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44
illisstonars Department.
[From the Commission.]
THAT TWENTY POUNDS.
Though the following fact has appearad in print, yet the
probability is, that but few of the readers of the Commission
have met with it. This fact is especially interesting to the
writer, because many years ago, he had the pleasure of be
coming acquainted with one of the sons of the lady, whose
devotion to the cause of missions, and maternal solicitude,
was so signally honored.
There lived in England a widow lady whowaslbe mother
of two sons. Unhappily for her, the two young men werej
wayward, disobedient, and profligate. Her income though
limited, would have been sufficient with strict economy, not 1
only to supply the necessaries and comforts, but even a few ;
of the luxuries of life ; but the expensive habits of the sonsj
threatened her with penury and want. Fearing that at’
length she should be reduced to abject poverty, and thus be
for ever deprived of the holy satisfaction of aiding the cause;
of missions, she resolved whilst she had the money, to make
a contribution of twenty pounds to that object. The friends’
of this excellent Christian lady remonstrated with her, and|
painted in lively colors, her reduced income and gloomy:
prospects. Buttoevcry argument she wasdeaf. Her pur-j
pose was formed, and it was speedily executed. The sum]
of twenty pounds was paid to the treasurer, and as far ns this|
transaction was concerned, the widow’s heart was set at rest i
In the meantime, her two sons proceeded in a career of
vice, from bad to worse, till at last (the youngest one of them it
is believed) enlisted in the army. The regiment to which j
this young man attached himself, was stationed in Bengal.—
Not long after bis arrival in the East Indies, this prodigal was
brought to a saving knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, j
and by one of the Baptist mississionuries either at Seramporej
or Calcutta, was baptized, united with the church, and was
soon called to the work of the gospel ministry. His dis
charge from the army was procured, and he was associated
with the missionary band, and labored with them in the gos
pel. His health failing he returned to England, and there
the writer of this sketh, had the unspeakable pleasure ofj
pleading the cause of missionson the same platform with him.’
llut the widow, the mother—the devoted, deeply tried Chris
tian; what of her ? Had she sunk under the pressure of
lier manifold afflictions into the grave, where the weary are
at rest? O! no. She had sown liberally, and she was
privileged to reup liberally. For a time every mail that
brought a letter from India, filled her with apprehension and
dreud. She feared that her unhappy son might be hurried
on by his passions to the perpetration of some crime thut
would disgrace and ruin him. At length a letter arrived of
uuusual 6ize. Sho opened it with a trembling hand. Her
eyes ran rapidly over Its contents. She had scarcely finish
ed it, when with streaming eyes nud clasped hands, she fell
upon her knees, exclaiming : “On ! tiif. twenty rouNDS !
On! the twenty pounds! Unable to contain the joy that
revelled in her heart, she called her friends and neighbors
together, and bid them rejoice with her, for the dead was re
stored to life, the lost was found. Not long after the intelli
gence of her son’s conversion, this pious matron was permit
ted to embrace him, and as her withered arms were thrown
about his neck, sho sobbed aloud, “Oh ! the twenty pounds! !
Oh ! THE TWENTY POUNDS !”
“Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after!
many days.” NIHIL, j
ENLARGED OPERATIONS.
In looking forward to the future, the Roard cannot resist!
the conviction, that greatly extended efforts for the diffusion:
of the gospel are demanded. The claim presses upon us
with unutterable force. Spiritual darkness, deep and dense,
covers the earth, while we have the meuns of dispensing the
light. The glorious gospel of the blessed God is in our
hands, and its Author has imposed upon us the obligation
to proclaim it to every creature. Ilis mandate, “go teach’
nil nations,” is distinct and imperative. No recipient of !
Lis grace can be exempted from a share in the responsibili.j
ty. An increased motive for the discharge of this responsi
bility is in the numerous facilities at present furnished for’
the dispensation of the word of life. How many partsofthe
pagan world are now acccssiule. The almost innumerable
tribes of Asia may be visited by the messenger of salvation.
