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J. F. DAGG, Editor.
NEW SERIES—YoL XVIII.
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James 7*. Btain.
From Zion’s Advocate.
SUGGESTIONS TO FEEDLE CHURCHES.
Another duty of vital importance which
you owe your pastor is that of seeking out
and administering to his temporal wants.
This duty is felt perhaps as sensibly as any
to which the Christian is called, as the purse
is a very sensitive part of human nature.
With a small church, it is really an effort to
Which they are often not equal to sustain a
pastor properly; hence the existence of the
Domestic Missionary Society. But let each
member, old and young, male and female,
the poor as well as the rich, make au early,
urgent effort to sustain him, and many pas
tors would not suffer as they do. llis in
come must be quite limited, and a small
sum is received as gratefully from a poor,
as a larger one is from an able brother.
Be early in your efforts and you may
greatly relieve him and help his feelings.
He cannot afford to have you dilatory as if
his salary was ample. Many a good min
ister of Christ has suffered much in more
ways than one by the dilatoriocss of his
brethren in administering to his wants. —
By it some have been driven to larger
churches, to the school room, to the farm,
to the shop, and perhaps to California.—
These early, worthy efforts of yours are
inseparably connected with his usefulness
and happiness among you. If you are
tardy, sooner or later he will construe your
tardiness into a want of sympathy for him
in his labors, and then he labors as a man
in chains.
Again, he is but a man and has the feel
ings of a man. When he sees his brethren
in the ministry amply sustained by larger
churches, able to attend public religious
meetings in distant States, to contribute
largely to the various benevolent objects,
to replenish their libraries annually, to keep
their horse and carriage, wanting few things
I wtAoay ottii ptrrehetac j l.n *6 ftpt lo
that these things would he a pleasant to
him as to them, or similar things to bis lay
brethren, If a larger salary and easier cir
cumstances arc offered him, the temptation
is great, sometimes too great to be resisted,
and who can blame him, if his brethren are
dilatory and parsimonious in their efforts to
sustain him? Few things exert a stronger
influence over him to remain than a careful
attention on the part of liis brethren to his
wants. This is a cord difficult to break, as
it is a far better index to the hearts of his
people, of the true state of things concern
ing him, than an ocean of words. By some
extra individual exertion; occasionally SS O
or $75 could be put into his hand by al
most any feeble church, and it would afford
him great relief in several ways, while the
effort would not necessarily cost individuals
as much as many spend at a ball or ride.
Is it not the duty of the brethren and
sisters of these churches to make such efforts
for him in his penury, or is he called to en
dure the suffering in body and mind incident
to a neglect of them ? Generally the pastor
has enough to endure as he gazes at the
appalling indifference of the people to the
commands of God and to their souls, if he
knows not the want of what money can
purchase or sympathy produce.
I know not that God calls him to make
greater sacrifices for the eau.se than lie calls
other members of the church to make. He
is called to preach. So they are called by
the same authority to sustain the ministry.
Both calls are equally well sustained by the
Scriptures. If he turns to the farm or the
school room because his brethren refuse to
sustain him as God prospers them, theirs is
the sin, as his duty is to provide for his own
house, instead of giving them his time and
the use of his talents. The brother who
refuses to support the ministry according to
his ability to pay his proportion of the ex
penses of the church, sins as much as a
pastor would, should he refuse to preach
only as lie felt like it. Such a brother ordi
narily can be of little use to the church, as
he often cripples his action in the best ul ail
causes, and afford little comfort to his pastor.
He resists the call of God’s voice, and en
joys very little if any religion. He cripples
his pastor, as lie dreads to say money in his
hearing lest lie should fail in his effort and
leave with wounded feelings.
It is wrong for a minister to preach for
money, and no less so for a Christian to
live for it. lie has the same right to money,
to lay it up, to keep it for aday ofadversity.
to save himself and family from the tender
mercies of the Associations, or ol an alms
house, that any other member of the church
has, and every member of his church is
called ol’ God to give him as good a chance
as he is able 10.
