiring from the hall, and ta
king leave, he was heard wishing the Doc
tor that he might “ be long kippered to the
Free Church.— Ayr Advertiser,