Along the coast of Africa, both eastern and western, at va-’
rious points, the fire of spiritual truth may be lighted up.—
The isles arc waiting for the law of God. Many portions
of continental Europe are now opened for the reception of the!
gospel 1 The signs of the times, indicate the certainty of
speedy am! marked changes in the moral condition of thej
world. These signs should not be unheeded. It becomes
the Baptists of the South, to take a deeper interest in those
operations which promise to accelerate the march of truth,l
audio prepare the way for their adorable Redeemer’s tri
umph.
The time lias arrived, when weshould increase the num
ber of our missionaries, perhaps two.fold, both in China and
Africa. Shall it not be done ? Wo have in our churches
abundant moans, both of men and money, which we mayj
ardently hope, they will be ready to expend. Thus tar, in
various respects, we have been favored of God. We have
renson to thank him, and take courage. Our operations
have been extended as rapidly as cou ! d iiave been expected,
and perhaps ns fnras under the circumstances was desirable.
But we are not to be satisfied withour present measure of ex
ertion on behalf of the heathen. We have only made a com-!
mencement. We must advance. God’s providences, his
word, his love, all urge us forward. Nor should we stay
in our progress, till the kingdoms of the world shall hcqomej
the kingdoms of our Lord uiid his Christ,— Commission.
s%* K*9tF
01 1 ecti ott s.
THE KINIToF MINISTRY WANTED.
The ministry should not only be endowed with the gener
al spirit of the age, but should be able to meet the new ques
tions that are coming up in every generation, and to apply to
them, in view of an intelligent community, the great princi
ples of religion. In the time when Anthony began to make’
the monastic system popular in Egypt, and Benedict in Italy,
what was needed was a ministry soimbibed with sound theo-,
logy, that that question, the great question of the age, could
be met and settled by the true principles of the gospel. In
the time when an undue respect began to be shown to relics,
to consecrated temples, and to burial places, and the church
I was degenerating into a base superstition, what was demand
led was such a ministry as could have met that question, and
in every age, there arc new questions that are to be met by
the ministry; and unlt’4t they show themselves competent to
apply to them the principles of their religion, they fall behind
their generation, and show themselves incompetent to their,
work. Never were more such questions started than in this’
age, and never was there more need of studying profoundly .
jthe great principles of religion, by those who take upon
j selves to be the guides of the public mind. The true ques-j
tions which agitate this age are not thoseof the monastic sys
tem, or the crusades, or the points mooted by the “angelic
doctors,” Aquinas and Soctus; nor are they questions about
the “three orders” in the ministry, or the apostolic succes
sion, or the inquiries that have been started at Oxford.—
There has been, indeed, and is, an attempt to foist these in
quiries of bv-gone years upon this generation, and it is well
!to be prepared to meet them; but those are not the things that
are moving the mind of the world in this age. How limited,
after nil, is the circle which those inquiries can agitate!—
i How few of the race at large can be interested in the ques-,
j lion about the “three otlcrs,” or the “succession !” There
are deeper things moving on the pnMic heart. Great ques
tions of liberty, of government, of education, of freedom of,
thought, of temperance, of the right to the Bible, of exclu
siveness, of war and peace, of the social organization, of the
! adaptation ol the Christian religion to man, are the points
which this age, as such, is looking at; and a man may be an
! entire master of all the theology that can be made to con
-1 verge around the questions that have come up at Oxford, and
| yet never awake to ths inquiry whether he is in the eleventh
!or nineteenth century; and while he is re-arguing points
which have been determined ages ago, society shall move on
in strides which he will never dream of undertaking, towards
the point which it is destined yet to reach, and all they of
Oxford, and all who moot similar questions to those agitated,
there, shall be left fur behind. J]
But further. A preacher should not only be able to ap.