Let the members of our churches, as a
whole, exert themselves to sustain the min
istry, be faithful in duly, he attentive to
their pastor, and they will not always wait
for prosperity; or it destitute show a com
mendable zeal to have and to sustain one.
II)c Iljristftm 3nbcx.
Pastors will come in, in part at the expense
of the ablerchurches. Ordinarily if church
es remain destitute a long time, it is their
own fault. Neither does God, the abler
churches, or the ministry so ordain it.
F. M.
POPERY TENACIOUS OF LIFE.
When Pius the Ninth (led from Rome
to escape the daggers which he pretended
threatened his life, the shout was raised,
“Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen.”
The press and the platform echoed the con
gratulation, and steam and telegraphic
wires heralded it to the very ends of the
earth. It was supposed by many that the
days of Popery were then numbered and
finished,” ami that but little more re
mained to be done but to clear away its
relics, and leave an unobstructed field for
the march of truth throughout the world.
Without pretending to any uncommon
sagacity, wc then said, what has already
been abundantly substantiated by facts, that
the exultation was altogether premature;
that Popery had a hold upon the. world too
strong to “be broken by the flight of the
Pope; that that system would live, wheth
er the Pope resided at Rome or at Gacta ;
that history furnishes several instances of
the hegira and banishment ol Popes from
the Eternal City without weakening its
hold Upon the nations: and that the flight
of Pius, when nobody believed that lie was
in any personal danger, by awakening
sympathy in bis behalf among his deluded
subjects, might turn out to be an adroit
manoeuvre on his part to restore his some
what waning fortunes, and strengthen him
self in his power. Allthe.se anticipations
have been verified, and though the Pope is
bated at Rome by the masses, twenty thou
sand priests and multitudes of others are
more devotedly attached to bis interests, if
possible, than before. A general sympa
thy in his favor basbeen awakened through
out the Roman Catholic world, and contri
butions for his personal benefit have been
poured out like water from enlightened
America, Puseyistic England, and starving
Ireland, while loyal France lias promptly
sent her armies to replace him upon his
throne. All this certainly does not sound
much like the funeral knell, nor look much
Ike the rites of sepulture of the “Man of
Sin.”
Much as we lament the fact, It is unde
niable, that every where, if wc exeem
hatis ♦*” city or Kotne itself, Popery has
gained strength the past year. There has
been no year since the publication, of the
Oxford Tracts, wlren there have been so
many converts to Popery front Protestant
denominations, as in 18-10. High Church
Episcopacy lias been particularly liberal in
her donations from her titled priesthood and
her fashionable daughters to the cause of
Rome. Scarcely a week passes but we are
compelled lo record more or less of these
defections, and we should not be surprised
if whole avalanches from Episcopacy, both
here and in England, should this year
thunder down from the heights of professed
Protestantism into the abyss of Popery.
This is, therefore, plainly no time for
congratulation, but for shame and repent
ance, and labor to save souls from death.
Popery will die hard. That system has a
tenacity of life, which can be paralleled by
no other false religion on the globe. Mo
hatnedism is in its dotage, Paganism is
rapidly waning, but Popery has an inherent
recuperative energy, which its reverses
seem only to inspirit and invigorate.— Ch.
Times.
THE JEWS.
The following interesting remarks upon
this singular people arc taken from the
Quarterly Review:
Although the Jew becomes the subject
of every form of government, from the au
tocracy of Russia to the democracy of
America, he retains his theocratic creed.
Neither barbarism the most rude, nor civili
zation the most refined, have succeeded in
altering liis peculiar countenance; for in
the backwoods of the New World, and at
the Court of the British Sovereign, he is
instantly known. Time that changes all
things else, seems to stay his rough hand
when he approaches the Jew. Compare
his lineaments, sculptured in marble and
cast in bronze—for the arch and medal of
Titus still exist—with those of the living
Jew, and be convinced of liis uncliangea
hleness. This permanence of physiognomy
is evidently traceable to a supernatural
cause, which prevents the usual modifica
tion of features; in order to accomplish an
important object. Into this it is nCfl our
province now to enter, yet we cannot help
remarking that the Jew is a witness not of
one truth, but of many truths. Marvellous
ly docs he illustrate the consistency of the
original unity of man with the most exten
sive diversity. liis features have been cast
in an eternal mould, but bis color is de
pendent on outward causes. Natural law
is forbidden to operate on the one, but left
to take its course with respect to the other.