preciute his age and so come up to it in adapting his instruc-*
lions to the great questions which are started in the times in
which he lives, hut lie should be in advance ofiiisage. He
should be able intelligently to take positions to which society
in its progress has not yet come up, hut which it will most;
certainly reach in its progress, lie should be able to throw
himself into the future, and, taking his stand on the great
principles which are to live in all times, and which are yet to
he regarded as settled principles, he should be prepared to do-,
, fend them, and to do what in him lies to bring the world to em
brace them. There are not a few such in the Bible in the
I comparatively unexplorod views of divine truth, which are to
be brought out. and which are to make the world what it is
yot to be. Whether those positions have been held in the
past or not; whether his own age adopts and practices them
or not, he who preaches the theology of the Bible should de
fend them, and should he able to show what important chan
ges the fair application of the principles of the New Testa,
ment would make in the world. Tho men who have done;
much for the nice have gone in advance of their age : they
| have maintained positions, often in the midst of much persecu
tion, which society had not yet reached, but to which it was
destined yet to come, and have shown their greatness, and
their sagacity, and their acquaintance with the oracles ol
truth, by being able to take such advanced positions, and by
holding and defending them in the face of the sneers and the
frowns of the world. Such men were Luther and Knox;
: such men were the Puritans and Pilgrims. Thus, now, we
are to take our stations on tho watch-towers, and defend not
only what has been defended, and maintain not only what
has been wrought in the texture of society, but we are to;
search out and maintain those great principles which will
prevail in the world’s millcnium, and to which, though slow,
ly, yet most certainly, the world is advancing. The theolo
gy to he preached is not only that which has been settled as;
true in past times, but that which is fitted to the state of the
i world w hen society shall have made its highest progress, 1
and shrill have reached the point on which the eyes of proph
ets and apostles were fixed.— Albert Barnes.
i
l TTrtys of Teachers. —There is an analogy in all the works
of God, and this is equally true with regard to the body, the,
soul, nud the spirit: they have each their youth, their man-;
hood, and their age. Tnoreforo there should be no cram-,
miug, no forcing in dueaiion, but a sound and sure founda-j
lion should be laid. Every thing should be learned step by
step, and so learned that it can never be forgotten ; and this
will be the case if the child’s own mind has been brought to
work. Study should be made a delight, and to accomplish|
this, encouragement must be more employed than rebuke. (
Credit must lie given to n child when it has done its best,
though it come very short of what was hoped. We must be
ware of false stimulants, of o.Tering the base moti /eof reward,
of employing emulation, and the hope of out-doing others; of
exciting the desire of display, or the wish to be admired.—
{Never should children be shown otlj to gratify our own, or
their vanity. They should always feel that they are treated
justly ; that they are not punished from temper, or because
their teacher is weary of them. They should never be taunt*
ed, nor rebuked in anger; and when the disgrace is over,
and the sin fully acknowledged, it should not be reverted to
again.
[From the Watchman and Observer.]
THE TERRIBLE BURDEN OF SIN.
A NOTE PROM A PASTOR’S JOURNAL.
Many years since, while I was pastor of , I was
visited by a member of my congregation, whose face plain
ly told that in his heart there was sadness. W'ithout wait
ing to be seated, with tears in his eves, and with emotions
winch almost forbade utterance, he thus addressed me—“l
have called upon you this morning to see if any thing can
be done for a miserable sinner.” To prevent interruption
from company, we retired to the forest, he following after
like a criininul. Seated on the trunk of a fallen tree, with
his eyes directed to the ground, his face, partially averted,
in which guilt and misery uere depicted, he, with much
[hesitation, made his condition known. That his eyes had
been opened—that he had been brought to see that lie was a
miserable sinner, Ac., repeatedly expressing his astonish
ment that he had not made this discovery sooner. Supposing
his to be a case of ordinary conviction, I endeavored, from
the Scriptures, to confirm him in his views of his condition—
expressed my hope that God was dealing with him, and that
lie would complete his own work. I then preached unto
him Jesus. Spreading before him the invitations of the gos
pel, recounting the promises, I reminded him of the love of
Christ, of his death, Ac. Rut none of these tilings seemed
to bring relief. He was reminded that there might be some
special difficulty pressing on his conscience, and if so, it was
his duty to communicate it, that he might receive the in
struction necessary 1q the case. He then drew from his
pocket a large roll of paper, and handing it to me, said, “Read
‘this, and you will discover what a sinner 1 am.” Then con
cealing his face with his hands, he awaited the issue in
great agony. This paper contained a list of sins—some of
deep dye, committed long since, followed bv quotations from
,ihe Scriptures, which he supposed sealed his condemnation.