A fixed physiognomy declares the unity ol’
the people, while their diversity of com
plexion as distinctly manifests the influence
of climate. Every shade of color clothes
with its livery the body of the Jew, from
the jet black of the Hindoo, to the ruddy
white of the Saxon. The original inhabit
ant bfPalestmc wasdoilbtless dusky skinned
and dark haired; but the cooler sky and
more tempeiatc air of Poland and Germany
Penfield, Georgia. Thursday March 14, 18-50.
have substituted a fair complexion
light hair. On the other hand, the scorch
ing sun of India has curled and crisped his
hair, and blackened liis skin, so that his
features alone distinguish him physically
from the native Hindoo. On the Malabar
coast of Ilindostan are two colonies of Jews
—an old and young colony—separated by
color. The elder colony are black, and the
younger (dwelling in a town called Mat
tacher) comparatively lair, so as to have
obtained the name of the “White Jew.”
This difference is satisfactorily accounted
for by the former having been subjected to
the influence of the climate for a much
longer time than the latter.
LUTHER AND LOYOLA.
W. R. WILLIAMS.
Little knew Columbus of the trains of
religious influence that came in the wake
of his great discovery. In those weary
days and nights of anxiety and watchful
ness, when his solitary courage buffeted,
singlehanded, the mutinous remonstrances
ofhis companions—when, with such diffi
culty, he kept the prow of his vessel turned
still toward the West—if he understood
little the peculiar aspect of the shores he
was fast nearing, he knew quite as little of
the mysterious instrumentality, already
provided in the Old World, to grasp and
shape the New Continent as it emerged
from its concealment of the ages in the re
cesses of ocean. Had he been asked, on
that morning of triumph when his eyes
first beheld, green, bright and fragrant, the
shores of the new-found world, who would
bo the instrument of its conversion to the
true God, how blindly would he have
answered ! For its religious instructors,
lie would have looked to the universi
ties of the Spain that had patronized
him, or of the England or the France
that bad neglected him; or he would have
turned liis eyes to his own native Italy.—
But we, to whose gaze have been revealed
those leaves in the volume of Providence
that no mortal eye bad then read, have
learned to look elsewhere for the religious
guides already turning for the new-found
hemisphere. Standing in fancy by the
side of the great Genoese navigator, we
look back over the intervening waste of
waters to the Old World. But our eyes
turn not to the points that attract his gaze.
Ours wander in quest of Eisenach, a pe?Ty~
town in Wostm*n 0 build
of school-boy? that go from door to door
through its streets, singing their hymns,
and looking for their dole of daily bread,
we catch sight of the full, ruddy face of a
lad now some nine years old. Those
cheerful features bear the mingling impress
of broad humor, vigorous sense, good-na
ture the most genial, and a will somewhat
of the sternest. The youth is the son
of an humble miner, liis father lias sent
him hither, some three years ago, that the
boy may be taught Latin, and receive
such help as poor scholars in Germany
thought it no shame to ask. That lad is
Martin Luther; a name soon to ring through
either hemisphere, the antagonist of the
Papacy, the translator of the scriptures,
and the instrument of a spiritual revolution,
that is to impress its own character, not on
Northern Europe only, but also on the lar
ger half of that continent, of whose discove
ry that school-boy will soon be told, as he
bends over his grammar or bounds through
the play-gronnd. And here have we found
one of the master-spirits, that is to fix the
religious destiny cf the New World,
We look yet again for the rival inind, that
is to contest with Luther’s the honor of
fashioning American character and history.
Our next glance is at Spain, that country
from whose ports had been fitted out the
little armament that is riding on the sea
before us. But it is not to its brilliant
court, or to its universities, then famous
throughout Europe, that we look for this
other mind, that is to aid in casting the
spiritual horoscope of our continent. On
the northern shores of the country, in the
province of Biscay, and under the shadow
of the Pyrenees, stands an old baronial cas
tle, tenanted by the Spanish gentleman of
ancient and noble lineage. In the family of
eleven children that gladdens his hearth,
the youngest horn, the Benjamin of the
household, is now a child of some two years
old. That tottering infant, as he grows up
to manhood, will at first mistake his destiny.
Smitten with the chivalrous spirit, that
hangs as an atmosphere of romance, over
the Spain of that age, lie will become a
courtly knight, delighting in feats of arms,
and not free from the soldier’s vices. But
his ultimate history will be of far different
cast. Wounded at the scige of Panipelu
na, liis shattered limb will confine him to
a couch, where.''is waking hours will be
spent in reading the k’gends of saints, and
from that couch of pain, he will rise an al
tered man. For this prattling child is Ig
natius Loyola. This baby hand is yet to
pen the “Spiritual Exercises,” that fur
l'umed volume, which still remains the
manual of the Jesuit order, the book that
has swayed so many a strong intellect for
this life and the next, and shaken somo
minds even to insanity. He is to become
the founder of a religious fraternity, who
1 shall be the Janizariesof the Rpmish Church,
its stoutest champions against the Reforma
tion, and its most daring, emissaries around
the globe. Neither Luther nor Loyola
| ever visited otir shores,, yet no of the
j contemporary minds of Europe so signally
THE TRUTH IN LOVE.
controlled the religious history of this conti
nent; and both were in their boyhood, the
one at a German grammar-school, the other
romping in the nursery of an old Spanish
castle, wfcen Columbus planted his foot on
the shores of St. Salvador.
EAIUY LIFE OF CHALMERS.
He wij noted in childhood, says his bi
ographci “as one of the idlest, strongest,
merriest,and most generous-hearted boys
ill An:* filler.” “Joyous, vigorous, and
tnunorowflie took his part in all the games
of the play-ground, ever ready to lead or to
follow, when school-boy expeditions were
planned, executed; and whenever, for fun
or for frolic, any little group of the merry
hearted was gathered, his full, rich laugh
might be heard rising amid their shouts
ofglee. ‘But he wls altogether unmischiev
ous in his mirth. lie could not bear that
either falsehood or blasphemy should min
gle with it, and bis own greater strength he
always used to defend the weak or the in
jured, who looked to him as their natural
protector.” Neither as boy nor as man,
did Chalmers ever strike a fallen enemy.
In his eighteenth year, unwilling to be
any longer a burden to his father, whose
children had flow increased to the goodly
number of; fourteen, he left home to enter
as piivateTtuUr into a gentleman’s family,
somewhei bfcyond Dundee. lie was un
worthily ttca ed. The gentleman and liis
family bewnged to that class of the vul
gar great,iwno, themselves possessing no
other stalling than that which they owe to
their circufistances, cannot even conceive
of a clairri.'jbunded on the inherent and the
underivedgand so they treated the young
tutor simp’ / as a menial.
It is a curious fact, that David Ilume
was throw)) in early life into an exactly
similar ijucuion. But the ingenious skep
tic, whoso powers in after time were to be
employed in framing apologies for intole
rance and oppression, and in making gross
tyranny look graceful, was ill-fitted cither
to accommodate himself to a despotism
similar, on a small scale, to that which he
afterwards represented in liis history as no
great evil, or to make effectual resistance
against it. Chalmers, with all his warm
affections and soft good nature, was of ster
ner stuff—aud the yet upknit stripling bade
defiance to the whole household.
mu mi'j’ ] 1 —■)> . ~
worse as the summer months rolled on.—
Though at first disposed to fuvor one so
zealously bent on the careful training of his
children, his employer, won over at last by
the predominating female influence, passed
into the ranks of the enemy. The very
servants, catching the spirit which prevail
ed elsewhere, were disposed to be insolent.