He was told that the case, though aggravated, was not hope
less. After uniting with him in prayer, the following facts
were obtained from him: Six months previous, while attend
ing the ministry of the word, he was brought to reflect on
his condition. (He was looked upon by others as unim
peachable in morals, having an esteemed family and respect
able connections, and had been a professor of religion before
imy connection with the Church.) Reflection only increa
sed his anxiety. He imagined that allusion waikpade to
> his case from the pulpit. Then that the conggypiAn JPqst
jiknow something about him, from the glances which were
; cast at him at certain times. He absented himself from the
sanctuary, hut his misery increased. He ceased reading
his Bible, for it appeared that his guilt was spread out on
every page. This did not bring the desired relief. He then
applied to the bottle , but found no peace. Life became a
burden. Every preparation was made to go uncalled into
the presence of his Maker, and he was about to take his own
life. Happily he was arrested in liiscourso by the question
suddenly entering his mind, “Will this end my misery ?
The instrument of death was thrown from him with a feel
ing of hopeless despair. Time passed on, but his misery
was unmixed. What must he do?—what could he do?
There was salvation in Christ, but not for him. Those sins
which had been concealed from every eye—what should be
done with them ? At length it was suggested to him that the
proper course would be to make a public confession of them
before the congregation; then he might hope for pardon and
salvation. This course was urged by such Scripture as
Prov. xxviii. 13—He that covereth his sins, Ac. —Mark xi.
13 Ac. No doubt this plan was from the fatherof lies, who
confidently believed that he would never comply, even when
the issue was salvation. But every feeling of his nature
was in arms against this course. Character, family, friends
—all forbade that he should publicly cover himself with dis
grace. The struggle was long and distressing. It was a
conflict for life. But grace triumphed. “What is a man
profited if lie shall gain the whole world and lose his own
soul ?” The pride of his heart was subdued, and he was
willing to do even this if it was his duty. This was the ob
ject of his visit to his pastor. “And now,” says he, “if you
say it is my duty, take the paper with you and read the list of
i my sins, and I will make a public confession and profession
of repentance before the congregation. I care not ferconse
quences ; I cannot live with this burden ofguilt pressing mo
down, or without the favor of God. What do you say is
i my duty ?”
As his sins were not public, I did not suppose a publica
tion necessary in his case. Duty was explained to be re
pentance—confession of sin to God—forsaking it with resti
tution—an unreserved surrender of himself to Christ and
| reliance upon hia righteousness alone for justification, and
by a lifa ofgodliness, to let his light shine before men. This
{he bad already dene, or was willing to do. The result was,
1 1 his difficulties were entirely removed. Joy beamed from
. j his countenance. It seemed to him like life from the dead.
. As he left me for his home I was reminded of the expression
|of the Psalmist, “They looked unto him and were lightened,
and their faces were not ashamed.”—Ps. xxxiv. 5.°
, My confidence in the power and reality of religion was in
creased, and my faith strengthened at this display of Divine
grace. *
Some few years back, having secured tiie confidence ol
the church by a life of holiness, this individual was taken
home to his reward, and now rests from his labors.
A PASTOR.
[February