The whole combined household were at
war with him. The undaunted tutor re
solved, nevertheless, to act his part with
dignity and effect. Remonstrances were
in vain. To the wrong they did him in
dismissing him, when company came to
his room, they would apply no remedy.—
He devised, therefore, a remedy of his
own. lie was liviug near a town in which,
through means of introductions given him
by Fifeshire friends, he had already formed
some acquaintances. Whenever lie knew
there was to be a supper from which he
would be excluded, he ordered one iu a
neighboring inn, to which lie invited one or
more ofhis own friends. To make liis pur
pose all the more manifest, he waited till
the servant entered with his solitary repast,
when ho ordered it away, saying, ‘I sup
elsewhere to-night.’ Such curiously timed
tutorship-suppers were not likely to be
relished by Mr.—, who charged him
with unseemly and unseasonable pride.—
‘Sir, (said lie,) the very servants are com
plaining of your haughtiness; you have
far too much pride.’ ‘There are two kinds
of pride, sir,’ was the reply. ‘There is
that kind of pride which lords it over in
feriors; and there is that kind of pride
which rejoices in repressing the insolence
of superiors. The first I have none of
the second I glory in.’”
The formidable ability of resistance was
still more strikingly manifested,rather more
than four years subsequent, when, after
officiating for a session in St. Andrew’s as
assistant to the Professor of Mathematics—
a querulous invalid, set aside from all pro
fessorial duly—he was superseded by the
jealousy of his superior—for lie had awa
kened au enthusiasm for science in the
slumbrous halls of the University, that dis
turbed the quiet of the place—on the plea
that he was inefficient as a teacher.
To clear his impeached reputation from
the reproach which had been thrown upon
it, he resolved to open next winter, in St.
Andrew’s, mathematical classes ofhis own
—rivals to those of the University. The
professors met in hurried consultation; the
students were agitated and divided; the
heartsof many siding with the youthful
devote/;, who came to redeem his injured
scientific honor. The general publiedf the
place, dependent cither for all social fellow
ship, upon the colleges, looked with won
der at the sight of au open and declared ri
valry, establishing itself within the very
shadow of the University.
It was a bold and perilous step for a
young man of twenty-three thus to beard
a whjlo University; but there were powers
within him which by carrying him trium
phantly through, redeemed it from the
chargr of raphness. “My appearance in this
place\hc saidjthay be ascribed to the worst
of passions; some may be disposed to as
cribe it to the violence of a revengeful tem
per; some to stigmatise me as a fire-brand
of turbulence and mischief. These motives
I disclaim. I disclaim them with the pride
of an indignant heart, which feels its integ
rity. My only motive is to restore that
academical reputation which I conceive to
have been violated by the aspersions of en
vy.” And restore it most effectually lie !
did.— Ed. Witness.
CHALMERS FAILED.
Chalmers failed : Yes.—We have not |
met in the volume of the life of Chalmers,
lately published, a more beautiful passage,
than that which narrates the circumstances
and fruits of a visit which the Scottisli di
vine received from Andrew Fuller. “I felt
my humble country manse greatly honor
ed,” said Chalmers, “by harboring him for
a day and two nights within its walls.”
Nor was Fuller less favorably impressed by
the new acquaintance which he had found
iu the North. “I never think of my visit to
you but with pleasure,” said he, in a letter
to Chalmers written not long after. “If
that man would but throw away his papers
in i-A: pulpit,” said Fuller to a friend, “he
might be king of Scotland.”
And such was Chalmers’s respect for the
opinions of Fuller, that he determined to
make the experiment of throwing away his
papers. His mind was stored with all the
treasures of learning and philosophy,—lns
heart was overflowing with love to the
souls of men, and he would gladly embrace
the world in his arms and bring it to the
feet of Christ. He had a masterly power
of language, which came to him in floods,
and went on his ministries, on all themes
and on all occasions, as the veriest creature
of his will. And why should he not stand
up in liis pulpit, with his papers thrown
away ? Os what use to such a man, with
such powers, were aids like these? lie
made the trial. lie gave all diligence to
it, —he read, —lie reflected, —lie jotted down
the outlines of his discourses, —he went to
the pulpit,—and failed. The ampler his
materials the poorer his success. His ef
forts reminded him of a bottle of water
turned instantly upside down. If there
was little in it, that soon ran out, —if there
was a good deal, it came out by jerks and
large explosions. He failed, —and gave it
Yes, Chalmers failed. And if lie, tire
man of great and richly furnished mind,
whose language has no fit illustration but
in the steady, irresistible rush of broad, deep
waters, —if he failed, who can succeed ?
vYhat sermon-reader can think of “throw
ing away his papers” after such a result of
such an experiment? Me seem to see the
eyes of many a minister looking more com
placently on liis manuscripts, and even the
purpose to attempt the experiment of ex
temporaneous preaching lading from his
heart.
But, hold ! Chalmers made the experi
ment for himself only,—not for you. He
made it thoroughly, wc grant, and made it
in vain, liis powers, which were equal to
nvghtier achievements, for some reason
were not equal to that. But his attempt
furnishes no conclusive proof as to the issue
of another man’s experiment. We know
one of the most distinguished preachers in
the United States who never wrote but one
sermon in his life; —we have no doubt
that in that he failed. But docs liis case
prove that others cannot write sermons?
Just as much certainly as Chalmcr’sinabili
ty to preach extemporaneously proves that
nobody can preach thus. By the side of
his failure may be placed Hall’s success,
ifall failed too at first, but he triumphed in
the end.
No, the failure of Chalmers excuses no
preacher from the experiment. The power
of preaching extemporaneously, particular
ly in rural districts, where the inhabitants
gather themselves together in school-houses
and private dwellings to hear the Word,
and in the sparsely settled regions of the
West, where oaken groves are made to
serve as God’s temples, and indeed any
where, on the sudden emergencies which
occasionally arise, is so important that no
man should account himself “tlumragirly
furnished,” till he is able “to throw away
his papers.” Besides this, habits of extem
porizing, will aid habits of writing, inducing
greaterdiiect less, energy and [Tact 'cal pow
er, and are worth far more than they cost for
their happy influence in these respects. For
no discouragements T.'!''chare not insupera
ble shouiuai.y minister abandon flic experi
ment ofcxtcinporancoitsspcaking. Where
Chalmers has failed he may succeed, or if
he fails let him fail on his own experiments,
and not on those of the Scottish divine.
In our opinion the case of Chalmers
teaches other lessons, illustrating indeed
that common sense rule respecting methods
of preaching which we have often attempt
ed to vindicate, viz: that each man’s meth
od of preaching is to he determined by bis
own constitutional aptitudes, and the cir
cumstances in which hois placed. We be
lieve that the desirable attainment is the
power.,to preach both ways, with papers
and without. We believe that no minister
should fail of this attainment unless abso
lutely certain that it lies beyond liis reach,
and that he should preach after the one
method ortlie other us subjects and.occa
sions .may require. Extreme views are.not
sustained bv flic experience of the Church
of Christ. Chalmers was an earnest, vig-
J. T. BLAIN, Printer.
orous, powerful and successful preacher,
yet he read his sermons, and could not do
otherwise. The powerful “revival sermons”
of Jonathan Edwards, under which multi
tudes were pricked in their hearts and con
verted, were read sermons. The extempo
raneous sermons of Hall, though more se
verely elegant, more profound than Chal
mers’s, it can hardly be said were so effect
ive. There have been extemporaneous
preachers, however, whose power and use
fulness have never been surpassed. With
such illustrations before the world, to say
that read sermons cannot be effective or
that extemporaneous sermons cannot be
useful, is to contradict the plainest facts.
There can be no uniform rule. God has
endowed his ministers with divers gifts, and
happy is he who so adjusts his methods to
his abilities,and opportunities as to accom
plish most for the glory of his Master and
the salvation of men. Let every man use
to the best advantage, whether by the one
method or the other, or by the two com
bined, the powers which God has given’
him, and even in the great day of scrutiny
no more will be required at his hand — N.
Y. Rcc.
From the Watchman & Reflector.
A PASTOR’S PRAYER.
A pastor had just concluded family wor
ship, and, was in his study reading a por
tion of the works of Archbishop Leighton,
when he was called clown to see a visitor.-
Descending to the parlor he found Mr. G.,-
standing before the mirror, with his hat in
one band, and with the other adjusting his
whiskers. As they met, the youug man,
with a confident air, said, “Mr. , l
have called to converse with you about
your sermon last Sabbath.”
‘*l am glad to see you ” said the pastor,-
mildly; “be seated, and tell me your wish
es.”
“Well, sir,you insisted upon repentanco
and faith as first duties. I was not entirely
satisfied with your reasoning. I have some
points of dilliculty which embarrass me.—
Perhaps you can so explain them as to re
lieve me.”
Mr. G. then proceeded to state his diffi
culties, not in the clearest terms, but in a
manner that exhibited some forethought
and contrivance. They were certain meta
physical questions which are as old as the
human race, and have been a thousand 1
-nmermra**rEW UJ suTrsratvion or aXS
honest minds, but which have been continu- *
ally the pretexts for impenitence aiid un
belief.
The pastor heard him patiently, and
when he had finished, inquired, “Mr. G.,-
arc you prepared for death and the final
judgment?” “I cannot say that I am,”
was the reply'. The pastor remained silent’
fora short time, and then said, “Let ns
pray.” With this lie knelt, and presented
the case before God, including all the diffi
culties suggested, and the concession which’
had been “made, and invoked the influences 1
of the Iloly Spirit to open the man’s eyes
i and show him his ruined condition. The
| prayer was fervent, solemn and earnest.
Mr, G., retired rather abruptly, and n-f
----! terwards complained to his friends that the
pastor evaded all argument, and resorted
to prayer as a subterfuge, llut that prayor
was more effectual than controversy. The’
man was deeply disturbed, and found no*
rest until, as a penitent sinner, lie threw
himself before the mercy-seat, and sought
forgiveness through the meditation of Christ;
| About three weeks afterwards, he caited
again to see his pastor, and confessed, that
his motives in seekingthe former interview
1 were wrong, and that he had wickedly
; misrepresented the treatment of bis ease.
i in fits pastor, lie says, “1 was
much displeased with your sermon, because
Ifi-lt it to he true, and I called upon you,
: hoping by discussion to perplex you and
| thus ease my own conscience. I'dasvex
; cd to find that you uuderstbod me, and
therefore took me to the thVbne of grace',-
; the very last place where I Wislidd to go.
After such a prayer, I could not enter into
argument. 1 saw that the real difficulty
| was between my own soul and God. I
bated myself, and you too, and for sevcTfi?!
days behaved like a madman. But the
Holy Spirit triumphed, and I am a brand
I plucked out of the fire. Oh, that prayer!—
1 shall never forget it, nor him who offer
| cd it.”
STATISTICAL.
At the beginning of this cfcfßgfy, there
j were in the United States bift I fob mitri*’
I ters of tiie Now tlicr# are tridrd
: than J 5,900. In ISOS, there was not Oil'd’
; theological seminary in t|ie land. Now,
ilicre are 38 or 40, and colleges have in
creased from 15 or 20, to 173. In 1801,
there were 17 daily newspapers in the coun
try ; now there are about as many iii I'Hlj
city. * j..
Nearly ten times more .Bibles have been
printed and circulated .sjgee 1831, than in
till the centuries prc.<;udi.ng. The Duke of
Sussex lias in his possession a copy of eve
ry edition of the Bijjle yet printed. It
estimated tlmt 3,000,000 or 4,000,000
of the gospel vyerc printed previous so
organization of the British R.ble Society, iu
40 languages, spoken by about 200.000',000
of people. Since that time, move than 80,-
000,000 copies have been published, in 100
languages, spoken by more than 090.000,-
OOO.of people, *fdtfii3 aside, from all that
have hCeti eut forth bv private enterprise.
| — Wm. Adams, D. D,
Number 11.